Reviews

I took a break from work to stay home with my kids. It was the best decision ever. But going back to work was not as easy as I thought. Finding flexible, reliable, and affordable childcare felt like a mission impossible. Then I remembered all the things that I did for my Host Family as an AuPair: -stayed at home with an infant -fed the baby and kept a feeding log/schedule -provided 1 on 1 care -pick up and drop off toddlers from kindergarten -prepared dinner -kept kid's areas clean and tidy -did laundry I immediately called AuPairCare and found out that my former area director is now a matching expert!! She helped me find my perfect AuPair ***************************. After her arrival, I was able to go back to work without the guilt and with the flexibility of a person without kids! My kids are home thriving in the home environment and comfortable with **** who has become a family member.

Thanks so much for this kind review! Great to hear your positive experience both as an au pair, and now as a host family. We appreciate your business.

This is by far the WORST au pair agency in the Bay Area, if not the country. In our experience, au pairs were not screened properly, when issues were raised Area Directors were more concerned about burying the problems and getting you into rematch rather than actually addressing anything. The worst part about this agency is they care more about money than the safety of children and are extremely unempathetic and callous when issues related to au pairs putting children in danger are raised. ***************************** was particularly unprofessional and had a disgusting demeanor but based on these other reviews, it seems this incident isnt isolated and Aupaircare has a clear pattern of unethical behavior and lacks any sort of integrity. I regret trusting them with finding a quality au pair for our family. One of our au pairs jumped out of the window of her room in our home in the middle of the night and remained in the country illegally. The next au pair was on mood altering meds that werent disclosed to us and could have put our children in danger. ********* made excuses for the au pairs in both situations and lacked any care or consideration for our family. Disgusting agency, disgusting leadership that are dogs for money.

Were so sorry that you did not have a positive experience with your au pairs. Our top priority is always the health, safety, and welfare of our program participants, and we screen au pairs above and beyond the US ********** of ***** regulatory requirements, including requiring a detailed medical form signed by a doctor confirming that the au pair is healthy enough to safely participate in the program. No agency can guarantee that a host family or au pair will be willing to continue the match for the full program period. We are happy to provide neutral mediation and match support if both parties are willing. When a match ends, host families are entitled to a refund or credit as detailed in the Host Family Agreement, and if an au pair departs the program early, we follow all reporting requirements required by the US ********** of *****.

AuPairCare was a terrible experience. They made a lot of promises about their support team, but when problems started to arise, they didnt answer calls, return emails, or provide the support needed to resolve issues in a timely and effective manner and failed to provide any support when the Au Pair left my home abruptly. I couldnt reach them for days, even during regular business hours. The AuPair that I had chosen felt like the perfect match, at first. I was so grateful. After 2 months, different colors began to surface. She acted entitled and had an attitude. She was angry that she had to work weekends, after committing to doing so before signing a contract, and wanted me to change my work schedule to accommodate her social schedule that would match her friends. When she didn't get what she wanted, she'd roll her eyes or hold an attitude. To make things worse, she paid $300 for someone to give her a $2100 check that she tried to cash. She committed fraud that jeopardized my bank accounts and after her exit, I had discovered many valuable items missing from my home. AuPairCare management was horrific by avoiding the fraud issue and did nothing to support me after the theft was discovered. Au Pair Care made excuses for her and continued to match her with another family. They were not transparent with the next family as to what she had done. They continued to support her through the process and left me without childcare or support overnight. Their lack of transparency with the next family made me realize that they lacked integrity, both in the individuals that they hired to manage families experience and as a company, to hide important facts/truths from the next family. How would I trust that they werent hiding something from me. Because of the trouble that I had reaching someone for help during critical times, I lost trust in their service and ended my contract. There are no words for how awful it was. I would choose another company and option for your family.

We are so sorry that you did not have a positive experience with AuPairCare. We aim to respond to contact with our customers within one business day, and have a 24/7 contact center for after-hours emergencies. From our records, it appears that the team provided timely responses to your inquiries, and your au pair did go on to have a positive match experience with her second host family. We understand that cultural exchange is not the right fit for everyone, and we appreciate you sharing your experience. We offer many tools to help au pairs and host families set expectations and manage conflict, however we cannot force an au pair to remain in a placement against her wishes to leave. In order to facilitate transparency, prior to making any hiring decision, host families interested in matching with an in-country au pair are welcome to connect with prior host families if they like, and if the prior host family is open to being contacted. Each host family has different needs and priorities, and sometimes an au pair who is not the right fit for one family is the perfect match for another.

Used AuPairCare for the first time to hire an in-country aupair. After 4 months and 2 months before ending her 1st year, the aupair decided to quit the program and apply for a tourist **** through a lawyer and stay in the US with her US boyfriend. We informed Aupaircare, had an exit interview done but the company refuses to give us back all of the unused monies we paid. They would only credit the full refund if the host family, contracts another one of their aupairs. Yet, the company did not have any available aupairs for the duration. Yet, they refused to give us back all the money we paid them until April 28, 2023 and penalize the host family and keep a part of the refund, even thought, it was the aupair that voluntarily changed her status, and Aupaircare did NOT have any other available aupairs for the duration involved.Also, according to their contract, if you have an aupair for more then 6 months and they leaves the program for any reason, you lose the remaining program fees you paid Aupaircare. I WOULDN'T HIRE THIS COMPANY AGAIN.. Also, according to their contract, you waive your legal rights, and you can only go to arbitration with them if you have an issue with their program, fees, etc.

Thank you for your review. We want host families to understand the terms of the Host Family Agreement clearly, and we appreciate your efforts to outline some of the terms here. You will find that our policies are quite similar to other au pair agencies, and we are happy to answer any questions in advance to make sure host families are comfortable with the program requirements. Host families who opt into our FlexMatch protection can be eligible to receive a full refund in the amount of their account credit, and we would encourage customers who are concerned about the risk to consider this option.Our pool of au pairs is constantly in flux, with new au pairs being added every day, some of whom are immediately available, and others who must travel from overseas and require some lead time. As of yesterday, we see 495 au pairs to choose from in your portal, 37 of which are available March **************************************************** the next two weeks. That being said, your credit is available for up to one year, so you don't have to rush into any match before you're ready. Alternately, we are happy to provide a refund if you opt not to rematch, however the best value is always to use your account credit toward a new au pair.

I want to warn host families about AuPairCare and their practices, particularly as it concerns rematching. Having participated in this program for the better part of 7 years, I can confidently say that the quality and fidelity with which they are screening Au Pairs has diminished markedly and they are money-hungry. Rather than advertising that host families are penalized for rematching, they are misleading at best and woefully sneaky at worst when it comes to the costs of pursuing a rematch--often needed due to the poor quality of individuals they are recruiting. We had an Au Pair kill our dog. And because our last Au Pair was simply unwilling to do her job, insubordinate, and disrespectful (this Au Pair worked fewer than 25 hours a week, had a car, and the warmest of welcomes and sustained gestures of our appreciation), we had to go into rematch---it was really an issue of safety. AuPairCare charged almost a thousand dollars for the transition. This in no way was communicated ahead of time. What is more, the new Au Pair *we* found and coordinated with had the *exact* number of days remaining on her contract as the departing AuPair: the new Au Pair entered the country on the very same day, from the same country, and was local. This is to say the agency did nothing to facilitate this new match nor had any administrative tasks that equated to the charge. They provided terrible customer service in justifying such an exorbitant charge, and offered no options other than to leave the program. We would have only received a fraction of all of the program costs invested and that were paid up front. Our family was terribly impacted by the departing Au Pair, and they all but forced us to remain in the program or forfeit our investment. Not wishing to renege on the new Au Pair and of course still needing childcare are the only reasons we are still participating. Be forewarned that AuPairCare extorts money at every opportunity with no assurances or support for host families.

We are so sorry you had a challenging experience with your rematch process and that you felt that the quality of the cultural exchange participants in our au pair pool are not what they used to be. Our screening process goes above and beyond the ********** of ***** regulatory requirements, and the vast majority of our host families have a great experience with them. We are certainly happy that you were able to find an au pair that you were comfortable matching with, and we sincerely hope that this match provides the positive experience your family deserves.We transparently outline our program fees on our website, and we ask host families to read, understand, and sign the Host Family Agreement (which outlines our refund and credit policies in detail) prior to matching with any au pair. Anyone interested in learning more about costs in advance can visit www.aupaircare.com/host-families/program-costs, or give us a call and select the option to speak with our billing team. We are happy to answer any questions, as we want all potential host families to feel informed and confident prior to welcoming an au pair into their family.

The company has many illegal practices. The agency area directors have been putting a blind eye while knowing some of the AuPairs are working more than legal 45 hours a week. As one recent example- While hosting an AuPair myself, learning first hand that my AuPairs friend has been working more than 45 hours every week without any full weekend break. One the other the host families are put in terrible situation when the match does not work out by getting no support but kept paying more and more into this money machine agency.

Thank you so much for reaching out. Compliance with ********** of ***** regulations is top priority for AuPairCare, and I will have your Area Director reach out to confirm the name of the au pair who you believe is working more than 45 hours per week so we can investigate. We are so sorry that you feel that the support provided has not been sufficient, and will ensure that your local Area Director connects with you to see what else we can do to help.

Terrible experience after two au pairs. The agency does nothing to prepare these people to work. They do not follow rules and think they are here to party. If you are a busy professional, you will likely not find a compassionate au pair that values your time. We took our au pairs many places to get an American experience. The problem comes when they are with other au pairs and they all compare stories, so beware. We are a very fun and busy family but our second au pair wanted nothing to do with family and struggled with learning English even though we encouraged her to immerse herself more. The worst is that the agency and our particular agent is clueless when it comes to these people coming to the country. I was telling our agent what was going on with the J1 process rather than her helping. And our second au pair was taken very abruptly without reason and the agent just took her from our home leaving us with no one to care for our children less than 12 hours before my husband and I had to be to work. They do not care for the families and the au pairs dont either which is a shame because we were hopeful to have another family member rather than someone that comes to America for a green card. And when the reason came out, it was absolutely inaccurate and they did nothing to resolve the issue. One of the reasons was that they were overworked too, so make sure you keep a log of their hours like I did to prove that they never worked close to the full hours allowed. The agent allowed a stranger to come to our house and harass us when our au pair left which is so unacceptable and unprofessional and violated our privacy. We had to get our lawyer involved as we were so uncomfortable with the whole experience.They quickly tried to sweep the issues under the rug when they realized they were wrong.We have not been refunded as we paid a lot to get these girls to America and probably still responsible for them in some regard but the agency doesnt explain any exit liability

We are sorry to hear that your experience with this program was not what you had hoped. Many of our employees are also host parents or former cultural exchange participants and so are quite knowledgeable about the program and have a personal passion for cultural exchange. Au pairs are encouraged to make connections in the community and with other au pairs, as this is an important part of the cultural exchange experience. We understand that this is a unique program that is not the right fit for every family, and we wish you the best with your future childcare needs.

We dealt with this company almost one year.Over the period of time we had three rematches with now that I'm researching more it looks to be normal because the girls they choose are not really or don't have any idea how to deal with a child. They just put fake information hours of service back in their country and had experience dealing with their little cousins for some time. Things were to a point which we we're being to nice with the girls and enough was enough. They were sleeping in the couch while they were supposed to look out for the little ones. They were very stressed and very panicked if they had to deal with any of the kids alone for an hour if we had to go to the store. ETC.Etc.At the beginning our Directory ************************* was very sweet and ready to take new clients which is understandable. When they saw that we were not happy with their services, our last match left our house without saying anything, they charged our card for her 2 weeks hotel stay without our permission when we agreed for the girl to be at our home. Sibylla and her coworkers completely block us out of our account and did whatever charge they had to do with our card. We asked to speak with another manager because Sibylla was very rude and very disrespectful against our family. They never answered our calls and never called back. They were playing cat and mouse inside their coworkers just trying to ignore us. Completely not happy with them the way they ruining the show. Honestly feel like a scam at the end.Good luck, do your researches before choosing them cuz I personally feel bad for the new families who had to choose the girls who dealt with us.

We are very sorry to hear that you have struggled to maintain a successful match. Most host families do have successful experiences with the au pair program, welcoming their au pair as part of the family during their stay in the US. AuPairCare verifies all au pair's prior childcare experience, but we also encourage host families to ask detailed questions and communicate openly about their needs to the au pairs as they interview, as expectations are unique to every family, and childcare norms vary across cultures and nationalities. Au pairs are young people who come to the US for a live-in cultural exchange experience. As they have travelled around the world and are reliant on their host families for housing, it is required for host families to provide up to 2 weeks of housing after the match ends. Details about this policy are outlined clearly in our Host Family Agreement -- ultimately the health, safety and welfare of all of our participants is our top priority.

Au Pair Care placed an Au Pair in our home that endangered the lives of my children. She was only with us for a month and was physically removed from the house by our Area Director. She got drunk while watching our two boys on a Saturday night while my husband and I went to a wedding. We found several empty alcohol bottles under her bed. I have photos and documentation to support all of this. My children could have died under her care, she was responsible for giving my special needs son medication, as well as preventing him from wandering out of the house which he is capable of doing. Upon the exit interview with the Area Director, the au pair admitted to being drunk while watching the kids and said what is the difference between one drink or three? They were sleeping anyway. But that is not the worst part, Au Pair Care refused to refund our money AND attempted to place her in another home while listing the re-match reason as Driving skills. My family WILL NOT let this go. Au Pair Care is supposed to be a reputable company and care about the au pairs AND host families, clearly they are only concerned with money. I plan on sharing this far and wide to warn people about Au Pair Care. Shame on them!

AuPairCare cannot comment on specifics of host family and au pair placements. AuPairCare is sorry to hear that our efforts were not acceptable as we provided the full refund due as outlined in our policies and procedures.

I would like to say that this program is not a cultural exchange program but instead a slave labor program. How is it that an AuPair is expected to take care of 2 children for 45 hours a week. $195.75!!!! Thats the minimum the families are obligated to pay. I dont care if they say that room and board is included or they pay for food. I know several aupairs who have literally had to ask for food donations through ******** or social media because the families do not feed them. Some of these families take advantage of this minimum pay which if you do the math is $4 an hour, and sometimes have more than 2 children for an AuPair to take care of. Most of these aupairs end up working more than 45 hours. They are treated awful. The host families make them do tasks like housekeeping, gardening, and bathing the dogs and various other unrelated tasks. The LLCs claim they are there to protect and help the aupairs and the families. But when the time comes, they turn their backs on the aupairs and always side with the families. I mean why would they bite the hands that quite literally feed them. *********** doesnt care about immigrants. They dont care about the girls in their program. Some aupairs have been sexually assaulted and abused by the children or the host dads and the agencies choose to side with the families every time. This has to stop. You guys are heartless. Absolutely heartless. Example. An AuPair was recently assaulted by the host dad. She had proof of the incident. She threatened to tell the agency. The next day the family accused her of stealing their passports and selling them for $1 million. Even though the family has access to her accounts. They didnt file a police report on her. They just threatened her and are trying to scare her into not taking the sexually assault to the police. The agency sided with the family of course. Its absolutely ridiculous. I am waiting for the day you guys are exposed for your crimes. Dont use ***********

I am sorry to hear this impression of the au pair program. The concerns you mentioned are exactly why our team is committed to conducting monthly welfare check-ins. AuPairCare also offer 24 hour emergency support and we provide a variety of ways to alert AuPairCare and/or the **************** of issues. Our priority is the health, safety and wellbeing of au pair participants, and once we are notified of concerns, we act quickly and make sure support is provided. If you or someone you know is an au pair, I encourage you to work with the local or regional staff for support.