Family haven't paid. How do I deal with this?

[UnpaidCare]

This has been my first year as a childminder. My contract is clear and has been signed by all parents. I am well qualified, my rates are average for the area. I could charge more it's a shortage area.

I'm looking after one family for 4 weeks of the summer except the next two weeks. This family has had a difficult year I have gone above and beyond to support them.

All should pay me in advance on the last day of the month this family haven't. I mentioned it when I saw them on Tuesday, they spoke about it on Wednesday. I sent a text yesterday which they have seen. They usually text me regularly. I won't see them again until Monday 23rd. They aren't away yet.

They already owe me over £350 for the week that I have done, plus the rest of the month. They have been 2 days late paying before but not this late.

They are getting a good deal with me. Should I give them notice? I have a waiting list. How do I get them to pay?

@SpnBaby1967 grow some balls send a reminder letter that there are only 2, then 1 paid for season left and if payment is made in advance then their child will be refused entry.

Stop letting them play you.

Have you received a reply yet? They seem repulsive and entitled. I’d either let them know they won’t be getting the childcare on their return and chase with small claims or send debt collectors around.

I’m a nursery manager and we have a very strict fee policy
We use 3 letters
Letter 1 is when fees are a week late- we ask for payment and remind them that a late fee will be charged if the fees are not paid within a week
Letter 2 is sent after a week and states the child is now excluded until fees are paid and a late fee is added. We also tell them legal action will be taken if fees are not paid within another week
Letter 3 is sent if the deadline is past and no payment has been made then we use the small claims court to get the money back and tell them their place has been terminated

We hardly ever go past stage 2

@insancerre

I’m a nursery manager and we have a very strict fee policy We use 3 letters Letter 1 is when fees are a week late- we ask for payment and remind them that a late fee will be charged if the fees are not paid within a week Letter 2 is sent after a week and states the child is now excluded until fees are paid and a late fee is added. We also tell them legal action will be taken if fees are not paid within another week Letter 3 is sent if the deadline is past and no payment has been made then we use the small claims court to get the money back and tell them their place has been terminated

We hardly ever go past stage 2

Deadlines (times/dates) and consequences need to be laid out and actioned.

Otherwise you are totally ineffectual and just a nagging white noise to these types.

They don’t care about any inconvenience to you or their responsibilities to you ….. they only hear you and take action when it impacts them.

You have spent too much time worrying about them, speculating on their circumstances which is just an avoidance of being direct with your request, deadline and consequence.

It is uncomfortable and shouldn’t be necessary but be brave, professional, business-like and button them down.

Didn't check this thread after my post last night.

Still no payment and no communication.

However, I am intentionally not contacting them again after my email yesterday. If they don't pay me beforehand, I will be emailing them on Sunday 22nd to tell them that I will not be providing childcare as of the following day.

Yes Sssloou I did give them a payment deadline, which they have now breached.

If I do need to send another email I will insist that they pay me for the whole of August, plus accrued late payment fees. That email, if I have to send it and I'm assuming that I will will say that, in view of their late payment this month, I will expect to receive September's fees by Friday 20th August. Further, as my good faith in them has been eroded, I will give the date(s) that I expect to receive payment from them for the whole of the Sept 21 - Aug 22 academic year.

Any emails from my CM email address signpost my Ts&Cs as part of the signature at the bottom.

The email I sent yesterday had a read receipt built in, they had received and read the message within minutes of me sending it.

DoItAfraid I would happily look after your children and anyone's, in fact. I take on all-comers .

Blondeshavemorefun I said upthread that I could request a retainer payment during holidays, I have resisted this as some of my parents work in education and I couldn't charge for their 12 or 13 weeks of school holidays. I do charge all parents for 5 weeks of my paid holidays a year. These parents are up to date on these payments.

To some extent, I have adapted to the needs of the families since March 2020. Some parents were furloughed, so I didn't look after those children. OTOH I had an influx of additional teacher's DCs during lockdowns. I checked with the existing parents before agreeing to the new families.

You've got this 💪

I love that you have a piece of equipment you can hold hostage too.

Different industry, but I work in tourism. We ask for a deposit upfront and then payment six weeks before the arrival date. We do give chances, we send reminders and we try to call and send personal emails, but, ultimately we cancel their booking if they don’t pay.

As an aside, I’m a qualified teacher that is contemplating childminding. Was it difficult to retrain?

Also, I’m good at admin, I’d love to be your virtual PA

RandomMess you made me smile.

AlohaMolly I have long thought there are big similarities as well as big differences between teaching and nursing.

Of all of the teachers I know, both as friends and as my current customers, as a CM you have to structure your day or try to in a similar way to the school day. I have a timetable that I personally work to where I can. Your skills with children and parents will serve you well.

Personally I planned to become a childminder for some years before I finally did. During that time I studied the EYFS curriculum, which you probably already know thoroughly.

In my area there is an excellent CM community. As I said upthread, they ran courses in conjunction with our Local Authority. If you have the same in your area then take them. I took them all, including the ones that I already knew like paediatric first aid. As we come out of Covid going to the CM groups will be very useful for me.

I hope that helps?

Did you outline the consequence of not meeting your deadline?

If so activate it now.

Why wait until 23 August? That’s just more time for you to stress out.

Bite the bullet.

Put your consequences in immediately after the deadline transgression. It’s the same as any discipline/consequence with a child. You wouldn’t wait 2 weeks to issue a consequence for not compliance.

Honestly once you deal with it fully you will feel so much better. Currently they have stressed you for weeks by not paying, stressed you by disrespectfully ignoring you and you look to be giving them another 2 weeks of grace not to pay you (because they will the night before) and this will shadow your next two weeks and the week when they are back…..whilst they are laughing all the way on their terms.

It is v uncomfortable but you need to feel the fear and jump in. You will feel loads better when this is resolved. Also I would imagine that at this time of the mint it would be better to get new clients rather than at the end of the summer holidays.

What support / encouragement do you need to push the button on the next step?

I like the 3 letter approach from PP - the letters are generic and all prepared ahead - so no thinking involved - just cut paste, top and tail and fire off.

Go for it.

Just refer to the sanctions/processes laid out in the contract that they have signed and committed to.

Sssloou I am waiting for two weeks because they are on holiday abroad. They have had reminders and even reminded me themselves.

They said it's nearly time to pay you at pick up sometime in the week beginning 26th July.

My verbal reminder on Tuesday 3rd.

Them instigating a conversation about it on Wednesday 4th.

My text on Thursday 5th.

My email at lunchtime on Friday 6th.

I am waiting until the 22nd before a second email because, as I say they are abroad. Of course they may have already made alternative arrangements for Monday 23rd onwards, but I doubt it.

They have no family locally and they haven't been here long. I don't expect that they have had time to get to know many local people who can help.

After I posted here I also posted a blind message on the local Facebook CM group, it is unlikely that they will be able to find another CM as the Facebook group is a proper hub of gossip activity.

This is only if they haven't paid my money plus the vig .

Being abroad is irrelevant.

They can do online banking.

They can respond to your email if there are issues.

You have outlined 5 interactions around late payment - and zero consequences.

With people like this YOU need to put in the boundaries, deadlines and consequences because they never will.

You can choose to spend the next 2 weeks of building anxiety about a definite confrontation on 23rd - or you can lance that boil right now.

See it as a self development challenge. You will be proud of yourself and feel brave once you have done it.

You don’t need this hanging over you - they are not going to deal with it until you get blunt and take action.

They can still pay and read emails abroad

@Blondeshavemorefun

They can still pay and read emails abroad

^ This

Yes, online banking still works abroad. They’re been very cheeky fuckers. If nothing else they could reply with profuse apologies and details of when they’re paying.

I have invoiced you. You are over a week late paying with no communication by yourselves to me

Therefore it is with regret that I am terminating our contract with immediate effect due to non payment

Please make other arrangements for childcare.

I am Replacing your children with parents who pay on time and don’t take the piss

Regards outstanding balance , if this is not paid without 72hrs then I will be taking it to the small claims
Court

Maybe this but without the taking the piss 😂😂

Now something odd has happened.

In my OP I said that they owed me over £350 which is correct though vague enough to make the thread not completely identifying.

Let's say the weekly amount is £360 it isn't.

Without any further correspondence between me and CF parents today they paid me a random amount. It is plenty to cover the first week of August + late fees aka my vig ..

Plus part of the week beginning 23rd August also including my vig. Though not enough for the second half of that week or the week after.

I have enlisted DH and his Maths skills too. If we took the vig away the amount still isn't enough to cover that 1st week + the 2nd week. It certainly isn't enough to cover both of those weeks plus the 30th and 31st August.

I'm at a loss. Literally!

In the meantime, I have other families lined up to take their places from Monday 23rd onwards.

I don't think that they are going skint. One of them was made redundant last year. It didn't affect me because my services were much in demand as I worked through the lockdowns when other CMs didn't. So I could be flexible for them.

The redundancy parent found work within about 6 weeks of leaving their previous job.

They are abroad somewhere hot for 2 weeks. Have recently spent significant money on their home. So no, I don't think they are going skint.

I'm not sure what's going on now, or how to proceed.

Could thank you for their overdue payment, refund the amount they have paid for Aug, and say their place is no longer available- ie, they can't return!?!

So the amount you told them was outstanding. They've paid some but not all. Is that right? So let's say it's £360, and they've paid £250? not the real amounts

In that case, you email again saying 'have received your payment of X towards your overdue fees. Thanks for this but your account remains in arrears by Y and this must be paid immediately. As stated in my previous letters, your child care places have now been terminated and childcare will not be available going forward'.

They have chosen to pay you less than they owe, deliberately, guessing that you'll accept it and they can get away with paying late again, if at all, for the rest of their August childcare. Don't fall for it. Take on better clients who won't cause this hassle.

@Elouera

Could thank you for their overdue payment, refund the amount they have paid for Aug, and say their place is no longer available- ie, they can't return!?!

This. Give them notice and refund anything overpaid.

We do dog walking and daycare - but an awful lot of the business principles and problems are very similar. We had a client who took to randomly sending money, completely out of kilter with the actual bills, occasionally too much but far more often too little, her story was a permanent saga of 'internet down' 'forgotten password' 'Baby is sick' You get the idea I think.

We gave notice and terminated her contract. Like you chaps in childcare, us lot in animal care chatter locally. Her new dog walker and day care provider has just terminated her contract for EXACTLY the same reasons.

That's terrible. They are just messing you around. I think it's really the end of the road.

Before this payment I was already calling my waiting list parents, asking my existing parents and contacting my friends with small children to get the word out. Only to find that I could fill my days at least twice over.

I have been looking after their DCs for more than a year and this is the first time they have messed me around.

You said in your opening post

They have been 2 days late paying before but not this late.

So one minor late payment has now escalated to this, going on over several weeks, without any explanation. They're not good clients. Stick to the notice you've given them and take on others.

I have a tuition business. It’s the same issue- a few (usually very well off) people paying late or random amounts. My realisation is that if they mess you around once, they will always mess you around. Those ones always do the same thing. And it’s not because they are stupid. It’s because they think they can get away with treating you like that. Put your foot down and get rid of them as soon as possible. I assure you that they won’t improve. This is the most stressful part of being self employed.