Childminder terminating contract

[hoolahoolay]

Surely I'm not being unreasonable. So my son is due to start with a childminder next week when I go back to work after maternity leave. We have settling in sessions this week

So she sent the invoice for January out early December and she said to let her know if there were any errors, the due date on the invoice was 1st January. For one reason or another we haven't paid it and instead of reminding us she has messaged this morning to say she's terminated contract as invoice is 5 days late.
Surely she could have sent a payment reminder.

WTF can I do now?

Indeed. But a little understanding still wouldn't go amiss.

She's running a business, and presumably she has a waiting list of potential clients who will pay on time. She has no idea if this is a genuine mistake by OP or if she will be chasing her for payment every month - she doesn't need to take the risk as she can presumably fill OP's space with a more reliable client. Good for her.

How would you feel if work decided to pay you a week late?
Why does your childminder deserve to be treated like crap? Surely you have some respect for the person you trust your child with..
Why should she remind you to pay? Does your mortgage company do that or do you remember to pay so that you keep your house.
You will have likely signed a contract? In which you will have agreed to pay on time.

If you want her to care for your child ring her and grovel and ask for another chance. And if she gives you one don't mess her about again.

Yabu, unless there are significant extenuating circumstances. Not just being busy!

I’ve done 9 years of nursery over the course of my 2 DC and have NEVER been late with a single payment. It’s not that hard over the course of a month to arrange a payment.

if every parent was a few days late she wouldn’t be able to operate her business.

What if the CM had accepted the child and the payment still didn't come?

She'd have looked after the child for free then have to cancel and be without the spaces filled for a little while

And the child would be upset at having to be moved.

I'd love to know what the 'reasons' were for 'forgetting'

Wonder it the OP will ever return and update?

Or is she still ringing round for a space somewhere?

Why not take the time to send a reminder in early

Because I don't need to. Time is money. I've already made the decision to give a space to someone who didn't need me to spend time sending a reminder.

She doesn't want to have to spend her precious time chasing payments.

Just as (presumably), you don't expect to have to chase your employer to pay your salary.

The Op fucked around and found out.

Also "for one reason or another" doesn't actually definitely say it was an oversight. It could also mean "we are a bit pushed for £££ after Christmas and I was hoping the CM could wait until the 15th" (or whenever)

If there had a been a longstanding, satisfactory relationship maybe a reminder would have been issued, as it was out of character for the OP. As far as the CM knows, this IS the OP's character.

Good for her. She'll have a waiting list. Totally fucking rude of you not to prioritise this incredibly important bill.

I'd love to know what the 'reasons' were for 'forgetting'

Yes, this is another thing isn't it. OP casually stated "for one reason or another" the bill wasn't paid. No indication of what the precise reason was, or what she was trying to do to make it right. Just limited information, a very almost flippant statement about why it wasn't paid, and an insistence that she is surely not unreasonable. The lack of self reflection is the worry - the CM has probably picked up on that and decided she's not worth the bother.

I doubt the OP will be back

@TheEyesOfLucyJordon But if you had enough business that you could choose who you worked with would you choose the payers or the non payers?

Quite simply, she doesn't need to. When you're in demand you don't have to waste time chasing, you move to the next person, who generally bites your hand off for the opportunity!

YABU. You could have just made the bill and it would be fine but you didn’t and the self-employed childminder decided she wasn’t going to have an unreliable client and cancelled. Good for her. I wonder how you’d feel if your work didn’t pay you your monthly wage “for some reason or another.”

Not her responsibility to manage you.

I'd love to know if there were any other bills the OP didn't pay 'for one reason or another'? Her mortgage? Electricity? I doubt it.

If that's your take on life, that's your take. I'm happy to do things that I don't have to to help folk now and then. You're team child minder. I'm not. Again, it's just a difference of opinion.

Ultimately the child minder has made her choice.

Can't blame her.
I was a childminder and it used to drive me mad when people were late paying.
You pay your mortgage on time & all other house hold bills. Surely you would want the person looking after your child to be paid on time and respected. It's an essential bill for you & she also has essential bills to pay. It's just rude of you.

First bill, though. I can see how this happened.

OP, it's your very first invoice and you didn't consider if important enough to pay on time.
The childminder gave you 5 days longer before she terminated the contract.
If you can't pay the first invoice on time, from the childminder's point of view you're highly likely to be awkward going forward.
I think the childminder was right to terminate the contract.

I'd imagine she felt a lack of respect (as part of a power imbalance perhaps if you are wealthier than her and didn't feel the need to provide a reason for late payment) and decided she was worth more than that?

Plenty of childminders have found out the hard way that people take advantage. Totally understandable to not want to deal with these type of people.

It’s completely different. A childminder is no-one’s employee. They run their own private business and frankly can set any terms and conditions they want within the law. People can choose to sign up for it or not.

If you are a Teacher you do not need to worry about not being paid at the end of the month. You are employed by the state and you can guarantee that you will be paid at the end of the month.

As a small independent business you cannot guarantee that someone will pay what they owe you after a full month of a service (generally hundreds of pounds a month). People can vanish, move, refuse to pay. Chasing people for payment or going to small claims court is time confusing, stressful and how do childminders pay their mortgage while waiting for late payments?

I have sent my children to several different childminders, nurseries, after school clubs and play schemes over the years. ALL have asked for payment upfront.

I think you will need to find another childminder. I can completely understand why someone would terminate if the first invoice isn't paid on time. Especially at this time of year demand will exceed supply. Suspect someone who is this on top of their admin will be very popular.

Do you think she didn't get round to paying her first mortgage payment either?

You're right; the op's certainly not come over well. Either to us, or her (ex) CM. She's demonstrated what and who her priorities are and it's not the person undertaking the most important job in her family's life. She's had most of a month to pay, plus 5 days.

Can we assume that CM may not have been back to work until today? But you think it's fine that she spend her own time working out who hasn't paid her and issuing reminders. When she's providing a service where there will be a queue of people ready and waiting to NOT be the person OP clearly is. Incredible!