To ask for help figuring this out?

[GoBrookeYourself]

I might be being a bit thick but I wondered if anyone could help me understand our nursery fees. DS is due to start school in September so we’ve given notice for his last day as the end of august. When we first started nursery, we paid a month in advance and the bill period is for the next month (so we’ve just received the bill for 1st-31st august). I presumed we wouldn’t have anything to pay this month as next month is his last month, but we’ve received our usual amount. I queried this and was told that it would be next month we wouldn’t have anything to pay as that’s the month we paid the extra one for when we started DS, but it doesn’t make sense to me as surely next month would be for September when he’s not even there.

I tried asking them to explain but we seemed to be confusing each other, so I just wanted to know how it works before I make myself look any sillier

Do you pay in advance?

Or did you give a months money as a deposit?

So when we started, we got two bills for the same amount and were told as it’s a month in advance, two months is payable for the first month and this would be ‘given back’ in his last month

So when he started you paid, for example £1000, on day one to cover his first month. You then paid another £1000 at the beginning of the second month and so on. He's due to stay until the end of August so yes, you still have to pay £1000 for the month of August.

When I had a quiet like this with my nursery I met with the accounts lady and she sketched it all out for me so my questions made sense and I got and understood the answers. In the end we both understood each other (and I got a refund for some fees). Can't explain yours, but you could ask for an illustration/meet

Query not quiet

From reading your second post, you paid a deposit and a months fee when dc started. You are owed that deposit back at the end so. Ask them are they going to refund your deposit on 31 August.

I don’t know if it helps at all but I’ve attached the invoice.

It actually reminds me of when my parent went to a nursing home. We paid a deposit and almost forgot about it after he died. They just paid back the overpayment for his last week (as he died midway through). I then looked back through all we had paid and realised they owed us over £800. They'd never have just given it back if I didn't send a detailed breakdown of all we'd paid.

@Notaroadrunner so in the first month (if we use random amounts as an example), if I it was £500 a month, I paid £1000 and then £500 thereafter. They’ve said it won’t be a refund, I just won’t have anything to pay next month, but shouldn’t I not have anything to pay anyway as he won’t be there in September? I’ve tried querying but that’s all I got from her!

Is it possible to go back over your bank statements and show all the months that have been paid for? Given you paid 2x£270 at the start and then £270 each month thereafter you are definitely due to get £270 returned to you if you go ahead and pay for August. Ask them therefore if you can use the previously paid deposit as your final payment (assuming it's still the same amount).

@GoBrookeYourself

So when we started, we got two bills for the same amount and were told as it’s a month in advance, two months is payable for the first month and this would be ‘given back’ in his last month

I think you need to find your first receipts. When you started did you pay up - on the first day, or after a month?

If you paid 2 months on day 1 that would be a month in advance and 1 month deposit (so you should get August 'free', or be refunded end August)

However if you paid 2 months after 3/4 weeks that would mean you paid the first month in arrears, and the next month in advance as your first payment, so you have to pay in advance for August as usual, but no bill mid/end August for Sept.

I suspect (never having used a nursery) that maybe it is the latter case, given that accounts departments aren't often sharp enough to bill right at the start?
(A bit like if you start a job towards the end of a month you may have to wait 5/6 weeks for first pay if payroll for month you joined has already been done?)

I have a vague recollection of something similar happening to me. I don't think I had the paperwork from years earlier and the policies had changed while my DC was there so as I couldn't prove it I lost my deposit.

It's a warning for everyone to hang onto every piece of correspendence you can

I think I’ve confused myself even more. I’m just looking back at the invoices we get emailed every month and the first one we got was mid May 2019 and then we got another a few days later. The date of the invoice on the first one is April 2019, but it was sent in May. I THINK DS started in the May, but I’ve sent DH to check when he picks DS up. If he started in April then the bills make sense (I think), if he started in May then I’m just as confused.

When the deposit and first month were paid is your starting point.

But from what she says she seems to be confirming that his last month will be free because its covered by the deposit. So far so good. BUT his last month isn't September (which she is offering), it's August. Provided you gave the requisite amount of notice he will no longer be on the roll for September so your deposit can't be allocated to that month as the contract will have already come to an end. So the deposit is used for August and you have nothing to pay for August.

I would be inclined not to pay for August and explain why. It doesn't make sense to pay another month's fees and then argue about getting your deposit refunded because she's already said she won't be doing that!

One more thing to check: have the monthly fees gone up since you paid the deposit? If so there might be a balance to cover for the final month.

Looking at those earlier bills it looks as though:
In April you paid for May
In May you paid for June

so it follows that in July you pay for August.
In August you don't pay as he won't be attending in September.

You're just paying a month in advance. August is effectively your "free" month, as he's attending, but you won't be paying anything out in that month.

Are you sure you don't just pay up to the end of august and then they refund your deposit separately? The deposit isn't always the same as the cost of the last month's fees if fees have gone up or if your child has changed their hours since starting, so it's not always a case of just saying you don't pay for your last month to account for your deposit.

It looks to me like he officially started 8th May.

You had a bill dated 11 April to cover the 3 weeks he did in May. But maybe they didn't actually give you that bill until some time in May once he had actually started?

Then you had a bill dated 13th May to cover the whole of June.

So they bill you 2 weeks before the month starts for which the payment is due.

If he started 8th May then everything is super duper and you just have to pay the bill you have received now which covers August, and then you won't get another bill mid August as that would cover Sept after he has left.

So we’ve checked and yes, we started on 8th May. They’re saying we paid a £100 deposit (which we didn’t) and that’s the deposit we’ll get back and they’re adamant this is right. But I queried the April date when I got it through and have it in an email from the manager that we paid a month in advance as was usual, so I’m not sure where they’ve got this £100 deposit from.

I don't think OP paid a deposit.

She had a bill dated April (may have not been sent til May) which paid for his May sessions.
She had a bill dated May, which paid for his June sessions.

It seemed to her like she was paying double, but she was just catching up as May sessions should have been paid for in April, but she remembers receiving the bill in May. So in May she paid 2 bills, one in arrears for May and one in advance for June. She then continued paying in advance. So July's payment covers his attendance in August, and no payment is due in August, as he won't be attending in September.
By my reckoning, the bill you received today is the last payment you need to make, even though he is continuing to attend until end August.

Did you pay a deposit before the monthly bills started? Which isn’t shown on that schedule?

If yes then there is an extra month's money to be used up (for August).
If no, then a final monthly payment for August is due.

What's making me think it's "yes" is that she's referring to you being able to use the deposit for September. But confusingly there isn't a deposit sum showing as a credit on the schedule.

@TeenMinusTests but what’s confusing me is he started in May, but we paid 2 bills in May. So for May and June, but got the two invoices a few days apart. So won’t that mean that we’ve paid a month in advance? This is what’s confusing me!

[quote GoBrookeYourself]@TeenMinusTests but what’s confusing me is he started in May, but we paid 2 bills in May. So for May and June, but got the two invoices a few days apart. So won’t that mean that we’ve paid a month in advance? This is what’s confusing me![/quote]
You are paying a month in advance.

You are paying for August in July.

Despite him attending in August, you won't have a bill to pay in August, as you paid for August in advance in July.

Sorry cross post as you've now said you didn't pay a deposit! The billing sounds right as it takes you to end August.

I have no idea about the £100 either!

@mrsm43s that made sense (as much as anything is right now) for a minute and then I overthought it.

So if I paid for mays bill in May and June bills in May, shouldn’t that mean now I pay only the differential in amounts, because august is his last month? At some point I’ve paid for 2 months and I’m trying to work out how this balances. It’s more the principle of it than anything, the nursery is great for a lot of things but transparency isn’t one of them