In-home care has arrived late or not at all. office says this is not standard or ok, but it recurs within a day or two. 2 stars because when they do show up, they are kind and competent. read more

I agree with the other Reviews -- 1st thing to understand: the various BrightStar's -- they are a FRANCHISE operation (picture: McDonald's) that people Buy Into: they have limited training -- I think it's just 4 days. Yes, those commercials by the founder that appear on TV -- claims are laughable! Often the spiel from the sales team is way different from what you actually get from who shows up at your door! You do Not want to place the health, well-being, security of your loved one in their poorly trained, less-than-compassionate hands. read more

Brightstar provided personal care for the last two weeks of my husband's life. I was very pleased with the quality of care and the overall experience. Because he declined very quickly, we needed help round the clock within a few days. They were able to cover almost all shifts within two days of notification. The care givers were punctual, helpful, and very caring. I expected that there would be many caregivers involved because of the many hours needing coverage so I was pleased that we had several caregivers who were here multiple shifts. Their primary role was to provide direct care to my husband but they also did light cleaning. They were respectful of my husband and others in the household. After seeing so many negative reviews of every home care agency, I was very nervous about hiring anyone but ended up pleasantly surprised. Thank you to all the caregivers for your help. read more

I wish I could give this agency zero stars. The only reason they are coming into my home since my husband's work accident, is that they are who workers comp hires. No doubt. They must be (I hope) the cheapest company out there. The incompetence of their staff is astounding. I'd have better luck with care if I just called someone in off the street. It's disgusting. Scheduling and communication is a complete joke as well. Phone communication is outsourced to the Philippines. Go figure. The company is just all around horrible. I can't wait to be done with them forever. read more

Where to begin. This is a franchise, but hopefully corporate will eventually do a full audit, and wipe them off the map. The office applies a broken one size fits all approach, and prefers a revolving door system where caregivers are switched out faster than fake instagram profiles-for THEIR scheduling convenience. Beware of their inflated oppositional defensive responses to critical feedback, or better yet, move on. read more

I would not recommend this service if you want the caregivers to show up or get any help from the office. every time I call to see who is scheduled to take care of my parent they just say no one volunteered and they have nothing for us. read more

Our experience coincides with the review from Ann S. (11/10/23). This time last year we started up with BrightStar after spending time calling all the in-home care providers in the Madison area. That initial contact with BrightStar and the patience with the plethora of questions I gave them, had us pick this agency. They gave great and realistic answers to all the questions. Our in-home interview with one of their agents went very well that helped ease our parent and family members. After that our experience was downhill. We had one good caretaker that my parent liked, but her attendance dwindled. We requested the office to not call my mother to confirm a visit or cancel, good Lord the woman has dementia and they knew this. Brightstar had both the appropriate contacts to communicate with, so no excuse for this to occur. We also would have a call that nobody would be coming the next day to having someone arrive with little advanced notice. A person with dementia need time to prepare mentally/emotionally for a STRANGER to show up at their door. The book/log started to not be filled out and caregivers were leaving earlier than the scheduled hours without telling us about it or why it is. As out of pocket payment consumers this is not okay. Communication with the office during the few months we employed Brightstar was poor and inconsistent with the content of what we would be told. This was a drastic flip flop from when we were in the "courting" stage. A BrightStar commercial just came on and I had to laugh as it is such a misrepresentation of the service we paid for. read more

I would think twice about hiring BrightStar. After several months we finally moved on and hired a different more competent company that meet our needs. BrightStar has some good staff but they tended to push staff that didn't meet our needs. Multiple different staff for a 8 hour shift, show up late, or called to say they couldn't fill the shift the morning of. This inconsistency caused alot of stress for everyone involved. Also the level of competency of some of BrightStars staff was questionable in that they didn't take direction well and felt they knew more than the patients family. It was a great day when we said good bye to this company. read more

Brightstar had a good reputation nationally, but after months of bad experiences I talked to friends and found they suffered the same problems with Madison's Brightstar franchise. We all had the same view: Brightstar Madion's management is terrible and the caretakers are of mixed quality. I expect Brightstar will respond to this by blaming me - that's what they did when I raised concerns with my care and what I learned they also did with my friends when they tried to raise problems. * The caregivers are mixed. Some were truly terrific -knowledgeable, hardworking and kind. The nurser supervisor working with me was terrific. But many of the good caregivers leave because Brightstar pays less than local hospitals and nursing homes. That means too many of the caregivers they sent had limited capabilities and/or bad interpersonal skills and/or just sat around/slept/played with their phones unless I explicitly told them to do the most obvious things. One that Brightstar argued I should keep would lie on my bed and complain to me about Brightstar and about her life, get angry with me when I asked her to stop that and grumble when I asked her to help me. * My case manager was downright mean. She tried to bully me into accepting male caregivers when I did not feel comfortable with men helping me with bathing/toileting. When I raised problems with specific caregivers, she would argue with me, say I was the problem and try to get me to agree to keep them. She was so abrasive that I began to dread contacting Brightstar and often would end up in tears when I did - a crazy situation as I was paying them a lot of money. * There were not adequate systems in place to ensure the latest new caregiver in the constant revolving door of staff knew about my needs or had the skills to meet them and I am talking about the most basic things. I did not need specialized care and I am very sharp mentally so I could train them myself, but heaven forbid you actually had to rely on these people to stay safe. I had never used one of these services, so did not know what to expect when I brought them after being injured in a bad car accident. But now that I have a good service helping me, I know that Brightstar is really bad news. read more

I would be careful when considering Brightstar. They may tell you their services are accepted by your long term care insurance only to find out the LTC agency doesn't work with them. So after a few weeks of care they realize they were wrong. I would have them give it to you in writing before they start care. It comes off a if they tell people anything just to get you to use them. Not very thorough or professional. Sorry. read more