Nannies From the Heart

I am a nanny and have been for a little over 10 years now. I had always found my jobs on my own through
which lead me to 4 really great families. My last family relocated to St. Thomas so I started looking again. I found a family I really liked on
but they were also using NFH and wanted me to go through them. I emailed the women who owns NFH to try and set up an interview but unfortunately they are only open normal business hours Monday-​Friday. I was currently working a short term job during regular business hours so those times were not available for me. Even though one of their clients who was paying them to find them a childcare provider had asked them to interview me they did nothing to try to accommodate me or the families wishes to set up an alternative time. In the end I finally took off and went to interview with them. The family I was interviewing with was very insistent on hiring me through NFH and in order for that to happen I had to pay (out of pocket) $ 50 to go get finger printed and also $ 75 to redo all of my first aid classes that I could probably teach by now. At the time iit wasn’t a very big deal so I made the time and had everything done and sent in within the allotted time frame of NFH. After I was a part of the NFH family the family I was interviewing with decided to go with someone older. After finding this out, as I was now a background checked, finger printed, certificate up to date individual that NFH had requested me to be, I started applying for jobs from the NFH page. I applied to probably around 7 jobs. Never once did I receive a response from anyone at NFH about my interest in other positions, nor did they ever contact me about job interviews with families they thought I would fit well with. All in all I was very disappointed with the services they offer for their nannies and I would not recommend anyone useing them. Hopefully some day they can figure out a way to communicate with the nannies that spend their time and money to become a part of the NFH business which wouldn’t be a business without us.

This was by far the worst experience that I have had with a nanny or sitter over many years. I didn’t think of writing a review at the time, but checking the reviews now, I see the awful experience I had, wasn’t the only one. The nanny that was sent by the agency was far more interested in talking to any adult present than watching the children. I had to interrupt her from showing us pictures of her artwork and bragging about how she is a great nanny in order to ask if she could help with the children on several occasions. She showed up saying she was on medications because she had been very sick the night before, and was feeling out of it. Should she have come when she was still feeling sick and feeling out of it? She sat talking about herself while the children were running around in a crowded dining area. Again, I had to interrupt her from talking to adults to ask her to help with the children. I called the agency to request a different nanny and they told me I had to use her, saying nobody else was available. This wasn’t true as I had asked the replacement nanny they sent when she had called in sick. The nanny I felt uncomfortable with was sent again and she spoke negatively about me to people that I know professionally, WHILE caring for my child. When there was some confusion around a time issue, she went off on me and told me that I thought less of her because she was a nanny, going on to say how important she was and that she held a masters degree. I am always very respectful of everyone, with or without degrees! I always had lovely, friendly relationships with every sitter and nanny before and after this woman. I was in tears because of her and paying to have her there! When I called to complain, the agency owner interrupted me to tell me, in a snide way, that she already knew about everything. She knew ONLY what the nanny had told her, and surprise, the nanny had left out the negative details about herself.

Update: just got off the phone with this Rob person, Rebecca’s husband who has nothing to do with the business. He said he agreed with my frustrations with the process but didn’t understand who I went «overboard» with the last part saying that Rebecca sent me a 30 sentence email with «fluff.» Allow me to edit, it was closer to 10 long sentences. Still filled with defensive fluff, however, the rest of my review is a very accurate description of my experience and I still find the business to be unprofessional. I don’t know who Rob thinks he is calling me defending the company and his wife when he had nothing to do with it, trying to persuade me to change my Unilocal review, because it «makes them look bad.» I have since spoken with several other families and someone who used to personally work with Rebecca who all confirmed they have had negative experiences as well. If you have a good one, good for you, however it seems rare!

We encountered the same problems as others with this service, including inconsistency with nannies childcare skills and poor managerial relations with clients.
First, we did have some VERY good nannies through this service, but it was HIT OR MISS. A percentage of unacceptable sitters probably happens with any service, but the management REFUSED to LEARN from these experiences and instead become defensive.
Second, we ended our relationship with this service bk once we explained a nanny had supervised our children improperly, the service refused to send nannies that were not on our «regular» list. Therefore, even with a weeks notice, they did not send a nanny. After this happened repeatedly and we accused them of not fulfilling their contractual duties as agreed upon with our paid membership, they refunded our membership.
NOT RECOMMENDED.

First, I would just first like to address some of the other posters that left such poor reviews. Just look at their other reviews and you can tell these are just the kind of people that are looking to complain. Come on now, all of your experiences in life can’t all be THAT bad.
With that being said, I would like to give a review about Nannies from the Heart from the other side, which is that of the nanny. I moved here to Austin after graduating college with a degree in Early Childhood Education. I knew teaching wasn’t my thing so I explored the option of nannying. I was so pleasantly surprised with my experience with NFTH and continue to be to this day. I sent in my application and the women in the office were so responsive. My application was processed and I was interviewed within a week. I probably asked a million questions and everyone was patient and would respond immediately, either by phone or email. There are background checks that are done and first aid and cpr classes that have to be taken, but as soon as that is out of the way you are able to start applying for nannying positions and picking up babysitting jobs.
I interviewed with a few families and did a trial run with 3 different families before finding a perfect match. Saying that the nannies are «rejects» because they weren’t chosen to work for a family is completely untrue. Both the families and the nanny have a chance to do a trial run to ensure that it is a good fit. Just because a nanny or family isn’t chosen, doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with them. I personally turned down two family’s offers because I just didn’t feel a connection with them. Thankfully, NFTH was very understanding and encouraged me to do what made me happy. I eventually ended up with a family that I absolutely love and have been with for 3 years now. I wake up happy every day to go to work and I feel so valued and appreciated. I absolutely thank NFTH for this.
A few other things I would like to comment on are how beneficial it is to use an agency like NFTH as opposed to going online. I have met a number of nannies who met their families off of websites like sittercity and in general they get paid a great deal less and do not receive the same kind of benefits. It seems like the kind of parents that go to an actual agency tend to hold their nannies to a higher standard and that gets passed down to the nanny and the job she is offered.
So if you are needing to find a nanny or are looking to nanny yourself, I would absolutely recommend a wonderful company like Nannies from the Heart. The women are looking out for your best interests, no matter what side of the fence you are on, and will ensure that your experience is fantastic!

The good: After reading some of these reviews, I feel pretty lucky to have gotten the sitter that I did from Nannies from the Heart. My sitter is awesome. I work from home and I am in and out of the house sporadically while she is here so I feel like I have a pretty good feel for how she is as a sitter (she works 8 hours for me a week). She has been sitting my Six month old daughter since she was two months and she ABSOLUTELY LOVES the sitter. She gets excited when she comes and is all smiles. So in my case, this service provided me with an excellent match.
The bad: I personally think that this service is a little pricey. Also the cancellation policy is HORRIBLE. I get the fact that people need to be re-​imbursed if you cancel; however, I think that charging the 30.00 cancellation fee NO matter how far in advance you cancel (in my case over a week) is crazy. I work in an industry that does charge cancellation fees but typically people have up until 24 hours to cancel.
In summary:
While I am disappointed to hear that not everyone has had positive experiences with the nanies provided, I think this service was generally worth it for me. I was a new mom who was really worried about finding qualified childcare but didn’t really know of any resources in the area. If you know of excellent sitters/​nannies through word of mouth or have the time to conduct a thourough background search, I don’t think this service would be so important.

We will never used NFTH again. We’ve tried their service several times and have been unhappy the last three times. We had a college student out to watch our 10 y/​o and infant that seemed completely naïve when it came to infant care. I returned home to find a pair of scissors in the infant’s nursery on the floor where the nanny and infant were playing as we walked in the door. We continued to work with the service and tried to use them again, but specifically asked not to have the same sitter back. NFTH said our previous sitter was the only one they could find and that no one else responded to our ad. So, we could take her or go without. We went without and cancelled our plans. The last time we tried to use their service was the last straw for me.
We applied for 3 days of service and got a «we’ll get back to you response» and then no one got back to us until a sitter they said they assigned to us called at 9pm to check in for the next day’s appt. We let her know that because we hadn’t heard anything and couldn’t risk NFTH not coming through again, we had been on the phone with two other agencies and located someone else. NFTH swears up and down that they emailed us about the sitter and so they wanted to bill us for their time. I never received those emails, but I did get the ones in which they decided to bill us a cancellation fee of $ 30 and another $ 25 for each day for a total of $ 105. I pressed the issue and they scaled back to only billing us for a cancellation fee and one day of service for a total of $ 55. Nice. I still have not received the emails or the voicemails that they swear they sent to schedule the sitter, but I definitely got the ones with the bills for services never received. We’ll never be back. On the up side, we found that Austin Capitol Grannies is excellent. We found a temp sitter and new f/​t nanny through them. Make the switch. You’ll be glad you did! :-)

As usual, my sitter last night was great. She brought some crafts and a game and kept everyone on track on a hectic night getting ready for a school day, while mom was at a meeting. I’ve been using this agency for quite awhile now, about 10 months. I can’t say enough about how the women there have helped me out. As a scrambled mom obessing over childcare, they helped me navigate the waters and find a great temporary nanny and great sitters when we needed them. I put my trust in them, and they delivered… and with all the time they spent with me on the phone, I know they turly care! Thanks guys… i mean gals!

I was under the impression that my application to receive babysitting services from Nannies from the Heart was complete – I’d gotten a phone call that said as much; imagine my surprise when I tried to enlist a babysitter for an upcoming event and there was no record of my app on file whatsoever!
After several rounds of phone calls, though, the owner addressed the problem directly and got me a sitter ASAP, for which I was incredibly grateful. The sitter was fantastic with the kids, arrived on time, and in general, was on top of it. Would I use them again? Definitely.
That the owner herself was willing to unkink a problem (whether it was my fault or the agency’s) is the kind of attitude you want out of a business –especially one dealing with kids and their well-​being. She also was gracious enough to waive the «rush fee.» So A+ on that front.
My recommendations for them: better navigation tools on the website and longer office hours (the office is closed after 2 or 3 PM).
Overall, though, it’s great to be able to rely on some form of evening or weekend childcare when emergencies arise or one is new to town, and this agency fulfils that need. My friend (who recommended them) uses them for longer-​term nanny services and overnight care, and says they’re great for that as well.
For me, so far, so good!

ORIGINAL REVIEW:
We have 7 month old and hadn’t used a sitter before. Needed one for 5 days/​8 hrs a day. I turned to NFTH b/​c a family member had used them and liked them and also b/​c their website promised prescreened, background checked, referenced, experienced sitters. Their stated goal is to provide peace of mind to parents… ha! Fee is $ 75 app. plus $ 13/​hr (10 to sitter and 3 to agency.). Long story short — a couple of things made us suspicious of our sitter after only 2 days. 3^rd day we discovered she had stolen money (even from an underwear drawer), taken our baby in car against our express wishes and didn’t tell us about it (we had to figure it out and confront her), given our baby medicine w/​out telling us, etc. Told agency about it through my sobs and they apologized, offered to send someone else (HECK NO), and said they wouldn’t charge $ 3/​hr for those hours. We were beside ourselves and couldn’t sleep Wed. night and had our locks changed the next day b/​c we were so creeped out. Our baby wasn’t herself that night either and we still don’t know what all
happened while we were gone. Next morning the agency owner ********* called and got my husband as he had to take off work to care for baby. The owner apologized and said they wouldn’t charge the normal $ 3/​hr. Most important, during phone conversation with owner, she said there was only one red flag and it was that the sitter had lied to them during her interview but was able to explain it away to their satisfaction!!! GO FIGURE!!! Owner refuses to refund our $ 75 lifetime memb app fee (that surprise! we won’t be using) or pay for locksmith or sitter hours. Hope others learn from our costly emotional and financial mistake. Sometimes you don’t get what you pay for!
SUBSEQUENTLY:
1. The co-​owner wrote me a rude email threatening legal action regarding the above review.
2. The owner left me an ugly voice mail regarding the above review and the email from the co-​owner.
3. The business owners mailed me a check to refund the $ 75 membership fee.
FINALLY:
I hope that our experience was not the norm and that most others using this service receive reliable, quality childcare. Obviously, we did not and it profoundly and deeply impacted us. We expected the business owner to respond in a warm and caring way. Instead, the response was defensive and cold. Throughout this ordeal, I have been left with the impression that the business owners really didn’t/don’t care very much about what happened to our baby. At the end of the day, THAT is, above all, what is most disappointing.