Care.com settles charges it inflated jobs listings and forced membership renewals

Yes, you’re right. The consumer protection authorities in the United States announced on January 27th, 2022 that Care.com Inc., an online marketplace for caregiving services, has agreed to a $1 million settlement over accusations that it misled consumers about the availability of jobs and providers and automatically renewed memberships without users’ consent.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said that Care.com falsely claimed it had more job postings than it did and that many of these were not available to users after they paid for memberships. Additionally, Care.com allegedly failed to clearly disclose that consumer memberships would auto-renew until cancelled.

The company agreed to pay the $1 million penalty, ensure all auto-renewals are clearly disclosed and get affirmative consent from users before charging, and also to remove any misrepresentations about the number and availability of jobs or caregivers on its platform.