CF or just protecting her business?

[Feckinlego]

So dd goes to a dance class. That's obviously not been happening for the last few weeks. Term fees are due next week and the owner has requested that we continue to pay. She is doing an online class which my dd has no interest in. I understand she wants to keep her business going but I cant help thinking its cheeky to expect us to pay for a service we are not using. Aibu?

I'm in the same position as MaryAnn: decent parents who have passed on what they can if they are still earning. So I'm passing on to other self-employed providers who were equally terrified a week or two ago.

And what's all this "childminders doing nothing"? We're keyworkers!

I'm taking keyworker children (only a fraction of the children I did have), I'm providing suggestions and ideas for activities to parents, I'm on hand to help if they need any advice, I'm cleaning and reorganising from top to bottom...
all thanks to parents who are doing their bit to support keyworkers - a damn sight more useful than standing at their door once a week and clapping for a minute or two.

Out of interest OP has your household income dropped at all?

I wouldn’t be Happy paying the same amount of money for an on line class that I was paying for an actual class. The actual class has to cover hall hire whereas an online class I presume is being done from her home.

I’d negotiate a lesser fee.

I honestly think that if your own income is the same you should continue to pay full for subscriptions/fees/memberships etc.

It's only going to harm you, the seller and your local community in the long run.

Think lots of people are actually really grabby about this.

I don't think she's being cheeky.

I tell you what IS cheeky. Sending out an emails saying that you understand people are in financial hardship right now, offering reduced fees etc or frozen memberships,...and then just taking the full DD regardless!

NOW that is a joke.

But what this lady has done is fair.

My children have attend a Korean Martial arts Club since 2016.... Our Master is a wonderful human and has been building up his business and doing really well. This is now his only income, his wife is also self employed.
Our income hasn't changed so we will continue to pay because we need him and the club back after these recent events !
He is doing online content and the children are practising hard! Commitment to your club Is doing and being involved with the online content and ensuring it exists beyond coronavirus.

Still paying monthly for DS' Karate Club. Now online - the lessons are really good and are emphasising flexibility and fitness.

The guy is a good teacher, and DS loves it, so I'm quite happy to pay.

I'm glad you've listened to reason, OP. My dd is a dancer and lost her job. The self-employed and people in the arts are falling between the cracks in this situation.

I think if not prepared to pay you need to withdraw your child. I’m paying out £250 a month for my dog walker and walking my dog myself. It’s called supporting your community small businesses (fortunately I’m working at home and being paid)

Another one here who’s still paying.
My son is doing his kick boxing lessons online via zoom and it’s been brilliant. And my daughter does gymnastics and they’ve been uploading videos of stretches. I’ve carried on paying because they need the funding to survive. We’re still on full pay so I’m happy to carry on doing wherever I can do to help.

Hi OP,

DD's dance school just moved to online classes where they are asking for half the normal class fee for the online class. I will be honest at first I was quite surprised because I thought it seemed steep in the current situation we are all in and assumed online training wouldn't be the same due to the teacher trying to watch around 20 pupils on a laptop and because a lot of the parents are down income. We have dropped some of the classes because our financial situation is very tight (we don't qualify for any help) at the moment and DD does two other activities. One of her activities said they understand people may not be able to continue payments and so people can donate whatever they can afford. The other activity DD said she is happy to miss for now to save us money.

I work for a private swim school and council run leisure centre we certainly arent charging people for their place, they will get credits back for the block they paid for. Yanbu

That's not remotely comparable seeing as I don't think you can teach children how to swim via Skype!

In saying all that, I think you are all making valid points, and I am going to pay today. I havent lost income and can afford it.

I think that's a good call.

We have the same situation and I am annoyed, particularly as they were very reluctant to close, and we took DD out for the last couple of sessions because we felt it wasn't worth the risk.

It's this, rather than the online offering, that is making me consider leaving our dance school. All the other pay-in-advance toddler activities that we do suspended their in-person classes as soon as social distancing was introduced. Meanwhile, the dance teacher emailed to say it was class as usual and suggested we stop paying so much attention to the news and social media . We're in one of the most affected areas in the UK and I can't past how immoral it was. I haven't yet cancelled, because I don't want to kick a small business when it's down, but we'll be parting ways once this is over.

We all have to think of the bigger picture at the moment. And put ourselves in another's place at times.
If you can afford it, be kind and pay.
Dance teachers spend a fortune to get training, and are dedicated to their craft and passionate about training students.
Their businesses will gold (as will many others) if we don't support and care about them.

If she's offering the service I think she's entitled to ask for money. We have been lucky as all the clubs my children do aren't charging. We did offer to pay for kickboxing as it's small business but the guy who runs it said no.
If any of them were able to offer a service even online I'd expect to pay even if we didn't use it.

@Darbs76 £250 a MONTH?!?!?!?! Are you serious??????? 😱

vanillandhoney

Leisure centre has a gym and various lessons including gymnastics and all payment has been put on hold.

I am continuing to pay my son’s gymnastics fees for as long as I can as he loves the club and will want to go back once this is all over.

@starlight1234 yes, but presumably that's because they're not offering any services whatsoever.

Lots of people are taking their services online and are offering Pilates/yoga/dance over zoom or similar, which is what the dance teacher here is doing.

The less people who have to rely on government handouts the better, surely?

If you want the club/class to continue, then pay for it as long as you can. It's all part of keeping your community intact.

I'm self-employed and lost my last client yesterday. My business is gone, it won't come back from this. If you can afford to continue to pay, please do because you're helping to throw someone a lifeline.