Retrospective Childcare Charge Advice

spadoosh

DaBla27 wrote: »

I would need to look back for the initial price as I don't know it off hand and the prices have increased on a number of occasions since then.

How would I know that a "Full Day" did or didn't include breakfast? It didn't state it either way however what we did do was agree with them (confirmed yesterday on the initial documentation) that we wanted breakfast included. We would have no indication that this wasn't being charged for.

Imagine you had a 30 day full trial with a gym and at the end they wanted to retrospectively charge you for using the swimming pool but the use of this to you was assumed inclusive in the deal as it didnt state whether it did or didn't? Would you complain?

Youd know it by comparing what you where told you would be charged with what you where actually charged.

As an example if you got told it was £10 a day and £1 for breakfast. But youre first invoice only showed 4 x £10 then youd know it hadnt been included. If it showed 4 x £10 and 4x£1 or 4 x £11 then you would know it had.

Im fairly sure if it was the other way round and you where being charged more youdve noticed?


I'd imagine theres a good chance you will be liable. For the type of business over a couple of years you could fairly easily write off £400 so unless they think theyve got a good case they probably wouldve just ignored it.

Whilst in that situation you cant use much in the way of rights you can use any goodwill between you and nursery, you can use your custom and you can use empathy to try and get a better deal. I would try negotiating with them. Id mention its really bad issuing invoices 2 years late and makes you wonder what other back office functions are being overlooked. Id metnion your an active customer that does have a choice of where to take their child and id mention you being a reliable customer (if you have).

What theyre doing isnt good but its also probably not illegal and theyre well within their rights to do it.

Of course if you can find documentation that suggests it was inclusive then they dont have much they can do.

DaBla27

spadoosh wrote: »

Youd know it by comparing what you where told you would be charged with what you where actually charged.

As an example if you got told it was £10 a day and £1 for breakfast. But youre first invoice only showed 4 x £10 then youd know it hadnt been included. If it showed 4 x £10 and 4x£1 or 4 x £11 then you would know it had.

Im fairly sure if it was the other way round and you where being charged more youdve noticed?


I'd imagine theres a good chance you will be liable. For the type of business over a couple of years you could fairly easily write off £400 so unless they think theyve got a good case they probably wouldve just ignored it.

Whilst in that situation you cant use much in the way of rights you can use any goodwill between you and nursery, you can use your custom and you can use empathy to try and get a better deal. I would try negotiating with them. Id mention its really bad issuing invoices 2 years late and makes you wonder what other back office functions are being overlooked. Id metnion your an active customer that does have a choice of where to take their child and id mention you being a reliable customer (if you have).

What theyre doing isnt good but its also probably not illegal and theyre well within their rights to do it.

Of course if you can find documentation that suggests it was inclusive then they dont have much they can do.

Thanks for that reply and If I am being honest I have almost conceeded to myself that I am already fighting a losing battle but was reaching out to see if there was anything I could potentially legally challenge with, which is looking increasingly unlikely. They do have fundamental flaws in terms of their management and this has been formally highlighted in their last care inspection and I don't for one minute think I am the only one in this situation at the nursery. As I said in a previous post I have said to them that I am willing to pay but I would like to see if they can meet me half way. A £600 bill is hefty at anytime of the year but the timing with it being Christmas and with my wife on maternity leave accentuates that somewhat. We actually have a very good relationship with the nursery which makes this slightly more awkward.

IAmWales

If you've reported this to Ofsted I expect this all to be a moot point, your child's place will be withdrawn before you know it.

DaBla27

IAmWales wrote: »

If you've reported this to Ofsted I expect this all to be a moot point, your child's place will be withdrawn before you know it.

Well I haven't so.....

(Text removed by MSE Forum Team)

DaBla27

So after doing a little digging around and I can totally appreciate that the following example is from the laws within the energy industry but the principle is certainly interesting. The very initial reason for my post was to see if anyone could point out where I potentially stand. After all I am customer and they are a supplier. The back billed charge for one of my points is 2 and a half years.

Anyway.....

"Customers shouldn’t have to pay for suppliers' mistakes"

Gillian Guy, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice, said: “Customers shouldn’t have to pay the price for suppliers’ mistakes.
“Energy bills are already high so it adds insult to injury when companies go back to customers looking for more money after they got it wrong. Particularly for suppliers who insist on payment in full, this can be a huge burden on already stretched finances.”
An Ofgem spokesperson defended the existing rules: “The back-billing principle means that where the supplier is at fault, customers can only be back-billed for up to 12 months. Our rules also mean that suppliers must take the customer’s ability to pay into account when setting repayments.”


Interesting....

spadoosh

DaBla27 wrote: »

So after doing a little digging around and I can totally appreciate that the following example is from the laws within the energy industry but the principle is certainly interesting. The very initial reason for my post was to see if anyone could point out where I potentially stand. After all I am customer and they are a supplier. The back billed charge for one of my points is 2 and a half years.

Anyway.....

"Customers shouldn’t have to pay for suppliers' mistakes"

Gillian Guy, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice, said: “Customers shouldn’t have to pay the price for suppliers’ mistakes.
“Energy bills are already high so it adds insult to injury when companies go back to customers looking for more money after they got it wrong. Particularly for suppliers who insist on payment in full, this can be a huge burden on already stretched finances.”
An Ofgem spokesperson defended the existing rules: “The back-billing principle means that where the supplier is at fault, customers can only be back-billed for up to 12 months. Our rules also mean that suppliers must take the customer’s ability to pay into account when setting repayments.”


Interesting....

As interesting as it is, its completely irrelevant.

Theyve been without the money for 2 years i highly doubt its something they need immediately. Im fairly confident you will be given plenty of wiggle room with this.

If its written down in the original contract that you have to pay for the lunches and you havent you are liable. Nothing will change that and nothing you find on the internet will tell you that.

I worked in retail for quite some time. I would regularly deal with complaints. A sure fire way for me to be as least helpful as possible was for someone to start quoting things that where incorrect and not relevant. If i was the nursery and you mentioned the ofgem thing to me, i would get bored very quickly. I would issue the invoice with payment terms and if they wherent met would follow with court proceedings.

If you came at me with how dissapointed you where at my bad financial management. How youve been loyal to us yet have been lumped with a bill just before chirstmas from the last two years whilst your wife was on maternity leave. Id think thats not very nice and know we've offered poor customer service. I would be willing to be flexible.

I can almost guarantee you will not get anywhere looking for things like the ofgem bit. Where you might have success is appealing to their sympathetic side.