CM CLUB - where do i go from here?

[LoveMyGirls]

you probably remember i had a mindee's who's mum left her job and then didnt pay me for the notice period, now i know you are all going to scream at me to get on with it and take her to court but really i dont know if i can be bothered. i know she will give me the run around and i just don't have that much energy right now.

so those of you that have done it can you give me ideas of what happens next?

i have already sent her a letter explaining everything and how much she owes and that she has by today to pay me all that she owes which is just over £200 (even tho she actually only used 1 day) i sent this letter a few weeks ago by recorded delivery.

so what shall i do now? i did hear you can write it off as a bad debt and claim it back on tax, is this true?

[looneytune]

LMGs - you should have a tracking number or something and can check on royal mail website

[LoveMyGirls]

strange because its the ncma that told me to send it recorded delivery. how do i check it got there?

[cheryllisa6880]

hi im in the same position as you a parnent gave me the four weeks noticed disided not to bring the child and owed me about £300 pounds for the notice period i sent her about 2 letters and numerous texts
reminding about the money then i approched the ncma legal team about court proceding they sent me out a claim form on the day i recieved the form the father
phoned me to say he hadnt been aware of what going on and asked for my account details(so i opened a new savings account that they were unable to mess with just incase they had a grudge against me ) so that he could start paying me the money owed by weekly instulments of £50 starting from the next week i phoned him on the wednesday to make sure he had recieved my bank details and he said he proberly had but he hadnt opened them yet he said he would start paying the money in the next week apparently he got the date we spoke wrong and had spent his budget for the week he is due to start the payments tomorrow if they do not start i will procede with the court procedings
a bit of advice the ncma gave me
do not send letters by recorded delivery as they can see there from you and refuse to exept them then they can say they never recived any letters

[LoveMyGirls]

this is what i put in the letter i send her and i think ive included everything as i had spoken to NCMA for advice. i suppose i will have to phone them again but i will do it tomorrow.

In response to our telephone conversation on the 28th June 2006 as I have not heard off you since I assume that you no longer require childcare to be provided by me therefore I am writing to inform you that as of Wednesday 28th June I am serving notice of 4 weeks due to you breaching our contract agreement, see page 3 section 2a. Which means our contract end date is 21st July 2006.
You can either send XXXXX for the times we agreed and pay me weekly as agreed or you can choose to not bring him but you will still have to pay me for the full notice period plus money owing from the week beginning 21st June 2006.

Just to clarify you will have to pay:

21st June 2006 - £XX
28th June 2006 - £XX

Amount due now £XX

5th July 2006 - £XX
12th July 2006 - £XX
19th July 2006 - £XX

The total amount owing by the end of the notice period will be £XX which I will expect to be paid in full by the 19th of July, if you do not pay in full, you will leave me no option but to commence court proceedings. I must warn you that my legal costs & other costs incurred to retrieve this debt will also need to be met by you if I am forced to take this route

Many Thanks,

[saltire]

Don't give up. I was owed money - over £1,000 - and took the mum to court. Did you mention "legal action" in your letter? If not, then write to her again, politely, and say much as what feelingold has said about legally binding contracts. Then say that you request payment with a certain time frame (7 days maybe) and will take legal action if its not paid. might just be enough to frighten her into paying

[looneytune]

OI - DON'T YOU DARE GIVE UP!!! I know what you mean about not having the energy but you really must do EVERYTHING you can to get this back. It's not like you don't need it!

I'm going to NAG, NAG, NAG you about this on MSN so much so that you're going to wish you never got my address back

Seriously though, you really must try. I built another childminder website (as you know, a sideline) and worked through the night to get it done per her request and then one day she went all quiet. I wrote several letters and then went via online small claims and once she got that particular letter, she handed over the dosh! It wasn't because she didn't like the site as she hadn't even seen it - she'd filled her vacancies and decided not to bother spending that bit extra money .

ANYWAY..........felt soooooooooo good to finally win what I was owed.

Go for it girl, it won't cost you and that's what NCMA are for. You don't want a rep for being soft do you?

[FeelingOld]

Have you contacted NCMA for advice.

A few months ago one of my mindees just didn't turn up one day and even though I tried contacting her mum by phone/text/letter heard nothing. NCMA advised me to write one more letter saying how much she owed, why she owed it, which part of the 'legally binding' contract she signed it all corresponds to eg notice period, then state which part of contract and what was agreed.

On principal I was determined to get my money and would have gone to small claims court but luckily I got a cheque 2 days after sending the last letter.

If you are owed more than £100 and you used NCMA contracts and you are an NCMA member, the legal team will help you through the process.

Good luck and I would say do not give in, or she may just go on to do this to someone else.