Nursery being a CF or am I ?

[NurseryNightmare]

NC for this.. I registered DD for nursery, starting July 2020, in a pre Covid World.
In the meantime, my DH cheated on me, my World fell apart and I need to move from London, back to my parents in the West Country. I completely forgot the nursery registration. Received a mail from a nursery manager asking me to call her a week before DD was due to start and thats the only attempt they have made to contact me. The mail from the nursery manager was also the same week mediation with DH started and generally not the best week of my life. Now I understand Ive kept a nursery space for my DD and I should have advised the nursery, I totally understand that BUT the nursery havent contacted me since, and now Ive just discovered they have been sending me invoices each month since DD was due to start, for over £ 1500 monthly ! Ive only just discovered these as they went to spam. What can I do ? Do I call the nursery and tell them I cannot pay ? Im in tears at the moment as I really cannot afford to pay this invoice.

Legally there is not much that they can do/enforce.

I know nursery’s who have tried to chase fees for thousands of pounds from parents who used the service but left and never paid up.

Since your child never started then really there isn’t much they can do. Sounds bad but I would just leave it.

In this country the fees for nursery are astronomical. I wouldn't put it past the nursery to have a child in your child's place anyway and be charging you also. Just reply saying sent a letter. Will not be paying for services not received. They are a business surely they account for this happening. If there's nothing written in a contract and you have moved anyway don't stress. Heaven forbid you should lie to a big business for trying to charge you a ridiculous amount of money for fuck all. When we all know another child would have filled that space very quickly. Sometimes when I read these threads it doesn't surprise me we have captain Cunty in charge of this country.

They're taking the absolute piss, the most you should pay is the notice period. There is no way they should have kept charging month and month when you didn't turn up, and they should have called you rather than just charge you. Just say you're not prepared to pay, you'll pay the notice but that's it. I doubt they will take it further.

The moral issue around saving a place is completely irrelevant.

Did you sign a contract and if so, what are the terms? If you don’t pay, they’ll have to chase you through the courts and prove that you broke the agreement and that the contract terms were reasonable.

If you’re worried, take a copy of the contract to a qualified legal adviser for accurate advice.

YABU. They contacted you and it isn’t their fault it went into spam. You took a place from another child so yes, you should be billed for that place.

They are within their rights to invoice you and you need to pay it.

I think charging more than a notice period is wrong. Morally I think they should have tried to contact you on every available method to advise that the place would be cancelled at the end of the notice period if they didn't hear from you. Legally, I'm not sure.

In a way, I'm really quite surprised they didn't follow this up from a safeguarding perspective if, from their point of view, you and your child simply vanished and they couldn't reach you.

It sounds like they haven't done enough to get in touch with you after you failed to turn up with your daughter on the first day. With that in mind the amount they are claiming is preposterous. I would expect them to keep a registration fee and maybe expect one month's fees, but no more. Also, I would expect some sort of confirmation process between registration and starting, including a settling in session to check that it was all going to work smoothly.

Are you sure it’s separate invoices and not just one sent repeatedly?

Isn’t that what a deposit is for?

I would send the bills to your bastard ex.

The nursery is being unreasonable to keep charging you. Maybe for one month would have been understandable (maybe), but to continue to charge you after that when it's clear you will not be using the place is a bit much.

Lol.... no. I wouldn't pay a thing. They didn't think it was weird at all that she didn't show for 3 months? They've almost certainly given the space away and if they haven't it's because they're not in demand and able to, because if they were and weren't sure they'd have called you to ask what was going on.

You do not have to sign a contract for it to be legally binding in England bar for land or a registrable disposition in land. Check what you agreed to either verbally or in writing even without signature and contact the provider

It's not about ethics, or fairness, it's all about the contract. You signed, you agreed. Read the contract, all the answers are in there.

It will also contain information regarding the correct cancellation procedure i.e - you may be required to write a letter giving 1 month notice that you wish to withdraw your child, and only then the contract can be ended and you won't be required to continue payment.

Hmm, I’m sure my childminding contracts have a clause in them along the lines of ‘if there is no contact with x amount of days/weeks, it will be assumed parents are terminating the space and notice fees will be applied’ or something like that. Which kind of makes sense.
If nursery haven’t managed to get in touch with you and are billing you for the place, I assume they have activated some kind of safeguarding protocol as you are ‘missing’.

I think they are being really cheeky tbh. You haven’t shown up since July, you’ve made no contact, Not got back to their emails, it’s obvious you don’t want the space, So you would assume they would terminate the contract and use your deposit as notice. Which I assume is what the deposit is there for.

They’ve been phoning you and you’ve ignored the calls I bet.
There is a CF here but it isn’t the nursery. You need to deal with this like an adult and sort it out

Spoke to the nursery today, we have agreed that I pay the first month, in line with their cancellation policy. Dickhead ex has just agreed this evening to go halfs. Thank you everyone, I really appreciate all the views.

I would say they are being total CF. My circumstances changed so we didn’t take up our nursery spot and we lost the £50 holding deposit.

Nurseries are usually is touch 3 weeks ish before joining to do settling in sessions.

It was obvious to them you weren’t using the spot and they are trying it on.

I hear you but ultimately I should have cancelled, I didn't (or rather we didn't) and DH (DickHead) ex will go halves with me. It's done / over and I just want to move on.

YABU OP. Need your adult head on and deal with your mistakes.

Did you not pay any kind of deposit? Every nursery I looked at charged one. If so, I think that should be coming off the bill for that month.

Well done chillibean, that sounds like a fair outcome and I'm glad you're not having to pay the full amount all by yourself.