Recovering money from childcare provider

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kayleighali
kayleighali Posts: 172 Forumite
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in Consumer rights
Hi there,

Apologies in advance for the length of the post but I don't want to miss any relevant information.

My son attended a local childcare provider for breakfast club until December last year when I went on maternity leave (all relevant notice given and accepted). No issues with the care, just no longer required.

After the birth, I was suffering from severe PND so I let some things slide, one of these things was cancelling the DD to the childcare provider (my fault, I know).

When I realised in July, I cancelled the DD and contacted the provider to explain. They said that it wouldn't be a problem to refund my money and asked for bank details to send by bank transfer. Brilliant - so far so good.

This is where it goes wrong. Two weeks later i still hadn't received the money so I emailed again to chase (13/08). No reply. Chased again a week later and still no reply. Chased again a few days later and got a reply saying their email address had changed.

Contacted the new email address and received a reply from the owner saying she knew nothing about this and would have to look into it. That was 24/08.

Since then I have progress chased every few days and received no reply. The phone numbers are just for the local childcare venues so they cannot help me, it has to be the owner (who has a reputation for ignoring things).What are my next steps? Is there anything I can do? It's £100 which I appreciate is not the largest sum but it is a lot to me.

Thanks for reading

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  • D_M_E
    D_M_E Posts: 3,008 Forumite
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    You gave notice which was accepted as correctly given and presumably paid correctly up to the end of your contract.

    All this was agreed, everything paid up to date, but the problem is you forgot to cancel the DD in a timely manner.

    Now, when trying to get a refund of the extra payments made over and above what should have been made, you are getting nowhere.

    You have 2 choices:

    1. Go to your bank and ask if they will reclaim the extra payments under the DD guarrantee - explain why you want them back and explain you realise you forgot to cancel, etc, you never know, they might help and return the money,
    2. Send a letter before action giving say 7 days to refund and follow up with a small claims - MCOL - which I believe will cost £60 and which will be added to your claim.
  • Fosterdog
    Fosterdog Posts: 4,948 Forumite
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    D_M_E wrote: »
    2. Send a letter before action giving say 7 days to refund and follow up with a small claims - MCOL - which I believe will cost £60 and which will be added to your claim.

    For under £300 the online filing fee would only be £25 but otherwise correct advise
  • ThumbRemote
    ThumbRemote Posts: 4,622 Forumite
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    Are you quite certain this was a Direct Debit, and not a Standing Order?

    For a DD, the nursery tells the bank they want the money. For a SO, you tell the bank to transfer money to the nursery.

    For a DD, you shouldn't need to cancel it. The nursery should have done that themselves, and stopped asking for the money. If it was a DD then contact your bank and ask for a refund under the DD guarantee. You don't need to explain that you forgot to cancel, the error is on the nurseries side requesting money they are not entitled to.
  • kayleighali
    kayleighali Posts: 172 Forumite
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    Ah sorry, this may be a Standing Order. I had to set it up and cancel it myself. Apologies if this changes things, I wasn't aware of the difference.

    I will try the Letter Before Action, knowing the owner though she will just ignore this aswell. It's a necessary step to reclaim the money though so will need to be done.

    Thank you for all your helpful replies :)
  • Socajam
    Socajam Posts: 1,238 Forumite
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    Send the letter certified mail, this way someone will have to sign for it
  • Fosterdog
    Fosterdog Posts: 4,948 Forumite
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    Socajam wrote: »
    Send the letter certified mail, this way someone will have to sign for it

    Don't bother with this, they can refuse to sign it and it's a waste of money. Just send it standard first class but obtain proof of posting and it will be deemed delivered after two working days, this is more than adequate.
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