Urbansitter Reviews 

EDITED TO CURRENT: UrbanSitter allows parents to post jobs illegally for $8/hr in NYC and in NJ when the minimum wage is above this ($15/hr in NYC and $13/hr in NJ) and for childcare it’s starts at $18/hr on average and above for 1 kid! Ever since I notified them about those low paying rates, my account was hidden! Those parents are looking for a maiden/slave (to do childcare, housekeeping, pet care, driving, tutoring all for the price of $8/hr), not a caregiver and UrbanSitter is supporting them in this!

My account is still hidden since AUGUST 2nd and today is August 15th with no warning or explanation or whatsoever. I reached them more 5 times ASKING WHY WAS MY ACCOUNT HIDDEN and they decided to ignore me. I have built a reputation on this website for 5 years and it’s sad and unfortunate to get up one day to find out that my profile is hidden and parents have been texting me all over the places on my phone number unable to book me. I can’t even respond to messages or express an interest to posted jobs or apply to new jobs!

This is a disgrace and unfair to someone who has more than 100 (all 5 stars reviews) wonderful reviews and only 2 (1 star review) bad reviews, worked for over 100 repeated families, I have done over 500 bookings. I don’t have 4 or 3 or 2 stars reviews at all. I have flagged many fake profiles from parents that write their number down. On top of all of these, UrbanSitter can’t block them forever because the same parent will post again just by editing their names and location. None of these parents are vetted/background check.

Luckily I still have parents contacts and built a good relationship with them. They are booking me on another platform or just showing up there and they pay me by Zelle. I will not recommend UrbanSitter to anyone anymore. Lack of professionalism, very ungrateful folks that don’t care about caregivers at all even if you are a SUPER caregiver, they only care about the $100 fees they can get from parents.

This is a livelihood for professional caregivers like me who have been in this industry for so long. Nobody on the east coast will work for $8/hr, not even those parents. Treat people the way you want others to treat you. If you can’t afford a baby, don’t open your legs or take your kids to a daycare or stay home to care for them.

Caregivers just don't respond. Just wasted one month membership.

EDITED TO CURRENT: UrbanSitter allows parents to post jobs illegally for $8/hr in NYC and in NJ when the minimum wage is above this ($15/hr in NYC and $13/hr in NJ) and for childcare it’s starts at $18/hr on average and above for 1 kid! Ever since I notified them about those low paying rates, my account was hidden! Those parents are looking for a maiden/slave (to do childcare, housekeeping, pet care, driving, tutoring all for the price of $8/hr), not a caregiver and UrbanSitter is supporting them in this!

My account is still hidden since AUGUST 2nd and today is August 15th with no warning or explanation or whatsoever. I reached them more 5 times ASKING WHY WAS MY ACCOUNT HIDDEN and they decided to ignore me. I have built a reputation on this website for 5 years and it’s sad and unfortunate to get up one day to find out that my profile is hidden and parents have been texting me all over the places on my phone number unable to book me. I can’t even respond to messages or express an interest to posted jobs or apply to new jobs!

This is a disgrace and unfair to someone who has more than 100 (all 5 stars reviews) wonderful reviews and only 2 (1 star review) bad reviews, worked for over 100 repeated families, I have done over 500 bookings. I don’t have 4 or 3 or 2 stars reviews at all. I have flagged many fake profiles from parents that write their number down. On top of all of these, UrbanSitter can’t block them forever because the same parent will post again just by editing their names and location. None of these parents are vetted/background check.

Luckily I still have parents contacts and built a good relationship with them. They are booking me on another platform or just showing up there and they pay me by Zelle. I will not recommend UrbanSitter to anyone anymore. Lack of professionalism, very ungrateful folks that don’t care about caregivers at all even if you are a SUPER caregiver, they only care about the $100 fees they can get from parents.

This is a livelihood for professional caregivers like me who have been in this industry for so long. Nobody on the east coast will work for $8/hr, not even those parents. Treat people the way you want others to treat you. If you can’t afford a baby, don’t open your legs or take your kids to a daycare or stay home to care for them.

If I could give zero I’ll do it, this is a scam,
I was keeping applying for nanny job sending text and never heard back anybody answered
I am an experienced nanny with excellent references but this place definitely doesn’t work
They have an advertisement where they said you can find jobs since 1000 per week absolutely a lie, I never see that kind of offer only show me jobs 11, 12, dls per hour and part time job anyway these families never respond

I paid for a yearly membership on there by accident and canceled it right after I applied. I’ve been trying to get a refund for weeks and they keep giving me the runaround! They claim that they cannot give refunds for a membership. Scammers!!! I would never recommend them especially after this. Wasted money that I will never get to use. There is no way to talk to someone on the phone either which makes it nearly impossible. They just keep emailing me to say there is nothing they can do. Super frustrating!!!

THIS COMPANY IS A SCAM. YOU ADVERTISE PET SITTING AS AN OPTION BUT THEN THERE ARE NO PET SITTING JOBS. NOT EVEN A FILTER TO FIND THEM IF THERE WERE ANY. THAT'S THE ONLY REASON I JOINED THIS STUPID WEBSITE. EVEN SO, THERE'S A TOTAL OF 5 AVAILABLE CHILD SITS IN THE ENTIRE PORTLAND AREA AND SEVERAL ARE STILL UP FROM WEEKS AGO. AND NO REFUND FOR THIS?? FALSE ADVERTISING TO SCAM PEOPLE LOOKING FOR WORK INTO PAYING A NON-REFUNDABLE MEMBERSHIP FEE. SHAME ON YOU AS A COMPANY.

Most horrible company to use to try and find help. They will run your credit card after you have cancelled and will not refund your money. Not to mention, these girls will apply to your job posting, act interested and then no show to interview, all to collect non employment. I do NOT recommend this company at all!!

I booked a sitter, that we kept calling after she was supposed to arrive at 7:30 am, who never responded to our voicemails or calls. I also messaged her through the app.
She was a no-call, no-show, and not responsive. This does not provide the parent the comfort of booking and knowing the sitter will show up. I am not sure how to hold this particular sitter accountable for her irresponsibility. If you book anyone with CH, around San Antonio, Texas area, I would advise rechecking to ensure sitter with CH will show. .

I was a sitter for many years in urbansitter with multiple 5 star excellent ratings. their policy is if a sitter cancels a job due to a family emergency it is not counted against them.

they hid my profile so I could no longer express interest. when I emailed the customer service at least 10 times they completely ignored my explanation of a relatives heart attack.

The sitters here are mostly looking for a one time job. I’ve used several (6) sitters who answered to a full time job and each of them signed up. But by week 3 they were gone…canceling at the absolute last minute. They all rave about how professional they are but 1 refused to keep our child’s nap and eating schedule. He was6 months old and obviously needed to eat and nap at certain times. So much so I would have to leave my office (worked from home) just to instruct her to feed him or put him down. 1 sitter blatantly ignored even that..so I had to physically take my child from her and feed him. One sitter kept interrupting me while working or in meetings to ask me permission to do everything. Even when I told her when his naps were or lunch was. She just had to ask me. Oh and there was a sitter who I booked because I had to physically go into work who text me to tell me she would be late 15 min beforehand and then had a friend come over as soon as I left and while I was out sent me a video of this friend with my exhausted looking baby(I asked her to feed him as it was lunch time as soon as she arrived and get him down for a nap) ….to which I asked “who is that with my child” then when I dropped everything to go to my child I find he was starving and saw the two women had ordered take out and did not feed my child his lunch. He was so exhausted.. I feed him and he fell asleep immediately.

We needed an experienced sitter who could take charge, plan the day while ensuring he ate and napped according to schedule so that we could work and it didn’t seem like they understood children under 1 are all about the schedules. And yet they all said they had this experience. It was just becoming such a nightmare we decided to do daycare fulltime.
8 months later we thought Oh! Maybe we can find someone for date nights and holidays. Maybe we would have luck. NOPE! First girl we booked canceled an hour before..then after I tried to be understanding I rebooked her for a few days later…she proceeded to negotiate with me the times…like I am booked you for the times I need you this isn’t a conversation. You either can or can’t. And if you can’t I will book someone else. It was so odd. I asked if she could watch my son 3-6pm while we work and get dinner ready and she asks if she can do it at 10am. What!? Like who are these people.

It really felt like none of these people recognized that our child is a human who has parents who care for him….like this is a person who is loved deeply…I actually birthed this beautiful human and yet you’re treating him like he isn’t real and doesn’t need care or to be loved. Like it’s just about getting a money for them.

With our next child we will go to a professional nanny agency where this is actually someone fulltime job with agency l/family references and proven experience

If they don't like your background check they hide your profile so you can't be hired. I just got scammed.

Awesome service! Needed a sitter at the last minute when an important client meeting came up and chose UrbanSitter since all the sitters are background checked. So glad I did! Samantha was very respectful and played games with the kids so I could take my call. Will definitely use again.

I work with Urbansitter for five years. Beside been harassed by a parent, be denied pay or cheated by many parents , I kept my mouth shut because I was in need of money.
Recently a parent hired me and we agreed to be paid through Venmo. However the prior booking I did with that parents needed to be processed through their payment system. Urban sitter version of reimbursement when the parent demanded his refund after paying is to take from my hard earned money from others booking not related to the very parent in question take my money without notice, bully me by sending threatening emails to me by demanding that I pay the balance owed and when they saw how unkind and bullied they were they offer to pay fir my background check and forsake the remaining balance. I was left without money for two weeks stranded at a Oklahoma airport where my card got stolen. I was so depressed I realize how ungrateful, unkind, capitalist, and money hungry they are! Worst customer service ever! I finally told them to please let me borrow the money back to book a flight back home in SF, Jessica brushed me out by saying that the hours money need to be for hours worked. When they pay for the background was it hours worked?
Care.com is nicer, treat their sitters with dignity and respect. Urban sitter is racist!

I read the reply and it’s the same answer they wrote to me as a standard answer across all the emails I sent them pleading with them to let me have my money, explaining to them the peculiar circumstances I was under.
They would not treat me as an individual who has emotions, For them it’s business as usual! That is why I think they did because I was a minority. Minorities in SF don’t have the means to be heard because they are economically disadvantaged!
I even forsook my dignity when I had to beg them for money. How humiliating! my very own money! Marketplace business is the new way for companies like them to bully weak sitters who they know count on those little cash to survive!
I was never sent a notice prior to taking my money. They just took it from two parents’s bookings by hijacking my bank account to avoid the money been deposited
I was not even aware I had the double money sent to me until she told me abruptly I owe money to them and I needed to reimburse immediately. I was confused but the actions that followed were even more disturbing. They strategically pushed me over and over for $14. At that time my bank card was stolen and I had to file a police report! Imagine the stress!
I received several harassing emails asking me to pay back that balance after they already took $250…i had zero dollars on me!
I never received a policy highlighting the procedure to follow they made it seem it was my fault of course by saying I changed the booking agreement, meanwhile the booking was made prior, worked on and been processed way after I already told the parents that I prefer moving forward for future bookings to be paid by Venmo.
Sitters beware of unfair practices, bullying tactics that can push you to depression, and financial harassment. Even credit card companies gives you notice before taking to collections.
Again that won’t deter me from providing the best care to parents and their kids and choosing wisely the friendly platform to do it!

VERY limited pool, horrible customer service. Highly recommend using a larger database such as care that has been around longer.

From a professional nannies perspective this site is terrible! I would not recommend to sitters. They used to be great & I have kept a membership with them for years & have lots of great parent reviews. However I submitted my annual background checks months ago & it’s still not completed. I even contacted the Checkr site & they said UrbanSitter is aware that checks aren’t working! Yet they are still keeping our money but we can’t apply. That’s wrong! My full background check on Care.com took only 1 week & with UrbanSitter I’m still waiting months later. I’ve contacted a UrbanSitter several times & all they send is a generic email back.

I was forced to give at least 1 star before they would allow me to post a review, however I wanted to put 0 stars. Beware if you are looking for a babysitting job or a nanny job on here and want to do things legally because 0 parents on here are willing to pay their share of the taxes. All want to do things illegally and pay under the table and Urban Sitter won't do a ___ thing about it!

I feel like this app this company used to be so much better 5-6 years ago.
I paid for a membership I have had NO access to at all. I have emailed support so many times looking to get my account reactivated. At this point I feel for the 3 months that I have not had access I should get a refund because I completed my background check and this is not on my part.
This is TERRIBLE.
If you guys need more workers answering support questions. BY ALL MEANS HIRE MORE PEOPLE. I would be happy to have a job helping as a mother on UrbanSitter and former UrbanSitter sitter for almost 5 years or more now.
Please guys! This is not good.

When they started requiring background checks I decided to stop using them...now today I find out they used my card on the account to charge me for a membership "renewal" at 30% more than the year prior. My account profile has been "hidden" ever since 2019 because I never completed the new background check.
I did not do a background check so that my account would lapse...yet I was charged for an account that wasn't even active? Waiting to hear what support has to say, as there is no phone number you can call. Sounds like yet another company using predatory automatic renewal procedures. Prove me wrong Urban Sitter!

I was extremely excited to have found a site where I could connect with local sitters. With 70 sitters in my area and a quick search to ensure there would be someone available when I needed them, I signed up for Urbansitter. Upon signing up, I was dismayed to see that my search for a morning sitter during the weekday, yielded only 2 results. Neither potential sitter responded to my inquiry, despite giving them at least 3 days to respond. Not even an, "I'm sorry, but I'm unavailable." It was radio silence. Seeing as there were only 2 options and 0 interest, I reached out to Urbansitter to inquire about a refund and was told they were unable to issue refunds. If only this site would charge you for membership once a sit has actually been confirmed...I certainly learned the hard way and will not be recommending, nor using this site again in the future.

As others note, they're automatically renewing full-rate memberships during COVID. I contacted support promptly twice that I didn't want it--they refused to issue a refund. [Update--the 3rd time a supervisor stepped in and helped! Thank you, Brittney, 4 stars] because they have good sitters, though in 5 years I've gotten as many from other sites.