The Federal Trade Commission is taking action against Care.com for deceiving caregivers seeking jobs and complicating the cancellation process for families. The FTC alleges the platform misrepresented job availability and potential earnings to lure consumers into purchasing paid subscriptions. Care has agreed to an $8.5 million settlement to refund affected users, improve transparency, and simplify subscription cancellations.
According to the FTC, Care.com inflated job numbers by including listings with little chance of hiring and made unsubstantiated claims about potential earnings. For instance, the platform advertised childcare jobs starting at $18 an hour while the actual average pay ranged from $13 to $14.25 per hour. Additionally, the company employed deceptive practices to hinder users from canceling their subscriptions, making the process unnecessarily complicated.
Care’s tactics included misleading ads that did not reflect actual earnings or job availability, causing frustration among job seekers who applied for numerous positions without response. The FTC noted that consumers often had to navigate through multiple unrelated links and complex steps to cancel their subscriptions, making it easier to maintain paid memberships than to end them.
As part of the settlement, Care.com will be required to provide true earnings claims backed by evidence and to ensure that users can easily cancel their subscriptions. The FTC’s actions underscore its commitment to protecting consumers from misleading business practices and ensuring transparency in the marketplace for caregivers and families.
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