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Daycare.com Forum
View Poll Results: have you enrolled anyone through Care.com
yes 9 23.08%
no 30 76.92%
Voters: 39. You may not vote on this poll
Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Success with Care.com?
Sugar Magnolia 09:48 AM 11-14-2013
I used to think they were only a site for parents to find nannies or babysitters for in-their-home care, but I understand they accept ads for child care centers/family daycare now also? I think I have seen posts about other providers here using them.

If you have used them, have you enrolled anyone through them?
Is it worth it?
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Cat Herder 09:59 AM 11-14-2013
I paid for a background check, uploaded a photo, wrote a nice ad that included the words "Licensed". It went to mod approval and was rejected because I was a professional business. No refund. It is illegal to NOT be Licensed and care for more than two kids in my State. Most of the providers they kept on in my State were illegal.

Class act that site.
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TwinKristi 10:00 AM 11-14-2013
I didn't pay for anything but supposedly have a listing there somewhere. They sent me stuff every once in awhile and one that said if I didn't add a pic and update they would delete so I did those things. Never had a call!
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hope 10:01 AM 11-14-2013
I posted on there for a long time and never had one inquiry from it. I did tell potential clients during the interview process to look me up on the site in order to do a background check on me. After terming a client once, she went on care.com and somehow had me kicked off the site. I emailed the site many times to resolve and received no response. I now give clients my info and they run their own check on me. Doesn't bother me any bc I wasn't getting any hits from the site anyways.
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SSWonders 10:02 AM 11-14-2013
Not a single inquiry. Been on it for months.
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coolconfidentme 10:18 AM 11-14-2013
I'm clueless on how that site works. First they rejected me because I was a business, so I deleted & started over. They now just send me junk mail & I can't see if I have an ad or not. Frustrating because you can see parents looking for childcare on indeed.com. I can't even contact them without paying something. UGH!!!

Does anyone know the secret to how that site works?
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LaLa1923 10:19 AM 11-14-2013
I have had more success with care.com than craigslist by far!!

I have 4 families and 8 kids- 2 are from cl and 4 are from care.com.

I don't have to do any work on care.com, people find me.
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Childminder 10:20 AM 11-14-2013
They are very good about taking care of issues and concerns you have with their site if you call them. I was listed for years as a sitter and they wouldn't accept some changes I had to make to a professional. Took care it promptly and kindly.

I have never received any jobs off the site though.
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SSWonders 10:23 AM 11-14-2013
Originally Posted by LaLa1923:
I have had more success with care.com than craigslist by far!!

I have 4 families and 8 kids- 2 are from cl and 4 are from care.com.

I don't have to do any work on care.com, people find me.
How are you listed?
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Cat Herder 10:23 AM 11-14-2013
Originally Posted by coolconfidentme:

Does anyone know the secret to how that site works?
Call yourself a babysitter who loves to play with kids all day. Who gives no naps and bakes gingerbread for dinner.

IDK, that is what their commercials say we do....

Now, when my ad was just for holiday/evening/weekend care, without a background check, I did get quite a few calls (one time gigs, no enrollments). I kept it generic and used it as a source extra money when DH was out of State every other week. It was when I had an actual daycare opening and tried to spiff it up, they denied me.
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LaLa1923 10:34 AM 11-14-2013
Originally Posted by SSWonders:
How are you listed?
Here it is......Nothing special, I always mean to update it and put a pic but I never have time. It's working for me so far so whatever....

http://www.care.com/marian-r-jessup-...q27309066.html
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daycare 10:45 AM 11-14-2013
I spent more money than I want to admit and have not gotten even 1 call from it

biggest waste of my $$$$$$$$$$
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coolconfidentme 10:53 AM 11-14-2013
Originally Posted by LaLa1923:
Here it is......Nothing special, I always mean to update it and put a pic but I never have time. It's working for me so far so whatever....

http://www.care.com/marian-r-jessup-...q27309066.html
I just looked at mine & they rejected me again! WTH? They first accepted my photo & THEN rejected me, lol.
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SSWonders 11:21 AM 11-14-2013
Originally Posted by LaLa1923:
Here it is......Nothing special, I always mean to update it and put a pic but I never have time. It's working for me so far so whatever....

http://www.care.com/marian-r-jessup-...q27309066.html
Thank you. Mine isn't set up in bullet points like your's is. That's a good idea.
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ihop 11:23 AM 11-14-2013
I say yes, but I only had one inquiry in 3months. However, it did turn into a client. Not worth the $20/month I pay.
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Michelle 11:51 AM 11-14-2013
The trick is to not register as a Licensed daycare business.
Just say you are a "babysitter" ugh .. hate that name
or nanny and then slip your license number and info in with the description.
I have been on care.com for quite a while and have had a lot of success.
Don't forget that you can apply for jobs in your area.
You can say anything you want to the parents ,as they are private messages so you can emphasize that you are licensed and your background check for your license is a lot more extensive than the one that care.com does.

Don't forget sittercity.com too
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Crazy8 01:07 PM 11-14-2013
I had gotten a few inquiries when I paid for my membership - like $30 or something but none of them even made it to the interview stage. I had to check off that I was a babysitter who would drive 5 miles in order to get it approved and now I can't change my description at all because any time I do it gets denied (but all I'm adding is something like the school district I provide care for or something silly - nothing pertinent).

Was not worth the money I paid. Oh, and I asked my parents if they could put reviews on there for me - turned out they couldn't if they didn't pay. Forget that! I was embarrassed I asked them!
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Crazy8 01:08 PM 11-14-2013
oh, and I love when I see the same profile under babysitter, cleaning person, and pet sitting services.
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Michelle 02:03 PM 11-14-2013
Originally Posted by Crazy8:
oh, and I love when I see the same profile under babysitter, cleaning person, and pet sitting services.
Kinda like Raising Hope!

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spud912 02:26 PM 11-14-2013
I've had my ad posted on care.com for 4 years now. From that, I got 1 full time child who stayed until school started, so 2 1/2 years (who is now a drop-in); one drop-in, for 3 1/2 years now (who I still watch very occasionally); and one full time, who I still watch 3 1/2 years later. 2/3 of my other enrolled children were from Craigslist and the other 1/3 was from yp.com or yelp. I've had several inquiries from Facebook and Sittercity but nobody who actually enrolled. I've had quite a bit more inquiries from care.com but they didn't pan out for one reason or another.

I found the people on care.com who are looking for full-time care tend to be more legitimate people than those who inquire from Craigslist. From Craigslist, I tend to get more people who flake out, some really crazy people and providers posing as interested families.

Now whether or not I would recommend care.com? They have removed portions of my ad, they made my ad "ghosted" even when I was paying, they accidentally charged me one time, and they have erroneously stated I don't respond to inquiries. Their customer service is horrible! I've tried contacting them several times and they don't even have the common courtesy to respond. I say post an ad at your own risk and don't pay for the "featured" ad.
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LaLa1923 05:17 PM 11-14-2013
Originally Posted by spud912:
I've had my ad posted on care.com for 4 years now. From that, I got 1 full time child who stayed until school started, so 2 1/2 years (who is now a drop-in); one drop-in, for 3 1/2 years now (who I still watch very occasionally); and one full time, who I still watch 3 1/2 years later. 2/3 of my other enrolled children were from Craigslist and the other 1/3 was from yp.com or yelp. I've had several inquiries from Facebook and Sittercity but nobody who actually enrolled. I've had quite a bit more inquiries from care.com but they didn't pan out for one reason or another.

I found the people on care.com who are looking for full-time care tend to be more legitimate people than those who inquire from Craigslist. From Craigslist, I tend to get more people who flake out, some really crazy people and providers posing as interested families.

Now whether or not I would recommend care.com? They have removed portions of my ad, they made my ad "ghosted" even when I was paying, they accidentally charged me one time, and they have erroneously stated I don't respond to inquiries. Their customer service is horrible! I've tried contacting them several times and they don't even have the common courtesy to respond. I say post an ad at your own risk and don't pay for the "featured" ad.
What is ghosted?
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SunnyDay 06:03 PM 11-14-2013
I made a free ad there last year and did have one family who found us there and enrolled. I agree that the site is confusing to use, though. I wouldn't pay to use it.
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spud912 09:42 PM 11-14-2013
Originally Posted by LaLa1923:
What is ghosted?
My ad magically disappeared. I paid for the "featured" ad which should put it somewhere up top, or so that is what they claim. After looking through about 5 pages of featured ads and 15 pages of un-featured ads, it still was nowhere to be found. I sent them multiple messages that they were acting fraudulently by accepting my payment with the caveat my ad would be more prominent and they never responded. Eventually it re-appeared at around page 10 buried in a bunch of un-featured free ads. Obviously I cancelled the premium immediately because I was paying for nothing.
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mom2many 10:18 PM 11-14-2013
I don't pay and only had 1 full timer come from this site. I am consistently full and usually rely on referrals from current and past clients, so fortunately I haven't needed to really use them. The one family I got was awesome though so I'm glad I connected with this site!
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momofboys 06:01 AM 11-15-2013
Originally Posted by TwinKristi:
I didn't pay for anything but supposedly have a listing there somewhere. They sent me stuff every once in awhile and one that said if I didn't add a pic and update they would delete so I did those things. Never had a call!
I think the best way to get jobs through them is if you RESPOND/apply to parent's ads. It is how it works best from my experience. I enrolled 3 families this way & it was always because I responded to their ad. I never had a parent cold contact me either but I had enrolled families. I also got two nanny jobs in the past through Care.
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momofboys 06:04 AM 11-15-2013
On another note I don't have ads on either site as I am not providing care in my home currently; however, I used to have one on Sittercity & their moderators removed my ad because I had communication with a care-seeker & I nicely suggested the price she wanted to pay was very low (she wanted to pay $2-3/day for transportation for her chold to school lol). Sittercity removed my ad Some of these sites definitely cater to the careseekers/parents despite the fact that the caregivers sometimes also pay to be a member.
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Crazy8 10:18 AM 11-03-2014
bumping this to see if more people weigh in on the poll or post their experience.

I didn't have success last time but I know they have a "family child care" option now. Maybe its improved???
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