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I’m
confused and worried.
Cultural Care refund details
I am a host family and have never needed to think about your refund policy since our au pairs have always worked out. I did refer a colleague, though, and when their au pair went home early because she wanted to start school, they were not eligible for a refund because they had more than six months of childcare. Is it true that families don't get a refund if their au pair leaves early? What is Cultural Care required to do in a situation like my colleague's?
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Dear CassyJ,
Thank you so much for your question and thank you for referring a colleague to the program. I’m sorry that things did not work out with your colleague and they ultimately left the program after their au pair departed early.
While there can sometimes be circumstances that are beyond the host family’s control which lead to the departure of an au pair, such as an unexpected decision by an au pair to return home to enroll in a school program, we are here to help. There are many options that a family can consider.
GETTING A NEW AU PAIR
Our first priority is to help the family find another au pair and most families decide to continue on with the program and they may choose to review candidates from overseas or candidates that are already in the U.S. They will work with their Program Director during this process because that is the person with whom they have been communicating about their transition and the Program Director has a unique understanding of what their needs are in the new au pair. They will remain in contact throughout the placement process until the right replacement au pair is found for them.
GOING ON HOLD
They may decide to go on hold and this means that their entire account freezes as soon as the au pair departs their home or stops working. They can then take the time to decide how they want to proceed.
LEAVING THE PROGRAM
A family may decide that after the departure of their au pair that they are not in a position to continue with the program. If they have received 30 program weeks or less, they are eligible for a standard refund per the policy outlined in the host family agreement. The policy is based upon the number of weeks paid for and a formula applied for weeks received, less any nonrefundable fees. Families will then receive a refund at a rate set by the number of program weeks they have received. The host family agreement stipulates that if a family has received 31 or more program weeks that they are ineligible for a refund. However, the credit on their account will remain and would be applied should they choose to return to the program at some point in the future. Our refund policy is easily accessible for review on our website, www.culturalcare.com by downloading our application materials.
I hope that this has helped to answer your question, but feel free to give us a call at 1-800-333-6056 and we’d be happy to answer any additional questions you may have. If your friend has any additional questions, please encourage her to contact our office as well and we’d be happy to walk through any part of this process with her directly.
Thank you,
NatalieComment -
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I’m
frustrated
My Au Pair was supposed to be with us through August. Having 3 school aged children summer care was very important to us when we signed up for the program. Well, although our year is not over yet our Au Pair has recently told us she will be leaving us on June 18 ... one week before our children are even out of school!
While we were going to try and match with another Au Pair we have decided that after 2 Au Pairs (one HORRIBLE and one ok) this is just not for us. Between mandatory au pair meetings, driving her back and forth to her classes, plus my own childrens' activities, I just don't have the patience or energy to go through this experience again. I also do not want to match with someone in transition since I know quite well that many, if not all of these girls, are "problem" au Pairs. What agencies need to understand, and I am sure Cultural Care is not the only one, is that you can't just invite someone into your home with 3 young children and say "ok, here we are, we have coverage for 3 months" and everything will be fine. This causes issues for children, they get to know someone and then they're gone. I also have a pool and would never feel comfortable leaving them alone with someone who has just been introduced to my children!
I am incredibly disappointed that Cultural Care will not refund any of the money I paid to the agency even though I did not ask our Au Pair to leave. Why should I be penalized? I paid as I was asked, the Agency, through the Au Pair, did not fulfill their end of the contract.-
Hi JennaH,
I’m sorry that you are frustrated and you’ve determined that the au pair program is no longer the best option for your family. I certainly respect your decision and appreciate the difficult position this situation has presented to your family. We do understand that a short-term placement may not be ideal for you at this time and hope that at some point in the future, your situation may change and you may reconsider the au pair program. While a refund is not due after 30 program weeks, you can retain the remaining program fee credit on your account should you return to the program and it apply it at that time.
I do want to take a moment to address the comment you made regarding transition au pairs. While a particular placement may not end up being the best fit for everyone involved, we have found that many au pairs and host families have found a great deal of success after transitioning to another placement. It is always our goal for the initial placement to be successful, but there are sometimes factors that simply make this not possible. All au pairs and host families are reviewed prior to any new placements to make certain that the reasons for transition are acceptable, conduct was appropriate, and that the host family and au pair are cleared to continue to make sure that everyone has the best chance for program success.
I wish you the very best in moving forward and regret that you depart from the program with any level of frustration. If I can be of further assistance, please feel free to contact me directly.
Thank you,
Natalie
Natalie.Jordan@culturalcare.com -
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CassyJ -- Your au pair can not just "tell you that she is leaving early" and not experience serious consequences. I recommend that you call Natalie at 1-800-333-6056 and go over the options you have at your disposal.
This summer I will be starting my 4th year with the program and all of my au pairs have been excellent. I hope Natalie is able to help you.-
Hi Kathy,
Thank you for recommending me as a resource, I appreciate it. I will say that there are consequences for leaving the program early, however, without full knowledge of all the specifics of this situation, it's difficult to comment further. I am more than happy to speak with JennaH if there are any questions in this regard.
Thank you,
Natalie -
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The refund formula for Cultural Care is terrible and only works in their favor! We had to part ways with our au pair after 3 months and did not receive a dime back. At first it appeared we would be getting a couple thousand dollars back but there is this random amount you have to subtract from your refund based on how long you had care and it almost all situations, it favors Cultural Care and wipes out your refund. We tried all kinds of scenarios to see how we could get some of our money back. We paid way too much money for a terrible au pair. It's a good thing we were on the payment plan and hadn't made all of our payments or we really would have been out the money.
I will mention when it came time for transition, CC already started placing the au pair before anyone talked to our LCC or even us about the reasons for the transition (on top of a safety issue and just not being a good au pair, she was sharing personal & confidential information she overheard in our house with my family members which caused my entire family to stop speaking to each other). As you might imagine, we were very upset and resistent to trying again. Any agency that would begin replacing the au pair before they even spoke to to us or the LCC makes me question the candidates and feedback we would be getting from them in transition.
While we have friends happy with the program, we were very disappointed and were treated horribly by our program director. Our LCC was great however but she couldn't do anything either. The PD didn't speak to her until a week after all this transpired. We will not be using this program again and are out a great deal of money thanks to the CC formula. -
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I am sorry all that happened to you guys :o( I didn't really like the transition experience either. Our first was horrendous and we had to ask her to leave. She basically told our LCC she "didn't want to go home." She didn't want to be an au pair or be around children, but she didn't want to go home. Then she had to stay in my house for 2 weeks, I had to feed her and deal with her nonsense, and bring in a babysitter for that time!!
The "funny" part about our current au pair situation is (1) our au pair doesn't get her deposit back because she is chosing to leave early; (2) she has to pay for her own flight home; and (3) we don't get a refund. so ... why exactly can't I get something back? Seems like CC is making out on this one. At the least, there should be a stipulation that says "if the host family does not re-sign an au pair with CC within x time then the money will be refunded." Poor business practices to me, but good for the company I suppose.
I have learned my lesson. -
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This company is a complete fraud. They care nothing about their image in the community and are only interested in their bottom line. Warning, do not pay the money up front. They will do everything to keep it and you will never see it again. We had an au pair for 2 weeks and she decided to leave. She then stayed with us for the mandatory 2 more weeks and then left. We then had no one for one month and then they placed another au pair with us who was worse than the first. We had enough of transitions so we stayed with the au pair until she had to leave for medical reasons 5 months into her tenure. We had more than $3000 balance on our account but the agency refused to give our money back. Keep in mind that neither of the au pairs leaving had anything to do with us. How about a company that makes it their policy that after a certain period they won't refund any money? What kind of policy is that? There are no exception and no special circumstances. This company is horrible and are not to be trusted.
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EMPLOYEE
