Nanny Placement Fee: should I be annoyed or angry?

Iblamethebeer · December 2013

Here's the short version:

We hired a nanny through a nanny service.

We were required to pay a $1650 placement fee in August when we chose her and she started coming once a week or so to get to know the house/kids (I was on maternity leave).

We were required to pay an additional $600 when she moved to "full time" status upon my return to work.

That was three weeks ago. She just quit.

I think the agency should find me a replacement nanny. They think I should get a partial refund of my placement fee, based on the number of days she worked for us (it would be about $1400 back), and then pay a new placement fee for them to find a new nanny. They are also "willing" to waive the per-day temporary nanny fee for the current nanny to continue working for us for up to one month, while we try to find a replacement.

Is this a $1000 life lesson that I should shrug off, or should I be pushing back hard? I really can't tell....

Iblamethebeer · December 2013

theresat858 said:

I would be pissed, but I would also never pay $2000+ as a "placement fee" for a nanny to start with.

Fair point. The background is that we had used this agency a few years ago when we needed an emergency/fill-in nanny. The temporary nanny agreement I signed at the time obligated me to pay the full placement fee if I ever decided to hire the temporary nanny on a continuing basis. We loved her, so when we had baby #3 and needed to switch from daycare to nanny, we kind of choked at the price but figured if it got us someone who we already knew and trusted, it would be worth it. Turns out... not.

djm31012 · December 2013

i would definitely push back hard on the fee. they should not refund you and instead use that money to find you something else....and maybe you can have something in ur contract that says if she quits before 3 mos, the same thing applies? Im not sure ive never used a service but that sounds crazy!

jf198400 · December 2013

Even if it is what's in your contract I would still fight it. Businesses should hopefully want to keep their clients. You can threaten to leave, threaten to write a poor review of their business. If they are smart they will find a way to accommodate you. Personally I can not imagine spending that kind of money to an agency (care.com costs about $35). And to spend all that money and then have the nanny quit right away is downright unacceptable if you ask me.

Iblamethebeer · December 2013

K3am said:

Hard to tell.. what's your contract with them say? It should be implicitly spelled out. If they're within the rights of the contract you agreed to, you don't have much to be angry about. (Annoyed, yes. The whole situation sounds annoying.)

Well this is where the life lesson comes in. There isn't a contract. There's a price sheet, which says that I get a free replacement nanny for the first month, but it doesn't explain what first month that is -- I told them since it's within one month of her full-time start date (and the date I paid the balance of the placement fee) I think this applies. They say that clock started tolling when I made the first payment and she started coming to our house during my maternity leave.

82Sonia · December 2013

I would absolutely push back. We used a nanny agency with similar fees (although we decided to stay with our DC in the end) and they were very ambiguous in their contract about what would happen if the nanny quit and replacement searches. We made them write up a seperate agreement.

laurakaz13 · December 2013

Care.com or Sittercity.com. They are both excellent services. I would push back big time and not use this agency again.

*sparky* · December 2013

I think it sucks but unfortunately it sounds like they are within the terms of their agreement so there is not much you can do. If I were in our shoes I would:

(1) Ask for a more specific agreement that will cover you for a replacement nanny with no additional fee if this next one leaves (hopefully they will not!!) and

(2) Look on your own on care.com and similar sites so you can possibly find a nanny on your own without paying the fee again.

Iblamethebeer · December 2013

Circling back on this, finally.

I talked to the owner of the agency, and explained my perspective. She agreed to seek a replacement nanny for us at no charge. If she can hold my hand through this transition, then I'll consider it money well spent.

Interviews start tomorrow...

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