Home Instead Senior Care Reviews 169

The carers are wonderful, the admin staff and company are another story. My father died 15 minutes before the night carer arrived. She called Home Instead straight away to advise them. We asked her to stay for an around an hour with us while they came to verify his death. No message of condolence, or even an email or phone call acknowledging that he had died. No contact from them at all until we asked for a bill, and even then it was not an appropriate response which we were extremely disappointed by, we were flabbergasted to be honest. The office have been so shockingly lacking in bereavement etiquette and care, whereas some of the staff have actually had bereavement training. Many of the wonderful staff are often pushed to the limit, often tired and are told to eat on the run in their cars. Perhaps the company should save money on their unnecessary free logo mugs and fridge magnets, and put it towards bereavement training for the admin staff which is massively lacking. 5 stars for the carers and 1 star for the admin / office staff. We dealt with the Bletchley / Milton Keynes office. Shame on them!

I have only heard terrible things about this company as I have 2 friends that have worked at two different branches. It appears the management is very self centred and are actually exploiting foreign workers. Long hours with no breaks and very poor pay. They make unfounded deductions on salaries and can’t explain when confronted. I say to anyone considering working for them, RUN! Especially the Aylesbury branch.

Home Instead Hinckley is consistently reliable, and responsive, to client needs. The quality of care staff is outstanding, and the office team as well as carers really do keep the client (my 86 year old mother, former nurse) at the centre of all they do. I cannot praise their exceptional care and compassion enough. They certainly are a key part of ensuring that my ageing mother stays in her own home, comfortably and safely.
My only reason for missing out a star is that the contract is very restrictive, as others have mentioned, with notice periods even for hospital admissions.
But I feel it’s worth riding that storm because of the holistic quality care the Hinckley team delivers.

Very disappointed with home instead. We talked to them over the phone for information since my dad is in the hospital. THEY set up an appointment to come to the hospital to talk with us (my whole family got together to get the information). After not showing up for 30 minutes we called and they told us they didnt have an appointment with us. If they are NOT capable of showing up for an appointment, I am afraid that their keepers won't show up either!!! NOT TRUSTWORTHY!!!

We were in the house recently with my I’ll father in law when two carers from Home instead showed up. They were supposed to do do some light cleaning. They were so rude to not just him but us too. One of the ladies kept insisting to speak to me and ignoring my father in law who owns the house and is perfectly able to speak for himself. They wrote on the log that they were there for 45 minutes when they were only there for max 20 and hadn’t even cleaned the counters down or swept the floors properly which were the only two things they were actually supposed to do. We know longer use the service and I’d hate to think how they speak to people when there is no family around.

In over 1.5 years have not had any no shows for my parents. Very reliable and on time. Really worked with us on plan of care having to do with their long term care policy!

Horrendously Rude company. I have never in my life experienced the discrimination and harassment i received from the owner of this company. Currently taking legal action

I’m perplexed by this company. I had to chase my original inquiry twice, but eventually, a lovely person came out and spent an hour with me and my mum, which was much appreciated.

We then tried to arrange overnight care, which they couldn’t accommodate at the time, but I hoped they might be able to in the future. However, I have had no follow-up or response since from my subsequent emails. This is disappointing, especially considering the cost—nearly £300 per night—and the time they initially invested in meeting us.

It’s not a good way to operate when dealing with carers and those in need of care. I’m giving 3 stars solely for the lovely lady who spent time with my mum.

I would like to bring to your attention, what a tremendous asset Clare Lamden is to your business.
I am a friend of Jane Wilsons , and I was so impressed with the care and compassion she showed Jane. On one of my visits to Jane, she was tidying and re-organising the bedroom and kitchen cupboards and drawers, to make it easier for Jane . She
Would always ensure that Jane was given heartwarming , home cooked meals and would stay with her at all times , keeping her company and entertained. She even went to the length of dining and woollen items that needed repaired. To quote Jane.” she is my eyes and ears, and knows what I want and when I need it. I don’t know what I would do without her.” She made Jane feel safe . - Clare Cottle

Despite having an excellent experience with HomeInstead Chester for my elderly mother, we had to use a different franchise as she moved into Wales. We used HomeInstead (the North Wales branch) for a very short time as she fell within a week and ended up in hospital.

I found this franchise annoyingly greedy with poor communication with family. If you are using this company PLEASE read the small print in your contract as not all franchise contracts will be the same. Despite knowing my mother was in hospital and my keeping them fully informed they still insisted on charging her for full fees for the time she remained in hospital. We were told we should be grateful that they had made the ‘generous’ offer of not charging for the full month and only 3 weeks! Full payment for doing absolutely nothing. Interestingly if we had remained with Chester they would have only charged for 24 hours. I naively thought both contracts would be very similar, how wrong I was. Additionally the North Wales branch then wanted to charge 60% of fees just to keep my mother’s care slots! I’m appalled at the greed of this company and was shocked that the two franchises worked so differently. READ THE SMALL PRINT if you use Hominstead North Wales.

Aylesbury Home Instead. Carers are very good and gave mother in law great help. Admin staff and owners are a different breed. Ambiguous application of contract terms, zero sympathy when she had to go into a care home. Fundamentally a money greedy operation with no sympathy.

Have regular carers that are prompt and caring . Always try to get known carers helps . But sometime communication with office staff can get confusing when speaking to different staff.

They started superbly but then they began ringing late afternoon to change the timeout call which interfered with my medication and routine or were cutting short the visit length. Usually I could reorganise but one day I received a call late in the afternoon just as I was leaving to shop again shortening the visit. While queuing to payable 7.00pm. I received a call saying the carer was at my home. The contracted time of the visit was 7.45pm for 1hour. I said it would take at least 15minutes to get back. On arriving the carer walked towards me from along the road and told me her my time was up and she was going to her next client. On getting out of my wheelchair, putting shopping in kitchen then returning to my room the time was 5mins before the regular call time. NOBODY HAD ASKED IF IT WAS CONVENIENT. JUST THEIR STATEMENT OF INTENT. THE VISIT WOULD BE HALVED, NO MENTION OF CHANGING THE TIME. I SLEPT FULLY DRESSED. Next day I received a call cancelling my care. Reason given, I didn't seem satisfied with their ORGANISATION!

Sutton Coldfield Franchise
We used Home Instead for 2.5 years to care for my mother before we left them. I would rank 3 of the 5 carers we experienced as exceptional. They really cared about what they did and did it well. However, the back-office team and owner ranged from adequate to incredibly poor. Even when things were proven not to work, the way they rigidly and doggedly stuck to their processes and policies was incredibly frustrating for the family trying to manage care needs.
We tolerated incorrect billing, admin errors and a general coolness towards customer focus. The straw that broke the camel’s back was a bad experience with 1 carer who made fundamental mistakes putting my family member at risk and Home Instead failed to acknowledge this at the management/owner level (or compensate for the fallout charges). When things went wrong of their making, there wasn’t any genuine empathy or goodwill that I experienced. Home Instead are the most expensive that we found, so charging a premium for the hassle and oversight I had to do myself wasn’t acceptable.

We went to them on basis of personal recommendations and were so happy with the service they gave.

They were kind and sympathetic. They get to know the individual and we had full trust in them. Home Instead’s model of home care has set the bar higher for everyone – it’s how it should be everywhere. Thank you for being there.

I have worked for Rugby Home Instead now for 3 years. The support I have received from day 1 has been above and beyond. I joined the company with no experience in care and have gone on to have been awarded my level 3 in health and social Care as well as my City in Guilds Dementia Care training. I can honestly say, i love my job!

Excellent interview process & companion choice for my mother. Adriana was the perfect person for my mom’s caregiver. Conscientious, kind & a good driver which is very important to my mom.

In-home staff are all very kind and patient. However, the overall business management is extremely poor. My father is currently in hospice care, and the office staff expressed no empathy when we tried to cancel future in-home visits. I understand that there are policies in place, however the complete callousness ("Well you will still be charged - it's in your contract!") is absolutely disgusting. Zero compassion - shame on you.

Home Instead in Trumbull treats their employees like dirt. They allow the clients and clients family members to abuse the caregivers for long periods of time. When you request repeatedly to be removed they hang up on you, gaslight you, and then terminate you for going above and beyond with your job duties. They do not protect you and stand in your corner. Being proactive, thorough, practicing cleanliness is frowned upon. Basically show up to your shift and don’t lift a finger for $16hr and let the proactive caregiver take being put down by the office and clients everyday for hours nonstop. Find a better more sympathetic and protective company to work for.

Once upon a time Home Instead Senior Care was a good company that looked after both their workers (each branch was franchised) and the clients. Now that Honor (a tech company) bought Home Instead, I have both personally experienced and witnessed a huge decline in the care and attention needed from a company in charge of senior citizens. As a caregiver, you will be earning less than half of what the company charges the clients. As a client, your bill will be inaccurate almost one hundred percent of the time and never be able to reach anyone when you call because everyone is “in a meeting”. This company is a sad little shadow of what it used to be before Honor took over. Go elsewhere!