To not think I should pay Nursery any more for THEIR mistake?

[BigRedDebby]

Hello, I am new to MN so bear with me. I could just do with some advice.
When my DD1 and DD2 were in nursery together for a year before DD1 started school the nursery calculated the fees wrong (I paid by direct debit) and undercharged me.
Apparently they realised this after a few months but didn't tell me until over a year later when I was told that I owed them £2000!
Because about 60% of my wages was still going on childcare I could only pay them back a bit at a time.
Last year we moved DD2 to a Preschool because the nursery were being really inflexible about hours (which DD2 enjoys much more anyway) but when I asked how much I still owed (after paying for a year and a half)it was still much more than I thought it should be (£1100 about) so since sept I have been paying them £240 a month (salary sacrifice vouchers). When I asked them this week to tell me my balance they said it was £540! I said that was too much and I should be paid off nearly by now. They said they would email me my balance but they still havent(2 days waiting) Do you think I am within my rights to say that being as it was their mistake in the first place and that my DD2 has been at a new school since sept they can forget it. I feel I have paid enough. I would like to put my DS1 into a playgroup or suchlike for a couple of hourd a week to give my DH a break but I can't afford to whilst I am still payig old nursery.
Phew! long post. Sorry.

Why weren't you keeping a record of what you were paying to them?

You should yourself have a record of how much you owe, never rely on others to tell you how much YOU owe. Look back over your bank statements/online account and work it out how much you have paid. What if you have overpaid what then?

Did you sign a contract/agreement when you enrolled her? If so, that might set out what should/shouldn't happen in such circumstances.

As an aside tell them you want a detalied statement of all the monies you have paid and will be withholding further payments pending this notification.

In the meantime find out yourself how much you have paid from your bank statements.

yes you need to look over your bank statements and see how much yiou have given them so far

i WOULD tell them you are not paying any more until you ahve worked it out, and also ask if they can show you their paperwork....

You need to take some responsibility and figure this out for yourself.

I was, but I was paying them back at what I thought was 40 quid a month on top of the 640 fees that I was already paying them (as I said I paid by dd) I was told that they had raised their fees by a small amount back in the april (apparently I had had a letter?!) and so I wasn't paying off the amount as quick as I thought.
Basically they seem to keep giving me different figures from the ones I have....and then justifying them. I do not claim to be a financial whiz but I can tell them what I've paid them but its what they say I owe thats the problem!

i would definitely get them to put something in writing to you, setting the whole thing out as a formal request for payment

You definitely need to work this out yourself and I can't believe that you haven't and are just letting them tell you what to pay.

Just work out the fees due and go back over your bank statements and check what you have paid them.

Also ask them for a copy of their statement so that you can compare to yours.

Get a full statement from them of everything they have charged you and you have paid. If they can't provide this, then I'd stop paying.

So do you have any DC's still at this nursery? if not I would definately stop paying. A year of fees being paid incorrectly by them is totally taking the piss. If you still have kids there then ask for a statement.

OK £40 a month for 18 months equals £720.

Balance should be £2000-£720= £1,280

So their balance of £1,100 looks low if anything

You say since Sept you have been payine £240. Did you pay it in Sept or just from Oct on? Assuming the agreement was made in Sept and put into practice from Oct on thats 3 months at £240 = £720. This is assuming that the total they gave you was before Jans payments

£1,280 - 720 = £560

So on a very rough calc it looks like their figure is about right.

If you owe the money I think you should pay it.

Did you not calculate the fees for yourself right from the begining? I don't understand how you didn't notice that they had made a mistake calculating your fees to start with. You must have looked into how much nursery was going to cost you before you sent your DC there?

I would definitely ask them to detail everything in writing to explain how they have arrived at the figures they are giving you. You should be getting invoices/receipts from them.

Blue fergie- thanks! but I paid since sept, (I pay by salary sacrifice for 240 of their bill so it is already going in to them)
Wormshuffler - No I don't have any DC@s at the nursery now and thankyou that is more the question that i'm asking. I sat down with one of the managers to set out the payments before DC2 started there. It was their mistake in calculating the figure they gave me to pay. Then when it was mentioned that they thought I was underpaying to the manager that had calculated it (I was told this by the owner)she said that I would settle up at the end of the year!
I am very careful to pay my bills on time (hence the Direct Debit, you can't forget)it was their problem that became my problem and is still my problem although my DD2 has not been to the nursery now for months.
Thankyou everyone though for commenting!