Expert AuPair, St Pete Beach FL

I am utterly dissatisfied with the service provided by Expert AuPair and it is unacceptable that the owner of Expert Au Pair, Mark Gautler, essentially bullied me into accepting a partial refund when I requested a full refund due to the breach of agreement and negligent hiring by Expert Au Pair.

Expert Au Pair committed fraud by failing to properly screen and verify the required training of the Au Pair or serve as a neutral party to resolve any and all grievances.

It is important to note, I was 26 weeks pregnant upon the Au Pair’s arrival and high risk for health problems thus it was medically necessary for the Au Pair to be removed from my home as soon her presence started to affect my health.

The Au Pair, Lynette Abistinguza, arrived to my home from Uganda, Africa on 2/3/23 without any knowledge of CPR, practical child safety training, or the ability to care for a 2-year-old child. Over a 14-day period, the Au Pair lost my 2-year-old son at a trampoline park, allowed him to fall on a blunt object resulting in lacerations above his nose, and failed to follow proper hygiene practices resulting in a diaper rash and chafing.

The Au Pair also violated my “House Rules” by providing my address to men she met on the internet, allowing these men to pick her/drop her off at my home, and placing my family at risk by engaging in suspicious activity which resulted in a visit from the police on 2/17/23 around 10pm CST after she was tracked/followed back to my home. I have never had the police called to my home. This can be validated with the Sachse Police Department. The police ordered me to open my door and requested everyone to come outside. This resulted in a significant anxiety attack and placed strain on my already high-risk pregnancy.

Before the police came to my home, I was already in communication Mark Gaulter about the Au Pair. I shared with him how the Au Pair lied about several key issues, and I felt his organization had misled me regarding the vetting, training, and evaluation process. My first issue of concern was the Au Pair’s previous experience with toddlers. I hired her because she stated she was a pre-school teacher in China. She confessed once she arrived, she had been working with another agency in China where she was hired to exploit parents by telling them she would teach the children English and care for them but did not do so. Please note, Expert Au Pair was responsible for vetting her previous work experience.

Mark Gautler never advocated on my behalf and never followed his organization’s grievance procedure. Mark was never neutral in any conversations and never worked in my family’s best interest. Mark threatened and bullied me while I was only trying to get him to remove the Au Pair from my home as soon as possible because my family did not feel safe with her here anymore.

Mark accused me of having someone call the police on the Au Pair. This is not true, and details of the emergency call can be confirmed with the Sachse Police Department. Mark accused me overworking the Au Pair, which is also not true, and would not give me time to create a work log so he could see she never worked her full schedule during the two weeks she was here, and she was in fact given 1.5 days off.

Mark told me he would not provide a refund at all if I contacted a lawyer or continued to press the issue. Mark also informed me that I would have to pay for the Au Pair’s return trip back to Uganda but instead she remains in the United States and has been rematched with another family as it is in his agency’s best interest to do so despite all the red flags.

Expert Aupair was extremely negligent in the vetting, placement, and investigation of the service provided by the Au Pair. I was bullied, exploited, questioned, and threaten by Expert Aupair.

Beware of this agency. They do not screen the Au Pairs/Bro pairs at all. Read the contracts, you only get one rematch. Our first AuPair was excellent! Perfect in every way. Bropair came next. Woke up on his first day with us with a T-Shirt that read “chess makes me horny”! Not appropriate around children. He ended up leaving after three weeks with his girlfriend. The agency blamed us? ! We found our next au pair, she said she had driving experience and was comfortable around the pool. A week after she got here we realized she is a beginner driver, and isn’t comfortable in the pool. This is care for one child! We got her driving lessons. She crashed our car. This week my son asked for a Diet Coke, she gave him a Coors light! Thank hod my oldest son was home and took it away. Mark is extremely rude and doesn’t care about the au pairs or hist families needs. He told me we wouldn’t get our money back or cannot rematch because we had one rematch already. He told me she has her DL deal with it. He admitted he wouldn’t put his kids in a car with her but I should. BEWARE

Best agency since I have decided to be auPair I chose this agency because of their responsiveness and best customer service
The CEO doesn’t play with the rules he is very straight forward
Some of The families are complaining because he doesn’t let them take advantage of these young females.

STAY AWAY FROM THEM! I mainly worked with Garcia at the beginning of my application hosting journey. There was a miscommunication with the au pair and I and Mark was involved. He was very rude and aggressive. He Always invites himself into people private lives with criticism without knowing any background. Throughout the conversation, Mark displayed a condescending and aggressive demeanor. He spoke to me like I was his child. It took everything in me to not curse him out. Being one of the few African families in my community to have an au pair, I get a lot of questions regarding the process and what agency to go with. I recommended 2 people to experts at Pair during my 1 year with them. Currently, I am helping 5 families in my community with another agency. Don’t pour your money where you are not valued and respected.

We have worked with Expert AuPair now for 1.5 years. Our AuPair is amazing and the companies coordination and communication has been great.

Extremely Hostile Owner / Poor Communication Ruined the Experience
I have been a customer of Expert AuPair for over a year and a half now, and unfortunately, my experience with them has been nothing short of a nightmare. From the hostile behavior of the owner to the lack of communication and disregard for my concerns, I am appalled by the way I have been treated as a paying customer.

My story begins when the police showed up at my doorstep one day. I was taken aback and confused as to why they were there, only to discover that Mark, the owner of Expert AuPair, had called them to check on our AuPair. Apparently, our AuPair had expressed interest in rematching during her monthly check-in, but due to complications with her phone bill and email address change, she was unable to respond to the company's attempts to reach her. They contacted my wife, who also did not answer. They contacted me, but as I was at work and the number was unfamiliar, I mistook it for a telemarketer and did not answer. Given these circumstances, Mark's decision to call the police for a wellness check can be understood. The police arrived, assessed the situation, and confirmed that everything was in order before leaving.

Since my wife and I are currently going through a divorce, our communication has been strained. Therefore, I decided to call Expert AuPair to establish a direct line of communication so that I could stay informed about our AuPair's status. As the one who pays for this childcare service and entrusts them with the care of my children, I believe I have every right to know what is happening. However, when Mark finally returned my call, his demeanor was extremely disrespectful and hostile from the moment we started talking.

To my surprise, Mark began accusing me of only calling because my divorce lawyer had advised me to do so. When I denied this claim and explained that I simply wanted to be involved in the communication process, he persisted in calling me a liar and continued his aggressive rant. I tried to maintain a civil conversation by expressing my understanding of why he had called the police and emphasizing that I simply wanted to be informed in the future. However, his hostility persisted, and he even took the opportunity to criticize my divorce, and my personal life, all without any knowledge or understanding my situation.

Throughout the conversation, Mark displayed a condescending and unsympathetic attitude. Despite being a loyal customer who has spent tens of thousands of dollars with Expert AuPair, I was treated like a second-class parent who didn't deserve to be informed about the well-being of my child's childcare provider. Mark's refusal to provide me with details of what was going on with the AuPair was baffling and left me feeling frustrated and neglected.

As if the hostility and lack of communication weren't enough, the situation took a turn for the worse. When I finally got home and spoke with the AuPair, she informed me that she had been instructed by the company to move out that very day. This news came as a shock, considering that I had just spoken to the owner, who had deliberately withheld this crucial information from me.
In summary, while I can understand the concern for the AuPair's safety and the need for precautions, I cannot comprehend the extreme aggression and hostility displayed by Mark, the owner of Expert AuPair. His refusal to provide me with essential details about the situation and his overall condescending attitude towards me as a customer are simply unacceptable. As a paying customer, I deserve to be treated with respect and kept informed about matters concerning the childcare service I have invested so much in. It is disheartening to witness such poor customer service and management practices, and I am left wondering why anyone would choose to run a business in such a manner. My experience with Expert AuPair has been deeply disappointing, and I would strongly caution others considering their services to think twice before entrusting them with their childcare needs.

BEWARE! This agency is very unprofessional and lacks any kind of customer service or dispute resolution skills. I am recently a single mom (my husband passed away during my 2nd pregnancy) to a 2 month old and 2 year old and thought an Au pair might help with this transition…. Instead the Au pair clearly lacked the experience claimed and was unable to adequately care for the children (refused to change diapers regularly, would just not show up for scheduled work times, would not feed the toddler, etc). There are no policies in place to address responsibilities not being fulfilled. It has become so uncomfortable for me in my own home as she is always talking loudly on her phone, eating all the food, etc. I am being forced to pay extra for her to leave, my family just wants some peace…. PLEASE STAY AWAY from this agency!