Review
I hired Carla despite her lack of professional experience (her only background is raising her own adult children), but after just three visits, it became clear she lacks the professional standards required for infant care.
Manipulative Reviews: She pressured me for a 5-star review after the very first shift to "build her portfolio" before any trust was established.
Rate Increases: Despite an initial agreement of £11/hour, she increased her rate to £12/hour by the second session, disregarding our prior arrangement regarding increased hours. Her cold sms message below:
"Good morning, hope you are all well.In the interest of fairness to my
other families and due to additional duties you have added since our initial meeting, my hourly rate will be as advertised going forward - £12 per hour before 6pm and £14 per hour after 6pm."
Zero Empathy and Compassion: Most concerningly, when I informed her my 9-month-old baby was seriously ill with a viral infection, she "read" the message and ignored it for two days. She only replied with total indifference only after I followed up to check on her.
Dishonesty & Entitlement: She falsely claimed I had cancelled three times (impossible, as she only worked three shifts total) and rudely demanded payment in advance for work she hadn't performed. Her message below:
"I can do 2 pm- 5 pm on Wednesday...I have another job in the evening. As you have cancelled on me 3 times I would require payment in advance as I have turned down other work for you and cannot fill the time with other work at such short notice."
Those are the facts and in my opinion she is unreliable, lacks the basic compassion required for infant care, and is purely money-motivated. I luckily have since found a true professional.
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Response from Carla
Responded
As the saying goes there are two sides to every story so here is my side.
I never professed to be a professional. My bio clearly states that my experience is that of raising two now adult children. Both of my children are well rounded adults with professional and successful careers. On my initial meeting with the mother I actually said that although I had references available my children would always be my best referees as they have first hand experience of my care and love. As for lacking the professional standards of infant care I again have never said I am professional, I am a mother that has nurtured her children organically, without the use of books or by reading and following case studies.
As for manipulating reviews I never pressured the mother for a 5 star review and never said the phrase “to build my portfolio”. The parents had abruptly cancelled our arrangement on 11 January citing their “current situation” as the reason and I simply replied “That’s fine…can you at least leave me a review on the website please?” which was met with the reply “Yes, of course! I will write an amazing review. Thanks again”
As for rate increase I did during the initial meeting drop my advertised rate and agreed to £11/hour. During the initial meeting I was told that I was just to play with the child and that the father would be on hand for other duties. I was not to change him or feed him. There was a vague mention of possibly washing his bottles. Additional tasks were then added afterwards which included ironing the child’s clothes, loading and unloading the dishwasher, cleaning the kitchen counter, making bottles and feeding him. I felt it was unfair to the other parents I work for to be paying more for less so mentioned increasing my rate back to the initially advertised rate. This was met with “Yes that is fine £12/h”
Zero empathy and compassion – the mother text me the day before I was due to babysit and informed me that the child was ill. I did not reply straight away as I was with my partner as he was having tests for cancer. I obviously didn’t want to share this information at the time. The mother sent me another text 2 days later which I replied to after I got home from another babysitting job saying “Yes….just in from work. Hope A***** is feeling better”. Also, after the parents cancelled our initial agreement, I happened to bump into the mother in our local area. She promptly burst into tears over the reasons she had been forced to cancel our arrangement and I consoled her and said that I would do anything to help her – hardly lacking in empathy there.
Dishonesty and Entitlement – the mother had cancelled on me three times 09/01, 14/01 and 04/02 and I had looked after the child four times 06/01, 07/01, 21/01 and 28/01 not three times as she stated. As for being motivated by money I worked 2 hours for the parents after 6pm which I advertise at £14/hr and still only charged them £11/hr so I am hardly motivated by money. After the third cancellation I did ask for payment in advance which I don’t see as being unreasonable. If the child was in another childcare setting the parents would have to pay if the child was unable to attend at such short notice.
I am truly dumfounded at the aggression in this review especially after being told the following from the mother via text:
“You did a great job and he loved interacting with you. A***** loved games, hide and seek, peek a boo, reading and playing”
“Amazing! Excellent! Thank you”
“Thanks for your time and flexibility! We look forward to seeing you”
“I wanted to thank you for you kindness, openness and help these days”
“Thanks for yesterday”
“A***** really loves you. You can be his foster Grandmother”
Thankfully I am secure in my own abilities and this extremely negative review will not hinder me. I never let this family down, was always early and carried out every task they asked of me. The child is delightful and I wish nothing but the very best for him.
