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?

No. I'm working on the basis that it was an oversight, rather then a deliberate course of action.

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

WTF? YABU.

"for one reason or another" - you are taking the mick - this is your childminder's income.

What would your response be if your employer was 7 days' late with your salary payment "for one reason or another" ? Would you send a "reminder" ??

If she has a waiting list, she can't be bothered with parents who don't pay on time, given you had 4 weeks to sort the payment.

They were on one occasion. Of course they got a reminder: loud and clear from all the staff.

I didn't walk out and refuse to work for them ever again. I don't think anybody did to be honest.

I would have terminated your Childs place also.
If you can't be bothered to remember to pay an invoice when you're sitting on your a**e at home, how will you manage when you are actually working?

Was it your first pay check from them though?

And yet, I'm willing to bet that these 'oversights' don't happen on other bills like her mortgage.

Struggling like mad to see how this is in any way coincidental and relevant to the op's omission.

Is it just me?

The other thing about childminders is that they will have very small client bases, say 3 families?

One unpaid bill there makes an enormous difference. The childminder is well advised to keep her places for those who always pay on time.

It is depressing. People don't seem to draw a line between the invoice and your life.

I have some sympathy, but I doubt OP will risk being late paying anything again.

Childminders I've used charged in arrears and only the nurseries charged in advance, so I would find this arrangement a bit unusual, but presumably you agreed to it at the start so you've no excuse really. I would try grovelling, and offer to pay her extra as compensation for late payment. She could face the same issue with a new client so it might be worth trying before she signs someone else up.

If you were one day late - 2nd January that's understandable as it was a bank holiday, anything more is plain wrong. You can set online payments up weeks in advance to go out when they are due

23 pages in and no update/reply from @hoolahoolay ....

But if it had been your first month with an employer, you might have thought about looking for a new job. You might reasonably have thought, Hmmm, will this employer always pay me late and need a loud & clear reminder each time?

I know it's not exactly the same situation, as you point out, but I'm really surprised that @hoolahoolay thinks she was NBU.

I wonder if the childminder thought the OP was pulling out - not going ahead with leaving her DC there - as she hadn't made her first payment (with a month's notice) and there was no ongoing relationship for the childminder to judge by. It would have been a bit different if the OP's DC had been going for a year or so.

But the casual way the OP says they didn't pay on the due date because of "one thing and another." Not good - quite dismissive of someone else's means of earning an income.

It was also their first time posting on Mn. Take from that what you will.

It's your first bill and was due a week ago. YABU. You should have paid it on time.

It may have been a name change

No. If it were my first pay cheque, I'd have been even less likely to depart 😊

You expected her to have to chase you for the first payment? Yeah, fuck that. Good for her!

Can’t say I blame her. Late paying the very first invoice, doesn’t look good does it.

Op, come on 🤣
You didn’t pay “for one reason or another”
That just isn’t good enough.

Im 100% team childminder. You used her services, you Don’t pay by the invoice date. It was irresponsible and entitled thinking she’d just be happy to wait until whenever you felt like saying. She’s running a business.
Pay up or be removed. It’s that simple.
It is not hers or any other business owners responsibility to chase up unpaid invoices-it is you’re, and yours alone. There is no reason on earth good enough to not pay a bill on time or early.

Well then clearly your services aren't in as much demand as childminders. Fortunately, we have enough choice we needn't tolerate it.

Yes

This thread will soon vanish as OP had privacy concerns... i.e. they don't like the responses they're getting 🙄

Couldn't agree more. Still doesn't stop me from thinking that the childminder's response was draconian.