To think the nursery are wildly unreasonable?

[Gerrp]

Our nursery (just outside London, if relevant) had to close for 72 hours due to the storms. They have offered no refund. It’s 120 a day and we have had to source alternative childcare on top of this. I realise this is an unforeseen circumstance in some respects but also, they must have insurance? I’m absolutely fed up of feeling financially stretched all the time and this has just topped it off! I’m assuming we have no rights to argue this?!

OP your nursery fees are crazy. I also live an hour outside London and I pay £69 a day 8-6.

That is shocking. I'm not surprised you are raging

@GroovyChick87 the fact something may be ‘the norm’ doesn’t mean it’s right.

Only on mumsnet should the financial burden of a nursery staying in business fall on the sole responsibility of OP. Think of the poor penniless nursery owners, on the days they don't provide a service, OP should presumably give them a tip as well for the convenience 🙄

Such is life…..centre parks are having to refund everyone as their facilities could not open over the storms …..the money comes from the insurer …..or they take a hit…..shit happens….but OP should not take the hit

This relates to Covid, when many nurseries were charging… but in principle it is the same.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nursery-and-early-years-sector-covid-19-restrictions-and-consumer-law/nursery-and-early-years-sector-covid-19-restrictions-and-consumer-law-advice

General principles
In the case of ongoing contracts such as the provision of early years childcare which is provided over a long period, the CMA’s view is that:

• the consumer should not normally have to pay early years providers for childcare services that cannot be provided for a period for any reason
• a term requiring a consumer to continue to pay when the trader is unable to or is otherwise not providing any service is likely to be unfair and unenforceable
• consumers should be offered a refund for childcare services paid in advance which are then not provided by the business because of those restrictions, and no further demands for payment should be made until it is clear that the service can resume
• consumers should not have to pay for temporary breaks in the service, where the childcare provider is not in a position to actually provide care

definitely not the case in UK, well definitely not for home insurance, commercial might be different but I don't think so

At £140 pounds a day I’m sure they’re not on their arse, otherwise how does our £65/day nursery run?
They certainly aren’t paying their staff double minimum wage at £22/hour.

Its a business but if they can’t balance the books they close.

That's insanely cheap, especially just outside London.

You can ask them if they'll reimburse you but they can say no and you'll have to accept it

You'd likely win at small claims court, but also likely you'd need to find a new nursery.

The ts and cs you signed presumably allow for this. Our nursery closed in Covid and we still had to pay if we wanted the place open when lockdown was finished. They did relax that to 50% eventually but at first it was just pay 100% or lose your place.

They still have to pay their employees and bills even if the building is closed, hence why their terms provide for this.

Sounds like a simple breach of contract on their part (service not provided), so I’d expect a refund but if you pursue them, are they likely to find a reason to refuse you a place after Christmas?

It's not the owners who will suffer. It's the staff who already look after your children for peanuts.
If it's a small, independent nursery they won't have loads of money. If it's a chain it'll be the owners who get the money.
I didn't say it was right, I said do you want the staff to walk because they haven't been paid.

EDIT- just reread OPs posts to see that the nursery building has damage.

In which case I think you do have to just accept it

Someone once said to me to view the nursery bill as money that you pay for that space for the year. So don’t think too much about the daily rate itself as otherwise you drive yourself mad thinking how much time you’ve paid for when they’ve been sick. Same is true here - if you want the nursery to remain open longer term and you want to keep your space there then unfortunately you just have to suck it up. It’s only three days, you should hopefully be able to manage alternate childcare without necessarily having to pay for it, in the same way you surely would if DC was sick.

@2boyzNosleep OP said it was because the nursery was damaged and needed repairing.

@Waffle19 why ‘should’ I be able to source alternative childcare? Not everyone has help on tap.

@Gerrp What do you do if DC is sick? If they get chicken pox and have to be off for at least five days? Most companies will offer unpaid parental leave as a worst case scenario IF you are unable to take annual leave… can you not take any time off work? Do you have a partner? If so you both take a day or so off, share the load. Other parents of nursery kids, take a day each (multiple kids sometimes easier to look after than one!).

I came to say this...nursery ends up being more like a membership....have to pay the monthly fee or you can't get in...like a gym 12 month contract, you're stuck paying it even if you fall off the wagon. It's just the worst, but in my experience it's so hard getting a place anywhere that you feel at the mercy of the nursery anyway, and stuck paying full price on their 'training days' and nursing the child at home on half your paying days from the germs they pick up at the settings depressing to think about.

I know when mine were at nursery there defo wouldn't have been a refund for any unexpected closure...it was like it or lump it.

We had a situation recently where our nursery had to close for two days due to power cuts in the area, I wasn't really expecting a refund but they did give us one by taking it off the following months bill, might be a different situation for weather though I'm not sure, it certainly is a lot of money to lose though.

When I was a childminder I charged for child's holidays/sickness as the place was available. I didn't charge for my holidays/sickness as I wasn't providing a service.

Recently my son's childcare closed for a week they didn't charge anyone

Well... no that's not the same at all. If a gym closed they would refund its customers. At least mine does! It's only had to close once (some fire safety issue) but it refunded us all pro rata... as it should, as it wasn't providing the setvice we were paying for. Does yours charge even when it's closed down?!

@surreygirl1987 well no mine hasn't ever closed down in fairness, so i wouldn't know. I meant it's just feels like it's a set monthly fee and that's that. It's not cheaper in December when there are bank hols etc

I obviously don't think any other business gets away with charging for a service they are not providing, but in my experience nurseries always do.

I think the reason they get away with it is because (in my area at least) you're lucky to get a place and you feel you've got to hold onto it for dear life

Exactly. To be honest, the only nurseries my boys have ever been to (and we've moved around a bit, so 4 in total) have ALL had owners much much wealthier than me! If the staff aren't being paid if the nursery has to close due to bad weather, that's the responsibility of the owner to sort out, not charge the customer for something they aren't receiving. Oh, and those who are trying to emotionally blackmail the OP saying 'pay unless she wants the nursery to close', that's shameful. I actually know of a local nursery that DID close- but not because they couldn't turn a profit... because the profit wasn't ENOUGH to make it worth the wealthy nursery owner's while - despite the annual profit being more than six times what I earn in a year (and I'm on an excellent salary). A lot of the time it is about greed. I'm not saying that is always the case- and there are some who are genuinely struggling- but for goodness sake, stop perpetuating the 'poor nursery owner' narrative... make no mistake that LOTS of them are totally loaded and looking to exploit the desperate customer.

Yep - exactly what I mean when I say exploiting desperate parents.l who feel they have no choice to pay despite not receiving a service. Disgusting!