By Bella Gioia, Research & Evaluation Director

In July 2009, host parents rated their Top Three Au Pair Agenices. Host parents from across the nation completed a Customer Satisfaction Survey. Below is a brief summary of the Overall Customer Service ratings for each of the following agencies:

Au Pair Care (http://www.aupaircare.com/)

The majority (70%) of Au Pair Care host parents rate their Customer Service as Excellent.

Written comments are very favorable and reflect strong customer support.

Examples: "My questions are answered in a timely and professional manner. I feel like AuPairCare supports the host family and the au pair," "Amazing service! My area director really cares about the success of our family," "We investigated all 3 in December and found a big difference between Au Pair Care's customer service and the other 2 - and I'm not exaggerating!"

Expert Au Pair (http://www.expertaupair.com)

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 (http://www.aupairinamerica.com/)

Although 46% of Au Pair in America host families rate their Customer Service as Excellent, 27% of families rate the service they received as Poor. Written comments are sparse but favorable. Examples: "very responsive via email," "Our counselor is outstanding and the office in Stamford has always be very responsive," "...a little extra money, but well worth it. My family could not be happier."

Cultural Care (http://www.culturalcare.com/)

Cultural Care has the highest percentage of negative ratings ("Fair - Poor"). They also have the most negative written comments.

The comments reflect host parents' frustrations with the following areas:

1. Poorly Screened Au Pairs: (ex., "They allow by policy, au pairs to use family and friends as references. They rated our au pair as a 7 out of 7 {the best} for written and spoken English but she was unable to understand anything except hand signals")

2. Poor Customer Service Once a Match was Completed: (ex., "Cultural Care is Very aggressive 'selling' an au pair to you, but after you pay the ENTIRE fee up front, their customer support disappears. When you need help or have fairly serious problems with your au pair, the LCC and Home offices of Cultural care are extremely slow to respond. VERY Poor customer service")

3. Difficulty Getting Refunds: (ex., "After having a poor experience with my au pair, the hassle it took to get my refund has made me swear I will never host a cultural care au pair again")

Since the above survey results were posted, we have been collecting host parent ratings for 2010. Our latest survey includes all 12 au pair agencies in the U.S.A. If you have not yet rated your agency, please consider doing that now - it is a very short survey and will take 1-2 minutes!

Please take our newest survey! Your feedback is very important to us and to all parents who are considering the au pair program:

Click here to take survey

Thank you very much for your input!