Home Helpers

The communication was good at first. Now I have to ask for the invoice to review before they charge my mom's credit card. I'd like to find a good person that is less expensive. The second person talked vs. listened to my mom and didn't do the chores we checked off the list provided.

Home helpers has been assisting my Aunt for a couple of months and she will be discontinuing services soon. Although the help is appreciated the caregiver doesn't do things the way she would like them to be done. The guy running things was very pleasant in the beginning and very responsive. The pricing was reasonable. But in the end my Aunt is not happy with their services.

The HH administrative staff were cordial and responsive; and the caregivers who came to our elders' home were friendly, caring, patient, honest, and usually punctual. Some were more proactive than others. As our elders' needs increased over a number of months to 24/7, HH experienced some difficulty filling the schedule consistently with qualified and motivated caregivers. Many of the caregivers had other, full-time jobs and could work only limited hours for HH. Hence, care became disjointed. Also, even though they stated that they could cook, very few of the caregivers could prepare an appealing, balanced meal (vs. heat up a TV dinner in the microwave). Although HH administrative staff were responsive when concerns or complaints were voiced, they did not ask regularly for evaluations or check re customer satisfaction. In general, consistent, quality home care is difficult to secure. A family paying $20-25 or more/hour expects and deserves $20-25 or more of value. Yet the caregivers are being paid only about half that amount and often don't have the skills or motivation to meet the family's needs or expectations. Hence, there's a disconnect. Anyone using HH or a similar home assistance provider should be prepared to be an active participant in the care process; to spend a considerable amount of time coordinating and overseeing the care (make checklists, provide onsite instruction and clarification); to be an advocate for those receiving the care; and to have a lot of patience.

If quality and professionalism is something you want, then you should consider another option.

They weren't allowed to do very much, I thought it was pretty worthless. My mom fell and when the lady showed up in the evening she wasn't even able to pick her up off the floor. They called the fire department. They had the same caregiver come out, and on time, but they didn't do anything medical at all. They would cook and clean and be there, but I had no idea they wouldn't be able to pick her up off the floor.

My mother has dementia and is wheel chair bound at this point. I've had Home Helpers for about a year and with the exception of one care giver [Removed], its been awful.. no shows, no calls, constant new faces, no consistency in staff. Staff has no knowledge of what transpires, they don't make notes in the carts for their personnel, they don't log calls, INEXPERIENCED caregivers and caregivers who bring personal drama in with them, they excuse unprofessionalism with saying "its not a good match.. As a last resort its a body but I would keep looking their are good agencies out there. You wont have any confidence in their reliability and a peace is what you need knowing they can be relied upon and are capable of caring for your Loved one. KEEP LOOKING

Home Helpers’/Lompoc services started out well but soon deteriorated. It is time-consuming to get ready for a Home Helper visit. When they don’t show up, it can ruin the flow of things in a household which includes someone who is ill. And it definitely is disruptive when home health professionals have also been scheduled. I was notified a couple of hours before the HH employee was due at our house that she would not be coming. The next day I was notified that she would be at least a half hour late. When she arrived she said she was late because Home Helpers/Lompoc did not allow her sufficient time to drive from one client’s house in Oceano to our house in Arroyo Grande. Appropriate scheduling is Home Helpers’ responsibility; not ours. Overbooking should not be the client’s problem, but obviously it is. It was clear that Home Helpers feels that clients are being overly picky by complaining about missed appointments followed by tardiness.

Poorly trained caregivers are not mentally appropriate for tasks assigned. Scheduling is terrible, one never knows if/when a provider is coming...if they come at all. The employee turn over is unbelievable! I noticed they hired anyone that walked through the door. Rude treatment on the phone from office staff when presenting issues, Employees are unhappy, and it shows, many complaining that their paycheck are constantly short/wrong. Caregivers don't get mileage, but are expected to travel sometimes 20 plus miles to/from clients. VERY unorganized! One should look around when choosing personal care services.

The caregiver brought her son the first week, the second week was good, and the third week the caregiver didn't call or show up.

Very unprofessional. Privacy not respected. Uncaring and never on time. Do not hire!

Very horrible service! The staff is very unprofessional and they are a [Removed]. Do not sign a contract with them. They will lie to you and change prices, availability of services. Aide they provided could not fulfill responsibilities and was unprofessional. If you care about your loved ones, you will seek a reputable agency.

I verbally gave an account of our experiences with Home Helpers. Not an inexpensive operation, they agreed to take care of my husband's needs. It was imperative that he was moved out if bed into his wheelchair or recliner, as well as bring him to the toilet or the commode. Home Helpers decided not to assist him and result was that he developed bed sores, extremely bad circulation in his legs, particularly the left leg. At a meeting at our house, not announced beforehand, three people arrived in our living room informing us that my husband should go to a Skilled nursing facility, for better rehab than Home Helpers could provide. [removed] [removed] explained the requirements that my husband would fulfill, one important issue was it had to be 60 days after discharge from NHC for him to be eligible. Following her advice, my husband was admitted to Savannah Memorial by dr Wixen, for three days, for then to go on to skilled nursing, unfortunately, [removed] neglected to check the calendar and overlooked the fact that February had 28 days! My husband was returned home, Home Helpers quit taking care of my husband. Result of him being totally in bed 24/7 has resulted in extremely bad circulation in his legs. After three visits to Savannah Memorial he is now facing amputation of two toes on his right foot. [removed] [removed] I certainly advice you to not recommend Home Helpers.

The people they sent out had no experience and that reflected why there was no control of what was going on. Sitting there with a Slurpee on the couch on the phone didn't work for me. or responding 'I'm too short" when asked to clean a shelf?? Get chair!!! I'm with a service now I wouldn't trade for the world.