Two of the three families passed on my "application" without evening talking to me. Like they saw the review, formed a judgement about me, and moved on. One of the families and I chatted on the phone and the parent asked me about the review, in which I gave her my side of the story:
I met this family on the same site (obviously...lol) and made contact with a parent, which was the father. He seemed nice but a bit spacey and preoccupied, as I sent a several texts before I got their address-an hour and a half before I was supposed to be at their house. I had never met this family before, and they never met me. Everything was going fine, and D came home first, paid me, and I went home.
Then I saw the review...dated and posted nearly four months after I babysat for them. In this review, the father describes me a monster who yelled at and terrified his children to the point they cannot hire another sitter without their children being scared. He claims I yelled at his children and did not let them leave the couch for anything. This is sooooooooooooo not true.
I arrived at 710, and when the parents left, I offered the children the choice of playing or watching the movie. Then again, who doesn't play and watch a movie at the same time? At 745, we took a potty break and got snacks, where I called out, not yelled at the girls "did you go potty?" We started on snacks, and I explained to the girls that I was setting the timer on my phone, and when it went off, we would clean up and get ready for bed, Five minutes before the phone went off, one of the kids tried getting more toys, at which point I calmly said no more toys, due to the alarm going off soon. We got ready for bed, etc.
I called out to the girls when they were still up by 10p. I didn't yell at them.
When I saw this review in January, I was floored. What he is saying about me is untrue, hurtful, and it is making me look terrible to families on the site. I found out the parents filed for divorce about a month or two after I babysat, so I am thinking they were fighting after I babysat, and that the children are associating my calling out to them with yelling from their parents. In other words, they may think I caused the fight between the parents, thus their being hesitant to get another sitter.
The family who asked me about the review determined I wasn't a fit for their family, and I seriously think the review was the biggest factor in their decision not to interview me. I explained the review as best I could, and believe this family believes the review, not my side of things.
I have the father's email address. Do I contact him in a respectful manner letting him know this review is full of lies and accusations, thus preventing me from obtaining a job? Do I let families on this site know up front what happened, or do I wait for them to ask me about it?
Gossip stinks. Even when it's written with one star and harsh words. Even worse when you give your side and nobody believes you....
I met this family on the same site (obviously...lol) and made contact with a parent, which was the father. He seemed nice but a bit spacey and preoccupied, as I sent a several texts before I got their address-an hour and a half before I was supposed to be at their house. I had never met this family before, and they never met me. Everything was going fine, and D came home first, paid me, and I went home.
Then I saw the review...dated and posted nearly four months after I babysat for them. In this review, the father describes me a monster who yelled at and terrified his children to the point they cannot hire another sitter without their children being scared. He claims I yelled at his children and did not let them leave the couch for anything. This is sooooooooooooo not true.
I arrived at 710, and when the parents left, I offered the children the choice of playing or watching the movie. Then again, who doesn't play and watch a movie at the same time? At 745, we took a potty break and got snacks, where I called out, not yelled at the girls "did you go potty?" We started on snacks, and I explained to the girls that I was setting the timer on my phone, and when it went off, we would clean up and get ready for bed, Five minutes before the phone went off, one of the kids tried getting more toys, at which point I calmly said no more toys, due to the alarm going off soon. We got ready for bed, etc.
I called out to the girls when they were still up by 10p. I didn't yell at them.
When I saw this review in January, I was floored. What he is saying about me is untrue, hurtful, and it is making me look terrible to families on the site. I found out the parents filed for divorce about a month or two after I babysat, so I am thinking they were fighting after I babysat, and that the children are associating my calling out to them with yelling from their parents. In other words, they may think I caused the fight between the parents, thus their being hesitant to get another sitter.
The family who asked me about the review determined I wasn't a fit for their family, and I seriously think the review was the biggest factor in their decision not to interview me. I explained the review as best I could, and believe this family believes the review, not my side of things.
I have the father's email address. Do I contact him in a respectful manner letting him know this review is full of lies and accusations, thus preventing me from obtaining a job? Do I let families on this site know up front what happened, or do I wait for them to ask me about it?
Gossip stinks. Even when it's written with one star and harsh words. Even worse when you give your side and nobody believes you....
5 comments:
It's not going to change their mind if you contact them. The same thing happened to me. All I can do is have the website erase the profile and start a new one.
You could get someone who knows you to write a GOOD review. I know a former nanny who did this - unlike yourself, she really was substandard and got caught and got a bad review. She handled it by having at least 6 of her personal friends write good reviews diffusing the situation. Another business owner I know has 50 reviews - 2 are just silly people being unfair.
Get the BEST letters of recommendation and have them ready - if a job looks awesome, GET IN FRONT and say, sadly, there were "extenuating circumstances" in the family which resulted in the "confused" review
let us know what happens
Even if you got a few jobs here and there, I don't think using a site with reviews is worth it. You are too vulnerable to any unhinged individual who can trash your reputation. Find jobs through a separate service or message board, and you provide your own letters of recommendation and references.
You should contact care.com and speak to them directly about it. If what the man posted is absolutely untrue, you can tell care.com you plan to pursue damages against him for slander if the post is not removed.
I'm sorry this happen to you. I used care for a long time and had 8 positive reviews but unfortunately, I downgraded my membership one day( because I was simply getting too much work from care) and they terminated me for no reason apparently it happens so often there are literally thousands of people complaining about the same situation all over the Internet. To be honest with you, it's way too easy on Care.com to leave a review about anything and I always worried about the reviews knowing that one day a parent could say anything wrong. One of the parents I worked for from care thought it was really bad that some of the people have negative reviews simply for changing your mind on the interview or not calling back. In the real world people do this all the time when looking for a job. I strongly advise you to use a different site. I use sittercity.com now it's much different from care.com but I've always gotten jobs from there.
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