Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/06/2024

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  The company was fraudulent, rushed us into signing an agreement, reassured us over the phone that we would only be billed for the hours used, kept charging us 970$ a week for 7 weeks even though we used services worth 350$ for 5/7 weeks, did not send us IDs of the nannies coming in etc. I asked them to refund me 2500 for the hours we paid for and did not use but they refused and told us they would terminate our contract without charging a fee. The last few weeks have been an absolute disaster for us in terms of child care issues and although the money is not an issue, on principal I would like to make a legal case so that other families do not have to deal with this kind of fraud. 

  

  Business Response

  Date: 09/20/2024

  We always strive for our families and employees to have wonderful experiences with each other, and we are saddened that this was not possible in this case. This family reached out to us needing care within 2 weeks when their current, private nanny was leaving their employment. I had multiple phone calls over the weekend to discuss their needs and our service. Without notice, they let their nanny go early and asked us to provide care immediately that week.

  The only rushing was on the part of the family. We rarely have immediate openings for child care, and prioritized this family because of the referral from another wonderful family that works with us. Due to another family's circumstances, we had a full-time spot opening in 2 weeks. **** ***** and *** **** signed up for that spot, reviewed all documents sent to them, discussed specific details in those documents multiple times before signing the contract, and seemed to understand all aspects of working with our service.

  We did have to provide clarification to the family multiple times when they attempted to violate our contract and made our employees feel uncomfortable. They tried to circumvent our contract to directly hire our nannies, attempted to collect personal information that is not shared due to discrimination policies, and several other violations. Sharing certain employment information, like a nanny's ID that has personal information, is against our policy. All employees complete background checks, driving record checks, drug and nicotine testing, have car insurance and driver's licenses on file, complete ongoing trainings, and much more. 

  Our employees are valuable, and their input about a family matters. This family began to fixate on asking about healthy, active adults having medical conditions, such as asking if there was a medical reason that a nanny spent 15 minutes in the bathroom while the grandmother played with the child and other violating questions. When multiple nannies on our team express a desire to stop working with a family, we take that seriously. This family was given a 30 days notice of the termination of our contract with several options to help that transition, as listed in our contract. **** ***** immediately began to make threats and request a refund, despite her husband's more reasonable attempts to discuss the situation with me.

  As explained in the document sent when any family registers, sent again by myself in a follow-up email to them, and in every piece of documentation as well as verbally communicated to both parents separately and together, billing for our service is done weekly. Similar to a daycare, the weekly rate holds a family's spot with our service. This was also explained in detail because they had an upcoming vacation and were told the weekly billing would still be charged. This is also very clear in every piece of our documentations and contracts and understood by all other families that trust us with their child care. These documents are attached for the review of the BBB. I also attached our response to the Attorney General, although her complaint with the AG included even more details that are untrue. It is always disheartening to have families treat others so poorly. As detailed in our contract as well, all of our employees must be treated with respect. We advocate for our nannies and and are honored to work with families who respect our team.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 09/20/2024

  
  
  Complaint: ********
   
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  The company's responses are not based in any truth. We were reassured multiple times that after our first 2 full time weeks, our hours will be adjusted to part time rates. We were never informed of any complaints by the nannies and in fact we continued to have the same nannies continue to work with us all the way till the last week. There was no 30 day notice of termination. Multiple emails regarding billing issues were ignored and finally we got an email that due to the owner's personal circumstances, they will no longer be able to provide the service and asked us to terminate. 

  We reached out to this company to help us find a nanny we could trust to care for our 2.5-year-old. I would like to clarify that we agreed to start with Nanny Needs to “try out and find our favorite nanny”, as ******** ********* had portrayed to *** **** and myself. We had clarified to the company from the beginning that we would use the service full time for 2 weeks (July 29 – Aug 9th) while *** ****’s parents were out of town and then part time thereafter until October 20th (since *** ****’s parents are in town until then). We asked them to start part time in the week of July 22nd so we could try out a few nannies before picking a favorite for the two full time weeks. We had agreed in the beginning that we would only be using full-time care for 2 weeks and part-time thereafter. The 60-day rule could not have applied to us since we had agreed to this at the time of signing the ********.
  
  The complaint regarding the company being fraudulent is based on the fraudulent billing for services not provided. That is what this would be termed in my world (if physicians bill for services not provided, that is considered billing fraud). While the enrollment form has us enrolled for full time, I had messaged ******** ********* on Sunday (July 21st) before signing my ******** contract to clarify billing (please see text message conversation evidence). Over the phone, she had reassured me that we would be billed for the hours we will be provided service for. After receiving the first week’s bill, we texted her again (see evidence attached) regarding while we had been billed the full amount even though we had only gotten service for 29 hours. She responded back saying “We had originally signed you up for full time care.. you can expect to be charged for the exact hours of care. I can also adjust the hours for next week”. We were reassured on multiple phone calls that our rate will be adjusted based on the hours we will be using. As had been previously agreed upon, we went down to part time hours of 12 hours per week Aug 12th onwards, but as you can see in the receipts, we were still charged the full amount. We spoke over the phone with ******** ********* again on Aug 10th regarding the park incident (detailed below) as well as the billing concerns. She again reassured us that she would drop our rate to the part-time rate. She then unfortunately had a family emergency and could not respond to any of our texts or emails for the next few weeks. We kept getting billed the full amount of $970 for the subsequent 4 weeks while we were only using care for 12 hours (worth $350 based on their rates). We finally got an email from her on September 5th that they could no longer provide us the part time service and that left us with no option but to terminate. Since the termination was due to their own inability to provide the service, we expectedly did not have to pay termination charges. We maintain our complaint towards Nanny Needs regarding fraudulent billing because we were never told that we would be paying for full-time rates despite only using part time hours (12 hours per week). I apologize the error in misquoting the total amount paid (I wrote $6,790 instead of $6,585). The true services were only provided for 2 full weeks and 4 part time weeks, amounting for a total worth of $4,105 based on the rates (765+970+970+350 x 4). As such, we demand a refund of $2,480.
  
  Due to the failure of the company providing us with valid driver’s licenses or background checks (which we never knew was the company policy when we signed and was the major reason we decided not to move forward with them full time. This should have been clarified before we signed the contract. We have hired multiple nannies in the past and hiring without looking at their resumes was not something we expected before we signed the contract. We are appalled that a nanny company can do that since these people are driving our children). For this reason, we never felt comfortable leaving our child alone with any of the nannies, particularly driving her to her classes and parks etc. As such, we asked my mother (maternal grandmother) to fly in from Boston for the weeks of July 29th to Aug 9th) to be around while *** **** and I worked. During this week, one of the nannies drove our child to a park (********) when we had clearly instructed her to take her to *** ****** ****. Maternal grandmother was in the car, but she is from Boston, and it was her second day in the city and did not know the location. She called us to let us know that they were at ******** park. We had to call the nanny and make sure they went to the current location.
  
  I would now like to address the other minor issues. The ******** calls with the nannies were so I could meet them virtually since I work long hours (7 am to 6 pm) as a physician and was not able to meet them in person. ******** never reached out to us regarding any complaints from any of the nannies, and all those allegations in her letter “despite numerous texts, emails, phone calls” are false and I would like to see the company provide evidence for them. One of the nannies was not able to pick up my child and told grandmother she had back issues. We naturally had concerns about this person caring for our active 2.5-year-old. Another nanny was very jittery when she showed up one morning and had to sit down for some time before she could do anything, we naturally were concerned about her driving our child by herself when grandparents will not be around to help. We had no driver license or background checks or any objective data regarding any of the nannies that were coming to our house and driving our toddler. Regarding the complaint about the messy car, it was not the car seat but the entire car that was covered with dust and crumbs. When we are paying so much, we expect the agency to provide a clean mode of transportation for our child.
  
  I have been very disappointed by Nanny Needs and their service. Our family has had to deal with a lot of financial and emotional stress in the few weeks that we had to deal with this agency.  We did not feel that our child was safely and well cared for and we felt that the owner was not honest with us and did not address our concerns and continues to deny our complaints. 

  
  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  
  
  **** *****

  

  Business Response

  Date: 01/24/2025

  We require all families to treat our team of nannies with respect and dignity. Our expectations and model are clear in every piece of documentation provided and agreed upon between Nanny Needs and our families. It is our first response to reiterate those expectations to families. In the very rare cases when a family is continually demeaning, belittling and otherwise disrespectful to our team, we follow the terms of our contract to terminate with a family. In this particular case, the family chose to discontinue care with no penalty, which was also most beneficial to our team of nannies. Household employees should be respected and treated with dignity, and we will always require that of each family who works with Nanny Needs. In return, families can rely on our highly screened team of nannies to provide more consistent and simple care than is available with private nannies.