To refuse to pay this nursery charge

can you write to the owners rather than manager and ask for a refund

OP - PLEASE don't leave until we know what this activity is! It's baffling to try & work out what could possibly be worth £40 yet cost the nursery nothing at all. Or we could guess, in which case it would be helpful to kick us off by clarifying the frequency of the activity (daily, weekly, monthly). TIA.

Do send everything in writing and ask why you were charged for Decembers bill for the activity in November? And always do it via email/letter so there is a paper trail and if/when they lie then you can refer back to their letter of xyz etc and ask them to clarity when the activity starts and ends and what months the payments will be taken out - just say you need to know for your accounts etc

The nursery have essentially robbed €80 off you! That's lousy. I would try get a few more parents on board and question them further.

Side note... You are a bit of a dick in the way you spoke to people on this thread!

Keep evidence now and short them £40 on the last bill before your child starts school? Can't revoke the place then!

Yes I’d like all of this too, without being called thick, please.

I’d really like to know what the activity is that requires no additional staff member or materials that happens in winter that justifies a £40 per child.

And I’d like to know what the lie was.

Did the manager claim the activity had actually happened when you can prove it didn’t?

Or was the excuse for the activity not happening the lie?

You say they told the same ‘bullshit’ to the other parents? What did they say exactly?

I’m going to repeat myself here but moving forward what would you like to happen and do you want us to help you achieve that aim. Between us we have a lot of experience and so there are probably some good ideas as to how this can be resolved. Is this something you’d like from the group or are you happy just to receive validation that you’ve been unfairly treated and had your concerns dismissed? Both can be important but often validation alone may not help to move things on. Notice how the thread is looping without promise of resolution.

For what's it worth I thought it was perfectly clear @Jeronnemo . Not sure why people are being so thick. Even if there could have confusion from your OP, your follow ups would have clarified.

Anyhow, you should definitely question the charge if the activity wasn't provided. I'm amazed their charge for it in the first place if it doesn't require additional staff or material...

Nurseries have to make up a short fall in funding from the government.
It’s a terrible position that the government put early years providers in by making them sign a contact which says they won’t charge a top up fee if the child is funded. The government want to maintain the ‘we provide free childcare’ mantra which is completely false. They only partly subsidise the child. The shortfall has to come from somewhere.
Nurseries therefore have to get the understanding of potential parents over this matter before they sign up for a place. Most parents don’t understand this awful anomaly. It’s very difficult to explain because of the contract providers are forced to sign with the County Council through whom the funding goes to the provider,
That’s why a lot of providers have closed over recent years. They are caught between a rock and a hard place. It is impossible to provide quality care for the funding provided by government.

Do you maybe think that this could have been the reason for the word salad lie ?

Not initially. It was about her 7th post when it became much clearer.

You really are being pretty shitty here OP.

Did the others get a clearer explanation from the manager than you got?

You’re right OP. We’re all a bunch of incompetent readers who can’t make head nor take out of your posts because we’re stupid.

What about ‘November’?

How have you been lied to?

But charging in November and not doing it is not OK.

It's also worse if you are unable to challenge it, in case they deny your child a place, because that's extortion.

I am a principled person and if it happened to me and I was able to afford the consequences of complaining, I would absolutely be taking this to court. If they can get away with this then what's next? Blatantly saying that there is an extra fee for blowing noses and if you don't pay, tough?

And if they denied my kid a place if I did that, I'd take them to court over that too.

She pays for the month ahead on the 1st. She paid on the 1st Nov for November, the charge was on there, but the activity didn’t happen. She’ll pay 1st Dec for Dec, and again pay the charge but hopefully they will do the activity. She’s asks nursery if she can deduct the £40 from 1st Dec payment as she paid it for Nov when the activity didn’t happen at all (and they seemingly lied about it)

I don’t really understand how people aren’t getting this..

We can differ on opinions without making a personal insult. Some of the responses have been way too abrasive for an anonymous forum.

I understand what is being said, I just think we are missing key details that would help us understand more fully where the root cause is.