Judge a Home Care Company by Its Complaint Record and Its Callback Time

Most families start by comparing hourly rates. That is the wrong first sort. A rate tells you what you will be billed, not whether the company will send the same person twice, answer when a shift falls through, or fix a problem without a fight. Three checks take less time than a phone tree and tell you more.

Local option: New Plan Care gives families in the St. Louis area in-home help so a parent can stay home: companionship, help with bathing and dressing, meals, and overnight care. Call (314) 405-0887.

Check the complaint record

Start with the public record. Your state attorney general's consumer protection office accepts complaints about businesses, and it can tell you whether it holds complaints against the company name you are considering. Search the company name with the word complaint and read what appears, but treat a single bad review as one data point. Look for repeated themes: missed shifts, billing charges nobody explained, or aides who were not the people promised.

Next, ask the company in writing which state agency licenses it, if any. Licensing depends on the business type and the services offered, so do not assume a license covers everything a company sells. Confirm the license with the agency the company names. A company that cannot or will not name its license has told you something important.

Time the callback

Call the office with a plain question at a time you would really need help, such as early evening or a weekend. Note how long you wait, whether a person or a voicemail answers, and whether the return call brings an answer or only a promise. Then ask three questions and write down the answers word for word:

Who takes the call when the assigned aide cannot come? Who is the named contact if I file a complaint, and what is the direct line? What do you put in writing before the first shift?

Compare on paper, not on memory

Put each company's answers side by side on one page. Include the license number, the written complaint contact, how the company describes its worker screening, and whether it will give you that description in writing before you sign. Mark any answer that was only spoken. A verbal promise is not a term you can enforce later.

This desk is not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. VA does not certify or license private home care companies as a category, so a VA reference on a company's website is not a credential. What VA does and does not do is listed on our Sources page.¹ For the St. Louis agencies and offices we list, see Local Help, and for the reading order of this desk, see Start Here.

Sources

¹ VA.gov pages on Aid and Attendance and home care benefits, listed on our Sources page.