Long story warning:
we we hired a mature mothers help through apparently reputable agency. She was supposed to be fluent in English, healthy, fit and came with 8 years childcare experience. We agreed to pay her twice as much per week compared to the previous one we had.
long story short - within 4-5 weeks it became apparent she wasn't suitable for the job - several reasons, she couldn't speak English properly, kids absolutely couldn't stand her... many other reasons, I found out she was lying to us, she was lying about us to somebody at my daughters school...
we we asked her to leave.. The agency couldn't find us a replacement... So that was it.. This experience left us out of pocket for about £700 in agency fees! I wrote to the agency asking for a full refund of the placement fees considering this lady was only with us for a short period of time... They point blankly showed absolutely no interest what so ever... We had so chase them several times... They agreed in refunding the extra supplement we had paid for 3 month replacement guarantee (additional £300 on top of the £700 fees).
I just can't think this is right?! Has anybody been in a similar experience?!
It can't be acceptable that they walk away with £700 for placing a totally unsuitable candidate to our family!?
I wrote to their regulator but in their opinion the agency is not in breach of their contract (we had signed a ridiculous T&C where they don't really take any responsibility.)..
what at else can I do...? 😐