Nursery closing early Xmas eve and still paying

[purplehairrinse]

Aibu for being annoyed they are charging the whole day but we have to collect before 12?

Why are children even in nursery on Christmas Eve??? That's a day to bake and get them excited for Santa. I don't even work on Christmas Eve. Shame on modern day parenting.

Um, because it’s a normal working day for millions of people? 🙄

I’m just here to let you know that (mainly thanks to bloody nursery) modern day children don’t need help getting excited for Santa.

Eh, did you miss the part where I said “we get told to log off”. By the boss 😆

Of course it does!

If the contract says, you pay X amount monthly and for that you get to put your child into our nursery for X days a week when the nursery is open, then you accept that as a term of the contract when you sign it.

If the opening hours are “we close at 2pm on Christmas Eve” then this is totally legal. Of course that should be publicised but some contracts can even say that the hours of opening can be subject to amendement- so they can (legally) change. If the paying party doesn’t like it, they can terminate the contract.

It's just the way it is. Whether fair or not doesn't come into consideration. I've been using nursery settings on and off for 7 years. It's always like this. You pay full rates if your child is sick, on hols or if there's bank holiday or as in your case a half day.

We will be paying full rates while they are closed over the Christmas break . This has happened over two different settings. Just because they are close doesn't mean they stop spending money.

I pay and don't complain about it because my children are happy, cared for and have a safe place to be while we work to pay for it. (Well as safe as we hope)

There's so many more things to be annoyed about. Choose one of those and be thankful your child has a nursery place. Kifes too short to fret about an issue like this.

OP - have you gently pushed back ‘Thanks for your email re: christmas eve, we are not able to collect X until the usual time, please let me know what the plan is for kids whose parents will be working?’. You don’t need to be aggro about it, they are probably gauging how many helpers they need.

What do you think?

on the basis of the op and follow up responses, I very much doubt @purplehairrinse approaches anything “gently”

I have expressed frustration with my nursery on here precisely for that reason; so that I can vent my annoyance somewhere anonymous and then approach the issue calmly. So I wouldn’t be so sure.

No, it doesn't. You can't just put whatever you like into a contract and claim it's binding just because both parties have signed it.

There's a huge difference between closing on bank holidays or for training, and randomly deciding to shut at 2pm on Christmas Eve because you want to let your staff go home early, or because you'll be quiet.

Most people can't afford to pay for services they can't use, but it seems that with nurseries, parents are just expected to suck it up. You wouldn't merrily pay your hairdresser (or dog walker, or window cleaner, or any other service provider) if they cancelled your appointment and refused to refund you or swap your appointment - why is this any different?

All I mean is, schools and nurseries often do these sorts of things, expecting anyone who cannot manage to make themselves known. That results in them needing fewer staff and working out the ratios for any children who can’t be collected. Although OP is being bolshy about it, there will be working parents who find the change tricky and it’s ok to say so.

I'm just amazed they are open Xmas Eve at all. I doubt there's a single childcare facility in Ireland that opens that day, not many open between Xmas and NY either, this year a lot will reopen Mon 5th Jan

They are though,we have to save 9 days out of our holiday allowance for Christmas shutdown!

That’s fine if you accept other things won’t be open as a result.

Er, because of a little thing called WORK, ever heard of it? 😂 Very few offices and factories, and Zero shops shut on Christmas Eve, and therefore the staff that work in those places have no choice but to put their children in nursery that day. Many of them will be having a lot of days off between Christmas and New Year anyway, so they need to ration their days off.

Do people generally not work Xmas eve either? Shops, care homes , hospitals all shit?

But not Xmas eve

Ya all those places open Christmas Eve and up til New Years. Solicitors offices probably not, private medical consultants and dentists don't take usual appointments the 24th and maybe not between Xmas Day and NY Day. Public transport runs as normal except Xmas Day and reduced service Bank Holidays, hairdressers usually open, depends on the owner, pubs, restaurants, cafes usually open Christmas Eve but close between 2-6ish (bar wherever there's a lock-in)

You can't just put whatever you like into a contract and claim it's binding just because both parties have signed it.

Broadly, yes you can! That’s why you have to read and understand what’s in your contract before you sign it.

There are a very very small number of contractual terms which would be unenforceable under Consumer Protection legislation or UCTA, but a nursery closing at its publicised time on Christmas Eve would come nowhere near the threshold of that. Especially when it’s so common (as this thread shows), and it’s probably a 4 hour difference to normal pick up time.

So what are all these people driving buses, working in shops etc doing for childcare?

I guess they d look at one parent booking days off, swapping shifts, swapping childcare with friends and family or just asking them to help, everyone is aware of closure dates from once the child is signed up and the following Christmas closures are usually confirmed in January, it's just the norm here bar the few services that open over xmad

Hard agree on all of this.

Same! 2 weeks at Christmas, a week at Easter and a week in July plus all the bank holidays! All have to be paid for. I think op has it really good!

Guess we won't expect to treat you or your children at my hospital if you need it then? My children will be cared for elsewhere while I see other people's children. I'm glad to be able to make that sacrifice.

Guess we won't expect to treat you or your children at my hospital if you need it then? My children will be cared for elsewhere while I see other people's children. I'm glad to be able to make that sacrifice, even when it receives absolutely no gratitude.