To refuse to pay this nursery charge

[Jeronnemo]

2 children in nursery. Been really happy there. A few niggles but nothing major. This month's bill had a £40 per child charge for an activity that they only do in winter. It usually kicks in in December through to April but this time they've charged it early. The issue is that they've not actually done the activity yet. I spoke to the manager about it and she was very abrasive and came out with some absolute nonsense about why it was on the bill. She lied and expected me to just suck it up. I'm livid but the conversation is over as far as she's concerned and if I push it any further, I risk being asked to leave. Do I just write it off for the sake of peace and my blood pressure?

Ahhhhhh - it’s a monthly charge? I thought it was one annual charge and you’re getting wound up about paying for it a month early.

it’s unreasonable to charge you for a service you didn’t receive.

OP said it’s a monthly charge in her 3rd post on the first page. Read the thread.

I understand what you mean. You pay say 4x£40 over the winter months for an additional activity. The nursery have added another month of payments but not actually done another month of the activity. What reason did they give for not doing it in November and are they tagging on an extra month at the end ? If not I would ask for a refund.

I did, just not very well it seems 😂

That old chestnut. Try harder.

OP is lucky to have you championing her cause with so much effort now that she has apparently stepped away.

Happy to be of service.

Can you just explain very clearly OP is your aggrievance that you're being asked to pay in advance for an activity or that you're not being refunded for an activity that you haven't/will not be be doing?

Ok so you paid for it to happen in November and it didn't. But you're willing to pay for it in December as it will definitely have started then.

It does sound like she's ripping people off with the November payment.

Have you spoken to other parents? Does the nursery have a head office or owner above this woman?

The situation wasn’t unclear at all and I think all this “oh well if 30 of us don’t understand it’s clearly you” is a load of bollocks. All it takes is one disingenuous ‘misunderstanding’ and everyone piles on.

There should be a clear answer to why the charge is on the November bill. If they had changed to charging a month in advance for the extra activity, notice would have been reasonable. I’m mostly shocked at the fear that challenging an unjustified extra charge would lead to the children’s places being removed. What a racket!

Your posts are incredibly confusing, that's why 😂
I'm giving myself an headache trying to fathom out all your comments and it's not much clearer when you use the "see all OP posts" option lol. So can totally see why the nursery got a bit WTF?! They're probably confused as well.
So you usually do an activity in November, it hasn't happened but you've still been billed for it?
If that's the case then not much really you can do until the rest of the winter activity months finish and tally up how many activity sessions has actually happened and how many payments you've made. Then query and ask for a refund if you've paid too much.
If it's not happening until December though, it ain't December yet. Maybe they need the payment upfront this year to pay suppliers or whatever this time, regardless of what happened before.
So long story short, YABU to ask for a refund so early and confuzzling everyone including the nursery by the sounds of it 😬

You really haven’t been clear from the beginning.

Which do you think is more likely

a) the OP went to the trouble of setting up a second account to post in a different name or
b) someone might see her point

Hmmmm?

I think t(e payments were taken in advance of the activity - not unreasonable if the nursery have to provide anything extra. Keep a close watch on the payments which should cease the month before the activity stops taking place. If you’re still not happy then refer the matter to the nursery owners…….they might not know what’s happening .

The problem is that you haven't explained how you know for certain that the November payment isn't covering December.

If that's what the manager said, just say so.

Ah, that makes sense now!

As it’s a monthly charge not a one-off one for the whole winter (which I think was what was unclear to many of us before) you can and should request a refund. I think email might be the best format for this as it creates an expectation of a written response and takes away the opportunity for anyone to be a bit difficult with you unless they’re willing to commit it to writing.

I would be very polite but persistent (if required), e.g.

Dear X

Thank you for organising Y activity, which Z always really enjoys during the winter months.

I’m emailing as I noticed a charge for the activity on my November invoice and wanted to check if this was correct. I’m aware that Y normally only takes place from December, and from discussions with Z and other parents, my understanding is that it hasn’t taken place in November. This may, of course, be wrong, but I would appreciate it if you could clarify this for me. Has Y activity taken place in November? If so, could you please confirm the date(s) when it occurred?

Thanks for looking into this and clarifying it for me, and for your ongoing care of Z.

Best wishes
…

This is such a frustrating post- both for the poster and for the readers. We often think we are being completely clear in how we communicate and are amazed then to find that others haven’t understood. It can be frustrating to have to re explain but also frustrating for the reader who thinks it still isn’t clear. Moving forward, would you like us to suggest how we might handle the situation to help you address the unfairness? Or would you like us first to validate just how unfair this has been?

I always pay a month in advance for childcare bills. So I’d assume you’d be charged December’s bill in November so the activity would be on there? I think the nursery is right.

Totally agree. Loads of people understood it from the first post. Lots of posters seem incapable of drawing inferences or even reading more than one post by the OP.

I pay for some club the same price each month even though each month has a different number of sessions. The whole club between September and February costs x pounds and they just spread it equally between several months. Lets say 60 pounds for 6 months, 10 per month rather than 12 in September, 12 in November, but 6 in December. Perhaps the activity costs 80. Nurseries do need more money than government funding, so they have different ways of doing it - mine had “admin charges”. If they are really taking the mick and it’s not a good value for money, leave them. I remember one nursery wanted me to pay £1000 for my twins just to get on the waiting list without a guarantee of a place, so I steered clear of them (I think it was one person there who was somewhat daft and when I pointed out the absurdity of it, she became very verbose and I think got lost in her own explanations, but it was obviously best to steer clear).

Presumably if you only pay this in the winter months then the charge will end a month early. So you won't pay for feb (for example) but the activity will still run?

The manager hasn’t indicated that. Instead gave a load of ‘word salad’ as to why the activity was charged for November but didn’t go ahead. If it was a simple case of op has paid for a month where the activity didn’t happen but it’s ok because they won’t be charged the last month then I’m sure the manager would have expressed that clearly. The fact the op is no clearer as to why the activity didn’t happen but was still charged doesn’t show great management from the nursery.

Op I would be inclined to do what PP have suggested and email the nursery asking for clarification. It must be hard if this is your only nursery option but can a few of you parents all get together and agree to email?

I feel for nurseries and how hard it is to keep them going but they can’t be ripping parents off like this - and if they aren’t trying to rip you off then they will be more than happy to be clear and concise about what has happened re the charge.

I’m not sure either. You’ve explained it really clearly!
The only way to challenge it is if you know the other parents well enough to get everyone on board so it’s not just you. If you are just on your own objecting then nursery hold all the cards as they know you can’t risk losing the place if your child is happy. I think you just have to pay, given the small amount relative to risk of losing place. Annoying.

Do you mean that you think the nursery is right when they agreed that the paid for activity hadn't taken place?

Weirdly your childminder and the nursery might bill in different ways, who knew that not all childcare providers are the same?

Although you pay on 1 November for your November childcare fees, it sounds like this activity needs to be paid further in advance. That makes sense - if they have someone coming in from early December it’s probably too much of a risk for them to only be getting the funds from that from you on 1 December, and they would likely be out of pocket now if they need to pay the facilitator in advance.

I think you are therefore unreasonable to threaten to take the money out of the 1 December bill, because that money will therefore cover the cost of this activity in January. If you end up charged an extra month by the end of it all that’s a different matter of course. I also think you’re unreasonable to call the manager a liar, perhaps she didn’t explain things well when put on spot - sound familiar? 😂