Would I be U not to pay this?

[blondieblonde]

We have a local very posh playgroup. I have sporadically inquired as to whether they have spare places and they always have said they were full until this September, when they emailed at last-minute notice saying did I want my DD (who is 3) to start. I accepted a few mornings per week and then heard nothing. Just before her start date we got an email, and I took her along on her first day. It was terrible -- her key worker was awful and it was just a really bad place. I stayed that first morning, and took her back the next day and also stayed. That second lunch time we decided it wasn't going to work and I emailed them to say so. We had, by this point, already paid them £150 of registration/deposit.

Now they have emailed us saying we have to pay for two terms worth of fees, which adds up to over £600. This was only ever a few mornings per week place and in mid-September I told them it wasn't going to work for us. How can they expect us to pay up until December?! Especially if they say they are always very oversubscribed, why don't they just give the place to someone else? Also it doesn't account for the fact that it should be free, given DD is 3, and they are charging us what it would cost to have put a 2 year old in, IYSWIM.

I feel very aggrieved by the threatening emails the playgroup is sending and do not want to pay. We had waited till DD was 3 so it would be free to have under 15 hours.

I would ensure the nursery know that you have concerns over the care being offered there and that is the reason you will not be sending your dd. I would list the things you observed that concern you and you could even ask to see policies relating to these issues. I wouldn't pay though as they seem not to be providing the care you signed up for.

You should confirm that you withdrew your child as the care was unsatisfactory, detail why, and copy the email to the relevant officer at the Local Authority. Confirm that you want your deposit refunded and that if you don't get it you will go to the small claims court, as they failed to supply the service they had undertaken to supply, and had therefore broken the implied contract.

I don't think you have to pay as they didn't deliver the expected level of service. You can withdraw from a contract if they don't deliver what was expected.
People are getting out of their ' Talk Talk ' contracts because Talk Talk were not considered to have safeguarded their clients personal details. Talk talk blustered and threatened but they didn't have the law on their side. Not fit for purpose = money back.

Write down what happened and write and tell them that they did not produce a fit for purpose service and then stand your ground. If you keep your nerve it is unlikely that will go to the small claims court.
Their letters are meant to frighten you.
Best of luck as they sound awful.

No idea on the legal side but Nosquirrels' advice sounds good to me. I've given notice at kids' activities with pretty fierce T&Cs and they have always waived notice periods if they could fill the space with another child. If it's really hard to get into they should have a long waiting list and they will have no loss of income for you to cover. They'll just go to the next child on the list.

The exception to this seems to be private schools, who squeeze every penny out of you. I worry your playgroup will follow that model but hopefully not. Presumably you looked round initially and got some paperwork from them. The deposit should be the extent of what you owe them if she never properly started.

How do you now about the adult behaved son and the scalding coffee OP? If you are able to prove that I can't inagindctgey will be pursuing you for payment.

imagine they

I'm pretty sure they would not pursue you if you wrote a strongly worded letter about their service and why you withdrew your child, and left it at losing the deposit to them. You may have ticked the box about the terms' notice, but I would not be rushing to pay them. However, it depends how you feel about aggro. I would be willing to endure a bit of it for the sake of keeping £600.