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Newly Revised List! Top Three Agency Picks for 2009July 7, 2009
Top Three Au Pair Agency Picks for 2009 The new and updated list of our Top Three Picks reflect changes in the au pair industry including economic developments in the au pair industry, emerging and innovative programming and current results of our customer satisfication surveys. What's New? AuPairCare moves to the Number One position as they continue to grow in market share while still providing great customer service and well-screened au pairs. In addition, they continue to improve their award winning website and IT with the release of their new EasyMatch system that provides even faster and better matching! ExpertAuPair jumped to Number Two despite it small size and main service area in Florida. They continue to provide excellent customer service with the lowest program fees and costs in the country and they have the best medical insurance for au pairs. They are increasing their service areas throughout the country as they continue to improve their website. A big jump for a little company! Au Pair in America held on to its spot at Number Three. They continue to have a loyal following, but their customer base continues to shrink, as younger host families are attracted to lower program costs and better website technology - all the bells and whistles the techie generation thrives on and expects is offered by AuPairCare. Au Pair in America's costs and program fees, the highest in the nation, is a major drawback for this struggling company, particularly in these hard economic times. October 2009 Update: agency continues to struggle financially as they lay off significant numbers of staff in CT. office, while at the same time, assigning placement work to field counselors. How this will affect customer service and support is yet to be seen. We have spoken to a few counselors who say, "This agency is going down, and I have been looking for another job," "I resent doing office work and not getting paid for it (since the layoffs). I signed up to be a counselor, not an office staffer." Cultural Care has slipped from our Top Three List for not keeping their eye on their most valuable asset, their customers! They remain one of the leading au pair agencies in the industry but they will need to refocus their marketing energies back into customer service areas. If they can successfully improve service to both host families and the au pairs, they should bounce back very nicely. October 2009 Update: recent lawsuit has this agency in the news again - host mom alleges male au pair, who was fired twice before, physically and sexually abused her 7 year old son. She alleges male au pair also forced child to undergo porn photo shoot. To make matters worse, host mom alleges she asked for one of the Cultural Care directors to remove male au pair (who had a problem with drinking), but director refused. Cultural Care Director, Maureen McDonnell, is named in the lawsuit, which has 5 separate counts, including fraud, neglect and intent to harm. To read the entire story, click here.
Here is the new Top Three Au Pair Agency Picks for 2009 - the Best of the 12 Au Pair Agencies in the Country: AuPairCare - #1 of our Top Three Picks!
San Francisco, CA
Total Yearly Costs 2009: $17,374; Infant Specialized Program: $18,624
1. Award Winning Online Matching Site (2006 CIO Award Winners List) that makes matching online quick, efficient and exemplifies the best in IT technology in the au pair industry to date. Read our article on the award they received. 2. Strong website with online application that includes EasyMatch - a new matching system that is faster and promises to have an au pair in your home in 6 weeks! Faster matching than any other au pair agency to date (July, 2009) 3. Special infant qualified program - a wonderful program that trains au pairs to care for infants. It includes massaage and sign language training. Read about this unique program: Infant Specialized Care Au Pairs 4. Good Phone System (instead of a machine, staff answers the phone) 5. Strong marketing - but keeps their eye on maintaining excellent customer service while growing their business 6. Best Customer Feedback and Ratings from our latest July 2009 survey 7. Au Pair Care's Au Pair Profiles Page is really great - without signing in or applying to their program, Au Pair Care, the Nation's leading au pair agency (and our Number One Pick for 2009) allows parents to view photos of available au pairs and their answers to three basic and important questions: "Tell us about your previous childcare experience;" "What three words would you use to describe yourself?" Why do you want to become an au pair?"
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Total Yearly Costs 2009: $15,600 Additional Educational Costs: $500 - $1000 Discounts: Free application fee
1. Services all of Florida 2. No deductible on medical insurance for au pairs (it is typically $200 for other programs). Insurance includes dental coverage (other agencies do not cover dental costs). Best insurance policy for au pairs in the industry. 3. Online application 4. Small family business that cares about excellent customer service 5. Warm and friendly staff who care about good customer service vs. expanding (Ex., they will not hire counselors unless they personally know them) 6. Least expensive program in the industry 7. Has expanded its coverage since January 2009 - includes Boston, Chicago, NY metro areas, CA. 8. Is enlarging their pool of German, Irish and English au pairs (who speak good English and drive well compared to most nationalities) 9. Newly improved website - easy to navigate with more information compared to last year 10. Has A No Hidden Fee Policy for Au Pairs - many au pairs can be confused by all the hidden fees they must pay, once they have signed up. ExpertAuPair outlines all fees clearly for the au pairs. See http://www.expertaupair.com/FeesAuPair.aspx for all costs that your au pair has to pay for.
1. New program - founded in 2006 2. Newly improved website - but it needs more information about countries they recruit from, etc. 3. Services limited mainly to Florida but some host families in NJ, NY, Georgia, Illinois and CA - call to find out if they service your area in these states. As of March 2010, Expert Au Pair has dramatically expanded their service area - for the updated list visit: http://www.expertaupair.com/places.aspx
Total Yearly Costs: 2009: $18,044 - $22,048 (Educare: $14,092) Additional Educational Costs: $500 - $1000 Discounts: repeat families 6 years +: $385; Referrals: $500; switching from another program: $600; pre-matching: $500
1. Local counselors are salaried and not paid on a commission basis 2. Recruits from 55 countries 3. ChildCare Protection Plan - first agency to implement a program that protects you and your au pair if a family member losses his/her job. There is no fee for this coverage. See details at: http://www.aupairinamerica.com/loyalty/protection_plan.asp 4. New, user friendly website with lots of information on au pairing with Online Application 5. First au pair program (founded in 1986) 6. First to recruit from China 7. Yearly training conference for staff including local counselor and recruiting agents from over 55 countries 8. Generous Referral Program (http://www.aupairinamerica.com/loyalty/referral.asp): host families can earn up to a free year's program fees if they refer 4 families Weaknesses: 1. Highest cost compared to all other agencies in the au pair industry 2. Weak phone service (office staff tend to use their answering machines and they don't always call back the same day - one customer waited for an entire week for a call back from her placement counselor - this is pretty typical) 3. Weak marketing (does not spend money on marketing) 4. Weak matching system - staff are rather slow in responding to parents' needs 5. Does not offer Male Au Pairs 6. APIA was the Top #1 program, but this agency continues to lose significant numbers of customers to their top two competitors: Cultural Care and Au Pair Care 7. Hires summer help for placements who are often inexperienced and inadequately trained 8. Largest pool of au pairs are from Thailand who have both weak/no driving skills and marginal/inadequate English verbal skills. Their pool of Germans have shrunk considerably (who have both good English and competent driving skills)
9.
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Cultural Care NOTE: Cultural Care was named our Top #1 Pick in January of 2009. Due to a significant number of host family, au pair and employee complaints registered online and our recent survey results, we are pulling them from the Top Three Agency Picks for 2009. Cultural Care needs to take some time and re-focus on servicing their customers as their number one priority. We do think they can come back from the negative publicity,to a very strong, positive position, since this is a "go-get-em" company. We shall re-visit them again in the near future.
Summer Program: Discontinued Strengths: 1. Market leader with aggressive growth 2. Strong website with online application process 3. 2008 & 2009 winner of the International Au Pair Association (IAPA) Au Pair of the Year Award 4. Has one of the largest pool of au pairs are from Germany (who typically make excellent au pairs because of their strong English and driving skills) 5. New in 2009: Family Peace of Mind Guarentee Policy (if you loss your job, the agency promises to help you keep your au pair - read the entire program features here: http://www.aupairclearinghouse.com/node/129) Cultural Care also decided NOT to raise fees in 2009 due to the poor economy. 6. As of August 27, 2009: Cultural Care has officially started up their new page on www.getsatisfaction.com/culturalcare. This is a new opportunity for families, au pairs, LCCs, as well as previous or potential customers of the program to share ideas, questions, and feedback in a public forum. Ms. Jordan told aupairclearinghouse while "We have protocols in place to assist program participants with any concerns or questions they may have, we recognize that there is interest out there for more public resources to be available so that the larger online community can benefit from the information provided and to have an opportunity to get involved in the discussion." Cultural Care has already had some activity on getsatisfaction.com and they look forward to more comments and contacts with this new forum. Best of luck to Cultural Care and their new page on www.getsatisfaction.com/culturalcare! Weaknesses: 1. There are multiple complaints posted on the internet by host families (see insiderpages.com and complaintboard.com). Complaints are mainly about lack of support and service once the au pair arrives; au pairs not screened appropriately and difficulties getting monies back once the host family decides to leave and requests a refund 2. One of the more expensive programs (the most costly program is Au Pair in America ) 3. Negative publicity a decade ago when the now infamous English au pair, Louise Woodward, was found guilty of shaking baby Matthew, resulting in his death. See full story at: (http://www.cnn.com/US/9710/31/aupair.onite.wrap/) 4. Law suit over damages cited by host parents when their Swiss au pair took pornographic photos of their 5 year old daughter and posted them on a Swedish website. See full story under Current News "Host Family Sues Agency." 5. Sexual assault incident involving a host father raping his au pair. He was arrested in 2009 and is waiting trial. Read our blog for continued coverage of this story as it unfolds in the media. 6. Received poor customer ratings in our most recent July, 2009 survey (read survey report) |
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Increased program costs across the board in January of 2009 makes this agency the most expensive company today. You may break your bank when you sign up with Au Pair in America!
