Bay Area 2nd Mom2515

Please, don't go there.

I utilized this service numerous times but for ~4 hours on average each time. However, there came a time when I needed the service for several weeks, I ended up paying them over well over $2000 when all fees and monies were paid to the nanny and to the agency. Supposedly there was only one nanny available that would service my area. The nanny requested that she make $15 per hr and I needed her for well over 10.5 hrs a day. The nanny was not as impressive as the previous nannies I had. I use this service only as a last resort. For short contracts, it worked well but for the 2 plus weeks, the service did not meet the cost for one child's care. For the longer contract, I was not impressed with the care to say the least!

RE: your comments about potential ID theft: I too was suspicious of having to fax my credit card information to this company, and I declined to give my social security number. They were fine with this. I only give out my SSN to banks, and other similar institutions, so I can see your fear of discloser here. It was explained to me that the upfront payment of $250 was necessary to help cover the cost of their background checks (very expensive if you've ever run your own!). For every nanny, they run two background checks, finger-printing, provide infant/child CPR training, etc. Re: My impression of their agency: Since I registered 3 months ago, I haven't had any problems with this company; they are very good at finding suitable childcare, in a timely fashion. I didn't like the first nanny they sent to us (her personality was not a good match for mine, but I'm sure she's a great nanny for another family), and they were more than happy to find another suitable match; they try very hard to make the best match for the family. The nanny we are currently using is wonderful. I'm very grateful for this service. Please try not to judge the service based on the information they ask for upfront; I'm sure they are not the only nanny service that requires credit card information from it's clients. They are an excellent service, and your rating of one star is inaccurate. They are not trying to steal anyone's identity.

I had a need and needed a fast babysitter for my sick daughter. After all my resources failed, I turned to the yellow pages and found 2nd MOM. The inital fee was $50 for a one time but it was well worth it. The nanny arrived within 30 minutes and I was able to make my meeting. Great service and very easy to request a nanny for on-call service. Later I paid the additional $200 to become a full service client and have had nothing but praise to say for the service received. You get what you pay for and much more!!!

I have used Bay Area 2nd Mom now for two childcare needs - one for an emergency sick day and one for a date night. Both times the nannies were right on time, very professional, and our daughter (9 months old) was happy and healthy when we returned. The staff have all been very helpful and responsive and they have been able to assign me a nanny within 1 hour of each request. I have read the other comments and do not agree with the negative impressions, but I'll write back if my experience changes.

The first doubt stems from the amount of information requested. Why should you provide your driver license and social security number to find a Nanny ? Further perplexity arises when you are requested to sign (and initial) that Referral Rees will be extracted from your credit card BEFORE the start of the Candidate search. Hence, this is not a success fee, as you were led to believe. By then you begin feeling uncomfortable and call the credit card customer service. But, as expected, the $ 250 "Application Fee" has promptly been cashed ... Too late, but never too late to warn other stressed-out parents

The intentions and charter of this firm are very noble but their ability to provide an efficient and valuable business service to you is not. The staff is not very experienced (e.g. common business sense) on how to run an efficient process for your search. Although we did ultimately get a nanny that we like it was a very difficult and frustrating process trying to communicate with the staff and complete the placement. If we had to do it again we would definitely go through another firm as we wouldn't want to have to go through all hassles of dealing with all the inefficiencies again. We constantly had to be double checking and reverifying what we were being told and what was being done. You will be constantly calling this group to find out what is happening and what the status is of your placement. You'll will find out very quickly that if you don't keep calling that your placement will be stalled. Make sure you review all the documents and information that are promised you and to check to make sure that all the dates are current. This group will try to provide you with documents that are out of date so make sure to review everything very carefully. You will end up paying quite a bit for this service but will find that you will end up doing much of this yourself in reverifications and followup. If you try to complain about the level of service that you would expect for the price you are paying you will be told that if you don't like it you can go somewhere else. The firms justification to this is that its not about the money but about protecting the kids. This is very hypocritical because don't even try to ask for any kind of a refund or discount for the frustration or lack of service you get because they won't give you a penny back. It seemed like the only attention to details that this firm knew how to do was to make sure they got your credit card number before they sent you your nanny. You'll eventually end up getting a nanny but you really have to ask yourself if you're willing to spend a ton of money and deal with all the frustrations that come along with this firm. Check around, there's a ton of nanny firms in this valley that would be happy to provide you with the service that you deserve. Unfortunately, we were under a time crunch and had already invested to much time into this firm to restart the process with another firm. Don't make the same mistake.

The intentions and charter of this firm are very noble but their ability to provide an efficient and valuable business service to you is not. The staff is not very experienced (e.g. common business sense) on how to run an efficient process for your search. Although we did ultimately get a nanny that we like it was a very difficult and frustrating process trying to communicate with the staff and complete the placement. If we had to do it again we would definitely go through another firm as we wouldn't want to have to go through all hassles of dealing with all the inefficiencies again. We constantly had to be double checking and reverifying what we were being told and what was being done. You will be constantly calling this group to find out what is happening and what the status is of your placement. You'll will find out very quickly that if you don't keep calling that your placement will be stalled. Make sure you review all the documents and information that are promised you and to check to make sure that all the dates are current. This group will try to provide you with documents that are out of date so make sure to review everything very carefully. You will end up paying quite a bit for this service but will find that you will end up doing much of this yourself in reverifications and followup. If you try to complain about the level of service that you would expect for the price you are paying you will be told that if you don't like it you can go somewhere else. The firms justification to this is that its not about the money but about protecting the kids. This is very hypocritical because don't even try to ask for any kind of a refund or discount for the frustration or lack of service you get because they won't give you a penny back. It seemed like the only attention to details that this firm knew how to do was to make sure they got your credit card number before they sent you your nanny. You'll eventually end up getting a nanny but you really have to ask yourself if you're willing to spend a ton of money and deal with all the frustrations that come along with this firm. Check around, there's a ton of nanny firms in this valley that would be happy to provide you with the service that you deserve. Unfortunately, we were under a time crunch and had already invested to much time into this firm to restart the process with another firm. Don't make the same mistake.

The intentions and charter of this firm are very noble but their ability to provide an efficient and valuable business service to you is not. The staff is not very experienced (e.g. common business sense) on how to run an efficient process for your search. Although we did ultimately get a nanny that we like it was a very difficult and frustrating process trying to communicate with the staff and complete the placement. If we had to do it again we would definitely go through another firm as we wouldn't want to have to go through all hassles of dealing with all the inefficiencies again. We constantly had to be double checking and reverifying what we were being told and what was being done. You will be constantly calling this group to find out what is happening and what the status is of your placement. You'll will find out very quickly that if you don't keep calling that your placement will be stalled. Make sure you review all the documents and information that are promised you and to check to make sure that all the dates are current. This group will try to provide you with documents that are out of date so make sure to review everything very carefully. You will end up paying quite a bit for this service but will find that you will end up doing much of this yourself in reverifications and followup. If you try to complain about the level of service that you would expect for the price you are paying you will be told that if you don't like it you can go somewhere else. The firms justification to this is that its not about the money but about protecting the kids. This is very hypocritical because don't even try to ask for any kind of a refund or discount for the frustration or lack of service you get because they won't give you a penny back. It seemed like the only attention to details that this firm knew how to do was to make sure they got your credit card number before they sent you your nanny. You'll eventually end up getting a nanny but you really have to ask yourself if you're willing to spend a ton of money and deal with all the frustrations that come along with this firm. Check around, there's a ton of nanny firms in this valley that would be happy to provide you with the service that you deserve. Unfortunately, we were under a time crunch and had already invested to much time into this firm to restart the process with another firm. Don't make the same mistake.

How does this company win so many awards?- How do they stay in business? They were horrible! I needed an on- call nanny and they did nothing but try to "sell" me on the idea of having a full time nanny. The owner wasn't happy when I had to repeat myself over and over...he just didn't get it. Very rude...I didn't even get to part where I meet a nanny. Also, the application fee was shocking...why do people pay that? What does this company do to merit $250 right from the bat? PEOPLE! call another agency...the south bay has plenty to chose from. This company was not impressive in the least!

Well, first they didn't even return my phone calls....then they charge this 250 "application fee" and the nannies they sent me were a complete joke. I asked for someone who knew infants and they sent me a nanny who knew nothing about babies. They are very loud and abrubt when you talk to them. The owner is male and does NOT like to hear it from a women. He told me it wasn't my place to tell him how to run his busisness... Everything about them is a complete joke....dont WASTE your time on these idiots.

I was not happy with my first experience with this service, BUT, they have won me over with an appropriate reponse to the issue I raised after the first try. The nanny refunded the money we paid her and they took disciplinary action. The nannies we have had since then have been great. Our son has liked them and they were professional in every way. I especially like how easy the service is to use.

We thought we would really enjoy this service until the morning after our first nanny visit when we noticed the inch and 1/2 x 1/2 inch rug burn in the middle of our son's back. How did he get it? The nanny thought it was fun to pull him to bed down the hall by his feet. How did Bay Area 2nd Mom respond? The owner cried on the phone because I accused her service of negligence. She said she would think about refunding the service fee of $250.00 but she wasn't sure how long that would take. I think $250.00 plus the $100 I paid the nanny is excessive for one nightconsidering I came thome to a mark on my son's body. I expect a nanny that knows better than to pull a child around on the carpet. A basic rule in nanny school must be not to leave marks on the first visit.

I used this service to hire a nanny for two days on an emergency basis. The nanny was excellent. However, in order to hire her, I had to travel from SF to Emeryville at rush hour on a Friday afternoon. I was told that I had to go to the company offices to be screened for security reasons. However, the real reason was that the company owners wanted to give me a hard sell for a permanent nanny placement. My other complaint is that we ended up paying the nanny twice because I paid the company, and my husband inadvertently ended up paying the nanny directly. I appled to the company owners for a refund but they told me I had to get my refund from the nanny who was a college student and was hard to track down.