Sittercity Reviews: Is It Right For You?

Most Sittercity reviews that you will find only scratch the surface, which means that you may not be getting the full scoop on this service. If you need a sitter soon, then this article is for you.

In this article, I will provide you with details about Sittercity that you won’t find anywhere else. By the end of this article, you’ll be able to decide if Sittercity is the right choice for you and your family’s needs.

So is Sittercity right for you and your family? Read on to find out.

Sittercity Limited Time Offer: Save Up To 65% With Our Value Plans

Here’s what some parents have to say about this article:

“Thanks for your very complete review of Sittercity. I really appreciate it. 🙂 It seems you’ve covered all of the things I had questions about their services. This is tremendously helpful for moms like me who are very careful with choosing a childcare service.” – HCunningham

“This is a very comprehensive review of Sittercity. I was looking online for some reviews but most of them were more focused on the part of the sitter. I’m a mom and I need to know the mechanics of Sittercity. I’m glad I saw this review. Thank you. – Darlene JP

“I’m glad I stumbled upon your review of Sittercity. A lot of things have been said about it but your article has really given me a wider perspective on their services.” – peaches8

“Thank you for this article. If I hadn’t read this I wouldn’t have tried out Sittercity. Now I’m able to find sitters who are reliable and caring.” – scranberry

Highlights Of This Sittercity Review

• Sittercity is the market leader in the online sitter space and is America’s largest and most trusted online resource for child care, elder care, pet care, housesitting, housekeeping, and tutoring. In fact, the company invented the online sitter and caregiving services industry. To date, Sittercity serves more than 7 million users in cities across the United States.
• Part of the appeal to members of Sittercity is the social media, and community feel of the website and this naturally leads to another benefit — the detailed profiles of sitters and the feedback from parents. More importantly, you also have complete access to feedback provided by parents who have used the services of the sitter.
• Sittercity recommends a four-step process for screening and finding the best sitter for your family. This screening process includes the use of the site’s internal feedback system, conducting personal interviews, checking references, and conducting thorough background checks.
• Safety and security for both family and sitters are top priorities for Sittercity. Sittercity takes safety and security very seriously. The company uses a couple of highly respected safety and security organizations such as Family WatchDog, Experian, and Sterling Talent Solutions to assist them in the sitter review process. The profiles of sitters are redundantly reviewed for identity verification and quality review as soon as they register on the site.
• One of the great things that I like about Sittercity is the ability for parents to do affordable background and identification checks right within the site. In-depth background checks are available for both parents and sitters to purchase and process.
• Sittercity also allows you to contact the sitters’ references directly so that you can talk to them to learn more about the sitter that you are interested in hiring.
• With Sittercity, you can find sitters passively or proactively. With a passive search, all you have to do is post a job on the site and wait for qualified sitters to apply for the job. The proactive way of looking for a sitter starts with you going through the search process using various filters based on your requirements. Once you narrow down your list of potential sitter candidates, you can then contact them.
• Regardless of whether you decide to find sitters passively or proactively on Sittercity, the site provides parents and families a great search platform that is really so convenient and very easy to use. There is no doubt that this Sittercity helps parents like us take the stress and inconvenience away from what used to be a very time-consuming and stressful endeavor.
• Sittercity is one of the best online sitter services that you can find in the market today. However, Sittercity isn’t perfect. Just like other babysitter services, you may find certain issues with the service if you think that this service will do everything for you. Detailed solutions on how to deal with the service’s shortcomings are provided.
• Sittercity offers 2 types of memberships: (1) free Basic Membership; and (2) paid Premium Membership. The difference between the two types of memberships is discussed in detail. If you want to give Sittercity a test drive, give the free Basic Membership a try.
• Paid membership cancellation is also very easy. Cancellation contact information is also provided in this article.
• Bottomline thoughts and recommendations on Sittercity are discussed at the end of the article.

Everything You Need To Know About Sittercity

There comes a time when parents really need some help with regard to taking care of their child.

Whether it’s because you need to be at work, have an important appointment that you can’t miss, or simply need to have a break from family life to keep your sanity … finding a babysitter whom you can trust your precious little one can be quite a challenge.

For the lucky ones who have family members, relatives, or neighbors to depend on for babysitting, I envy you.

For parents like us who need outside help for babysitting or do not want to hassle others, we have two options: find babysitters the old-fashioned way through recommendations from family and friends or find babysitters the modern way via the internet.

There was a time when I was also in desperate need of a sitter. Not having someone to watch over my daughter when I had to be at work while my husband was away on a trip had put me in a tight situation.

Based on my experience and knowledge now about Sittercity, I’m going to provide you with some important insights on this service which I hope can help you decide on whether Sittercity is the right solution for your child care needs.

As a result, I had to find a solution to the issue and set my mind on using an online sitter service. That’s when I came across Sittercity.

When I was doing my own research at that time, I came across various online sitter services that have been sprouting online, and believe me, some of the sites I found did not impress me as being safe or can be trusted.

When I started focusing on finding out more about Sittercity, information on this service was very scarce. I did not have enough information to make an informed decision.

Based on my experience and knowledge now about Sittercity, I’m going to provide you with some important insights on this service which I hope can help you decide on whether Sittercity is the right solution for your child care needs. [1]

I will also provide you with some tips on how to make the most out of the service so that you don’t make some costly mistakes in hiring the wrong sitters to care for your precious kids.

With that, let’s move right along.

So What’s The Real Scoop On Sittercity?

Sittercity is the market leader in the online sitter space and is America’s largest and most trusted online resource for child care, elder care, pet care, housesitting, housekeeping, and tutoring.

To date, Sittercity serves more than 7 million users in cities across the United States.

In fact, the company invented the online sitter and caregiving services industry when it was founded back in 2001 by Genevieve Thiers while she was still a Boston College student.

The service offers a great choice of potential babysitters for your kids via an easy-to-use website. The idea of a simple online resource for babysitters is highly appealing to all us parents and that is exactly what Sittercity aims to offer us. [2] Once you sign up as a member you can easily access the database of available child care providers and post the details of the job you require.

From there, it is just a matter of waiting for the applications to come your way. Or, if you want to be more proactive with your search, you can screen and narrow down potential sitters to contact through the use of various screening filters that suit your family’s needs.

Part of the appeal to members of the site is the social media, community feel of the website and this nature leads to another benefit — the detailed profiles of sitters and the feedback from parents.

Part of the appeal to members of the site is the social media, and community feel of the website and this naturally leads to another benefit — the detailed profiles of sitters and the feedback from parents. Profiling sitters that sign up gives you an easy way of viewing their personal details, location, experience, and skills so that finding the perfect choice is quicker and easier.

More importantly, you also have complete access to feedback provided by parents who have used the services of the sitter.

Another advantage of using Sittercity over other websites is the freedom and choice that it offers. There appears to be no limit on the type of jobs you can post on this site.

Whether you need a simple overnight job, some after-school cover, or a full weekend, you can post your job requirements for applicants or do a proactive search for someone who is available.

Additionally, if you require a sitter with specialized skills, for instance, if you would like the house to be cleaned or prefer someone with first aid training, you can find someone with a suitable match.

You can also find sitters who can tutor your kids. If you have pets, the site also offers pet sitters.

One thing is for sure, this website offers peace of mind for busy parents. There is nothing worse than finding out that you have to be out of the house in an hour and there is no one available to watch over the kids. With Sittercity, this nightmare could potentially be resolved because members have been known to post job requests at short notice with success.

Because of the speed and simplicity of the process, available sitters whom you have already pre-screened (through the four-step screening process; more on this below), can instantly view and respond to your emergency posts and be at your door in time just so you can be at your important engagement.

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Safety and Security For Both Family And Sitters Are Top Priorities

Sittercity recommends a four-step process for screening and finding the best sitter for your family. This screening process includes the use of the site’s internal feedback system, conducting personal interviews, checking references, and conducting thorough background checks.

By following this four-step screening process, you can put your mind at rest and be able to make better hiring decisions.

In-depth background checks are available for parents or sitters to purchase and process. The background check processing is completed by Sterling Talent Solutions. Sterling is considered one of the best in the world when it comes to checking and verifying the background of anyone.

Sitters are screened through the Family Watchdog database, both with the information provided at registration and continuously thereafter.

Sitter identities are authenticated at registration by Experian, which compares user information against publicly available data. This helps Sittercity determine that the person who created the profile is a real person. [3]

You would think the high-level background and database checks would be enough. Well, Sittercity realizes you can never be too careful. They take safety and security so seriously that they have a third-party review process. The profiles of sitters are reviewed again for identity verification and quality review.

One of the great things that I like about Sittercity is the ability to do background and identification checks right within the site.

In-depth background checks are available for parents or sitters to purchase and process. The background check processing is completed by Sterling Talent Solutions. Sterling is considered one of the best in the world when it comes to checking and verifying the background of anyone.

However, Sittercity doesn’t stop there.

They’ve also partnered with an organization called Family Watchdog, which tracks down registered sex offenders within your area, for added security in your screening process. I think that is also really a great feature that parents should be aware of.

As a heads up, a background check using Sterling costs $15 per background check per person. Sittercity’s comprehensive background check includes an identity check, a national criminal search, traffic violations, and a check through the sex offender and violent crime registry.

However, most of the time, you will find that a sitter already has a background check in their profile. If such is the case, then you wouldn’t have to do one as the background check was already done by other parents or subscribers, or by the sitter themselves.

According to Sittercity, it is pretty common for sitters to pay for their own background check in order to complete their profile and make it more convenient for parents to hire them. By having a complete background check in their Sittercity profile, a babysitter usually has a better chance of being contacted by parents since they are making it convenient and cheaper for parents to hire them.

By the way, even if sitters request for their own background check on Sterling, there is absolutely no possibility that sitters can influence or tamper with the findings in the background check.

Now in the event that a hiring party needs to do a background check since no background check has been done on a sitter, do I think that the cost is justified at all?

I sincerely do think it is still very much justified.

Considering that we are ensuring the safety of our family and kids, I truly think that a $15 background check is well worth it. I think of this as an investment for our peace of mind and more importantly, for the safety of our kids.

Aside from being able to do background checks conveniently as a Sittercity member, you can also read actual reviews on the sitters left by other moms and members of the site. While identity and background checks are extremely important, being able to read reviews about a sitter from other parents is priceless.

Sittercity also allows you to contact the sitters’ references directly so that you can talk to them to learn more about the sitter that you are interested in hiring.

In addition to all of these, sitter profiles on the site also come with photos, experience, training, safety skills, availability calendars, reviews, and more. You can interview sitters before making a final decision. In fact, it is highly recommended that you do so. You are always in control of the whole process.

While identity and background checks are extremely important, being able to read a review about a sitter from other parents who are using or have used a potential sitter is priceless.

Like any other online sitter service, there is no guarantee that the system is foolproof but as long as you use common sense and do your own research on applicants, then you should be safe. If one sitter has a five-star rating and good references and the other has a two-star rating and nothing to back up their application, then the choice is obvious.

How Do You Actually Use Sittercity To Find A Sitter?

I found Sittercity to be one of the most convenient ways for finding a babysitter since you can do your searches right in the comfort of your home. [4] You no longer have to make calls or bother your family, friends, relatives, office mates, or local community centers to find a recommended sitter.

You do not even have to make a special time just to make a trip to your local college, university, or church just to get hold of a list of potential sitter candidates. It’s really such a time saver.

The service even becomes more valuable if you don’t know anyone who can make recommendations for a sitter or if you are pretty much new in your neighborhood. As long as you have a computer or an electronic mobile device and an internet connection, you can do your sitter searches right in the comfort of your home.

With Sittercity, you can find sitters passively or proactively. Let me clarify that.

With a passive search, all you have to do is post a job on the site. When you post a job on Sittercity, you can provide specific details about the job that you are looking for someone to fill in. Within a few hours (sometimes even minutes), qualified local sitters who are interested in the job posting will respond to you.

You can then review further details about the sitters who responded to your job posting and start the process of creating a shortlist of sitters that you would be interested in getting in touch with and interviewing.

The proactive way of looking for a sitter starts with you going through the search process. This simple search starts with you going to the sitter search box and typing your zip code.

You are then taken to a screen where you can refine your search through various filters that include the following filters: distance from your home, has own transportation, ok with pets, nonsmoker, availability of photo, gender, availability of background checks, last time the sitter signed in to the site, availability, availability of user reviews and feedback, the preferred location for sitting whether your own home or the sitter’s home, years of experience, hourly rate, educational level, first aid certification, CPR certification, teacher certification, nurse’s assistant certification, special need experience, languages spoken, age of care provider, and more.

Once you have set your parameters and done your search, you can then do further research on the potential sitters you are interested in. Since you have full access to their profiles, you can read all their background info and background checks prior to getting in touch with them for phone and face-to-face interviews. Also read: Free Trial Search On Sittercity

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Sittercity also provides tips and articles for you on how to conduct searches to help you find sitters who are best suited for your needs. For example, some of the articles that you will have access to cover topics such as interview questions to ask potential candidates or how you should conduct interviews to spot sitters who seem to have chemistry with you and your kids.

Regardless of whether you decide to find sitters passively or proactively on Sittercity, the site provides parents and families a great search platform that is really so convenient and very easy to use.

There is no doubt that this online sitter service helps parents like us take the stress and inconvenience away from what used to be a very time-consuming and stressful endeavor.

U.S. Department of Defense Partnership

As proof of the site’s quality of service and high standards, I just thought that you might like to know that Sittercity is fully endorsed by the U.S. Department of Defense. In fact, the U.S. Department of Defense partnered with Sittercity back in 2010 to help military families with their childcare needs. [5]

Military families have free access to this online sitter service thanks to funding from the Defense Department. Military members and their families can activate their membership by going to http://www.sittercity.com/dod.

So if you or a member of your family are in the Army, Marine, Navy, or Air Force, you don’t have to pay for membership and will have full access to all the benefits that Sittercity has to offer. Watch the video below to learn more about this.

[Update: As of 31 July 2015, Sittercity’s free access for military members was discontinued. However, the company still provides discounted offers for its services to military families. You can find more details regarding this matter here.]

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Need To Cancel Your Subscription? It’s Really Easy

Just like any service that you use for your home and family such as electricity, gas, water, cable, garbage collection, insurance, newspaper, magazines, or ant-virus software, it is your responsibility to cancel your subscription for such services. Sittercity is no different from these.

Also, it is important to note that when it comes to renewing your premium membership, Sittercity does not send you a notice of billing. For some reason, this appears to be the practice at Care.com too. A lot of people are usually surprised to see automatic renewal billing on their credit cards thinking that since they did not receive any billing notification, then they would not be billed at all.

Make sure you cancel your subscription if you intend to only use Sittercity for the amount of time you signed up for. Otherwise, your credit card will be automatically billed without any email notification.

Make sure you cancel your subscription if you intend to only use Sittercity for the amount of time you signed up for. Otherwise, your credit card will be automatically billed without any email notification.

In the event that you decide to end your subscription to Sittercity, cancellation is very easy. They have provided every possible option for you to cancel your subscription. All it really takes is just a couple of keystrokes on your computer or a few buttons on your phone to cancel.

If you plan to no longer use the service, below are your multiple options to cancel your subscription:

To Cancel Via Account Settings: To cancel your subscription to Sittercity, you can go to your Account Settings on the site and turn off automatic renewal (see instructions here).

To Cancel Via Support Team: If you want Sittercity to cancel your subscription for you, you can just fill up a form and they can take care of it for you within 1 business day.

If you still need help canceling your subscription, here’s the link to Sittercity’s customer service: Sittercity Support.

To Cancel Via Direct Phone Call: If you want to call them directly, you can also do that by scrolling to the bottom of the Sittercity Support page for their Toll-Free number.

Refund Policy. If ever you want to cancel your subscription and were charged within the past 5 days, Sittercity can still process a full refund for your most recent charge. If more than 5 days have passed since you were charged, Sittercity will prorate a refund of your most recent charge.

You Need To Know That Sittercity Is Not The Following …

I think that Sittercity is one of the best online sitter services that you can find in the market today. However, Sittercity isn’t perfect. Just like other babysitter services, you may find certain issues with the service if you think that this service will do everything for you.

Keep this in mind because this is important: Services like Sittercity only facilitate the process of the search. It provides you with the tools to help narrow down your choices from an extensive pool of babysitting providers.

This means that if you do not know how to narrow down your choice of candidates to a few choices, then you might have a tough time finding the right set of candidates to interview. Eventually, the screening criteria starts with you.

Keep this in mind because this is important: Services like Sittercity only facilitate the process of the search … Eventually, the screening criteria starts with you.

If you know what you are looking for in a babysitter, the service can actually do a good job of paring down your choices. The key is for you to know exactly what your requirements or credentials are for your ideal babysitter.

Do you want them to still be in college or a mother who does babysitting on the side? Do you want someone who has their own means of transportation?  Do you require someone who knows how to communicate in other languages? How about CPR or first aid? Do you require these?

Again, it is important that you know the requirements that will make you feel that you are getting the right babysitter for your child.

Another potential issue that we see with using Sittercity is that some people might let down their guard regarding background checks. Just because a babysitter is listed in Sittercity does not mean that you should assume that Sittercity has done its due diligence in screening people.

Remember, Sittercity is like eBay or Amazon.com for babysitters and those who need babysitting services — it facilitates the process of finding the right match for those who need the service with those who can provide the service.

Once you have chosen your final list of candidates, it is your responsibility to do the final screening through in-person interviews, going through the reviews of the babysitters, checking with references, and most importantly, background checks.

Sittercity can facilitate background checking. Even with the $15 fee for background checks, I found this worth the investment since I do not think I can do the comprehensive background check myself. Doing so will also cost me more dollar-wise plus time-wise so I really think that this is a great feature.

As I have mentioned previously, Sittercity is my main choice for finding the perfect sitter and childcare for my family’s needs. And just like any great service or product, it has its advantages and shortcomings.

Of course, I love it when the advantages and benefits of using the service make my life a lot easier. However, knowing the shortcomings of the Sittercity allows me to further make the most out of the service so that I can manage my expectations and integrate solutions to make the search for the perfect sitter a more rewarding experience.

Is Sittercity Really Worth It?

Did you know that Sittercity offers FREE Basic Membership to its site?

Yes, you read that right. You now can have Basic Membership for free, which is really great!

The free Basic Membership allows you to view sitter profiles, sort and filter for sitters based on your requirements and needs, view sitter messages, and post limited jobs. It’s really a great way to test drive the service prior to having a paid membership so we highly suggest that you take advantage of this.

The free Basic Membership allows you to view sitter profiles, sort and filter for sitters based on your requirements and needs, view sitter messages, and post limited jobs. It’s really a great way to test drive the service prior to having a paid membership so we highly suggest that you take advantage of this.

Like all online sitter services, Sittercity also has its Premium Membership.

So what exactly is the Premium Membership all about? In addition to the features that you have access to with the free basic access, with the Premium Membership, you get to contact the sitters, run background checks, and read references and reviews provided by other users on the site.

Below is a summary of the membership pricing for Sittercity:

	Subscription	Sittercity Fees*
	Basic Membership	FREE
	One-month premium membership	$35 a month (automatic billing every month)
	Three-month premium membership	$70, which comes out to $23.33/month
	One-year premium membership	$140, this is the best deal at $11.67/month
	*Please note that the three-month and one-year memberships are billed upfront and not on a monthly basis.

As you can see, you can sign up for a monthly membership of $35, go for a three-month membership of $70, or a one-year membership of $140.

So if you prefer a monthly billing of $35, you are more than welcome to do just that. Now if you prefer to save more and don’t mind paying upfront, then the three-month or one-year memberships would definitely be better options.

Important: Before you decide to join Sittercity, do make sure to use any available promo codes so that you can get more savings with your membership. Sittercity coupon codes, which often offer deep discounts, definitely make this service much more affordable for parents so we highly recommend that you take advantage of them.

Sometimes, Sittercity offers discounts and we are not talking of just 5% to 10%, but deep discounts of 30% or more (sometimes up to 65%!). So when the opportunity presents itself, make sure that you take advantage of these great savings.

Some would argue that they are not willing to pay a subscription fee since they can just go through classified ads or craigslist to find a sitter.

However, if you think about it, when it comes to the care and safety of your child, the membership fee is a small price to pay especially when you have access to background checks, all the screening filters, and references to make sure that the person you are hiring is someone that you can trust and depend on.

… if you think about it, when it comes to the care and safety of your child, the subscription fee is a small price to pay especially when you have access to background checks, all the screening filters, and references to make sure that the person you are hiring is someone that you can trust and depend on.

Furthermore, the site offers you the convenience of finding potential sitters right in the comfort of your home. Once a member of Sittercity, you have complete access to sitter profiles which also come with photos, experience, training, safety skills, availability calendars, reviews, and references from other people who had actual experience using the sitter candidate, which I think is a very important factor to consider in your sitter search.

Please Note: We just wanted to let you know that membership prices for Sittercity may be subject to change as of this writing. We do not have any control over any pricing changes that Sittercity may decide to implement. However, we will do our best to keep up-to-date with the pricing schedules for this market-leading online babysitter service.

Our Bottomline Thoughts On Sittercity

Overall, I think Sittercity is well worth its membership fee as the service offers parents a convenient and easy-to-use platform where we can post specialized and varied sitter jobs, read detailed profiles of prospects, and efficiently find a sitter who has been carefully screened to fit our needs.

Sittercity may be close to being the most viable and convenient solution to helping us find sitters to care for our precious kids.

A great benefit of using the FREE Basic Membership, which is like a free trial of some sorts, is that you will get to know firsthand how many child care providers are available within your area. You can even do a proactive search using the filters that the site will provide you. Again, the free basic membership is highly recommended. It’s a “no strings attached, no credit card required” membership so you really have nothing to lose. 

Now that I have presented to you my experience and thoughts on Sittercity, the decision as to whether you should become a member of the service is really all up to you.

If you are still on the fence regarding joining Sittercity, I suggest that you give it a test drive instead so that you will have a better idea of how the service works. That’s what I did when I first joined.

Disclosure: Compensated Affiliate. Click here for details.

P.S. A great benefit of using the FREE Basic Membership, which is like a free trial of some sort, is that you will get to know firsthand how many child care providers are available within your area. You can even do a proactive search using the filters that the site will provide you.

Again, the free basic membership is highly recommended. It’s a “no strings attached, no credit card required” membership so you really have nothing to lose. If you decide Sittercity is for you, you can easily upgrade your membership.

Below is a link to a FREE Basic Access for Sittercity in case you decide to give it a try.

Here Are Actual Feedback From Sittercity Users …

I thought it might be interesting to find out what other parents had to say about Sittercity on the web. I searched around the web and this is what I found:

What’s your take on Sittercity? Are you using Sittercity or have you used this service at all? Did you find our Sittercity reviews helpful? Would you pay a subscription fee to use Sittercity? Feel free to share your thoughts.