Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Paid childcare

Discuss everything related to paid childcare here, including childminders, nannies, nurseries and au pairs.

Original poster

Nursery have ripped me off?

30 replies

analew · 05/05/2023 19:04

Hi

my baby’s first week at nursery. He is planning to do 3 full days per week. However this week because he is settling in, the first day I stayed with him for half an hour then both went home. Second & third day I left him for 3 hours then collected him. They have charged me 3 full days on the invoice for this week 9am-5pm rate despite him barely being there.
Am I being unreasonable to bring this up and ask for the price to be reduced for this week? i.e. I don’t think I should be charged for day 1 as I never left him. And for the other 2 days I should perhaps be charged a half-day rate.
what do you all think?

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Set a reminder
Speedweed · 05/05/2023 19:10

Whether you're there or not, it would be fair to only charge you for the hours he was there, rather than full days if he wasn't there for a full day.

Did the nursery say anything about how they charge for settling in days? It's a bit mean of them to charge for a full day if he was only there for an hour, so worth asking but don't be surprised if they say no so you might have to swallow it.

You being there doesn't affect anything, so if you're saying he was there for a full day but you were there for an hour and so the hour should be knocked off the charge, then no, you should pay the full day.

Original poster
analew · 05/05/2023 19:09

TeenDivided · 05/05/2023 19:07

I think that you had blocked the space so they couldn't use it for other children, and they would have had staff to pay on the prescribed ratios.
So no I don't think they ripped you off.

Disclaimer I have never used a nursery and they seem to operate weirdly. For example I don't understand why they charge Monday parents for Monday bank holidays rather than generally increasing their hourly rate and then not charging on days they are closed.

The annoying thing is that my son was super happy at the nursery and I could easily have left him until much later in the day and he would’ve been just fine. They contacted me themselves a couple of hours after I dropped him off and said to collect him early because he is “new” even though I’d been charged the full day. 🤔

OP posts:
Mazza7412 · 05/05/2023 19:08

I’m surprised they have charged to be honest. I run a childminder setting and don’t charge for settling in. Maybe they work differently 🤷🏻‍♀️

Maybe it’s an error

TeenDivided · 05/05/2023 19:07

I think that you had blocked the space so they couldn't use it for other children, and they would have had staff to pay on the prescribed ratios.
So no I don't think they ripped you off.

Disclaimer I have never used a nursery and they seem to operate weirdly. For example I don't understand why they charge Monday parents for Monday bank holidays rather than generally increasing their hourly rate and then not charging on days they are closed.

justwantobeamum · 05/05/2023 19:06

our settling in sessions were all free.