Visiting Angels

Their third caretaker - P - stayed with my parents 24/7 from October through March and was absolutely dreadful. She never spent any time with my parents. She rarely walked my dad, even though she was supposed to. In fact, instead of walking dad to the bathroom to urinate, she trained him to do it in a convenient plastic receptacle. Terrible habit that will be hard for us to break him out of. She didn’t cook. When we offered to teach her how to make pasta, prepare chicken, or heat up frozen meals, she refused. She bought fast food for my parents every day with their car and their credit card. She’d take out their car several times a week, sometimes leaving them alone for up to three hours. On their dime, at $25 per hour.

Laundry? Never. Light housekeeping? Nope. Whenever I visited, their trash cans were always full and dirty incontinent products were often left in the bathroom trash. Dad frequently wore the same clothes for days on end and it was common for “P” to not bathe mom for weeks at a time. She argued with dad daily and showed less and less respect for him as the months wore on.

Shortly before we finally transferred our parents to a local assisted living center, we discovered that ”P” had been taking online classes! This explains why she would get really mad at my dad for wanting to stay up past 7pm. That’s right, she was taking online classes while she was being paid to keep an eye on my parents. Amazing. Sadly, our mom passed away a week ago. Nobody from Visiting Angels has called to offer their condolences. They took $125,000 of my parents’ money and didn’t even send us a card. Perhaps that is all you need to know before you decide to hire them.

10. Visiting Angels was quick to get their money. they should have at least followed up regularly with a call to see how things are working out

Watching their warm & fuzzy TV ads, one would think they're the best thing since sliced bread. The reality is what my mother experienced, which only added to her stress. This agency & others like it should put themselves in their clients' shoes. There ought to be a law.

I was bedridden, hospitalized, very ill. I never got a bill, my Son handles money, came to me with concerns and I found they had taken monies from my savings to include hours paid not worked, OVER AND DOUBLE TIME! After we made an agreement x3, never over $250 LTC. Owner angrily stated "you're lucky we found you anyone." They seemed to have forgotten our agreement totally.

The first four "Angels" ranged from a purple/orange Mohawk, face piercing, 25 minutes late, with lots of cell phone use while sitting on couch. Unable to transfer, bath, etc. 3 complained about their $11 per hour pay. These Angels were not qualified for physical needs and my Son bathed, bathroom needs, dressing, you know, all the hard stuff. This seems to be a very unqualified top to bottom.. They were going to work with my husband's memory, bring books, talk to him, encourage him, no, no, no, no....Complain, late, eating all day, on phone, one even left for about 3 hours to go to Lowe's for spray paint and worked on her car! THERE WERE NO MASKS, NO SANITIZER OR GLOVES WORN, charged monthly for nothing. There was chew candy (rx **) brought in and given to my Son. Guess I was just lucky to get this group, guess I won't be using the "Angels" again. Thank you for your time.

NOW 1+ MONTHS have gone by and I receive a phone call that services rendered for the 3 months prior to and up to ending the contract were "rejected." Ok, but why? I was told the CHA withdraw did not go through. My bank never notified me of insufficient funds, which lack of funds was not the issue. Why am I just hearing about it now? They are "reconciliating their books" which are all done online, now. Ok, but if the payments did not go through why am I am just now hearing about it, and not when the payment was rejected?

The person demanded I give her the account number, so she could withdraw close to $3000. BUT then 10 minutes later she calls again and says, "there are more rejection notices and the total is close to $10,000". I called the bank. I received emails confirming the payment had been made. She demanded I send her copies of the Bank Statements. No! I do not have to provide the account number nor copies of the bank statements.

I am trying to get to the bottom of the issue, and will make more calls to the bank, and look at statements, I would call back. The VA rep threatened to draw a lawsuit to get the funds. Come to find out, someone bought out the local franchise, and during the transition this individual inherited a paper system and is responsible for putting everything online. She has messed up and put an incorrect number for the Auto-withdraw!!! Her mistake, not mine. I will now need to determine exactly how much is owed, and pay in increments, probably by money order. What a MESS and a major inconvenience for me. Wondering if I need to hire a lawyer. Would never recommend VA. The ANGELS, they are awesome, bookkeeping and accounting not so much.

The caregiver returned, I confronted her with the feces and asked her to clean it up. She said that she did not notice the feces although there was a trail leading from my wife's bedroom, through the hallway and into the living room. Naturally, I was angry. She refused to clean it up so I fired her and told her not to return. I was also not going to pay for that day's service.

Now the kicker. I called the manager, Ms Nicole **, who informed me that she was cancelling our contract because she did not like the way I talked to the caregiver...Really? Was I supposed to be calm and collected when my home was littered with feces? That was an unprofessional response on her part completely ignoring what her caregiver did! A complaint will be made to Corporate Headquarters. I am writing here in an effort to inform the public of this dastardly event.