Charged £90 for being 3 minutes late to collect children from nursery

[Justastorminabcup]

3 minutes late! I thought I was on time. nobody said anything when I arrived, they just sent me an invoice in the post.

I can understand that they need a system to prevent parents regularly being late. They have a business to run and staff to pay etc, but £90!?! For three minutes! How can they think this is reasonable???

I've used this nursery for 4 years and have never been late before.

AIBU to be utterly shocked that a childcare establishment who must know that many parents struggle to be able to afford daycare for their children could feel it is acceptable to charge such a fine? Is this normal? Would other care providers do this?

don't pay. don't go back.

It's a pound a minute at the nursery I use and yes, they make it very clear indeed.

£90 does seem excessive, however be ready to don your hard hat as plenty will disagree.

I can understand a charge, but for three minutes... ouch.

£90 does seem excessive

30/min? a tad excessive, perhaps.

YANBU. Assuming you are 100% sure it was literally three minutes.

I understand that they need a strong deterrent, but that is extortionate.

I could accept a pound a minute.

£90 is very excessive
At our nursery we pay £10 for every 10 minutes or part of. And we have to pay cash there and then to whichever member of staff has ended up staying late. I've been close on a couple of occasions but never been actually late

That does seem excessive - particularly as you have a long standing history of never being late. I would certainly go in and query it. It's totally out of proportion, even if they were paying overtime to 2 members of staff for 5 mins.
What does it say in your contract ??

That's a shocking amount and I like to think I would refuse to pay it. The nursery I used to work it was £20 per hour they were late. And that was to cover staff wages. And no charge if they were less than 15minutes late to allow for any unforseen issues.

Definitely 3mins. The invoice included the times.

£90. Over three fucking lousy minutes. I'd be going to the press and making a cunting show of them .

Yes - look in your contract. I'd love to know what it says!

Could it be an error? Maybe it's £3 a minute? So you owe £9? That's still a lot but not beyond the realm of reasonable. You should check your contract.

That's eyewatering. I'd query that. If I was late for dd 1 I had to pay for 15 minutes even if I was 5 minutes late but that was 15 minutes of the hourly rate. So how they can justify 90 quid I don't know.

Sorry 20per half an hour* you aren't being unreasonable OP. Definitely make a huge fuss talk to them about it. £90 is extortionate, that's 2 full days care in some areas!

£90 is crazzzzy

I completely get that they have to charge a high amount but £90 I say too much unless you have 10 kids or something

I reckon (bloody hope!) they've put an accidental zero on the end...

If not, I wouldn't pay it. Ludicrous.

They have done studies on this. Charge too little for a late fee and parents tend to be more late, not less. Because the charge stops them feeling guilty and makes them think they are 'paying' for the extra time. So if you run a nursery you either have to,

1. Rely on goodwill and guilt
2. Put up with constant lateness and small fees
3. Have a massive fee and people won't be late. If they are, you can pay the staff extra.

They chose 3. I think it's in Freakonomics if you want the source.

Did your lateness cause a member of staff to incurred costs elsewhere? Perhaps childcare issues of their own?

The problem with a 'reasonable' cost is that for a lot of parents a pound a minute is actually quite a decent price for very last minute ad hoc babysitting that they would be willing to pay for a few extra minutes at work or an hour's shopping.

£90 for 3 minutes is a very very clear message ghats they don't want to have parents Kate by a few minutes or to then worry about staffing costs and ratios since at least two members of staff need to hang around for latecomers.

It's a genius disincentive that self reinforces , because parents will either leave and go elsewhere or make every possible effort to pick up on time.

Ours is £20 per five minutes.

Dunno if they actually enforce it as (touch wood) I haven't been late for pickup before. Common with childcare providers and childminder around these parts, though.

that's two full days childcare with my childminder!!

No way would I pay it! Surely there's got to be a typo of an extra 0

£90 is outrageous though. I'd say walk away but understand how hard that is when your kids are settled.

i'll be getting the contract out of the loft tomorrow to check (the hatch is in my dcs room and I don't want to wake him) It's completely destroyed my faith in them. I don't want to leave my children in their care anymore

And we have to pay cash there and then to whichever member of staff has ended up staying late.

And what if you don't? Do they refuse to release your child?

In any case, I never have cash on me so I'd have to stop at ATM which is a faff that would make me even later....

Why are the majority saying they wouldn't pay it? It's extortionate yes, but definitely part of the contract that was signed. Do we all just back out of legal contracts because we don't like them as soon as they become enforceable?