au pair agencies - what was your experience?

[Maninahurry]

I've had some bad experiences with 2 au pair agencies in the last few months. The first was run by a woman who was thoroughly rude and unhelpful, she supplied 2 au pairs that were clearly a poor match for our requirements, and had little interest in working with children from the start. The agency seemed more annoyed and rude that I'd sent these two home (even after lots of support and encouragement) and then went on to blame us as the host family for why things hadn't worked out

The second agency I tried came recommended from users of Mumsnet, he was initially very helpful and returned calls to discuss our needs and the type of au pair we would require, but then told me that in order to get the ball rolling I would have to pay £500 as an upfront cost before marketing our family profile to potential recruits. As soon as the money was sent I didn't receive any more communication, calls and emails were ignored and in the end we found our own au pair on Aupair world. 2 Months later - and I still haven't received a refund. That's a lot of money to pay for nothing in return.

Has anyone else had similar experiences?

When I was first looking for an AP. I tried an agency. They sent me the profile of one extremely sour faced girl who I knew instinctively would not be for us and tried to bully me she would be the perfect candidate. Ummm no. My sister then told me about AP world and now I only recruit from there or gumtree.

AP agencies in this day and age of the Internet are to me dinosaurs.

Manina - I reckon I spoke to same agency who wanted £500 up front. It's appaulling that they haven't refunded your fee. I didn't pay, yet he did still send profiles through and even arranged an interview. My problem was that I explicity stated that I did not want an AP who wanted to settle longterm in the UK, and yet the majority of their candidates fell into this category. However, I did think that he had a very good knowledge of his candidates as he had interviewed them himself. I sincerely hope you get your money back.

The second agency I have used is WeplaceAuPairs and I have had 3 au-pairs from them. They were even 100% supportive when I had to get rid of one, and they supplied me with another. They keep in regular contact with both family and APs they place to make sure everything is working out too.

I don't mind using AP world and Great AP, but it entails a huge amount of time identifying those who are serious and suitable. Plus you then have to go to the added work of asking for reference and police checks. At least with the agency, it can save time

I'm getting one through abacus au-pairs (based in Brighton) having seen glowing reviews on Mumsnet. All the profiles they sent us look great but I can't say anything more conclusive as the au-pair won't be starting til March.

My sister used 'au pair world' rather than an agency. The au pairs promote themselves and you get to choose who you like the look of . It's more work for you, but surely it's worth it to get a bit more insight into who will be caring for your children. She has a lovely au pair now. She picked one who's horse mad. My thought is that if they're that committed to a particular pursuit, they're likely to show some commitment to you.