Under charged for nursery fees

storybookgirl

I have 2 children at the same nursery. Each month I am invoiced their fees for the upcoming month.

It was noticed that they were undercharging on 1 child’s account about 2 months in. I was told verbally by the manager at the time that I would not have to pay these fees as it was their error and that she would check the invoices were correct before they were sent in the next months.

I have never missed a payment (accidentally paid £4 less on 2 invoices but I corrected this as soon as they highlighted the error).

Today I have received an invoice for £3000 as they have been invoicing me incorrectly. They have included the first child’s missing payments but they have also been undercharging for my second child.

Where do I stand here? I cannot afford this bill. They have suggested a 3 month payment plan which is not possible.

Aylesbury_Duck

storybookgirl said:

I have 2 children at the same nursery. Each month I am invoiced their fees for the upcoming month.

It was noticed that they were undercharging on 1 child’s account about 2 months in. I was told verbally by the manager at the time that I would not have to pay these fees as it was their error and that she would check the invoices were correct before they were sent in the next months.

I have never missed a payment (accidentally paid £4 less on 2 invoices but I corrected this as soon as they highlighted the error).

Today I have received an invoice for £3000 as they have been invoicing me incorrectly. They have included the first child’s missing payments but they have also been undercharging for my second child.

Where do I stand here? I cannot afford this bill. They have suggested a 3 month payment plan which is not possible.

The first important question here is: Do you want your children to continue attending that nursery?  The answer to that affects the approach I'd recommend.

The second question is: Is the bill correct, i.e. does it reflect the charges you agreed to in the contract?

Assuming the bill is correct, the bottom line is that you owe the money.  If you'd have been charged correctly in the first place you would have had to have afforded it, so to say you can't now afford it with a payment plan doesn't really wash.  If you refuse to engage with a negotiated payment plan, they could simply terminate your contract with the contractual notice (which might be immediate if non-payment is a breach), so you need to consider alternatives, fast.

If you have an alternative solution for childcare, the best you can hope for is a negotiated settlement, perhaps reduced, and payment plan, even if that takes many months to pay the £3,000 or other agreed sum you owe.

comeandgo

Can you mention to whoever said they would waive the underpayments that this has not happened?  You would be owe the money as it was an error but they can’t get blood from a stone so just tell them the amount you can afford to pay.

storybookgirl

The first important question here is: Do you want your children to continue attending that nursery?  The answer to that affects the approach I'd recommend.

The second question is: Is the bill correct, i.e. does it reflect the charges you agreed to in the contract?

Assuming the bill is correct, the bottom line is that you owe the money.  If you'd have been charged correctly in the first place you would have had to have afforded it, so to say you can't now afford it with a payment plan doesn't really wash.  If you refuse to engage with a negotiated payment plan, they could simply terminate your contract with the contractual notice (which might be immediate if non-payment is a breach), so you need to consider alternatives, fast.

If you have an alternative solution for childcare, the best you can hope for is a negotiated settlement, perhaps reduced, and payment plan, even if that takes many months to pay the £3,000 or other agreed sum you owe.

No, I don't want the children to continue at the nursery.  We're moving out of the area in July and will be attending a new nursery at that point.

The bill is correct as per the contract but I questioned whether the invoices were correct and was told they were.  Because of this I didn't save any additional money in case this happened.

I'm on a very tight budget and I would have budgeted for the fees.  Now with paying the correct fees I truly cannot afford the additional debt.

I've gone back to them to say that I can't afford the £1000 a month they are asking for.  I just don't have that. 

MalMonroe

You said "I have never missed a payment (accidentally paid £4 less on 2 invoices but I corrected this as soon as they highlighted the error)." So how can they now say that you owe them £3k?

Can you have a word with the manager now and ask her to clear things up for you? She was the one who told you what has turned out to be a nonsensical tale about you not being charged because they made an error. If they have made a mistake then how can that be your fault? 

If they have issued invoices and you have paid those invoices as issued and have received receipts, how can they now come back and ask for more?

I would want to move my children to another nursery anyway, one with competent administrators who can add up and subtract properly and run a business in a professional manner. 

Citizens Advice might be able to offer some advice. 

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/get-more-help/if-you-need-more-help-about-a-consumer-issue/

pinkshoes

storybookgirl said:

I have 2 children at the same nursery. Each month I am invoiced their fees for the upcoming month.

It was noticed that they were undercharging on 1 child’s account about 2 months in. I was told verbally by the manager at the time that I would not have to pay these fees as it was their error and that she would check the invoices were correct before they were sent in the next months.

I have never missed a payment (accidentally paid £4 less on 2 invoices but I corrected this as soon as they highlighted the error).

Today I have received an invoice for £3000 as they have been invoicing me incorrectly. They have included the first child’s missing payments but they have also been undercharging for my second child.

Where do I stand here? I cannot afford this bill. They have suggested a 3 month payment plan which is not possible.

£3000 is a HUGE underpayment. Our local nursery is around £6.50/hour so that's 461.5 hours, or the equivalent of 51 9 hour full days in nursery, or 10 entire weeks for a child!!!!

When the manager told you verbally about not worrying, this was probably because she thought it was more like the £4 that you forgot to pay last time, not £3000!!!

You need to work out EXACTLY how much you think you should have paid and how much you have paid. If you owe the money, it needs to be paid. If you cannot afford it over 3 months, then give them a sensible suggestion of how you can pay it, but as this is no doubt a private nursery, then you may lose your childcare place for non payment. 

Childcare costs with 2 at nursery is expensive. We tried to avoid this by having a 5 year age gap, but that plan was foiled when baby #2 turned out to be twins. I did my maths carefully as childcare and travel costs to work wiped out all but £20 a week of my salary until they turned 3 years old and got the free 30 hours. Surely you should have known you were underpaying by this amount?

Aylesbury_Duck

storybookgirl said:

The first important question here is: Do you want your children to continue attending that nursery?  The answer to that affects the approach I'd recommend.

The second question is: Is the bill correct, i.e. does it reflect the charges you agreed to in the contract?

Assuming the bill is correct, the bottom line is that you owe the money.  If you'd have been charged correctly in the first place you would have had to have afforded it, so to say you can't now afford it with a payment plan doesn't really wash.  If you refuse to engage with a negotiated payment plan, they could simply terminate your contract with the contractual notice (which might be immediate if non-payment is a breach), so you need to consider alternatives, fast.

If you have an alternative solution for childcare, the best you can hope for is a negotiated settlement, perhaps reduced, and payment plan, even if that takes many months to pay the £3,000 or other agreed sum you owe.

No, I don't want the children to continue at the nursery.  We're moving out of the area in July and will be attending a new nursery at that point.

The bill is correct as per the contract but I questioned whether the invoices were correct and was told they were.  Because of this I didn't save any additional money in case this happened.

I'm on a very tight budget and I would have budgeted for the fees.  Now with paying the correct fees I truly cannot afford the additional debt.

I've gone back to them to say that I can't afford the £1000 a month they are asking for.  I just don't have that. 

I'm being provocative here because you may need to get your story straight if they pursue this all the way to court:

You spotted (how long ago?) that they were undercharging, pointed it out and took them at their word that future invoices would be correct, yes?  Why did you not then challenge those invoices when they continued to come through at the mistakenly reduced rate for your second child and didn't include any payments for your first child at all?  Did you not notice, or did you notice and hoped you'd get away with it?

It sounds implausible that you didn't notice you were underpaying for one child and not paying anything at all for the other, for some time after you first pointed it out.  Yes they've been careless with their book-keeping but you signed a contract for children x and y at rate z, and ultimately, in the absence of anything to indicate a change in those arrangements, the contract stands.

What can you afford to pay each month, to clear the debt, because I don't think this one's going to go away.

Aylesbury_Duck

MalMonroe said:

You said "I have never missed a payment (accidentally paid £4 less on 2 invoices but I corrected this as soon as they highlighted the error)." So how can they now say that you owe them £3k?

Can you have a word with the manager now and ask her to clear things up for you? She was the one who told you what has turned out to be a nonsensical tale about you not being charged because they made an error. If they have made a mistake then how can that be your fault? 

If they have issued invoices and you have paid those invoices as issued and have received receipts, how can they now come back and ask for more?

I would want to move my children to another nursery anyway, one with competent administrators who can add up and subtract properly and run a business in a professional manner. 

Citizens Advice might be able to offer some advice. 

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/get-more-help/if-you-need-more-help-about-a-consumer-issue/

Ignore this post.  The poster has a habit of posting sympathetic sentiments alongside incorrect information, and this post is a case in point.  A mistake isn't your fault but that doesn't mean the nursery have to swallow the consequent loss.  They can ask for more as per the contract.

Zinger549

Aylesbury_Duck said:

MalMonroe said:

You said "I have never missed a payment (accidentally paid £4 less on 2 invoices but I corrected this as soon as they highlighted the error)." So how can they now say that you owe them £3k?

Can you have a word with the manager now and ask her to clear things up for you? She was the one who told you what has turned out to be a nonsensical tale about you not being charged because they made an error. If they have made a mistake then how can that be your fault? 

If they have issued invoices and you have paid those invoices as issued and have received receipts, how can they now come back and ask for more?

I would want to move my children to another nursery anyway, one with competent administrators who can add up and subtract properly and run a business in a professional manner. 

Citizens Advice might be able to offer some advice. 

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/get-more-help/if-you-need-more-help-about-a-consumer-issue/

Ignore this post.  The post has a habit of posting sympathetic sentiments alongside incorrect information, and this post is a case in point.  A mistake isn't your fault but that doesn't mean the nursery have to swallow the consequent loss.  They can ask for more as per the contract.

It's been pointed out this user many times about posting incorrect information/advise but they don't seem to listen.

AnnieB2018

Look at it this way - just because they sent you an invoice doesn’t mean they can’t sent you a second one or third one (until the full contract amount is demanded). If their incorrect accounting has been going on long term your invoices have been wrong by £200ish each month and you can’t expect to get away without paying.

Ergates

Is there an alternative amount that you *would* be able to afford.

Whilst you do owe the money and they can (and probably will) pursue you for it if you refuse to cooperate - the fact that this is their error and that you pointed it out to them right at the start should give you some leeway to negotiate the "rate" of repayment.