Disputing nursery invoice

Ekta

Hi all,

Looking for some advice/suggestions or if anyone has been in a similar situation. My 3 year old started going to a nursery with funded 15 hours but they messed up(diff story) so I gave them notice and I stopped sending him there, but I was desperate to send him to a different nursery as I did not want him to develop a fear of going to one. So found one very close to home but they confirmed his space from Sep ( I paid the deposit) in meanwhile they added his name to their waiting list as we were still in May. Problem still was not solved as I was still looking to send him somewhere for next 3 and half months. Finally I found a church preschool( operating term time only) who were ready to take him, I did enquire about the funded hours and explained what happened at the previous nursery. The manager explained that she can offer funded hours once the 6 weeks notice ends ( would have been mid June) at the previous nursery, so I understood I'll have to pay up until mid June for the sessions he attends. Also i told them he would not be coming back in Sep ( as he would start in the nursery closer to home). So he starts his settling in which was for an hour two days ( thursday and friday). On friday nursery lady tells me about an invoice of £740.00 ( including costs of all the sessions up until july +admin fee etc.) As per my understanding I thought i would only need to pay until mid June (when funded hours wud kick in) when i told her about my conversation re funded hours with the manager, she asked me to pay for a week in cash and meanwhile sort the funding with the manager and I agreed to do that. On returning home, I emailed the manager enquiring about the funded hours but had no reply. Over the weekend my LO fell sick and did not start nursery on Monday and did not go the whole week. Mid week I get an email with the invoice of £740.00 asking me to pay by end of month. I got a little upset that one she never bothered to reply about my enquiry and second she charged me for the whole week when he did not even start. I asked her for a breakdown and on Friday fortunately or unfortunately I got an email from the nursery where he was supposed to start from sep that they have space available from next week so i thought wow..thank god i did not pay n agreed to send him at the nursery closer to home. I sent an email to church nursery explaining the same n that he will not be attending any sessions. Now they are asking me to pay £840.00 (including £100.00 admin fee) for all the sessions up until july ( school closes) also threatening me to send to debt recovery which i think is ridiculous when he did not even start and when the manager never replied to my funded hours enquiry. Is there any way of disputing it? Sorry for the long post. Hope it makes sense.

Mrsn

This is quiet difficult as childcare provisions have their own t’s and c’s. However that said a few things have sprung to mind, are you only eligible for the 15 hours and not 30? Have you any signed paperwork for the church setting as they will enforce that if needs be (although the owner of my DS’s nursery a few years back did say once in a general conversation it was nigh on impossible to chase for unpaid fees and court really isn’t an option sometimes as it costs so much time and effort). It should also be noted that most places will still charge you for non attendance due to sickness as you are essentially paying for their space to be kept open. Going back to the funding I don’t see how the original setting he was at would be eligible to claim for his funding within the notice period if he wasn’t actually attending! My sister is a child minder and has to submit regular head counts to the local authority for funding purposes and I’m certain lying about your head count to fraudulently claim funding can have huge implications.... you can certainly dispute the large invoice but they might have expected you to send more than 1 email in regards to this.

DoaM

Wrong board entirely for such a question. PM a board guide to get this moved to, say, Consumer Rights.

LadyDee

DoaM wrote: »

Wrong board entirely for such a question. PM a board guide to get this moved to, say, Consumer Rights.

Then perhaps add some paragraphs?

Aylesbury_Duck

You need to break up the wall of text to make it easier to read, stick to facts and remove the emotion. You'll get more help that way.

One point that stood out was charging when your son was ill and didn't start. I'm afraid if they allocated a place and you didn't send him in, you'd still be charged by most nurseries, just as you would if he was ill in the fifth week, for example. He's taking a place someone else might have paid for.

sheramber

From a Google search it appears that

The first nursery is entitled to claim the funding until the end of their notice period which you said was six weeks. They should give you a leavers certificate showing how much funding has been claimed that term.

Although your son did not attend the new nursery you registered him to attend. You are bound by their notice period. That maybe the end of the term if that is what you signed up to when you registered him. My son had to pay by the term, in advance,, for my GS 's nursery with no refunds.

As they have been not been able to apply for the funding they are charging the normal rate.

Potbellypig

Difficult for anyone to give a specific answer because it depends on what you signed up for. CAB would be a good idea for you. But as Aylesbury Duck says, they held a place for your child until a set period of time (usually the next end of term) and you will be charged for that. The sickness thing is completely irrelevant too.

Good luck, I think you'll need it.

pinkshoes

You will owe the first nursery upto the end of the notice period. They have the free 15 hours. These cannot be switched mid term.

You seem to have signed a contract with the second nursery (church) who you agreed to pay for without the free 15 hours. Even if your child didn't attend, the contract was still there. You need to give notice and pay until the end of the contract.

The nursery is a business. Your child being ill is irrelevant. There was still a place available.