Sunday

Bad Review Leaves Nanny in a Lurch

opinion 2 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.

24 comments:

Anonymous3 said...

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.

I 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.

TC said...

As the PP stated I'd contact sitter city directly to see if there is something you can do.

Did 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

dandelion said...

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?
Do 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!

Mean Judgey Lady said...

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.

If 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.

christine said...

How mean! I think even Mary Poppins was a paid employee... are nannies supposed to work only for the fulfillment?

I 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.

lisa said...

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..

I 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.

Bostonnanny said...

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.

I 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.

alex said...

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.

Pam said...

You asked if ONE bad review matters.

The 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.

RBTC said...

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

$7 said...

I had some fool offer me $7 under the table and state "thats like $10". What dumbass did her math?

MissMannah said...

She 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.

$7 said...

So instead I would get $7 illegally and no tax benefit. Double loss! Still an idiot.

Wow said...

Contact 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.

buggle said...

As 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.

As a care provider (I run an in home daycare) I would, without a doubt, contact sittercity and get the review removed.

Nan said...

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. :)

NannyJ said...

I 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.

OP said...

Thank you everyone for all of your wonderful advice.

I 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.

Super Nanny said...

OP- WHAT A RELIEF!

I 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!

Anonymous said...

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.

Anonymous said...

They 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..

Sunshine23 said...

care.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.

Martiw said...

Where is the option to block people?

Unknown said...

FARNEK
FARNEK
FARNEK
FARNEK
FARNEK