I’ve seen an ad on the CBC News Network for A Place for Mom. They offer a service you can use to find senior housing for an elderly loved one. Joan Lunden is the personality in the ad and she says, “You can trust A Place for Mom to help.” The ad piqued my curiosity when she said the service is free. Somebody is certainly paying.

The small print at the bottom of the screen is quite enlightening. It states that the facilities listed by the service are paying, and further, A Place for Mom exercises “no independent judgment as to the quality of, nor do we recommend or endorse, any Participating Community.”

If they don’t recommend or endorse any of the places they list, what am I supposed to trust them to help with, exactly?

The small print on their website makes it clear that if you run into trouble with senior housing you find through their service, you’re on your own.

Read the small print, folks.

Disclaimer: I have no business or personal relationship with A Place for Mom or any of its employees. I have also never taken advantage of their service. I just feel their ad tries to foster a trust that the small print explicitly disclaims.

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