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AIBU?

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Original poster

Nursery charging extra for early pick up?

177 replies

Northtosouth · 16/08/2023 17:19

I’ve recently put my DS’s name down at a local nursery to start when he is 1 for 2 days a week. The nursery day is 8.00am - 600pm which I understand is needed for parents working however I’m able to either drop off later or pick my child up earlier than this but the nursery want to charge me extra for this.
Am I missing something here? What is the added cost involved? Is this normal practice at a nursery?

OP posts:
Leftphalange100 · 16/08/2023 17:21

This is normal practice. You usually pay for a morning session, afternoon session, or full day. If you want to collect after the half day but before the full day, you would be expected to pay the full day.

anothertrainwreck · 16/08/2023 17:22

Charge you extra as in for the full day even if you say dropped off at 9:00 and picked up at 4:30? If so, normal, ultimately your DC’s attendance is in 2 sessions, AM and PM and they can’t offer that couple of hours you’re “not using” to anyone else. Are you saying they are charging you more than a full day??

Anetra · 16/08/2023 17:23

You’ll be likely paying for a session.
A morning session is early morning to lunchtime
An afternoon session is lunchtime to closing time

What time are you planning for pick up?

Bumble84 · 16/08/2023 17:25

Do you mean extra as in more than the standard daily rate? Or just that you don’t think you should pay for the hours between 4-6pm because they’re not there?

fireflyloo · 16/08/2023 17:25

I'm confused. Do you mean that they want to charge you the full day cost plus extra for a member of staff to do handover at day 4pm?

lechatnoir · 16/08/2023 17:25

if you mean they still want to charge for a full day when you only need a half day, then yes totally normal and reasonable as they are unlikely to fill the other half day and giving the childcare problems nowadays probably have a queue of people wanting full days so no need to offer half days.

if you mean you pay for a full day and are charging you some sort of admin cost/penalty for collecting before 6pm, then absolutely ridiculous and definite no (you are making their life easier by paying for a service you’re not using!)

mycoffeecup · 16/08/2023 17:26

Do you mean you're expecting a discount for the earlier pickup and they won't give it? That's standard.

Or do you mean it's say £100 for 8 - 6 and they are saying £110 if you collect at 5?

That would be very odd.

TooBusyGazingAtStarss · 16/08/2023 17:26

If you pay for the full day but wanted to pick up earlier I don't think its normal to be charged for that, if thats what you mean?

Clefable · 16/08/2023 17:27

Depending on what you mean...

It's normal to pay the full day even if you are dropping off late and picking up early.

It's not normal to pay extra on top of that for dropping off later or picking up earlier. DDs' nursery is open 7.30-5.30 and we drop them off any time between 8 and 9 and pick up anywhere between 4-5.

Summerrainagain1 · 16/08/2023 17:27

Do you mean that you pay a day rate and then then want you to pay an additional fee if you want to pick up earlier? Because no, that's not normal.

If you mean they want to charge you for hours in that day that you don't use (say you want to only pay till 3p, but they want you to pay till 6pm) then yes, that is entirely normal and is because they obviously can't fill the space for the 3 hrs so it loses them money to allow you not to pay for them.

enchantedsquirrelwood · 16/08/2023 17:28

TooBusyGazingAtStarss · 16/08/2023 17:26

If you pay for the full day but wanted to pick up earlier I don't think its normal to be charged for that, if thats what you mean?

That was how I read it and no it's not normal at all.

CF nursery.

icelollycraving · 16/08/2023 17:29

Do you mean extra on top of the full day? Not heard of that before. You will pay for a full session however even if collecting early ad you’re paying for the place, including holidays.

cinnamonfrenchtoast · 16/08/2023 17:30

Are you expecting a discount for dropping off late/picking up early?

Or are you saying they're charging you extra for those services?

icelollycraving · 16/08/2023 17:30

If it is the weird scenario, I’d be concerned about the ratios being under.

Aria2015 · 16/08/2023 17:32

Do you mean pay for a full day plus charged extra for early pickup? If so that sounds very odd. I pay for a morning session (5 hours) but for the first year I picked up after 4 hours but still paid for the 5. No extra cost for early pick up (in fact, I was doing them a favour surely!?). They just asked I avoid a certain time when they're busy with lunch but I was able to work around it.

YellowReadingLamp · 16/08/2023 17:38

If you mean they are charging you over and above their day rate then that is absolutely outrageous and I'd 100% complain!

I used to manage a nursery that was 8-6 and we had all sorts of drop off/pick up times going on. However, given that the parents were paying for the full day it made no difference to us.

My only concern was to always make sure we had at least the legal minimal adult/child ratios for the number of children expected that day.

HMW1906 · 16/08/2023 17:47

I don’t understand, they want to charge extra to pick up early??

Or do you mean they’re charging you a full day even though you’re picking up early.

Usually they do morning session, afternoon sessions or a full day. If you need more than just a morning session or just an afternoon session then you have to pay for the full day. 🤷‍♀️

mindutopia · 16/08/2023 17:47

No, it's not normal to charge extra for, say, picking up at 4pm when you have paid for 8am-6pm. I suspect they are doing it to discourage the practice, for whatever reason, because it's easier for them to have all children there at the same times every day.

But having had 2 children in 2 nurseries across many years, I've never paid extra for collecting them early or dropping off late, though they will want to know in advance what time you'll be dropping off and what time you'll be collecting. I used to have a friend who used her 15 hours like it was just a drop in centre for when she wanted it. Some days they'd turn up at 11am, if something better was going on in the morning, some days, she'd not take her in at all because the weather was nice and she wanted to go to the beach. It used to grind my gears because I was dying to have 15 funded hours and she had it and didn't use it (she eventually did get told to stop or leave though).

Traxz · 16/08/2023 17:48

@Northtosouth you need to clarify what you mean

PlasticineKing · 16/08/2023 17:49

If you’re not keen on paying to 6 of you’ll pick up at 4 then YABU.

If you’re paying til 6 but there is an additional charge to pick up at 4 then YANBU.

You have to pay for the full session, but I would be asking them to breakdown/justify any additional costs incurred for early collection.

Sunshineclouds11 · 16/08/2023 17:53

What time are you wanting to drop off and pick up?

rainbowunicorn · 16/08/2023 17:56

Can you clarify what you mean OP?

BodegaSushi · 16/08/2023 17:56

Leftphalange100 · 16/08/2023 17:21

This is normal practice. You usually pay for a morning session, afternoon session, or full day. If you want to collect after the half day but before the full day, you would be expected to pay the full day.

I assume that OP means charging more on top of the day rate to pick up early. Which makes no sense.

FloofCloud · 16/08/2023 17:57

Red flags to me! Why are they keen to keep you away til they're expecting you?

BodegaSushi · 16/08/2023 17:59

OP didn't day they still want to charge full rate despite early pickup, they want to charge extra for early pickup.

Definitely seems like it's an additional fee, much like they may charge a 'late fee', but an 'early fee' seems like they're really trying it on