Private nursery threatening with court

bod1467

True - IF it can be demonstrated, and it can be PROVED this info was provided. Otherwise a signed copy (or otherwise) of the T&Cs would be concrete evidence if it went to court.

DCodd

I'm not so sure the B/H issue is legal.

A business can not charge for a service that they decide to withdraw, unless the customer is in breach of the contract. If they could then BT (for example) could stop providing telephone and internet services to it's customers and still demand 18 months of payments.

If one of the B/H's was the royal wedding, then they almost certainly can not charge as it was not a B/H in the true sense, the day off was deductable from the employees holiday entitlement and as such not an extra days holiday and to be strictly true, this applies to all B/Hs now.

arcon5

DCodd wrote: »

A business can not charge for a service that they decide to withdraw, unless the customer is in breach of the contract. If they could then BT (for example) could stop providing telephone and internet services to it's customers and still demand 18 months of payments.

But wouldn't the test of reasonableness be applied? Its not reasonable to set your terms so the customer has to pay for 18 months of unused services but may be fr them to agree to several days per year.

In the same way a 2 year gym membership is considered to be an unfair term, but 1 year isn't.

Also, could it be compared to for example, if you BT connection goes down for 1 week you still have to pay for that one week despite the fact you haven't received the service............

DCodd

arcon5 wrote: »

But wouldn't the test of reasonableness be applied? Its not reasonable to set your terms so the customer has to pay for 18 months of unused services but may be fr them to agree to several days per year.

In the same way a 2 year gym membership is considered to be an unfair term, but 1 year isn't.

Also, could it be compared to for example, if you BT connection goes down for 1 week you still have to pay for that one week despite the fact you haven't received the service............

I'm not so sure, the BT service is dependant on the technology and it's ability to provide the service, so a disruption to ther service is out of the control of the ISP.

However the issue with B/Hs and charging for them is a holiday argument. The law has changed in so far as Bank holidays don't really exist any more. An employer only has to give 28 days holiday a year and there is no obligation to allow employees Bank Holidays off (except Christmas day I believe). So could you not argue that if the Nursery decided to let all their employees have the same 8 consecutive working days off together, in the school holidays and close the nursery for that week and a half, would it be reasonable T&C's to expect the customers to still pay for that week and a half? If not then the same should apply to the individual B/Hs.

Mrs_Arcanum

Surely nurseries should factor in the cost of paying staff holidays to the fees for the days booked rather than charging people for a day when a service will not be available.

Definitely get a "certified" copy of a signed contract.

Equaliser123

Mrs_Arcanum wrote: »

Surely nurseries should factor in the cost of paying staff holidays to the fees for the days booked rather than charging people for a day when a service will not be available.

Definitely get a "certified" copy of a signed contract.

I think that is just the way it works. Our nursery is the same. So is everyone that we have ever looked at.

Why would a certified copy be needed?

bod1467

I suspect she means "signed", as in signed by both parties.

nikki1520

hayleypayton wrote: »

im entitled to my paid bank holidays as much as everyone else, and i guess you dont think i should have paid holidays either? as im not providing a service?
you would know what you were entering into before you signed cotracts, & you will not find any childminder that thinks different?
can i ask what paid holidays you get? i get 2 weeks paid all year if im lucky so i think im entitled the odd paid day off dont you?

your missing the point with the cafe ......... everybody who gets paid for bank holidays without working are not providing a service but no one bats an eyelid so why am i different?

Have to disagree that you can't find a childminder who doesn't charge for BH's- my childminder (who is superb and very highly qualified) does not charge me when my son is sick, when she is sick, when any of us are away on holiday - in fact she has NEVER charged me for a day when she hasn't had him - I asked about this at the start, and she felt it was immoral to charge for a service not provided.

However, saying that, it is a standard term in a nursery contract. And there are plenty of other services which you pay for but may not receive - for example, at my old house, if Christmas or Boxing day was your bin collection day, it didn't get done at all that week.

Anybody else pay council tax, some of which funds schools? The teachers get paid holiday it would seem - while they are not providing the service of teaching your children. Outrageous!!

Anybody else pay road tax, for the upkeep of the roads - and had their tyres trashed by a pothole?

Need I go on?

DCodd

nikki1520 wrote: »

Have to disagree that you can't find a childminder who doesn't charge for BH's- my childminder (who is superb and very highly qualified) does not charge me when my son is sick, when she is sick, when any of us are away on holiday - in fact she has NEVER charged me for a day when she hasn't had him - I asked about this at the start, and she felt it was immoral to charge for a service not provided.

However, saying that, it is a standard term in a nursery contract.
Need I go on?

Have to disagree with that. A quick Google and very many Nurseries do not charge for B/H's.

PinkKiwi

bod1467 wrote: »

Don't just ask them for a copy of the contract - ask them for a copy that holds your/you partner's signature. (An unsigned copy of the contract is meaningless in this situation). If they cannot produce a signed copy then your leeway in fighting the one month notice charge vastly improves.

Thats what they are sending, a supposedly signed one.