AgingCare 2

Do not do business with Douglas In-Home Care Health if you would be pleased if a firm refuses, repeatedly, to refund the [amount removed] deposit that they demanded. The sales agent [name removed] told me to deal with their billing dept and has been woefully negligent in handling this client.

I talk to the owner today and she was very rude and condescending to me. I asked about what car they get a ride from my mom and she said we can’t help you at this time. Go somewhere else. Stay away from this company .

We initially hired this company to provide a month of care to my father after hip surgery at $1,000 per week or $4,000. They charged us up front. After surgery he had some delirium from anesthesia so my sister took a leave of absence from work and stayed with him to provide care for a month. We asked the company for a refund. They said they had to charge for the first week as the nurse had been booked. Which we understood, but it has been over 2 years and they still will not refund the remaining $3,000. They say they have, but we have not received it and they will not send a copy of the cancelled check. We are going to take them to court, costing more time and money.

I have had nothing but trouble with this agency. They send unqualified aides. They send new aides that they haven't even seen or spoken to. There is always scheduling issues and when you try to reach them they don't return your calls. Very unprofessional. I questions some of their practices as they do not seem to be legal.

Terrible experience with this company. The owner is unprofessional and rude. The caretaker we had was unskilled and unable to learn even simple tasks.

Unprofessional, inadequate and a major lack of integrity. By far the worst company I've experienced. Management is unable to properly manage or conduct own company. Communication skills are negative: not within client or Caregiver standards.

My family member hired Home Instead for 24/7 caregiver assistance following a stroke. In the first 24 hrs she had 5 different caregivers. She continues to have multiple caregivers throughout an 8 hr day. Most of the caregivers cannot cook and do not provide any care other than going for fast food. Two caregivers actually came and slept the entire time they were there. It has been hit or miss with 2 to 3 very good ones who actually come in and do what they have been hired to do. We will not be using Home Instead in the future and would not recommend them. Very disappointing and expensive experience.

The agency’s aides do not preform all the advertised services like cooking, light housekeeping or laundry: all services I specifically asked about. When asked what does meal preparation mean, I was told “if you mom wants a roasted chicken, they will make her a roasted chicken.” To be direct and honest from my experience, you are lucky if they know even how to use a microwave. If you need someone to simply watch TV with your loved one or just talk to them, then they are okay. Sometimes there were miscommunications with scheduling and they have a poor procedure when aides call in sick. They also give the impression that they only want long term or patients needing a full week in of. care. When we started to cut days and hours it became even more difficult to get quality aides. One of the aide also lacked the professionalism and maturity I would expect for someone working with a family dealing with the challenge of trying to find quality care for their loved one. Finally, I had mentioned these issues to A place for mom and have not received any feedback.

The client: Our 93 yr old mother, who wants to be in her home but is deteriorating physically and mentally. Arranging care visits for our mother started out great. The initial visit from a Senior Helpers staff member to describe their offerings was professional and well done. It included all of the empathy for "Mom" one could possibly expect, and we began the service. Then it all went the opposite direction. - The key introductory management person promised on the first visit did not show up. The caregiver arrived without any direction or guidance materials. - Several caregiver visits were "no-shows", without notice. The responses from Senior Helpers were defensive and in one instance, not truthful. - Twice, contrary to the promise from Senior Helpers, a new caregiver came to Mom's door without notice to anyone, and without a familiar Senior Helper staff member to introduce them. Very stressful to Mom, who would not open the door. - 4 different caregivers, all of whom were pleasant and likable. 2 of the 4 were caring and attentive. 2 were less so. We requested only the 2 who performed well and Senior Helpers would not accommodate that request. - We ended the service after just a few weeks. This review relates only to a local franchise, and is not a review of the entire organization. Others may have had more positive outcomes, and I truly wish Mom had received the experience expected. The take-away is to beware. These services all claim excellent, understanding and empathetic care. However, they are not fiduciaries and they will not tell you that their own interests and schedules might take precedence over their clients. They have to be firmly held to their own promises and described services from the very start, and fired quickly if they don't. We let it go on for too long.

They put on a good show for us to sign the documents, but after that, no communication. Helpers would just not show up, promises of invoices would never show up. Promises from the owner that she would take my father to his doctor appointments, never heard from her again when appointment time came. No show from the aide prior to the hurricane even though she was supposed to come. No phone calls to say she wasn't coming. Helpers who were unprofessional. Then without warning they passed my father off to another company without contacting us. Zero communication. Not once in 4 months did we receive any information about how our father was doing health wise and cognitively. Never once did the owner express concern at the distance their aides were driving, yet magically this was the reason they dropped us with no warning. Just a random phone call from another company telling us they are now handling my father's care.

It was one mishap after another with SYNERGY Home Care. During the interview, I made them aware that I had a dog. They send a lady that was petrified of dogs. I restrained my dog and left for a few hours to get some me time while she watched over my husband who has Alzheimer's. Locking my dog up made me feel upset during my time away. The next time they sent a girl who was 20 minutes late. No ID, no identification. She did do a good job and the dog loved her and I had a nice day. I called two days later and requested the same girl and they said she was already scheduled at the time I needed her. So I waited until she was available. Then when she was scheduled to show up to my house she didn't show up. So I called him to inquire where she was and he stated he didn't know where she was. I canceled the service. They were very disorganized. I did not like the way they ran their company.

Found the administrator difficult and did not act professional. We agreed on a one day trial, he continued to send people weekly without discussing or confirming if the caregiver was a rigjt fit. He demanded paument and then became angry and threatening when I attempted to discuss our agreement. I will never recomend them and they did not help as promised, it created more problems in an already difficult situation

I met with a woman who helped me for one day. She had me sign a two week agreement with a post-dated check. She ended up telling me my scheduled would not work with hers and I was told I would get a refund for the days we were not going to use, only one day of service was used. I have yet to get a refund and have problems getting it back.

My experience here didn't get off to a good start, and never got better. I started with the director of one location, and was expecting to meet with him. When I showed up, it was this locations director that I met, as I had been transferred to this location without a word. Communication is a big issue with this agency. From my experience their employees aren't very well trained either, especially not with dementia. The first person we had was bossy, and didn't know what to do. They had to ask about what to do for almost everything. Along with that, they were unreliable. Because of the lack of communication, nobody showed up for two days. I never even got a phone call. Luckily, we came to see my loved one on the second day of someone not showing up. I would not recommend this agency to anyone. We have since changed agencies, and are much happier.

I have had this service now for 3 months to help take of my mother who has dementia. I have had caregivers who were constantly late or come intentionly early to clock in and sit an eat their breakfast while i was charged overtime. Even after bringing it to supervisors attention its still not corrected. You will have to check up on who they send because some will not feed wash or give meds as instructed to your love one. The admin people do not call you to let you know of changes in the schedules or you will have to call several times when you have questions or concerns before you reach someone in charge. I would get rid of their service but i finally have a main caregiver who is good. Be alert if you hire this company!

I was not impressed with the service from Southern Companions. I needed their services for a few days while I was ill, and the girls they sent did nothing but sit on their butts and play with their phones most of the day. They would help if I specifically requested something, but other than that they didn't do a thing. Not a service I would recommend, based on my experience.

The personnel that we interacted with were very friendly. The aide who came out was taking over, and moving things. Our loved one is legally blind, so this was not good, and she was getting into things cupboards and drawers and things that she shouldn't have been. When I did call and let them know that it wasn't working out, they came right out and took care of it. We didn't want a replacement after that, though. It wasn't a great experience for us. We chose them because they were the quickest response we had.

I met with Perfecto several months ago. It did not work out! They were not professional. They interrupted the PT session my mom was getting with Home Health to say they couldn't provide what we needed. I would not work with them. Very pushy...very persistent...not professional.

We only had them in for a week, they didn't have dependable caregivers. I'd get home and my husband would say there was no one there to relieve him and they would call me saying they didn't have anybody for such-and-such a shift and I would have to leave work to go take care of my daddy. I talked to the owner and I told them I couldn't keep leaving work and they understood and I told them I needed somebody I could trust and they understood that. They said it had never happened before and were really sorry. The friendliness was nice, the service just sucked but they were never hateful to me. They did not have great caregivers, they did not have dependable caregivers.

It's not going well. The caregiver was an hour late on Friday. I left him a note that clearly stated what days and when I wanted him and he was supposed to be here at 10 am today and he showed up at 11:30 am. I don't think he speaks English which he is supposed to. He will smile and nod yes, but he doesn't understand. My plan was to slowly get him used to the household and then increase hours but I don't think it's going to work out. Until he's trained he's going to be more work for me. He seems very affable - a very nice, young man. I'm overwhelmed and this is supposed to make my life easier.