I have a question/concern and was wondering what the parents and nannies alike on here think. I have been using sittercity since 2007 to land nanny jobs and I have met some awesome families to work for on this site. I have never had issues with any of the multiple families I have met on here and am one of the top-rated nannies in my area. Last week, I corresponded with a mother who tried to basically nickel and dime me and I decided amicably that it was not a good match for us and told her I thought it was best I continued my search and she did as well. We never interviewed...we only corresponded via sittercity.Well today I check my profile and I see that she wrote me a horrendous review and gave me one star. She stated that I was a flake, unreliable and was only interested in the money issue of being a Nanny, that I specifically told her I didn't even like children!! All of these are empty lies! I think she just is angry because I wouldn't work for her for what she was offering me...$7/Hr for two children, one infant and one toddler. I submitted a response to her review and tried to say my side of the story. I didn't sling any mud and was very respectful of her opinion even though I didn't agree with it.
My question to all of you is, as a parent how bad would ONE review in 4 yrs affect you hiring a potential nanny? I really depend on this website to find jobs and now I feel like no one will even consider me. Is there a way to get a bad review removed? Have any of you nannies been in this situation before? Thanks in advance for all your advice. I wrote the woman on sittercity and asked if we could talk it out, however I haven't and do not expect to hear from her again since she knows she lied.
I would absolutely contact sittercity directly. I personally don't think it's right for parents to be able to write reviews for sitters. If there is a serious issue, I think parents should be able to contact sittercity directly and both parties can explain the situation. The company can then decide to remove a sitter from their site if they find that the sitter acted inappropriately.
ReplyDeleteI think a 1 star review will absolutely affect you in terms of being able to get as many jobs. Most people will probably see the star and move on without even reading the review or rebuttal. That's why I think you should contact the company. This woman should not be able to post a review of you when you never even babysat for her.
As the PP stated I'd contact sitter city directly to see if there is something you can do.
ReplyDeleteDid you make sure to say in your rebuttal that you never babysat for that lady?
She sounds bitter, even if you were a flake and even if you were only into the money you never babysat her children and she shouldn't have posted anything. Those reviews should be about how you are with the CHILDREN not other crap like that.
If sitter city can not help you then I would think you could either A) leave her a bad review on her page or B) open another account and contact the previous parents and explain what happened and ask them to rewrite your review on the new account
Contact Sittercity ASAP and tell them what happened to you. There must be a way to solve that problem and report the "Mom". She obviously is abuse her power to leave comments on your page. On most pages you can block other users. Do you have the option to do that?
ReplyDeleteDo not talk and write to that person anymore! Stop the conversation right away and distance yourself from her. That is the best you can do.
Good luck!
If you have four years worth of great reviews and ONE bad review, as a parent I'd think that one bad one was a fluke.
ReplyDeleteIf your communications with the woman were by e-mail, I think you should forward those emails to Sitter City asking them to review and decide whether they think the woman's one star is appropriate. Good luck.
How mean! I think even Mary Poppins was a paid employee... are nannies supposed to work only for the fulfillment?
ReplyDeleteI don't work at my job because I love the field I'm in and can't wait to dig into my work. I am willing to bet that is a rare occurance in any occupation. I work because I need to pay my bills. I do a great job and I'm extremely trustworthy and reliable. But, should I win the Lottery tomorrow, I doubt I would return to my job.
Shame on this nasty woman.
You must write to sitter city and report the problem so they can delete the review. Maybe sitter city has got more complaints about the same woman? Maybe she writes bad reviews of all nannies who refuse to work for 7 dollars an hour..
ReplyDeleteI wrote to sitter city once because a family I found on that site refused to pay me for one day of work. They still owe me 70 bucks. (that family live on leonard str, tribeca, nyc). So I wrote to sitter city to tell them what a shitty family I found on their site and that they should remove her ad.
I hate those online websites. They screw nannies all the time by allowing parents to post whatever they want and offer demeaning wages. I have quite a few great reviews on care.com and I'm always professional on the site. I don't discuss wage or benefits until the actual interview but I also look at what they have posted as their range before agreeing to an interview.
ReplyDeleteI would do as others said and contact the website but I doubt they will help since you are not a paying member. They don't seen to give a crap about the nannies. I found that having previous employers post on local mom groups in your area is a better way of finding jobs. I just had a previous employer post an ad for march 2012 for me and I set up four interviews the first day! It's only October and I have a ton of interviews lined up for a full time nanny position starting March.
I would definitely do as others have said and contact the website. You didn't even work for her and for her to be able to review you without ever meeting her isn't fair.
ReplyDeleteYou asked if ONE bad review matters.
ReplyDeleteThe answer is yes.
When searching for childcare, most parents will skip any candidate that has a blemish on their info.
This lady knew exactly what she was doing.
if i saw many good reviews and one bad one i would not hold it against the nanny. But i work for a living with the public so i understand the concept of a vengeful termagent
ReplyDeleteI had some fool offer me $7 under the table and state "thats like $10". What dumbass did her math?
ReplyDeleteShe meant that if you were getting $10 an hour legally, you'd only be taking home $7 anyway. The other $3 would go to taxes.
ReplyDeleteSo instead I would get $7 illegally and no tax benefit. Double loss! Still an idiot.
ReplyDeleteContact Sittercity, let them know what happened, and ask them to remove the bad post within a certain period of time. If they don't remove it by that time, contact them again and tell them you will be reporting them to the BBB and whatever agency regulates such sites. You can't really do anything about the mom unless you have her full name and address.
ReplyDeleteAs a mother, if I saw one 1-star rating among a slew of 5-stars...especially one that states that you said you hated children...I would discount the 1-star review.
ReplyDeleteAs a care provider (I run an in home daycare) I would, without a doubt, contact sittercity and get the review removed.
I had a similar situation on Sittercity- a person wrote to me wanting care for their child the next morning (they sent it at like 9 pm). The next day they wrote a review for me that was awful, when I had never even corresponded with them. I contacted Sittercity and they were great about it and removed the rating. Good luck! They can take a look at your correspondence with the person as long as you didn't delete it. :)
ReplyDeleteI was in a similar situation on care.com and even after forwarding them screen shots of the messages they wouldn't remove the review. Pretty much same thing happened to me, mom wanted to pay $3 per hour and I said that unfortunately I was unable to work for an illegal wage and wished her luck finding someone. She said in her review I was rude and said she was a bad mom. Personally, I haven't noticed it effect me at all. I included in my reply to her review that I would be happy to send screen shots to any parent interested.
ReplyDeleteThank you everyone for all of your wonderful advice.
ReplyDeleteI did in fact contact sittercity and they will remove my bad review. They had to also contact the person who wrote it however and that person agreed they might have been out of line.
OP- WHAT A RELIEF!
ReplyDeleteI don't think folks ought to leave you feedback unless you HAVE nannied for them.
I have many families converse with me that don't understand that I need my pay to contribute to our household income and isn't just additional mad-money. It's hard when they don't seem to get it. They have to work, etc same as we do. I think some nannies can be very expensive for what they provide, but honestly when you look at a sitter's profile it states their desired wage.
I advise ALL you nannies to take jobs where taxes are reported. It will hurt you in the long run if you do not! And if you're ever laid-off and haven't reported unemployment is out of the question as an option for you!
Care.com Is under investigation by the Federal Trade commission for a long list of dirty corrupt business practices. Please use your gut instinct and never use this service. Care.com is a unverified mish mash of criminals and low lives looking to make an easy buck of of unsuspecting parents. Background checks are provided by a 3rd outside .com company that clearly states they are not liable for any accuracy.
ReplyDeleteThey should check into families more..I've had two families screw me over..and one even had the guts to post a bad review after screwing me over..
ReplyDeletecare.com isn't any better! I just had someone on there screw me over and refuse to pay me. I reported it to care.com and they refused to help.
ReplyDeleteWhere is the option to block people?
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