Unfair Terms in Nursery Terms and Conditions

corbyboy

MikeAtkins wrote: »

Would you pay your gas, water, phone bill if you did not have the service for two weeks? Of course not!

Ah, but you do. Are your phone company going to give you a rebate for 2 weeks line rental when you are away? Are your water company going to refund you for 2 weeks of surface drainage while you are away? What about your TV licence?

They are standard terms that most (all ?) nurserys use. However the reply you got sounds pretty unprofessional.
The rationale is that they won't be able to fill those slots for just two weeks. And they still have to pay the staff even though your child isn't there.

You say your child goes to nursery on a Monday? Have you not run into the issue of the nursery closing on a bank holiday which you still have to pay for?

go_cat

tomwakefield wrote: »

Therefore your other option to ensure you are not paying for a day you aren't attending is to try and claim a refund of that day through the small claims court and have the legality of the T&Cs tested.

=

i look forward along with many other millions of parents to this court case

geordieracer

MikeAtkins wrote: »

Would you pay your gas, water, phone bill if you did not have the service for two weeks? Of course not!

Actually - I do.. I pay a monthly fee no matter what i use as i seem to pay the same in the summer when not using it as i do in the winter when i use it often.

And when i go on holiday and use none of it,guess what?I still pay!!

MikeAtkins

The point about saving a few quid to sacrifice my child happiness - of course my child's happiness and welfare will always come first. He is very happy and I am over the moon with the service the nursery provides on the day that he does attend. I think nurseries throughout the UK use this to their advantage - you all seem to be saying it is normal - but do you think it is fair? Also, I take the point about claiming utility bills whilst away - hadn't looked at it that way -thank you.

MikeAtkins

Okay - thanks guys for your points of view - I guess I need to let this one go! It doesn't stop me from being bloody angry though - but you all have some very valid points. Thank you.

go_cat

MikeAtkins wrote: »

you all seem to be saying it is normal - but do you think it is fair?

I don't think anyone would say they agreed with it but it is a fact of life with nurseries i am afraid ...you signed the contract ... if you didn't agree with it you should have found a nursery that didn't have this practice and i wiah you luck with that

BoGoF

That's where you have to be careful then push it too far then your business may no longer be welcome.

As for fair....that's a matter of opinion but ultimately you signed up to the 'deal'

MikeAtkins

I am not dismissing what people are saying, I am trying identify peoples views whilst expressing my own. Thanks for the reply any way.

tomwakefield

BoGoF wrote: »

As for fair....that's a matter of opinion but ultimately you signed up to the 'deal'

Even so, that doesn't necessarily mean it's binding if it can be found to be unenforceable. But in that case, I think it's a matter of picking your battles.

tbw

MikeAtkins wrote: »

Well, I think the terms are unfair and unenforceable - I spoke to the OFT today and they want me to write to them with a copy of the terms and conditions. Would you pay your gas, water, phone bill if you did not have the service for two weeks? Of course not! I accept that there are overheads - I run two businesses but I don't charge for a service I don't supply? So why should it be any different for child care?

But the service IS being supplied - you are just choosing not to use it! You aren't going to win this one.