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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Frickin' parentpay

20 replies

Squashybanana · 01/09/2015 19:56

I quite like parentpay when all is going well. However their interface with parents is dreadful. I am trying to sign my son up for his secondary school. However it won't let me as I already have 5 names on my account. 2 of these names are obsolete - one is my year 8 son's primary school account and the other is my second son's just finished with primary school account ( he's going into year 7). There is no way to delete these old accounts and they sit there taking up space so that anyone with more than 2 kids will eventually run out of space ( 3 kids in 2 schools equals 6 accounts over time, you only seem to be allowed 5 names). Can anyone help me? My poor boy is nervous enough about starting secondary school without panicking about his lunch money. The contact page is exceptionally equivocal making it very clear that they prioritise communication from schools over parents and may not answer your enquiry.
Bloody technology.

OP posts:

PhyllisDietrichson · 01/09/2015 22:00

Haven't tried but can you update their school names?

maryann1975 · 01/09/2015 22:12

Can't help with your problem but I wish they would stop sending emails telling me there is no money in my account. I know there isn't. Dc1 has left the school and I will get round to doing dc2. I do not need three emails a day reminding me (and yes I've tried to opt out of the emails and it keeps sending them).

Original poster

Squashybanana · 01/09/2015 22:13

Thanks...but sadly that isn't possible, I mean the only way seems to be to have Fred at Bloomington Primary and Fred at Lillington secondary ( not real names or places), with the primary school entry having an X to show it is deactivated, but still taking an 'active' space up. This must have happened to someone before...? Anyone got a solution other than having to create a new email account in order to open a second separate parentpay account?

OP posts:

Pixel · 01/09/2015 23:31

Hmm, I was just wondering why I've never had an email from them and had a look at my account (seems I'm only £2.40 in credit ). On the home page you can click 'view/edit profile' and then you get another bit that says 'alert settings'. From there you get to 'balance alerts' and there are boxes to tick if you want emails/texts etc. None of mine are ticked which is why I've never got any! Is that the bit where you've already tried to opt out MaryAnne?

Squashybanana have you been into Parents FAQ? There is a section in there called Account management and security, and there are lots of questions about how to delete accounts, how to transfer your balance if your child changes schools, how to get a refund if your child has left a school, etc etc.
Is that of any help to you or have you already tried that?

balletgirlmum · 01/09/2015 23:42

Pixel I've just read the ts & cs & you get charged for text alerts.

I've just registered for the first time. I was going to put a fiver on in case of emergency or if ds fancies the odd Snack at break time & the minimum amount is £30!

Not going to bother. He can make sure he remembers to take his packed lunch.

Pixel · 02/09/2015 00:07

Are you sure it's £30? I've never put that much on in one go, don't say they've changed it?
If they charge for texts that's probably why I never ticked the box .

Actually I did get one text at the very end of last term but it was from the school rather than Parentpay I think. It gave me the fright of my life because it said I owed £80! Just as I was picking myself up off the floor I got another text saying "sorry, that last text wasn't for you". Two more grey hairs right there .

Pixel · 02/09/2015 00:10

Just checked, mine still says minimum £10 for lunches. Perhaps the schools can set their own minimum or something?

balletgirlmum · 02/09/2015 01:07

Yes £30. I tried to enter a lower amount but it told me (in red) that I couldn't.

nokidshere · 02/09/2015 01:27

I just used it and it said minimum of £5

Topseyt · 02/09/2015 02:27

Minimum of 5 here.

Also, I think the accounts of former students do get deleted eventually. My DD1's was, and all money returned to me. It was a few years ago now, but I have never had a problem.

Perhaps the school have set the £30 minimum limit, so ask them about it. Quite a lot of how the system is used is down to individual schools, as far as I can tell.

Spermysextowel · 02/09/2015 02:40

I loathe parentpay. It's reluctant to show the decreasing balance as you pay for a school trip & the info you get re what has been spent on lunch is sketchy. The system also goes into meltdown the evening before schools go back & they kick back any query to the school under 'data protection'.

wonkylegs · 02/09/2015 02:46

Well mines showing that DS has already had lunch this term (we pay in arrears) which is pretty amazing as he hasn't started back yet this year

Spermysextowel · 02/09/2015 03:22

wonky now you know where he was yesterday lunchtime!

Bogeyface · 02/09/2015 03:32

This is why DD has never had a paid for lunch at school, or her DSis before her!

I get letters every so often about it, and I get told that I can only pay for trips via ParentPay, but funnily enough they dont turn down my cash payments at the office (for which I always get a receipt).

It had bad press local gossip/reviews 5 years ago so I didnt sign up. Its not got any better.

Idontseeanytimelords · 02/09/2015 07:51

No advice just sympathy - DS's school got so many complaints about Parentpay that they ditched it for Wisepay!

WhyCantIuseTheNameIWant · 02/09/2015 08:46

Ours sent out letters to the whole school, saying they were in arrears, and payments would be chased if the balance of £0:00 wasn't paid that day!

(No, no typos there, that is what the text said)

As ds took butties, I only ever had to log on one a year, so could never remember the stupid password.

I never found the place to change it.

How are you meant to remember something like

C7nMf2dDtg3

For years?

(No idea if that is close to my password!)

SoupDragon · 02/09/2015 08:51

I've never had a problem with parent pay.

Changing the password is easy - go to view/edit profile and there is the option to change it there.

SoupDragon · 02/09/2015 08:53

Have you tried asking the primary school to remove children who no longer go there? DSs disappeared automatically from my account so I didn't have to do anything.

RainbowFlutterby · 02/09/2015 08:54

I've never had any problem with ParentPay yet! We have a minimum of £2.00 (cost of one lunch) and you can pay at a PayPoint (in loads of shops) if you don't want to do it on-line.

You can change your user name & password to something more memorable, but it won't let me have the same username I had for DS's Junior School Account.

Different schools must have different settings.

Original poster

Squashybanana · 02/09/2015 09:57

OK in the interests of fairness I should update to say I received an email from parentpay customer service this morning saying I should be able to add him as I only have 5 accounts and if I couldn't they would do it for me. It went through OK and he is now on there. However I still have a problem for next year when DC 3 and 4 need secondary school accounts...as I now have all 6 spaces used and will eventually have 8 spaces, 4 of which are obsolete primary school accounts. I wonder if it is the primary school which needs to delete them?

OP posts:

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