I’ve come across two different families in the past week who not only felt taken advantage of but also received no help/guidance from an online lead generated senior placement companies. In one instance, the family was approached at the hospital by a nationwide large placement firm obtaining patient information and blasting personal data to several assisted living communities in the area without consent! The family told me they felt violated! Hospitals should not allow solicitors in patient rooms!

My other client was extremely disappointed because the online senior living advisor helping them was in an entirely different state and sent them to places out of their geographic area, price range, and these communities didn’t have the amenities she was looking for. How can someone send people somewhere they have yet to personally tour? Sorry online placement firm, you just wasted this person’s time and let’s not forget the facility’s time.

Needless to say, my clients felt bullied and pressured by all the assisted living facilities that were calling them at all hours of the day. Most people haven’t a clue about how senior placement companies are paid. We are paid a percentage of first month’s rent. The nation-wide online firms have strict contracts which require facilities to pay them for leads that were sent to them by an email lead alert with personal information such as email and phone number. That’s it! They send a facility your name and number and collect payment upon move in.

Unlike the online lead generated senior placement firms, most on the ground senior placement companies have personally toured each senior living community prior to partnering or contracting with the facility. They also know the area, can assist with the entire transition to move-in because they work with local resources, and personally tour with you so you have someone there to answer questions and guide you throughout the process. When a local senior placement company helps you, they should be with you every step of the way. How can your online senior living advisor in another state help you do this?!

What makes it hard for local on the ground senior placement companies is that we put so much time and effort to help families only to find out that our clients may have accidentally or unknowingly visited an online placement firm website and now their data has been blasted to every facility as their own client, thus not allowing us to receive payment for our services by the assisted living community. What local senior placement firms does not compare to the online placement companies who merely send an email to every facility in the person’s zip code and is apples to oranges. Half the time our client has no clue they’ve registered with the online lead generated senior placement firms.

Wouldn’t you rather receive the concierge service and guidance you deserve versus getting bombarded with multiple phone calls by different assisted living communities and wasting your time visiting places that don’t match your senior living preference? Whether you work with North Star Senior Advisors or not, you should know the difference between the two types of ” Senior Placement” firms.

www.NorthStarSA.com