They took a deposit of over $6300.00 before rendering any service. They did not incur any expense. I was under stress, confused & I am almost 80. My wife was in the hospital. The docs & I thought she would be coming home. So they said she would need 24/7 care. I Looked for a care giver organization so she would have a person here when she came home. She had been ill since Oct. I had a organization come over, they said here is our Service agreement & read it. It was 3 pgs. Then when they came back, so I would have a person here for my wife they had a 6 pg agreement & told me everything in the 3 pg was in this agreement. EXCEPT that wasn't true. Being confused, stressed out & worried about my wife, etc. I signed. My wife pass away in Feb. before any service was rendered. I have called numerous times to try & get my deposit back. They gave me the run around. Then they will not call me back. Only rec'd 2 calls since Feb. Both times they said they were sending it back (on 2/19 & 3/9) that is the last I heard from Charise. Remember, they incurred no expense, no service performed. They are a scam outfit. BEWARE OF "Good Hands in home Care". It is my opinion they pray on the elderly. I checked with Home Bureau & there has been several problems with them. Does anyone know how I can get my deposit back? Small claims will take it but can't make them pay & it is only a judgement. They can keep doing what they are doing. It is my opinion their reviews are made up by there own people to make them look good. Can't be true because of the reports I rec'd.
Community Care Licensing Division
Home Care Services Bureau
744 P Street MS 9-14-90
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (877) 424-5778
HCSB@dss.ca.gov
1. I think this is financial elder exploitation. For advice, you could contact a local Senior Center or municipality that has attorneys come to Senior Centers and give limited free advice.
2. If your state has an elder law agency, contact it and ask them.
3. You can complain to Better Business Bureau.
This seems to be a nationwide company. I suspect it may be a franchise. Look on the documents you signed and see what description follows the name, i.e., "Good Hands In Home Care, (a California corporation) (LLC)...something like that. It tells you what the corporate entity is.
You can then check with the state's corporation department, or whichever department records articles of incorporation or other corporate entity documents. They'll reveal who the owners and officers are. You can then write to them directly and complain.
It may not do any good, but if the company is multi-state and one franchise is operating poorly, it can reflect on the company as a whole.
I wish you luck with this; there's just no excuse for scamming someone for this amount of money.