Brendan Moore

Review of Smart Au Pairs

Like many genuine parents our experience with this...

Like many genuine parents our experience with this agency has been appalling. This is an unregulated industry and sites like Smart Au Pairs are typically run from home by ex Au Pairs who either take a clip from the "stipend" or pocket money that is paid to the Au Pairs and or charge a hefty "placement" fee by presenting Au pairs who they simply find by contacting overseas agencies or solicting Au Pairs who register on free websites like Au Pair World, something you can do yourself anyway.

They pretend to "match" you with Au Pairs, but the reality is its whomever is available at the time. Save your money - $1000+ "placement" fee every 6 months plus a $200 "joining" fee and other charges is not worth it for presenting a few names you could have found yourself. You do all the work anyway, all the Skype interviews, all the schedule negotiations, the pocket money negotiations, get the police check from them and check their preferences and references and then you select your Au Pair and essentially you take all the risk.

Smart Au Pairs play a "middleman" role and get you to sign an agreement they have created that allows them to charge their fees every time you like someone. If your Au Pair leaves, for example because they get homesick, which is quite common, then its pot luck if they actually have someone else and then you have to go through the whole process again which often takes months. If your Au Pair is genuinely just terrible, Smart AuPairs don't care, they will simply place them with another unsuspecting family and charge another hefty fee.

If you ever have a concern, you can NEVER get a hold of them. Its is my experience a scam, an abuse of an industry that is not yet regulated and although some have a had a reasonable experience, its due to the wonderful Au Pair themselves, not the agency. Smart Au Pairs is a terrible agency to deal with, and good luck trying to get a refund !