To refuse to pay this nursery charge

I’ve read through this thread and I’m trying to make sense of it too. This poster has also tried her best and you react like this.

I also THINK what you’re saying is you were expecting to pay £40 per month for an activity that would take place every month until April, but despite having paid for November you’ve found out they’re not running the activity in November, which means they’re stealing £40 per child in the month of November, it the activity will start in December.

of course this is chocking on the part of the nursery but I also THINK from what I’ve seen here that you might be the problem and you didn’t want to hear what the nursery had to say.

The bit I am still not clear on is what is the lie? Did she say that it did happen in November when it didn’t, or that you weren’t charged in November when you were?

i think perhaps part of the reason people are not understanding is because what you are describing is so egregious they want to believe it’s a miscommunication of some sort with a reasonable explanation, rather than them effectively scamming all the parents out of an extra £40. Also because you haven’t told us what their excuse was.

I think i would wait until the last month and see if the april bill includes the fee for april and then if it does the second it comes in contact all the parents to say “just checking if you were incorrectly billed for april? the nursery told me wouldn’t need to pay it because we paid for november and it didnt happen then.” then just see what happens.

Gosh, the OP comes across as really aggressive in her comments.

I don't like aggressive people.

I think if 30 ppl are asking then its not clear. Those that are asking are simply not being able to match up the dots because the posts are NOT clear. Others who aren't asking have made an assumption that op has been conned based on certain statements she has made. Let's prove it right now because I still dont get it and you obviously do (not saying that to be rude I genuinely mean I dont understand and I want you to explain it to me) has op been charged for an activity the kids are never going to do or has she been charged one month in advance and will continue to be charged so the number of charges matches the number of activities. Please confirm this and fingers crossed for all of us idiots who don't get it, op will confirm yes or no.

Ahh so it is a recurring charge for a recurring thing then? Rather than a one-off-charge for a one-off thing.

The OP paid for an ongoing activity that hasn't yet started and wants a refund for the first missed month.

That wasn't clear.

Thanks!

@Jeronnemo I totally understand why you're so annoyed OP - I would be too. And it's additionally frustrating because, due to the shortage of childcare provision, you can't just "take your business elsewhere" so to speak. So you and the other parents are having to suck up something which is patently wrong. The trouble is, if they'll pull a stunt like this and get away with it, what next?
Sorry I don't have any answers OP - obviously it would be great if you could move your DC to another nursery and give it to this one with both barrels, but I understand that's easier said than done.

She was charged in November for said activity (unusual for her as the charge is usually from Dec-Apr but this year it was included on Novembers bill)
However the activity did not go ahead in November for whatever reason.
Op has stated that the charge in November does not cover December...she will pay again in December for the December activity. So I assume the creche manager has made it clear to her that the November charge will not cover December, and she states she will not give a refund for November.
So basically you pay the month the activity is on, not in advance, so they've paid for Novembers activity but the activity didnt happen in November and now they wont give her a refund.

A lot of people thought that maybe they just paid in November to cover the upcoming December activity but op has stated this is not the case.

Initially, when reading the early posts on this thread, I was of the view that the nursery was in the wrong.

However, in light of the manner in which the OP has responded to posters on this thread, I'd be very interested to hear the nursery's side before drawing any conclusions. They may have had their reasons for shutting her down, and I suspect they may be quite happy to see her leave.

I only had your posts showing and I understood it but it wasn't clear right away. basically you were charged for something in November for £40 that wasn't actually done and therefore you want to then not pay for December to balance it out. I agree with you on this one.

This is the first clear explanation. Before that, I had no idea what you were talking about.

I'm with you; if you paid for November and it's not taken place, you need a refund. I can't believe people are saying let it go, it's only 40 quid. It's theft.

But then again, I went in to DS's nursery one morning to take up an issue with the manager (she was never there at pick up) and could see quite clearly written in the day book 'Mrs Cycling was moaning again last night'. I pointedly looked at it, looked at her, she closed the book, and I asked her if the staff had reported my dissatisfaction with the food (again) to her, or if they had just said that I was a moaner. Custard is not a pudding, it's something you pour on a pudding and if she was here at pick up, I wouldn't need to 'moan' to the staff. Our relationship soured after that 😆

Urm.....no I'm still unclear.

Thing happens in December, usually. Costs £40.
You paid £40 for the thing already.
It isn't December yet so thing hasn't happened.

Now is it:
(A) You want a refund because the thing isn't going to happen in December or any other time = reasonable to ask for a refund.
(B) You want a refund because the thing hasn't happened yet but it will, so you want a refund now (29th Nov) only then to be billed for it again in December (2 days away) = unreasonable to ask for a refund.
(C) Something else entirely.

You need a face to face meeting with the manager, scheduled in. To ask about this issue but also why they are not replying to emails more generally. Ideally get other parents on board.

But as others have said, don’t be surprised if your DC is edged out, especially if they have a waiting list. I imagine that if you underpay you’d be given notice to leave anyway.

TBH it sounds like you’ve lost trust in the nursery anyway so you might want to start looking elsewhere. If your DC is old enough I’d consider a school nursery- IMO (4 kids) they were much better and cheaper although the hours were a pain to work with if you work.

I dont mean this in a smart way at all, but why do you have to pay then? I would have assumed it was something like little day trips or someone coming in to teach yoga/music or something of value?
It seems a little odd/unfair asking you to pay at all for something that requires no extra materials or outside resources.
Do they donate the money to charity in this case?
I think an email is the best bet, you will surely be entitled to a clear response then.
Have you spoken to any of the other parents? (Im reading what updates I can, but its moving fast and no time to read them all so apologies if you have answered above)

Multiple posters haven’t understood the point you were trying to make and now you’re accusing them of doing that deliberately.

it’s not surprising that your discussions with the nursery haven’t gone well.

Your explanation of the situation is not clear. Stop being rude to people.

It sounds like you don’t like or trust them, so remove your children.

Your responses on this thread do not evidence your ability to be diplomatic, and as of now you have not provided details on what the lies are so that we can form an opinion.

Send a letter before claim (templates found online), signed by as many as the other parents as you can convince to take part. Collective pressure is key to avoid repercussions for any one individual. They may be happy to threaten cutting ties with just one or two of you, but they’re much less likely to maintain that attitude when it pertains to 80% of the class and a similar proportion of their funding for the next month. The sticking point will be the weak kneed parents, you’ll have to get half or more to sign I’d think. Get on the group WhatsApp (or start one) and start that conversation.

Right, I think I've got the situation now but from your initial posts it wasn't clear at all.

Am I correct in thinking that you were charged this amount on the November bill, when the activity usually happens in the winter months. You paid it thinking that they were doing the activity early but it has now transpired that the activity wasn't done in November at all. You queried it with the nursery manager but got a load of bullshit back off her. You pay for the activities monthly so you will be expecting another £40 for December, another £40 for January etc. You are happy to pay this when the DC actually do the activity but when it turns out that you have paid the charge in November as well when the activity didn't happen you are rightly fuming because you have been charged for nothing.

If I was in your position then I would refuse to pay the December charge considering that you paid £40 in November but the activity didn't happen. Effectively you are in £40 credit for the activity to the nursery and they are being unreasonable to demand another £40 in December when the November activity which you also paid for didn't happen. They can't expect money for nothing.

This is a good idea.

On reading this I would send her an upbeat email along the lines of 'we have been charged X for the month of November but as discussed X did not attend this activity in November. Please can you deduct this from our December invoice. Kind regards etc etc '

And get other parents to do the same.

My mother was a real believer in honesty, truth telling and straight up fair dealing but I witnessed her scupper several mostly good situations similar to yours by insisting on "what was right".

You are in the right and it is absolutely Okay that you queried this. It's really annoying and dishonest if they are charging you £80 a month and then not doing the activity. However, I would think carefully about what your bigger value is here - your kids are happy there and presumably settled so consider it in the context of your whole situation and whether is it worth risking this for the £80 per month it is costing you?

Well that’s just fiction until you know the details. Which you don’t. Why can’t you take OP’s post at face value and answer her actual question?

Why do you have to dig further and unnecessarily when it’s not her query to the forum or something she’s confused about?

OP has acted accordingly here. 30 people don’t need to ask the same question repeatedly to which she has already responded. She has only responded with rudeness to rude posters.

Did the Nursery manager actually lie? Because you've said her response was speedily delivered word salad. Was her explanation unclear / not to the point or did she actually tell lies? And if she did tell lies, how do you know its a lie?