Unfortunately, I cannot recommend Synergy Home Care. I contracted with this company to provide light housekeeping, which they advertise on their site and which includes basic tasks such as vacuuming, dusting, laundry, dishes, etc. I have an autoimmune disease similar to Lupus, and attempting to do that kind of light housekeeping causes me unrelenting body pain. My disease makes it prohibitive for me to perform such tasks. At first, everything seemed fine. I signed a contract for someone to come in once a week. The first person they sent was quite unfriendly, seemed angry, and never smiled. But, he did all of the tasks on my list, so I couldn't really complain. Then, one of the people who was supposed to come out never showed up. However, the company was very apologetic and I continued on with the contract. Then, they couldn't find anyone for the full shift, so they sent someone for a half shift. Again, I was understanding even though it was becoming apparent that the consistency of the service was problematic. One of the people they sent refused to vacuum beyond the first floor. I called to say that I really needed someone who could perform the task of vacuuming. In between all of this, they did send a couple of people who were very good, but unfortunately, neither of those people were available to come back. Which brings me to last week. They sent a woman in who came up my front steps looking very angry. She did not smile when I introduced myself. I tried to show her the list of things I wanted done, and reviewed it with her verbally. I then handed her the list, and she put it down, saying she didn't need it. Because she seemed so angry and uncomfortable, I asked her if she thought she could do the job and she replied "I'll try." She also screamed very loudly when my kitten tried to play with the ties on her uniform, and then seemed quite upset. Again I asked her if everything was ok, and she said "I just woke up. I woke up to rush over here," with an angry look on her face. She proceeded to do some of the light housekeeping for the first two hours of the shift, and then she disappeared into my basement for an hour. She was on her cell phone for a good 20 minutes while she was down there. She had put a load of laundry in, and then was just standing down there doing nothing. I called down a few times asking her if she was ok, and she said she was "doing the laundry." However, when I finally got her to come out of the basement, she had no folded clothes with her. The washer and dryer were both full and running, so she had just been standing down there. I asked her to please continue with the rest of her tasks, and she said she had done everything on the list. I said "you didn't vacuum the whole rest of the house." She said she would not vacuum the rest of the house because "it doesn't need it." She continued arguing with me, and I said "well, if you're not going to do any work, then we need to wrap this up early." She called into Synergy, and even admitted to them that she refused to vacuum because "the second floor doesn't need to be vacuumed." At one point, she claimed there were "no rugs" on the second and third floors, even though there are rugs in every room on the second floor, and the 3rd floor is fully carpeted wall-to-wall. She then began shouting and raising her voice to me. I finally got to speak with Synergy, and told them she needed to leave because she was refusing to do the work. Thank goodness she finally left. When I went to go to bed that night, I discovered she had stripped the sheets off the bed, but did not make it. Instead, she had thrown one loose top sheet directly on the mattress with no bottom sheet. Needless to say, I have cancelled my contract with Synergy Home Care. When I called to cancel, I was told I "should look into a cleaning service." To be fair, they did apologize for the behavior of the "caretaker," but they did not offer to send someone else who could fix all the things that went wrong. It is not a good feeling to have a debilitating disease and to have someone come in who is supposed to be caring and do all the things I am unable to do, only to have them refuse to do the job and then to be told I should look into a cleaning service. Why advertise "light housekeeping," if in fact the company does not want to, or is unable to provide, light housekeeping? It is not fair to the consumer to advertise something that they obviously have no desire to actually provide. I highly suggest that if you or someone you love is unable to perform basic housekeeping tasks like making a bed and vacuuming, that you steer very clear of Synergy Home Care. I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like if someone were to treat an elderly person this way. It's depressing to think about. It seems that the majority of people they hire receive zero training in anything having to do with light housekeeping. Perhaps basic training in this arena would go a long way in improving this company. read more