On September 5th, the [redacted] family filed a claim in the small claims court of Nebraska Four days later on September 9th, the [redacted] family filed their Revdex.com complaint Therefore the Revdex.com is not the first nor the only way they have sought resolution and, in fact, the Revdex.com complaint was made after already filing in the local court We did not receive notice of the court filing until after the Revdex.com complaint communication was already in process
We regret that this family has had such a frustrating experience While we do not agree with the claims being made in the complaint, we are more than happy to have a member of our management team reach out to discuss their experiences further A contractual refund was issued on 10/and sent to the family A manager will be reaching out in the next business day to discuss their concerns and while the refund per the signed host family agreement has been issued and an exception is not guaranteed, we will certainly review their experiences and make a determination after that discussion
We regret the family’s frustration; however we have clarified as recently as 7/2/that no refund is due While initially checking the account it was believed that a refund may be due, however, upon further review of the amount of time used on this program term (over months), the family exceeded the amount which would render a refund possible per the host family agreement
We regret the [redacted] family's frustration and believe that a phone call with Vice President [redacted] will clarify some confusion regarding concerns about the extent of the au pair's pet care responsibilities It is important to note that the policies with respect to care of family pets has not changed, there were some concerns that were brought forth which required some further discussion before moving forward The [redacted] family withdrew from the program and, as such, were subject to the refund policy The refund policy is clearly stated in the host family agreement signed by the family prior to placement of an au pair Ms [redacted] will be happy to discuss the refund with the [redacted] family and while a full refund will not be possible, the experiences that the family has had will certainly be taken into consideration should there be any exception possible Ms [redacted] will be reaching to the [redacted] family shortly in order to confirm a time for this conversation
The safety and well being of all program participants is extremely important and we are very sorry for any injuries that have occurred This au pair was one week shy of completing her term with this host family and while the circumstances of the final days together are unfortunate, a full refund of their term is not due This was explained to the host mother by her Program Director at the time that the au pair was removed from the home
Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # [redacted] Please add your rejection comments below Unfortunately, Cultural Care's response is unacceptable They can dispute the timeline of when an au pair arrived versus the time she transition all they want, but the reality here is that we paid for a service that we never received We were left without childcare - the essence of your program and therefore does not warrant the organization not refunding of the balance This organization clearly has enough negative reviews and press online that they've covered all basis on how to scam families like mine, but the bottom line here is that you have not provided me with any childcare nor have you justified your calculations as to why the $3,is not being returned This has now become a matter of ethics as your company is conducting this business in an extremely unethical manner How can any organzation logically expect a working family to wait weeks for international childcare and not be able to provide alternate domestic care in the interim? It is unreasonable for you ask that I wait an additional weeks for another au pair that could potentially be as bad as the first since it was clear she was not properly screened Furthermore, I have attached documentation demonstrating my desperate attempt to find another au pair in your database and OVER infant qualified candidates expressed their desire to remain on the west coast or that they did NOT want to care for an infant It is NOT my fault you do not have a candidate to replace the poorly screened candidate you originally sent and now you do not have anyone to replace her even though we were 100% willing to be rematched If you do not have the service you have sold, then how can you justify keeping the funds that were paid? This is immoral and NOT the way a business conducts themselves The manner in which you conduct your business is horrific and unethical I have reached out to other families who have had the same thing happen to them and it is outrageous that Cultural Care is still able to conduct themselves in this manner More importantly, the fact that you simple respond to a Revdex.com complaint should NOT warrant the rating you have been given as this organization is in the business of taking money from familes - money that rightfully yours This seriously needs to be investigated! You have NOT provided the service you advertised and as a result you should ethically return the money that was paid!!! We are still without childcare so how can you say you've provided a service? Regards, [redacted] ***
The [redacted] family accepted [redacted] *ose as their au pair in early FebruaryMs [redacted] was aware prior to her arrival that she would not have a car to use at the [redacted] ’s home, however after living with the [redacted] family for a while she began to feel isolated and decided she wanted to move to a family where she would have use of a carOn March 22, Local Childcare Consultant [redacted] *artnett contacted the [redacted] family to arrange for a meeting with them and Ms [redacted] regarding Ms***’s requested departure, and [redacted] said he refused to meet, that he was recording the call and would seek legal action against Ms [redacted] and Cultural CareMs [redacted] left the home the following day, and on April 4th Cultural Care processed a contractual refund for the [redacted] familyCultural Care understands that the [redacted] family was disappointed in Ms***’s decision to leave, however there were no serious concerns raised by the family or au pair during their time togetherMs [redacted] did not misrepresent herself on her application; rather she changed her mind and decided that she did want access to a car during her year in the U.SThe [redacted] family chose not to meet with Ms [redacted] to discuss Ms***’s departure, and Cultural Care subsequently processed the refund that was due to them according to their contractWe wish the [redacted] family the best in finding childcare that suits their family’s needs, however, no further payment is due
We appreciate the concerns expressed by this host family and feel it's important to take this opportunity to respond First, with regard to the family's request for outreach, we will certainly have a member of our senior management team contact the family to discuss their concernsTheir former au pair recognizes that she made an inappropriate choice regarding a [redacted] posting and has since removed it The family has continued to express concerns and alleged that the au pair is harassing them and we do not believe that this is the case, however, we have encouraged them to contact their local authorities to file any reports they feel are necessary The former au pair received an overdue notice from the library and she contacted the library to resolve this issue as she no longer lived in the area The family was made aware of this as well but this was referenced as an example of her "inappropriate" behavior after leaving the home Additionally, the family has claimed that they were solicited by Johavah's Witnesses at their home and allege that this was linked to their former au pair The former au pair is not affiliated with this group and is adamant that this is in no way connected to her In fact, she claims they made a similar attempt previously when she did live there and she told them she was not interested Lastly, the family was informed by the Department of State directly that the nature of the concerns they expressed were to be addressed with their program sponsorThis was not a message communicated by our organization We look forward to the opportunity to speak with the family and hopefully clear up some of these misunderstandings While we are not able to grant all of the specific demands detailed in the family's request, we remain hopeful that a conversation will prove to be helpful
This family continues to express their frustrations and we do not feel it is in the best interest of all involved at this time to continue to refute all of their claims The bottom line is that we do not nor can we block any family from contacting the State Department at any time This program is highly regulated and has been for nearly years, the suggestion that we are self-regulated is simply not true We continue to wish this family the best and hope that they will find closure as they move forward Despite our efforts, we have been unable to resolve their outstanding concerns and while this is unfortunate, we appreciate that there are some matters upon which we have differing perspectives
Please reopen complaint # [redacted] We don't accept that the company still refuses to refund us for services not used, car damages incurred during unauthorized us of car that we were not allowed to withhold and other damages incurred due to them recommending our hiring [redacted] when they knew she had car accidents, stole from and lied to previous host family and violated her j- [redacted] when with the prior host family in DenverAdditionally the last response from cultural care was insulting when they sad we had agreed to their terms and they were disappointed that we continue our fight for fair business treatment of a refund for services not provided and we have been denied access to receivingAdditionally they are now requiring that we hire and pay an attorney[redacted] ***
The response to my complaint is rejected due to multiple reasonsThere is no such mandate by the federal government stating the stipend is required to paid on any specific dateThe federal government determines the weekly ratePrior to starting a bi-weekly payment arrangement I called cultural care customer service and I spoke with [redacted] , my the LCC- current program director about itWe were told as long as the appropriate dollar amount was paid and the Au pair was in agreement with the schedule this was NO problemOur family also disclosed this in every interview we had (with the LCC) prior to our Au pairs being welcomed into our homeWe have paid all four of our Au pairs this way and it has NEVER been as issueBeing that Cultural Care is the only party involved that would make a profit and that we are aware there is additional monetary bonus paid to the LCC it is very clear that this misrepresentation was made intentionallyStating that there has been an ongoing balance with you agency is also a "smoke in mirrors" attempt at skewing informationBeing that we were on an extended payment plan it is expected that we have a balanceI did not make the last payment knowing we were no longer going to be in the program and that we would not be eligible for refundThere was an issue with CULTURAL CARES book keeping with how the credits were applied which made my account balance much higher and that was handled with the Cultural Cares account managers and is no reflection of the reasons our family left the programIn addition - the up front information we provided during the exit interview was omitted when introducing [redacted] to the new familyI never stated I felt that she did not belong in the program however a company that is in the business of providing child care should never be so callous and fail to provide full disclosure to potential familiesRegarding the Au pair that used poor language and was violent- It was disclosed that he was violent being as though he threw uncooked meat while yelling and swearing at [redacted] This is not simply "poor language"Simply providing a phone number to prospective families is not enough when your introduction of a family is so skewedThe [redacted] Family read ***s introduction as her being a great Au pair and our family being dead beat and leaving the program because we were broke- just as Cultural Care wanted it to be read in order to continue making moneyTo stand behind a practice that misrepresents the Au pairs, families, and relevant circumstances is simply a disservice to trusting familiesI am in no way further effected by this however these practices have caused much issue in our household and having to go into transition multiple timesThe training that the Au pairs receive and information and message they get on what the program is from Cultural Care, is much different than when the family is told to expect Regards, [redacted]
Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # [redacted] I'm sorry, but the response from the business simply is not accurate, and seems to again be designed to be deceptive, as was their letter with the refund check which stated that withdrawal from the program was our choiceTheir response mentions a pattern of behavior on our part and approach to hosting that led to lack of completion of full terms - we can only surmise that the "pattern" they talk about is that we refuse to put up with Au Pairs who are not adequate for our needsWe have had several wonderful Au Pairs, including term completions and even extensions into 2nd terms, so clearly with proper support from the agency and the right fit things work just fineHowever this agency is very lazy, prefers to take the side of Au Pairs in most disagreements (not surprising, they have former Au Pairs on their staff), and is apparently upset when a host family says "send this Au Pair to rematch, they are not working out" There was an incident with a previous Au Pair, where that Au Pair violated work rules and then claimed we made her violate the rules -- we made it clear that we did not make her violate the rules, the violations were minor incidents (such as she threw our laundry in with the kids laundry to wash, and framing the situation as we forced her to do our laundry, or when we were 15-minutes late getting home from dinner on a couple of occasions the Au Pair complained we had her work more hours that she was supposed to)It should be known that this Au Pair has a cousin who works for the business, and was pretty obviously coached on how to setup a host family for future complaints by that cousin, which was then used against usWe agreed to take unusual steps with future Au Pairs, such as explicitly telling them that they should not do any work for "us" the parents, only for the kids -- in fact when we fired the Au Pair with this refund in question, the agency specifically stated over the phone that we "did nothing wrong, no violations of work duties" but that they thought we were too picky and expecting too much from an Au PairThe business response tries to frame the situation as us violating work procedures, when that's simply not the case; the agency just wants to be rid of us because we won't put up with Au Pairs who can't drive well, or who are lazy and don't do the work they should, or who won't get off their mobile phones and focus on the kidsIn short, the agency feels we are too high maintenance for them, and if they decide to decline service then they owe us a refund of the full amount that we could otherwise use on a replacement Au PairThe business further frames the refund issue as if they explained it and I agreed, when that is not the caseI have maintained all along that we prefer to stay in program, but that if they don't want us then they need to provide a full refundIn fact, when they sent their refund explanation email and breakdown prior to mailing the check, I responded in email that they need to do better than their partial refundI never received a return email reply, instead the next thing we know we receive a check in the mail (for the reduced refund) and the letter saying they were sorry we withdrew from the programI'd be happy to discuss with any business representative, and did get a call from them after 6:pm last night - and then they posted their response this morning before 6:am, without waiting to hear back from meHowever, I remain willing to talk to them about the issue, but our stance remains very either follow through and provide the service (a replacement Au Pair for the balance of the Au Pair contract term), or refund us the prorated amount we would normally have to apply towards that service and not simply the punitive partial refund of about half what we should be gettingWe violated no rules or agreements with this Au Pair and the year term in question, so we should not be penalized due to laziness of the business Regards, John ***
Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does satisfy my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # [redacted] I understand that by choosing to accept the business response that my complaint will be closed as resolved Regards, [redacted]
Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # [redacted] For clarification purposes, our family is in fact due to a contractual refundThere is no exception made by the program as they are trying to make it sound Please note that the contract stipulates a refund of only 60% of the amount we paid in advance for services We are NOT even asking for a 100% refund (In Cultural Care, if you are dissatisfied you don't get your money back; you get 60% of it and you need to sign that before you can hire an AuPair) But that is not the argument we are making Please see below the email that we, as customers, sent to the Program Director of Cultural Care, where the numbers are spelled outAll of these numbers and emails are all verifiable as we have written proof of the invoices and receipts from the program They never replied to this email.However, several interesting points are noticeable from the response that Cultural Care has provided to Revdex.com: As it is evident in their response, they are more focused in adopting a defensive position by stating that the timeline of events as described in our complaint is "incorrect" rather than proactively trying to offer a loyal customer (our family has been a customer since 2012) a solution that acknowledges their mistake and satisfy the client, which is the basics of all customer service This is of no surprise as we have had several interactions with the program management and have had answers similar to the ones that they just wrote down to Revdex.com They state in their answer: "While it is correct that at one point there was a temporary error on their account reflecting an incorrect credit, this was fixed proactively and was not a factor in the calculation of their refund." Of course it was fixed proactively and it was not a factor in the calculation because it was on their favor! They had generated an invoice crediting us for a wrong amount of money and, when we, as family, brought it up to their attention, they "corrected" it immediately by decreasing the credit and never offering any sort of financial amendment in our favor!Even though we are contractually due for refund , they asked us to sign "special release" because they presented our refund as a "special agreement" - (this is the paperwork that they refer to in their paragraph) In other words, we were told that they would not process our refund until we signed a form that prevent the customer from any future attempts of litigation against them This obviously speaks of their legal vulnerability Can you imagine going to a coffee shop and been handed a "special release" to sign when you are dissatisfied with their product so you don't sue them latter on? The manager of such a company would do anything within power not to lose a loyal customer instead of clearly admitting fear of litigation by handing them a paper to sign!However, at this point, and because we are frustrated beyond words to continue with this back and forth, we would be even willing to sign that "special release" form, only if Cultural Care were to admit and acknowledge that this is, in fact, their mistake In addition, we expect some sort of responsibility for their mistake by at least writing a satisfactory apology to our family for being mistreated by management miss handling this situation.The email mentioned above reads as follows:"Our family does not need to sign a general release form since this is not "a special agreement outside of the contract" We are,in fact, contractually due to refund - please see below It seems that Cultural Care made yet another error in the calculations as per your email which is copied and pasted below, followed by the necessary corrections.You wrote in prior email that the breakdown is as follows:"Four payments of $300, $2545.70, $$1000, for a total of $Plus your accurate credit from XXXXX (prior's AuPair) term of $1,Plus a credit of Total paid toward Program Fee: $4, Please note, that in order to be eligible for a contractual refund you have to pay a minimum of $4,995, in which you did not meetIn essence, you are not due a contractual refund, however, we agreed to honor the $so you would meet your contractual refund."Please note corrections:- First payment : $ 300- Second payment: $ (not as you typed)- Third payment : $ 1000- Forth payment: $ 1000- Credit from prior term: $ + $ = $ 1349.10Therefore:+ + + + = 5, (which exceeds the minimum of $4,to be eligible for refund).Given the above, the following conclusions are made:We are contractually eligible for a refund and therefore no need to sign any general releaseCultural care is not helping us reach eligibility for refund because we exceeded the minimum amount for refund, per contract However, to facilitate your calculations and to clear out any confusion, we made another payment of $dollars (in addition to the above payments)Cultural Care has not yet taken any financial responsibility for generating an invoice stating that we had a credit from prior term in the amount of $ , and then changing this credit to $a few days ago" Regards, [redacted]
We unfortunately disagree with this description and conclusion regarding the events that transpired and the characterization of the actions of our organization During the last conversation between your family and our organization, you confirmed your understanding that no further refund would be due and also confirmed that we should anticipate follow up from legal counsel We will await this outreach and respond accordingly
In an effort to come to a more amicable conclusion, we will readjust the refund offered to the family based on program weeks used, therefore increasing the offer by weeks at the full rate We will have the family's Program Director reach out to provide an overview of the adjusted offer for the family to review Again, while no contractual refund is due, we appreciate the frustration on the part of the family and hope that this will help to bring closure to this situation for all involved
Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # [redacted] Please add your rejection comments below When reviewing this company, it’s really hard to know where to startI guess I”ll start with DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY! If you are reading this and have not made your decision, you have been warnedI wish I would have come here first and read some of the reviews, which are very similar to the experience we had as wellWhile I could write for some time regarding my experience, I’ll try to stick to some highlights to keep it simpleTo start, from the company to the au pairs, this company breeds a culture of liesI put this first as while they see it as a minor nuisance, it is critical to have trust as your child/children’s well being is on the line hereThey are not only accepted, but expectedOne of our local contacts (we had two) told us when we brought it to her attention that our au pair basically lies all the time, she just said that the girls don’t want to go home if they do something wrong, so you can expect liesThe lies ranged from crashing our car to the tune of just under $3,(she just said it wasn’t me even though she had the car in her possession the whole time), to making noises as to pretend she was interacting with my child while she was texting, to hiding her phone at times when she wasn’t suppose to be using it, breaking many of the agreed upon house rules, you name itCultural Care even caught her in a lie themselves (as it’s hard to prove lies, I get that) and they simply said they talked to her about it after the split and it was a learning experience for herS..we told them she lied, they personally caught her later lying, and pretended that this was an isolated incidentAs other’s have stated, the lying comes from within the organization as wellThey were not truthful in the transition of the former au pair and what really happenedI’m guessing this is due to 1) They just want to make money by replacing her 2) Many of people working at Culture Care are former au pairs, and generally side with them regardlessThey lied as to why the person was no longer in the home, telling people who were interested in her transitioning that we were not open to callsWe were happy to speak to any families and let them know our experienceWe did not feel like we had true representationYes, there is someone you can callThat being said, we did not feel represented in any form or fashionThis of course is so important as there are going to be issues that do come up over time and without a champion of your cause, your only recourse is to transition all while Culture Care keeps your moneyThey have another girl they can place again into a new home and they do all the can to rush you into picking a new one to keep you as a clientAlso, we had two au pairs over a 8-month periodThe screening they do is very inadequate and both of the au pairs actually told us this was wellThe first one basically said after a week that she simply didn’t want to do childcare anymoreWhile that wasn’t great for our circumstances but at least truthfulThat being said, she thank us, said we were amazing to her and told this to the Cultural Care team, and said that if there was no child care involved, she’d want to stay with us and be our friendsWOWThe second one stated it felt like a jobWhile we want to be a family as much as we can, looking after our child is a job to a certain degreeThere’s no way around thatI believe the exceptions are not set up from the beginning between Culture Care and the au pairsThey expect an experience more like a vacation and yes, we asked the hard questions in the interview but found out later they will say anything just to come to the statesUltimately, the company fails in many waysThe screening is inadequate, the expectations they set up don’t seem to be in line between the families and the au pairs, the lying cultural they simply turn a blind eye to are just a few thingsOverall, it was a miserable experienceAs I stated before, DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY! A complete refund Regards, [redacted]
Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # [redacted] Cultural Care is clearly a business of liarsIt doesn’t matter if the au pair’s references were confirmed, the au pair could have had her friends give her a reference by lying and saying she worked for themRegardless, my child was placed in a life-threatening situation because of the au pair, and Cultural Care validated those claims by taking away her ability to care for infantsCultural Care claims that I chose to have her continue to work and live with us after the very first week when we realized that she was incompetent, did not understand, and could not care for my children, however, they mandated that we had to continue to try to work with herWe never ever left the children alone with her and she did essentially nothingWe would have had her leave in less than a week if we could haveAlso, I, the host mom was not “in the room,” when these events occuredThank goodness I happened to walk in to witness these events as they were happening, or my children could be deadCultural Care clearly does not care about children, or putting them in dangerCultural Care did not properly screen this au pair and misrepresented this au pairNot giving us back our money after this nightmare and stating what happened “wasn’t so bad” is an egregious offenseThey should be ashamed of themselves and people should be warned about them in the future Regards, [redacted]
Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # [redacted] Please add your rejection comments below I have responded back to the business regarding their most recent message and I am awaiting a reply Regards, [redacted]
Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # [redacted] Please add your rejection comments below As stated by Ms [redacted] this morning (6/9/15), Cultural Care is unwilling to fully reimburse us for services not provided Here are the facts:1) Cultural Care did not perform any due diligence on the au pair they placed with our family This is one of the services we paid the company to do on our behalf This au pair is an admitted bigot and racist and has signed her name to statements as such Further, Cultural Care knew of this au pair's views towards Jews and Blacks (not necessarily African-Americans) and placed this au pair with our family anyway One of Cultural Care's representatives, [redacted] was a witness to these statements by the au pair that she did not want to be with a Jewish Family and told Cultural Care this during her initial application process [redacted] has already corroborated these statements to Cultural Care.2) Cultural Care failed to perform any due diligence on our family In our December application to be a host family, we explained in great detail that the au pair would have daily duties related to our dogs - such as walking our dogs on a daily basis We were very transparent of this need in our application and Cultural Care knowingly approved our application based-upon these facts.3) The au pair they placed with our family quit in May 2015, in-writing, on her own volition We did not terminate her employment.4) In searching for a replacement au pair, we were told by several Cultural Care representatives that we are no longer permitted to assign hours towards caring for our dogs to the next au pair We were told that the hour per week schedule could only be assigned towards taking care of our kids This was contrary to our application (as stated above) and so we had no choice but to leave the program As stated in our application, we needed help with both the kids and the dogs As such, we were forced to leave the program as the program was no longer suitable to our needs Again, Cultural Care approved our application based upon our needs and now refuses to give us a 100% refund on our prepaid balance Regards, [redacted]
On September 5th, the [redacted] family filed a claim in the small claims court of Nebraska Four days later on September 9th, the [redacted] family filed their Revdex.com complaint Therefore the Revdex.com is not the first nor the only way they have sought resolution and, in fact, the Revdex.com complaint was made after already filing in the local court We did not receive notice of the court filing until after the Revdex.com complaint communication was already in process
We regret that this family has had such a frustrating experience While we do not agree with the claims being made in the complaint, we are more than happy to have a member of our management team reach out to discuss their experiences further A contractual refund was issued on 10/and sent to the family A manager will be reaching out in the next business day to discuss their concerns and while the refund per the signed host family agreement has been issued and an exception is not guaranteed, we will certainly review their experiences and make a determination after that discussion
We regret the family’s frustration; however we have clarified as recently as 7/2/that no refund is due While initially checking the account it was believed that a refund may be due, however, upon further review of the amount of time used on this program term (over months), the family exceeded the amount which would render a refund possible per the host family agreement
We regret the [redacted] family's frustration and believe that a phone call with Vice President [redacted] will clarify some confusion regarding concerns about the extent of the au pair's pet care responsibilities It is important to note that the policies with respect to care of family pets has not changed, there were some concerns that were brought forth which required some further discussion before moving forward The [redacted] family withdrew from the program and, as such, were subject to the refund policy The refund policy is clearly stated in the host family agreement signed by the family prior to placement of an au pair Ms [redacted] will be happy to discuss the refund with the [redacted] family and while a full refund will not be possible, the experiences that the family has had will certainly be taken into consideration should there be any exception possible Ms [redacted] will be reaching to the [redacted] family shortly in order to confirm a time for this conversation
The safety and well being of all program participants is extremely important and we are very sorry for any injuries that have occurred This au pair was one week shy of completing her term with this host family and while the circumstances of the final days together are unfortunate, a full refund of their term is not due This was explained to the host mother by her Program Director at the time that the au pair was removed from the home
Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # [redacted] Please add your rejection comments below Unfortunately, Cultural Care's response is unacceptable They can dispute the timeline of when an au pair arrived versus the time she transition all they want, but the reality here is that we paid for a service that we never received We were left without childcare - the essence of your program and therefore does not warrant the organization not refunding of the balance This organization clearly has enough negative reviews and press online that they've covered all basis on how to scam families like mine, but the bottom line here is that you have not provided me with any childcare nor have you justified your calculations as to why the $3,is not being returned This has now become a matter of ethics as your company is conducting this business in an extremely unethical manner How can any organzation logically expect a working family to wait weeks for international childcare and not be able to provide alternate domestic care in the interim? It is unreasonable for you ask that I wait an additional weeks for another au pair that could potentially be as bad as the first since it was clear she was not properly screened Furthermore, I have attached documentation demonstrating my desperate attempt to find another au pair in your database and OVER infant qualified candidates expressed their desire to remain on the west coast or that they did NOT want to care for an infant It is NOT my fault you do not have a candidate to replace the poorly screened candidate you originally sent and now you do not have anyone to replace her even though we were 100% willing to be rematched If you do not have the service you have sold, then how can you justify keeping the funds that were paid? This is immoral and NOT the way a business conducts themselves The manner in which you conduct your business is horrific and unethical I have reached out to other families who have had the same thing happen to them and it is outrageous that Cultural Care is still able to conduct themselves in this manner More importantly, the fact that you simple respond to a Revdex.com complaint should NOT warrant the rating you have been given as this organization is in the business of taking money from familes - money that rightfully yours This seriously needs to be investigated! You have NOT provided the service you advertised and as a result you should ethically return the money that was paid!!! We are still without childcare so how can you say you've provided a service? Regards, [redacted] ***
The [redacted] family accepted [redacted] *ose as their au pair in early FebruaryMs [redacted] was aware prior to her arrival that she would not have a car to use at the [redacted] ’s home, however after living with the [redacted] family for a while she began to feel isolated and decided she wanted to move to a family where she would have use of a carOn March 22, Local Childcare Consultant [redacted] *artnett contacted the [redacted] family to arrange for a meeting with them and Ms [redacted] regarding Ms***’s requested departure, and [redacted] said he refused to meet, that he was recording the call and would seek legal action against Ms [redacted] and Cultural CareMs [redacted] left the home the following day, and on April 4th Cultural Care processed a contractual refund for the [redacted] familyCultural Care understands that the [redacted] family was disappointed in Ms***’s decision to leave, however there were no serious concerns raised by the family or au pair during their time togetherMs [redacted] did not misrepresent herself on her application; rather she changed her mind and decided that she did want access to a car during her year in the U.SThe [redacted] family chose not to meet with Ms [redacted] to discuss Ms***’s departure, and Cultural Care subsequently processed the refund that was due to them according to their contractWe wish the [redacted] family the best in finding childcare that suits their family’s needs, however, no further payment is due
We appreciate the concerns expressed by this host family and feel it's important to take this opportunity to respond First, with regard to the family's request for outreach, we will certainly have a member of our senior management team contact the family to discuss their concernsTheir former au pair recognizes that she made an inappropriate choice regarding a [redacted] posting and has since removed it The family has continued to express concerns and alleged that the au pair is harassing them and we do not believe that this is the case, however, we have encouraged them to contact their local authorities to file any reports they feel are necessary The former au pair received an overdue notice from the library and she contacted the library to resolve this issue as she no longer lived in the area The family was made aware of this as well but this was referenced as an example of her "inappropriate" behavior after leaving the home Additionally, the family has claimed that they were solicited by Johavah's Witnesses at their home and allege that this was linked to their former au pair The former au pair is not affiliated with this group and is adamant that this is in no way connected to her In fact, she claims they made a similar attempt previously when she did live there and she told them she was not interested Lastly, the family was informed by the Department of State directly that the nature of the concerns they expressed were to be addressed with their program sponsorThis was not a message communicated by our organization We look forward to the opportunity to speak with the family and hopefully clear up some of these misunderstandings While we are not able to grant all of the specific demands detailed in the family's request, we remain hopeful that a conversation will prove to be helpful
This family continues to express their frustrations and we do not feel it is in the best interest of all involved at this time to continue to refute all of their claims The bottom line is that we do not nor can we block any family from contacting the State Department at any time This program is highly regulated and has been for nearly years, the suggestion that we are self-regulated is simply not true We continue to wish this family the best and hope that they will find closure as they move forward Despite our efforts, we have been unable to resolve their outstanding concerns and while this is unfortunate, we appreciate that there are some matters upon which we have differing perspectives
Please reopen complaint # [redacted] We don't accept that the company still refuses to refund us for services not used, car damages incurred during unauthorized us of car that we were not allowed to withhold and other damages incurred due to them recommending our hiring [redacted] when they knew she had car accidents, stole from and lied to previous host family and violated her j- [redacted] when with the prior host family in DenverAdditionally the last response from cultural care was insulting when they sad we had agreed to their terms and they were disappointed that we continue our fight for fair business treatment of a refund for services not provided and we have been denied access to receivingAdditionally they are now requiring that we hire and pay an attorney[redacted] ***
The response to my complaint is rejected due to multiple reasonsThere is no such mandate by the federal government stating the stipend is required to paid on any specific dateThe federal government determines the weekly ratePrior to starting a bi-weekly payment arrangement I called cultural care customer service and I spoke with [redacted] , my the LCC- current program director about itWe were told as long as the appropriate dollar amount was paid and the Au pair was in agreement with the schedule this was NO problemOur family also disclosed this in every interview we had (with the LCC) prior to our Au pairs being welcomed into our homeWe have paid all four of our Au pairs this way and it has NEVER been as issueBeing that Cultural Care is the only party involved that would make a profit and that we are aware there is additional monetary bonus paid to the LCC it is very clear that this misrepresentation was made intentionallyStating that there has been an ongoing balance with you agency is also a "smoke in mirrors" attempt at skewing informationBeing that we were on an extended payment plan it is expected that we have a balanceI did not make the last payment knowing we were no longer going to be in the program and that we would not be eligible for refundThere was an issue with CULTURAL CARES book keeping with how the credits were applied which made my account balance much higher and that was handled with the Cultural Cares account managers and is no reflection of the reasons our family left the programIn addition - the up front information we provided during the exit interview was omitted when introducing [redacted] to the new familyI never stated I felt that she did not belong in the program however a company that is in the business of providing child care should never be so callous and fail to provide full disclosure to potential familiesRegarding the Au pair that used poor language and was violent- It was disclosed that he was violent being as though he threw uncooked meat while yelling and swearing at [redacted] This is not simply "poor language"Simply providing a phone number to prospective families is not enough when your introduction of a family is so skewedThe [redacted] Family read ***s introduction as her being a great Au pair and our family being dead beat and leaving the program because we were broke- just as Cultural Care wanted it to be read in order to continue making moneyTo stand behind a practice that misrepresents the Au pairs, families, and relevant circumstances is simply a disservice to trusting familiesI am in no way further effected by this however these practices have caused much issue in our household and having to go into transition multiple timesThe training that the Au pairs receive and information and message they get on what the program is from Cultural Care, is much different than when the family is told to expect Regards, [redacted]
Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # [redacted] I'm sorry, but the response from the business simply is not accurate, and seems to again be designed to be deceptive, as was their letter with the refund check which stated that withdrawal from the program was our choiceTheir response mentions a pattern of behavior on our part and approach to hosting that led to lack of completion of full terms - we can only surmise that the "pattern" they talk about is that we refuse to put up with Au Pairs who are not adequate for our needsWe have had several wonderful Au Pairs, including term completions and even extensions into 2nd terms, so clearly with proper support from the agency and the right fit things work just fineHowever this agency is very lazy, prefers to take the side of Au Pairs in most disagreements (not surprising, they have former Au Pairs on their staff), and is apparently upset when a host family says "send this Au Pair to rematch, they are not working out" There was an incident with a previous Au Pair, where that Au Pair violated work rules and then claimed we made her violate the rules -- we made it clear that we did not make her violate the rules, the violations were minor incidents (such as she threw our laundry in with the kids laundry to wash, and framing the situation as we forced her to do our laundry, or when we were 15-minutes late getting home from dinner on a couple of occasions the Au Pair complained we had her work more hours that she was supposed to)It should be known that this Au Pair has a cousin who works for the business, and was pretty obviously coached on how to setup a host family for future complaints by that cousin, which was then used against usWe agreed to take unusual steps with future Au Pairs, such as explicitly telling them that they should not do any work for "us" the parents, only for the kids -- in fact when we fired the Au Pair with this refund in question, the agency specifically stated over the phone that we "did nothing wrong, no violations of work duties" but that they thought we were too picky and expecting too much from an Au PairThe business response tries to frame the situation as us violating work procedures, when that's simply not the case; the agency just wants to be rid of us because we won't put up with Au Pairs who can't drive well, or who are lazy and don't do the work they should, or who won't get off their mobile phones and focus on the kidsIn short, the agency feels we are too high maintenance for them, and if they decide to decline service then they owe us a refund of the full amount that we could otherwise use on a replacement Au PairThe business further frames the refund issue as if they explained it and I agreed, when that is not the caseI have maintained all along that we prefer to stay in program, but that if they don't want us then they need to provide a full refundIn fact, when they sent their refund explanation email and breakdown prior to mailing the check, I responded in email that they need to do better than their partial refundI never received a return email reply, instead the next thing we know we receive a check in the mail (for the reduced refund) and the letter saying they were sorry we withdrew from the programI'd be happy to discuss with any business representative, and did get a call from them after 6:pm last night - and then they posted their response this morning before 6:am, without waiting to hear back from meHowever, I remain willing to talk to them about the issue, but our stance remains very either follow through and provide the service (a replacement Au Pair for the balance of the Au Pair contract term), or refund us the prorated amount we would normally have to apply towards that service and not simply the punitive partial refund of about half what we should be gettingWe violated no rules or agreements with this Au Pair and the year term in question, so we should not be penalized due to laziness of the business Regards, John ***
Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does satisfy my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # [redacted] I understand that by choosing to accept the business response that my complaint will be closed as resolved Regards, [redacted]
Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # [redacted] For clarification purposes, our family is in fact due to a contractual refundThere is no exception made by the program as they are trying to make it sound Please note that the contract stipulates a refund of only 60% of the amount we paid in advance for services We are NOT even asking for a 100% refund (In Cultural Care, if you are dissatisfied you don't get your money back; you get 60% of it and you need to sign that before you can hire an AuPair) But that is not the argument we are making Please see below the email that we, as customers, sent to the Program Director of Cultural Care, where the numbers are spelled outAll of these numbers and emails are all verifiable as we have written proof of the invoices and receipts from the program They never replied to this email.However, several interesting points are noticeable from the response that Cultural Care has provided to Revdex.com: As it is evident in their response, they are more focused in adopting a defensive position by stating that the timeline of events as described in our complaint is "incorrect" rather than proactively trying to offer a loyal customer (our family has been a customer since 2012) a solution that acknowledges their mistake and satisfy the client, which is the basics of all customer service This is of no surprise as we have had several interactions with the program management and have had answers similar to the ones that they just wrote down to Revdex.com They state in their answer: "While it is correct that at one point there was a temporary error on their account reflecting an incorrect credit, this was fixed proactively and was not a factor in the calculation of their refund." Of course it was fixed proactively and it was not a factor in the calculation because it was on their favor! They had generated an invoice crediting us for a wrong amount of money and, when we, as family, brought it up to their attention, they "corrected" it immediately by decreasing the credit and never offering any sort of financial amendment in our favor!Even though we are contractually due for refund , they asked us to sign "special release" because they presented our refund as a "special agreement" - (this is the paperwork that they refer to in their paragraph) In other words, we were told that they would not process our refund until we signed a form that prevent the customer from any future attempts of litigation against them This obviously speaks of their legal vulnerability Can you imagine going to a coffee shop and been handed a "special release" to sign when you are dissatisfied with their product so you don't sue them latter on? The manager of such a company would do anything within power not to lose a loyal customer instead of clearly admitting fear of litigation by handing them a paper to sign!However, at this point, and because we are frustrated beyond words to continue with this back and forth, we would be even willing to sign that "special release" form, only if Cultural Care were to admit and acknowledge that this is, in fact, their mistake In addition, we expect some sort of responsibility for their mistake by at least writing a satisfactory apology to our family for being mistreated by management miss handling this situation.The email mentioned above reads as follows:"Our family does not need to sign a general release form since this is not "a special agreement outside of the contract" We are,in fact, contractually due to refund - please see below It seems that Cultural Care made yet another error in the calculations as per your email which is copied and pasted below, followed by the necessary corrections.You wrote in prior email that the breakdown is as follows:"Four payments of $300, $2545.70, $$1000, for a total of $Plus your accurate credit from XXXXX (prior's AuPair) term of $1,Plus a credit of Total paid toward Program Fee: $4, Please note, that in order to be eligible for a contractual refund you have to pay a minimum of $4,995, in which you did not meetIn essence, you are not due a contractual refund, however, we agreed to honor the $so you would meet your contractual refund."Please note corrections:- First payment : $ 300- Second payment: $ (not as you typed)- Third payment : $ 1000- Forth payment: $ 1000- Credit from prior term: $ + $ = $ 1349.10Therefore:+ + + + = 5, (which exceeds the minimum of $4,to be eligible for refund).Given the above, the following conclusions are made:We are contractually eligible for a refund and therefore no need to sign any general releaseCultural care is not helping us reach eligibility for refund because we exceeded the minimum amount for refund, per contract However, to facilitate your calculations and to clear out any confusion, we made another payment of $dollars (in addition to the above payments)Cultural Care has not yet taken any financial responsibility for generating an invoice stating that we had a credit from prior term in the amount of $ , and then changing this credit to $a few days ago" Regards, [redacted]
We unfortunately disagree with this description and conclusion regarding the events that transpired and the characterization of the actions of our organization During the last conversation between your family and our organization, you confirmed your understanding that no further refund would be due and also confirmed that we should anticipate follow up from legal counsel We will await this outreach and respond accordingly
In an effort to come to a more amicable conclusion, we will readjust the refund offered to the family based on program weeks used, therefore increasing the offer by weeks at the full rate We will have the family's Program Director reach out to provide an overview of the adjusted offer for the family to review Again, while no contractual refund is due, we appreciate the frustration on the part of the family and hope that this will help to bring closure to this situation for all involved
Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # [redacted] Please add your rejection comments below When reviewing this company, it’s really hard to know where to startI guess I”ll start with DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY! If you are reading this and have not made your decision, you have been warnedI wish I would have come here first and read some of the reviews, which are very similar to the experience we had as wellWhile I could write for some time regarding my experience, I’ll try to stick to some highlights to keep it simpleTo start, from the company to the au pairs, this company breeds a culture of liesI put this first as while they see it as a minor nuisance, it is critical to have trust as your child/children’s well being is on the line hereThey are not only accepted, but expectedOne of our local contacts (we had two) told us when we brought it to her attention that our au pair basically lies all the time, she just said that the girls don’t want to go home if they do something wrong, so you can expect liesThe lies ranged from crashing our car to the tune of just under $3,(she just said it wasn’t me even though she had the car in her possession the whole time), to making noises as to pretend she was interacting with my child while she was texting, to hiding her phone at times when she wasn’t suppose to be using it, breaking many of the agreed upon house rules, you name itCultural Care even caught her in a lie themselves (as it’s hard to prove lies, I get that) and they simply said they talked to her about it after the split and it was a learning experience for herS..we told them she lied, they personally caught her later lying, and pretended that this was an isolated incidentAs other’s have stated, the lying comes from within the organization as wellThey were not truthful in the transition of the former au pair and what really happenedI’m guessing this is due to 1) They just want to make money by replacing her 2) Many of people working at Culture Care are former au pairs, and generally side with them regardlessThey lied as to why the person was no longer in the home, telling people who were interested in her transitioning that we were not open to callsWe were happy to speak to any families and let them know our experienceWe did not feel like we had true representationYes, there is someone you can callThat being said, we did not feel represented in any form or fashionThis of course is so important as there are going to be issues that do come up over time and without a champion of your cause, your only recourse is to transition all while Culture Care keeps your moneyThey have another girl they can place again into a new home and they do all the can to rush you into picking a new one to keep you as a clientAlso, we had two au pairs over a 8-month periodThe screening they do is very inadequate and both of the au pairs actually told us this was wellThe first one basically said after a week that she simply didn’t want to do childcare anymoreWhile that wasn’t great for our circumstances but at least truthfulThat being said, she thank us, said we were amazing to her and told this to the Cultural Care team, and said that if there was no child care involved, she’d want to stay with us and be our friendsWOWThe second one stated it felt like a jobWhile we want to be a family as much as we can, looking after our child is a job to a certain degreeThere’s no way around thatI believe the exceptions are not set up from the beginning between Culture Care and the au pairsThey expect an experience more like a vacation and yes, we asked the hard questions in the interview but found out later they will say anything just to come to the statesUltimately, the company fails in many waysThe screening is inadequate, the expectations they set up don’t seem to be in line between the families and the au pairs, the lying cultural they simply turn a blind eye to are just a few thingsOverall, it was a miserable experienceAs I stated before, DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY! A complete refund Regards, [redacted]
Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # [redacted] Cultural Care is clearly a business of liarsIt doesn’t matter if the au pair’s references were confirmed, the au pair could have had her friends give her a reference by lying and saying she worked for themRegardless, my child was placed in a life-threatening situation because of the au pair, and Cultural Care validated those claims by taking away her ability to care for infantsCultural Care claims that I chose to have her continue to work and live with us after the very first week when we realized that she was incompetent, did not understand, and could not care for my children, however, they mandated that we had to continue to try to work with herWe never ever left the children alone with her and she did essentially nothingWe would have had her leave in less than a week if we could haveAlso, I, the host mom was not “in the room,” when these events occuredThank goodness I happened to walk in to witness these events as they were happening, or my children could be deadCultural Care clearly does not care about children, or putting them in dangerCultural Care did not properly screen this au pair and misrepresented this au pairNot giving us back our money after this nightmare and stating what happened “wasn’t so bad” is an egregious offenseThey should be ashamed of themselves and people should be warned about them in the future Regards, [redacted]
Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # [redacted] Please add your rejection comments below I have responded back to the business regarding their most recent message and I am awaiting a reply Regards, [redacted]
Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # [redacted] Please add your rejection comments below As stated by Ms [redacted] this morning (6/9/15), Cultural Care is unwilling to fully reimburse us for services not provided Here are the facts:1) Cultural Care did not perform any due diligence on the au pair they placed with our family This is one of the services we paid the company to do on our behalf This au pair is an admitted bigot and racist and has signed her name to statements as such Further, Cultural Care knew of this au pair's views towards Jews and Blacks (not necessarily African-Americans) and placed this au pair with our family anyway One of Cultural Care's representatives, [redacted] was a witness to these statements by the au pair that she did not want to be with a Jewish Family and told Cultural Care this during her initial application process [redacted] has already corroborated these statements to Cultural Care.2) Cultural Care failed to perform any due diligence on our family In our December application to be a host family, we explained in great detail that the au pair would have daily duties related to our dogs - such as walking our dogs on a daily basis We were very transparent of this need in our application and Cultural Care knowingly approved our application based-upon these facts.3) The au pair they placed with our family quit in May 2015, in-writing, on her own volition We did not terminate her employment.4) In searching for a replacement au pair, we were told by several Cultural Care representatives that we are no longer permitted to assign hours towards caring for our dogs to the next au pair We were told that the hour per week schedule could only be assigned towards taking care of our kids This was contrary to our application (as stated above) and so we had no choice but to leave the program As stated in our application, we needed help with both the kids and the dogs As such, we were forced to leave the program as the program was no longer suitable to our needs Again, Cultural Care approved our application based upon our needs and now refuses to give us a 100% refund on our prepaid balance Regards, [redacted]