This is the most utterly and horribly dreadful home care experience we have ever had.
A couple months ago, we decided to employ Sequoia on a trial basis. The supervisor, named Terry, came to our house and was very knowledgeable and thorough in her description of the service for my mother. She set up biweekly appointments for a woman named Katherine to come every other Wednesday. Though Katherine was somewhat abrupt with me, I let it go because what counted was the interaction between she and mom. We had made plans so I would be able to go do other things and get the dogs out of the house while Katherine could spend some quality time with my mother but for that first visit I had to be there to accommodate a phone repair contractor. We found out that Katherine was a vegan, which is no harm but she only fed my mother vegan food, instead of a mixture of foods we had in the cupboards. In other words, mom had to eat what the caregiver ate only. I let that go for the time being and didn't say anything. Katherine also implied that the house was dirty by the way she asked to clean it.
Two weeks later, Katherine showed up 15 minutes early, before we were prepared to receive her. When I mentioned that we weren't quite prepared because she was early, she made the excuse that 'We always come 15 minutes early' basically defending herself like we were supposed to know that. I had not been notified as to that situation. Personally, I think they do that on purpose to try to gauge if anything underhanded is going on at the property since I had not been informed as to that practice but that's just a guess on my part.
This time I did take myself and the dogs away as planned but had to come home an hour early to have the dogs get water and let them relieve themselves. I told Katherine this but she put me to work getting her supplies while the dogs sat out in the car for 20 minutes.
Before I finally left, mom told me that Katherine had told her that she was WEARING MEN'S UNDERWEAR. I practically fell down. Not that we had to defend ourselves on such a rude comment but I proceeded to tell her that not only was I on the trip to J.C. Penny's for mother's shopping, I saw her buy them from the Women's Dept. (I wash her clothes and the panties have no male pouch in the front.).
After I returned the second time to relieve Katherine from her work, she approached me and told me the same thing about the underwear. I had to bite my tongue. We actually had an amicable conversation at the end of her shift but as she was getting ready go out the door, she looked at me and bluntly retorted, "Excuse me." and brushed past me as she went out the door.
Mom and I talked for a while and we decided to terminate Sequoia's services. After the first week, we had determined that she didn't need the service but mom elected to keep Katherine because she was nice to her. I knew mom didn't need the service and considering how rude the woman was to me, I was just looking for an excuse to terminate her. That came of course regarding the underwear incident.
Two days later I contacted Sequoia's flagship office in Petaluma, CA by email to advise them of the termination of contract. They didn't bother to reply to me. Two days after that I received a cold call telling me that someone tried to come to the gate but couldn't get in. This was a complete surprise as we had not expected anyone else. I asked for their information and they wouldn't tell me a thing, not even the name of their company. I figured out later that this had been Social Services, as Sequoia had obviously told them something terrible about us.
The next day I contacted Sequoia supervisor Terry and had to leave a message on her answering machine to verify that we had terminated the contract. She, as well, didn't bother to contact us back.
Social Services called AGAIN to try to get more information.
Sequoia sent us a bill for the 2nd service they had provided even though I had paid for both service appointments when I received the bill for the first one. I am ignoring the 2nd bill. If they call and harass me I will report this whole thing to BBB and threaten legal action.
This entire situation was PITIFUL. This is THE most DREADFUL company I have ever seen in my 30 years of adulthood. I highly recommend that this service be AVOIDED at ALL COSTS unless you want your elderly relatives PERSECUTED! My elderly mother was INSULTED IN HER OWN HOUSE! That experience with Sequoia Senior "Solutions" was TOTAL TRASH! read more