Nursery concerns

[SimplyAmy1]

Hi!

i just need some perspective really.
my first child, first time looking at nurseries.

Just for context…..My child is 2 and has a double barrelled first name, no middle name.

I went to view nurseries and found one I liked. I had put their name down and all was great. Fast forward to later this year, they were offered a place. I accepted but had a few questions and they wanted to know if we were having funding hours etc. I sent a reply with my questions pretty much straight after the email from them…. No reply , fine they’re busy- I’ll wait.
Roll on 2 weeks, no reply. I called the nursery to ask and they could see the manager stopped replying and said they are back in 2 days time so will email me then. No correspondence. FOR A MONTH. I called the nursery, the assistant manager explained she is now the manager as that one had left and promised me the answers to my questions. This took another 3 weeks. I called head office as I wanted to get the place secured and due to severe lack of communication I didn’t know what else to do. I promised a call from the area manager. This never happened. The centre manager did email me on a Saturday though and apologised for lack of communication.
I was sent a link for payment to secure her place and within 6 hours I was being called AND emailed chasing for the payment.
my concerns:
when I first put my child’s name down, they only put down the first half of their name, when I told them, they said it doesn’t matter what the name says as it’s not important and can be changed later. I made it clear I wanted their name
correct as this is their name!
ever since, they have never been called by the full first name, just the first half- all correspondence (although limited!!) has only been the first part of the name. One email even said ah yes I can see the name is down as ‘correct name’ as requested last week but they still proceeded to address them by the wrong name.
it doesn’t sit right with me that it took months for a reply yet I’m being chased for payment just hours after receiving the link. I was called again this morning and they said ‘hi, I’m just reminding you to pay the fees for (half of her name)’ I explained that’s not her name yet again.

is it just me or am I right to be annoyed over this?
would you send your child somewhere where, time and time again, their name is still
wrong?

Unfortunately you're going to get this a lot in life. A lot of computers and people seem to get a massive brain fart when it comes to hyphens. It blows their tiny minds.

Moral of the story is, don't ruin your child's life with a double barrelled first name.

@fluffypotatoes i think it’s just annoying as I e corrected them sooooo many times! Also the lack
of communication- it makes me nervous what things will be like when she actually does start there! (If I choose to even enrol her now!) x

I think the complete lack of communication for months is the part I’d be considering a particularly big red flag.

Hardly ruining her life….. my child, my choice of name 🤷🏻‍♀️

How selfish.

Yes, I guess the thing is - is there an alternative?

I wouldn't have bothered when they didn't get back to me for ages

I agree! I’ve asked to go and view the nursery again (and meet the new manager) but no reply for 4 days so we shall see!

It hasn't ruined their life they just have to get used to people being inept at processing "-"

Well, she doesn’t NEED to go to nursery yet but I’d like her to, there was a second option that I preferred but their wait list is a lot longer, maybe I should just wait and enrol her at the other place - oh I really don’t know!

Exactly although I do have a friend who has done this and they usually get referred to by the first part of their names (she doubled all of her kids first names) to the extent that even she does it now

Agree. It's a constant problem you have given to your child. Your choice. Their long term problem!

Selfish for giving my child a name that is sentimental to me? Ok 👍🏼

The second part of the name isn't May or Rose is it?

When my child is older, she can decide if she wants to be referred to as the first part of her name or the full name but as it stands, I feel
a nursery should atleast get the children’s name right! 🤷🏻‍♀️

Yes. Why not change your first name by deed poll if it's important but don't inflict the years of explaining on the wee bairn! You have experienced what they will experience for the rest of their lives !

OP I wouldn't have proceeded with this, just on the grounds of their administrative incompetence.

WRT your baby's name, I have a feeling this is going to happen over and over again.

Technology doesn't seem to like hyphenated names.

I wondered that.

I wouldn't be too happy about the poor communication but I wouldn't make a drama out of the name thing. Giving a child a hyphenated first name isn't the greatest idea really, it's naturally going to get shortened. It's not the hill to die on imo.

They must not be desperate for your business, some places have long waiting lists to get a place at a nursery. It seems like they aren’t really fussed if your daughter takes a place or not.

I mean she hasn’t even started at the nursery yet though? So they are only getting her name wrong in emails? I wouldn’t even give it a second though, if and when she starts you can make it clear that you’d like them to call her by her full name.

The name thing wouldn't bother me too much. The poor communication would worry me more. But neither are deal breakers to me if you like the nursery in all other ways - the most important thing is that she's happy and well cared for.

I used to have a hyphenated last name and most of the time software programs, etc wouldn't accept it, both with the hyphen or just a space between. So most of the time I just went by one name. So that's one aspect of it, just the tech limitations. However there's no human limitation on learning a person's name. There's just no excuse for that lack of effort. I think the admin issues are telling as well. If I had other choices I would go somewhere else because that place sounds like endless headaches in the future.

They had it incorrect on all of her enrolment forms and when I asked for it to be corrected, they said it doesn’t matter what her name
is

I have a double-barrelled first name and they are not only in my eyes hideous and unnecessary, they are irritating as fuck. For over three decades I get called either half of asked what I'd like to be called. As it is, I use only half because it sounds chavvy and ridiculous. Don't be surprised if your own child says the same when old enough. They actually make me cringe. It's little wonder the nursery isn't responding to you if you are already getting arsey over using half of the name.