Comfort Keepers Ithaca

Robert Thorne's review captured it all.

This is simply the worst business I have dealt with in my 35 years of living in Ithaca. Those of us who have loved ones who need long term care know that none of the local 'professional' care agencies are able to consistently meet the 'professional' standard. Caregivers are in general inadequately paid by these agencies for the work they have to do; there are chronic caregiver shortages, so that gaps must be filled by those with limited work experience and work skills; the caregivers are often inadequately trained, supervised, and supported, and receive little or no ongoing training after initial certification; and the companies rarely if ever solicit feedback from clients to assess whether the care being delivered meets expectations, or to identify problems that might be addressed through better training. At $30/hour for companion-level care - $62,500/year for 40 hour weeks - one might expect better. But many of these problems are common in the home care industry in NYS, and I think this is a very tough business. The issues at the Ithaca Comfort Keepers go far beyond these challenges. In the 18 months we had care from them:- they were chronically short-staffed and unable to fill shifts, and we would have as little as a day after receiving our weekly schedule to make alternative arrangements. - on several occasions they called less than half an hour before a shift to say that the scheduled caregiver could not come and that they had no replacement. This is not what you want to hear when, e.g., you are driving to NYC and have entrusted them to take care of your loved one while you are gone. Care agencies must provide reliable baseline care, period. - They charged a higher hourly rate on weekends, for no good reason. - for several months credit card charges would not match invoiced amounts. We were not overcharged; the problem was that they would charge for different periods (e.g., a few days) instead of the invoiced weekly period. - we have long term care insurance. At one point we were out of pocket about $20,000 because they failed to submit proper documentation - despite repeated requests from us and repeated assurances that they would so. Reimbursement for care in January was received in August. - Comfort Keepers did not do direct deposit; caregivers had to come to the office on Fridays to pick up their checks, which were often late, and wait around until they arrived. Many of them worked with clients - often at far-flung locations - on Fridays. - Caregivers repeatedly reported to us that their checks bounced, and that they were given assurances from management that they would be paid for long distance travel between scheduled shifts that was never received. - When we first hired them, we were billed for the number of hours we requested each week, with extra hours tacked on if the caregiver had to stay overtime. They then switched to a system where caregivers would clock in and clock out by phone. We were then billed not for the scheduled time but for the clock-in-clock-out time. So if the caregiver clocked in 10 minutes before their shift started, we'd be billed for that, even though we almost always had private caregivers scheduled immediately before and after the Comfort Keeper shifts. When we ended our service, we had been overcharged roughly $700 by this method. I complained to the regional franchise manager, and this was refunded - to us, but likely not to their other overcharged clients.- All agencies require a deposit - about $1500 or so - which must be returned within 30 days of the end of service. We received our check ~45 days after the end of our service, despite reminders. Since caregiver checks had recently bounced, I called the owner to ensure that this check would be good. But when I went to the bank, the funds weren't there. In discussions I have had with people who help those with care needs find care, these problems with Comfort Keepers appear to have been longstanding. We need a different care agency, operating on a different model.

We recently dealt with Comfort Keepers in Ithaca. They were very professional and very friendly. If you are in need of in home health care I highly recommend them.