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Original poster

CM club - She is in the wrong, so why do I feel guilty??

29 replies

FeelingOld · 13/01/2008 17:49

I will try to keep it short.

I care for 2 siblings after school (don't pick them up as from a school from other side of town to my kids school so a friend of their mum's drops them at my house), their mum never lets me know til at least monday morning which days they will be coming, if not coming monday she doesn't ring til tues or weds iyswim. Have asked her constantly to let me know no later than sunday 4pm. She is also always a couple of days late paying me.
Anyway to top it all the kids didn't turn up at all last week and her payment is now 10 days late, sent her a reminder after 7 days saying if not paid by 6pm that day would implement the £5 per day late payment fee. Still no payment today so dh has just dropped off another reminder and I have added 3 x £5 for late payment and have stated that will not have mindees unless payment is made in full and if she has to start letting me know in advance which days she needs me.
I know I should charge in advance but she works shifts so it gets so complicated to work out.
After putting up with all of this I still feel guilty for doing this as have never implemented the late payment fee before. Dh says I should give them notice, but I feel sorry for the mindees as they are so lovely.

OP posts:
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ROSEgarden · 13/01/2008 20:46

have you heard back yet?, have they gone away or anything?

if you dont hear back by mid week i would send another letter giving notice and include an invoice showing all payments owed to you..very strange situation, poor you

ayla99 · 13/01/2008 20:42

Did you put it in your contract that she must notify you by 4 pm Sunday? Does the contract state what will happen if you don't get notification? You could try one of these

1 "If the childminder does not receive written notification of which days are required on or before [day/time] then childcare will not be available for that week and the parent agrees to pay the minimum charge of £x "

or

  1. "If the childminder does not receive written notification of which days are not required on or before [day/time]the childminder agrees to reserve [the whole week] for the child and the parent agrees to pay full fees for [the whole week] regardless of whether child attends."

Drawback of option 1 is that you won't get much ££££ and drawback of option 2 is that parent will probably just turn up without bothering to let you know at all when they're coming.

DONT FEEL GUILTY about charging late fees. Easier said than done I know. Had one parent paid my late fees before I billed her for them & I still felt uncomfortable about it!

But if the parent chooses not to pay you on time then they are choosing to pay your late fees iyswim. And if they haven't bothered to let you know they've had a problem/apologise etc then it just shows they've no idea or don't care on the impact on you. SELFISH! Don't waive the fee unless there are special circumstances (eg, death in family or parent in hospital)

Original poster
FeelingOld · 13/01/2008 18:03

I used to look after the little girl when she was aged 2 til she was 3(her mum was unreliable then) then her Gran looked after her til she started school in sept last year, then her gran died unexpectedly and when mindees mum asked me to start having her and her brother after school I said yes cos mindee is very shy and spent most of her time with her gran and was very upset so was worried how she would cope if I said no.
I am a fool, I know.

OP posts:
KatyMac · 13/01/2008 17:58

Poor you

It's horrid when they pay late - you feel so used

I think they will take the "final demand" as notcie & you may not see them again

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