nursery bill -15 mths after my kids left

fsdss

dont know if someone could give me advice.

my kids left nursery (a large national chain) last December 2005. i had a direct debit set up and this had worked really well up to the October.

out of the blue i have had a demand for £250 stating unpaid. so we queried this and they sent a statement (which is appaling). anyway it doesnt take much working out that pre-school funding isn't attached for oct - dec.

i rang the lea and guess what? they paid £250 for that period (bar 10p). i informed the nursery that this is the descrepency and this is the response.

"you will note that we credited you with £450 of lea funding. (where? its not on my statement you sent last week?) of which £122 is outstanding?(why the ?) and as a gesture of goodwill we will write this amount off.
this therefore leaves £250 for which requires immediate payment."

either i am daft and cant count (£450 - £122 = £328) or they've completely ballsed up.

incedently my direct debits were collected as i still have my statements. and from oct - dec of 2005 there is no input of pre-school funding.


i have had a friend coming over tonight as i want to pick her accountancy skills up but anyone else have any other ideas of what i should do? i dont believe i owe any money to them as i was paying by childcare vouchers and direct debit.

Savvy_Sue

Write back to them with a copy of their statement, giving your own itemised statement: list the dates of your DDs, payments of vouchers etc, and also the amount paid by the LEA. Presumably this will come to a balance of zero.

Finish with a paragraph along the lines of "Since it is now 15 months since my children last attended your nursery, I am surprised that you have not contacted me earlier about this alleged shortfall in my payments. Under the circumstances I consider the matter closed."