Reviews
I see some mixed reviews on here but personally we had a great experience working with API and our au pair Sofia. She was lovely and connected with our kids seamlessly. We switched to this agency because we were referred by a friend who had a great experience and recommended we give them a try. Communicating with the agency was easy and given that we constantly travel this was a big factor for us since we wanted to make sure our kids are taken care of. Sofia also played a big part in that and we wanted to thank her and wish her the best on her future endeavors!!
I had a horrible experience with my host nigerian family in Frisco TX. They did not understand the program and felt entitled because they believed they brought me to America and with that I should have stayed in a toxic workplace. They lied to me during the interviews about their previous au pair only to find out she also left because she was getting overworked by them and never got a day off during her stay with them the agency was very helpful I would report to my area director and they helped and supported me even after getting threats from the host dad. I was well protected by my agency. Thank you Larrisa and Christelle advice to au pairs PLEASE SPEAK TO PREVIOUS AU PAIRS to get an understanding of what your family is like and also know the rules of the program and stand up for yourself because if you don’t you will be in a toxic work place and be depressed .
Run! Do not use this service. Au Pair International provides little if any support their host families and they treat their au pairs as if they are products, not people. If I could give less than a star I would. This organization does not screen au pairs. Our au pair was caught smoking marijuana while driving our two children around. It turns out she had been doing this regularly. We were told by Au Pair International to "drop our au pair off at a bus stop with her stuff". This suggestion was absolutely unacceptable. We found out later that Au Pair International sent her to another family after ours and did not disclose that she was smoking marijuana while driving. .
I registered with API for an AP and she turned out to be horrible so we went into rematch. However they gave her an extra chance even though she would not follow policy and our agreement prior to the match. On top of that, the Area director made me feel like I'm a horrible HF for having the AP work 45 hours a week agreed before the match and both the Area Director and the Vice President told me there's sth wrong with the schedule but couldn't tell me exactly what's wrong with it and wouldn't call me to talk about it. Later on I found out that there was nothing wrong with the schedule. And then they told me I have to pay the AP 2 wks of stipend even if the AP doesn't work during the re-match period, but they couldn't tell me where in the policy stated that. When I asked the Regional manager, instead of directing me to the location of the policy, she kept telling me or asking me questions that were completely unrelated to my question. Now that the AP has left, I have no information on billing and they wouldn't give me any contact information for the billing department initally. When I finally talked to the billing lady, she said she doesn't take care of that. I even talked to Katrina, the EVP, and she would only tell me I have more than 300 program days, but wouldn't tell me how much that calculate to credits and my credits' expiration date. It's been almost 2 months now. This is unacceptable.
We have been a host family with Au Pair International for two years. It has been an absolute pleasure working with Abbe, Natasha, and the Au Pair International team. They are always helpful, extremely responsive and easy to work with. My time is really limited so its amazing that they have the process down to a science and make the screening, interviewing and entire process seamless. I love how responsive and attentive the team is to their families. I highly recommend Au Pair International!
Horrible company that only cares about money and doesn’t communicate with host families. We had a very bad experience with an Au Pair who is completely unfit to take care of children and shouldn’t be in the program. She lied to us about being able to safely drive our son to school, crashed our car, lied about her English, lied about her age, brought over alcohol to our home and drank it while underage, fed a raw frozen pizza to our son, left the stove on overnight, often left our house unlocked, left dairy products out and then still fed them to us, let our 5 year old play with push pins which he could’ve easily swallowed, she would argue with our 5 year old over toys, she couldn’t understand him when he asked for help or food and it caused him a lot of stress, she often sat on her phone during childcare, and so much more. We reported this to the program with no support in return. The program was extremely unprofessional and didn’t reach out to us or try to help us. The program should’ve filtered out neglectful caregivers and they didn’t do their job. The Au Pair got rematched which just confirms how much this program doesn’t care about safety of children and families, they just want more money. This was a total waste of our money and time and I wouldn’t recommend this program to anyone ever. Edit: it’s been a couple of weeks and I still haven’t heard anything from Au Pair international. They won’t even take the time to acknowledge this review, very unprofessional.
I will write a more thorough review in the coming months, but I wanted families to know we did not have a good experience. I believe it is all about money for agency and no focus on child’s needs.l which should, in my opinion, be the focus. I do fault myself for not reading the fine print. I asked questions and got vague answers in the beginning and I should have done more digging. Our au pair was not a fit. She was incredibly strict with my children and they did not want to be alone with her. We tried to foster a relationship for a month and saw no progress. We knew people in our small town who were on their 4th au pair and still looking. We didn’t my want to put our kids thru that again so we opted to not rematch at all. I do not feel that the au pairs are properly screened or trained. I do not feel that the company has proper capacity to support families or au pairs. I just don’t want this to happen to other families. Screen au pairs yourself. Do not count on service. Also, Read the company fine print. Our personal experience with our au pair felt incredibly one sided. We were flexible, kind and accommodating. She was not. All the best!
Our local coordinator was pretty lazy, and as immature as au pairs compared to 2 other agencies that we continued to review. So, what kind of au pair culture did we encounter? No surprise. Don't put your precious kids under this kind of care. Don't find yourself stress and problems at home.
We are current host family with Au Pair international and I have only good things to say about the company. We had some challenges with our old au pair and they managed it well. I experienced full support for host family from several team members. We love our area director IIka, she is amazing. They take care of host families and au pair's alike. Our current au pair from Zimbabwe is amazing and she also has only good things to say. I would highly recommend this company for au pair needs.
Au Pair International is a well oiled machine, even in the midst of COVID restrictions and changes. Very professional. Good communication. We love our Au Pair and so thankful a friend referred us here. Nothing, but good things to say. Abbe the area director is easy going and easy to get a hold of whenever we have any questions.
