Urbansitter Reviews 

They steal money, I paid for the membership, and I had some trouble with one of the steps, it was hard to contact them and when finally they replied my email they said sorry no refund and I didn’t even use the app I was sitting it up.

Locked Out Without Notice, Ignored for Months, Still Being Charged – UrbanSitter Must Do Better

I have trusted UrbanSitter for years and built wonderful, lasting relationships with nearly all of my sitters. This makes what has happened even more disappointing.

For months, both my account and my husband’s account have been locked without any explanation or prior notice. UrbanSitter’s own policy states that members will be informed if there is a reliability concern and given the opportunity to address it — yet no such notice was ever given. We were abruptly denied all access to the service, including booking and messaging sitters, without a word.

I sent multiple written inquiries from both accounts. Not one was answered. This is more than poor customer service — it is a failure to communicate in good faith and a breach of the implied covenant of fair dealing under contract law.

Making matters worse, UrbanSitter continues to charge my credit card for membership fees, despite the fact that I have been denied the ability to use the service in any way. Continuing to bill customers while blocking access is unethical, and may constitute unauthorized billing and unjust enrichment under consumer protection laws. UrbanSitter’s silence has been more damaging than the account lockout itself. A simple explanation, a chance to address any concerns, or even a timely acknowledgment could have preserved trust. Instead, their lack of transparency, responsiveness, and accountability leaves me no choice but to warn other parents: think very carefully before committing to this platform.

They have you go through the process of posting a job, filling out an account, sorting through applicants, and then you want to book or interview they say “sorry that will be $45 for one month of a premium membership”. Lol?? After wasting hours. What an absolute scam.

They don't provide any real jobs. They take your money and you never hear back from them. I have left a couple of messages and have heard nothing. Don't waste your time.

If I can leave 0 I would easily do that!Terrible customer service, terrible nanny selection.All baby caregivers have so much attitude, no one is pleasant.

And also BE CAREFUL WITH YOUR CREDIT CARD INFO.I didn’t use this company, I really tried after talking to all rude nannies for 1st week I realize this is not a place where I find genuine kind professional caregiver. I asked them to close my account and even for second year they charge me even I didn’t use them for two years. I had to call my bank account many times and I had to close my account. This company is professional fraud!!!!

Wish I’d read these other reviews before paying my $39.95 “Membership” fee. It’s highly unethical to keep membership fees when someone doesn’t pass a background check. I’m a mother, grandmother, and former pre-school and elementary school teacher. I’m trained in CPR (both adult & infant) and have had all of my immunizations/Covid shots/flu shots. I was rejected from babysitting for UrbanSitter bc my background check revealed a speeding ticket that I got in 2012…..13 years ago! Besides the ticket, my background check came back spotless! I’ll be reporting them to the Better Business Bureau.

UPDATE since receiving response from UrbanSitter: Yes you MUST PAY UPFRONT and if you don’t clear the background check or simply change your mind after seeing how many OLD AND DATED JOB POSTS are listed, you HAVE NO ACCESS TO MEMBER BENEFITS OR SERVICES. Then COMPLETELY DENIED ANY REFUND. If it’s not a deposit, it can and must be refunded regardless of the Terms and Conditions. IT’S THE LAW.

ORIGINAL REVIEW:
Pay upfront $50 just to be considered for this very BASIC and DATED site with OLD RECYCLED POSTS circulating constantly to make it seem like there is a huge job pool. NO REFUND EVEN IF YOU DON’T PASS THEIR “BACKGROUND CHECK”. They act like you owe a deposit but it’s not a deposit and never stated as such, so in many states illegal to not refund. Incredibly fraudulent business practices aimed at intentionally scamming people looking for HUMAN CARE SERVICES!!!!

Sitter here -
Was just charged for an annual membership in which I forgot to cancel. (I’ve never actually booked any jobs through them) Requested a refund given it was just charged recently and was declined.

I don’t use them because they don’t have many job opportunities. It’s pointless. And to not reimbursed when I’m charged the same day is greedy. I need the money more than this company does.

They have no respect for their sitters. It's all about money and their executives are corrupt.....I had over 85 5 star reviews and quit after watching their executives (particularly the owner) continually compromise their integrity to gain money. BTW, I worked for them for 3 yrs before giving up on them.

A good place to look for sitters is at colleges and/or youth groups at churches and temples.

Treacherous company. Been with them for 10 years and even collaborated with them for a news article on their behalf. I worked for hundreds of families on this app and established many many healthy strong relationship with parents and kids. Thus my 5-star ratings and extraordinary reviews. I depend solely on the families I recruit from Urbansitter for income to pay for bills/essentials (rent, groceries, school/tuition, and much more). So the importance of continuing to work with families is VITAL. I’m a really kind, friendly, rule-abiding young caregiver that almost never has a problem with a family. Randomly one day Urbansitter deactivate my hard-working profile for no apparent reason or explanation. I’ve sent numerous emails asking why my profile is deactivated and this company doesn’t even have the respect to respond to any of my numerous emails. I am now dealing with financial hardships due to the loss-access in connecting with families through this app. I am struggling severely and I am just hurt how a company can be this cruel and inconsiderate? I don’t nor anyone deserve this kind of mistreatment. At least have the courtesy and respect to explain to me why my account is deactivated. Beware of this company. As soon as I reported to them that there was an abusive drug-addicted mother that assaulted me and abused & neglected her children my profile was soon deactivated. I tried NUMEROUS times to communicate with this company but they don’t have the common decency nor respect to reply. They do not care that they have criminals on their app. I am now resorting to social media to help SPREAD awareness of this treacherous company. Beware of this company, and keep your children safe. They don’t care for us caregivers as well.

I posted a job for August 4, 2024, Thandiwe M. applied, interviewed, and accepted it one week prior to start. Six days came and went, I made plans believing that I had a sitter for my child. 14 hours before the start of the job, Thandiwe contacted me after 8:30 pm, to ask me to change the schedule so that she can go to therapy. I said no, and to let me know if she can’t make it so that I can try to find someone else. Thandiwe then said that she will leave at 4:45 pm on the day of the job. I reminded her that my job post stated that I may need her to stay longer than that and sent a screenshot of the job post. After 8am, 2.5 hours prior to the job start time, Thandiwe sent two text messages stating that she will be at my home for the job. Thandiwe followed up with two voice notes after 9 am, that I didn't see or listen to until after I started to wait for her around 10:40 am. In those voice notes she did not cancel, did not indicate that she would not be here. 10:45 am comes, no Thandiwe. 10:50 am arrives, I text Thandiwe asking where she is. No response. I called Thandiwe, no response. Then I followed up with more texts, no response.

After 11 am I logged onto UrbanSitter, cancelled the job and blocked Thandiwe from my phone (she still hadn't called or texted). Later that day I wrote my review of her. I contacted UrbanSitter and sent screenshots of the conversation. Dan from UrbanSitter responded by sending me a coupon code for 30 percent off the membership renewal or for jobs paid with a credit card, whichever came first (understandably, these sitters take cash! No matter what their profile says; they prefer cash in hand or sent electronically and will tell parents the same. I don't blame them, either because I would too). Dan from UrbanSitter also said that next time I should check for the Low Cancellation Rate badge on their profile. Guess what? The badge was there even after Thandiwe was a no-show for this job, it was there after Thandiwe officially cancelled the job on UrbanSitter.com, it was there when Dan sent that thoughtless response, and I bet it is still on her profile as I write this review. Then UrbanSitter permitted Thandiwe to respond to my review with lies, and of course I edited my review of her to say that, reminding everyone that I gave her the chance to cancel and she promised to show up only to NOT show, and I notified UrbanSitter.

Malcolm from UrbanSitter sent an email response stating that they'll employ some technology in re the Low Cancellation Rate badge and just a whole bunch of insincere boilerplate, taking the roundabout way of saying they won’t do anything about this and blaming me for trusting UrbanSitter’s profile of Thandiwe on their website in my choice to hire her (silly me for trusting the service they promised to provide and that I paid for!) and told me to HIDE Thandiwe’s profile. What good will that do?! Especially after her no-show harmed me and as they allow her to remain on the app to accept jobs and to be a no-show at her will?! Then I checked my UrbanSitter account and saw that Thandiwe M. sent messages to my UrbanSitter inbox, wherein she proceeded to gaslight me with her revisions of the truth and faking concern for me when SHE was in the wrong, and AFTER I made it clear in my review and by blocking her on my phone that I want nothing to do with her!!! Unbelievable. If Thandiwe truly cared she would’ve cancelled in time for me to find a sitter or she would’ve shown up as she’d promised several times to do. Even worse, Thandiwe has my address.

UrbanSitter has shown that it doesn't care about the integrity, professionalism and safety of its members and users, and that's been made apparent in how this incident has been mishandled from the start. Thandiwe was a no-show in retaliation to my NO response to her request to change the times of the job SHE applied for, interviewed for and accepted, then I get an insincere response from URBANSITTER automatically telling me that I should've checked for a low cancellation rate badge that was on her profile, then that's followed with more nonsensical promises, more unhelpful advice and boilerplate from UrbanSitter AS SHE IS STILL PERMITTED TO ACCEPT JOBS AND HARASS ME ON THE URBANSITTER WEBSITE.

I have one job on August 30th with a reliable sitter we love and that job was scheduled off the website prior to Thandiwe M's incident (then booked on UrbanSitter.com) and that'll be the last time I use this site. I am DONE. No, my rating is 0, it's not at all likely that I'd recommend this website to anyone.

So URBANSITTER has the audacity to request that I edit my review, but NOT to properly address Thandiwe’s retaliation so that there'd be no need for an honest review of this type to be shared online in the first place?! Unbelievable!!! First names do not go against Trustpilot's guidelines. Do better UrbanSitter.

I would love to give them no star. I gave them $35 last year for membership so that I can get some work. They took the money but never let me get any work. They blocked my account and it kept saying they are trying to check my background. I am a retired federal employee and got cleared by FBI and these people have not cleared me yet. Just took my money. And disappeared. Please do not sign up with these crooks.

Platform deserves 0 stars. I would not recommend them. On 2 separate occasions I have had bad experiences and the customer support team does nothing about it.

One lady messaged me on the app to come babysit her son. She wanted to do an interview between the hours of 9AM - 1PM. I responded to her through the app and she did not see it so she says or respond to it. My response asked for when she wanted me to come by and where to meet her. I message her again to check in, no response. Days go by and I assume she no longer needs/wants my services. I get a phone call the day of when I would’ve interviewed with her and she’s very hostile saying “you’re supposed to be at my house right now” and I told her that she didn’t respond so I did not know that. She accused me of lying about responding to her message and said I didn’t provide proof (she never asked for it). She left me a bad review so I responded to her and told her respectfully that she needs to not drag my name through the mud about this when it was her that failed to check her app. She claims I should’ve called or just shown up to her house and that’s not how you do business without solidifying plans first. I asked customer service to take down the review and they sided with the parent saying I failed to do my part. Didn’t remove the review.

On another instance, I had a mother try to scam me essentially for free baby sitting by literally never coming home. She messaged me last minute to babysit and said she would be forever grateful, I told her I could but I needed to bring my puppy cuz she’s on antibiotics and if I couldn’t then she would have to find another sitter. She said that was fine and her kids would love to play with the dog. We agreed on 3.5 hours of baby sitting. I arrived at her house and ate something small in my car before coming in so I could have dinner when I left. The children were fine for the most part, some temper tantrums here and there but to be expected. The night dragged on and the mother was responding to texts but she was not coming home at the agreed upon time. I told her I could not stay later than what we talked about as I had a job to clock into in the morning. I also hadn’t had dinner, only the something small in my car. She’s like “oh I’m so sorry! Would you like me to bring you something back?!” I said no, I had food. She just needed to come home. Still she was late and not planning on coming home anytime soon. I told her I needed to go as I had been there for at least 5.5 hours at this point. I ended up telling her if she didn’t come home, I’d be contacting police because she was partying and not respecting my time. Children were asleep by this time (I left) and yes I was wrong for this as there were underaged kids which I see the fault in but the next morning she messaged me saying I was such a life saver but then flipped the script and said she wanted to asked me about something that happened that night in which I hit one of her kids. That is 10000% false and untrue. She claimed she had proof, I asked her for the proof. Crickets. She wouldn’t answer my phone calls and claimed to be a DV victim fleeing from their dad (not saying she isn’t) but it’s ironic that’s brought up at a time where protecting your children should be your priority as a parent especially as a mother. I asked her why she didn’t come home if your daughter told you last night that I hit her, no response. She claimed her daughter might have been dramatic but personally as a parent, I’m not taking any chances. There will be someone present asap for clarification. She absolutely refused to pay me until I threatened to take her to civil court for the issue. She said that was a bad idea on my part because I wouldn’t want a recording of me abusing kids to be played in front of a judge. I told her please bring all the recordings you want because you won’t find me or my voice on any of them. She also claimed that she regularly pays her sitters MORE than what I’m asking because I then told her she just didn’t want to pay me. She was trying to get one over on me and it wasn’t working. I eventually got paid but it was a whole ordeal and I ended up reporting her. She read the review from the previous lady and decided that she was going to try to drag my reputation even more because that lady set the tone that I was already problematic. Again, support did nothing.

I reported her and made a post in the Facebook group for UrbanSitter (which I knew would get taken down immediately) but it was to warn people in the area to not babysit for her and to be careful of her BS. They deleted my post and banned me from the group but I still keep the screenshots from 4 years ago for anyone and everyone who considered using this platform. There was a lot of interaction with the post and other sitters saying the mom is full of it. It is absolutely garbage and they do not care. Money is money to them, which is fine but you will not be tarnishing my name.

My account expired . I am try to pay membership for update but it is not working. Still I can not use my account. UrbanSitter support is not helping. What I have to do get back my account ?!

Can no longer attest for this company as they have become money hungry and no longer are supportive towards nannies/sitters.
Gonna have to go back and change all reviews as everything I use highlight about them, is no longer true since recently using platform. I've been on it 5+ years. They've officially gone downhill.

per the response, i didn't work for the family. So, that's where your platform gets iffy. Point goes over your head. If parents can leave reviews for sitters they've never worked with(job paid for), then why can't sitters leave reviews for parents? Explain the support of that on your platform.

The site is not ready for families in need. They boat to be able to provide individuals in the area to meet your needs but that’s not the case. In my suburban area in NJ there wasn’t any traffic. I made the mistake and paid for a year membership but the people in my area had not been on site for over four or five weeks. Those that were on recently were slow to respond. The charge is TOO much for the service you don’t get. Definitely not a good site WOULD BOT RECOMMEND

I have been a Childcare provider for Urbansitter in Tucson for 6 years now . I have gotten the most wonderful parents and kids over the years.. I have two sets of twins that i have had for 5 years and i adore them . I got them from Urbansitter and i’m so thankful for them . Such a blessing .

I really believe this is a scam site. Every job you apply for says it’s closed after a couple of days. I want my dam money back.

Echoing all the reviews here about ripping you off with autorenewal EVEN though it's impossible to get their website to load properly to cancel your account. Come on, Urbansitter, it's the 21st century, being nice to paying customers goes a longer way than sticking to an onerous no-refunds policy. And, fix your website! Your policy only holds up if there is a way to cancel the membership easily and clearly. I still can't get the website to load nor to log in on it.

Love this service! We've found excellent babysitters near us, as well as when we've traveled. Highly recommend.