Help! Been stitched up by Busy Bees/ Nursery....

[BendandBreak]

Can anyone tell me if this is even LEGAL?

My nursery fees are paid by Busy Bees e-vouchers.
However, when we started the Busy Bees scheme, we signed a contract April-April. We were meant to inform them that we wanted it to continue, but didn't. (They send out plenty of junk e-mails, but apparently an e-mail to remind people to re-register is too much trouble! The policy now seems to have changed).
So as of last April, my husband's share of the childcare hasn't been getting paid (£243 per month). His pay slips since April say
-£243 in one of the columns, but apparently this is in the amounts "to date" section. ie. it refers to his last payment in April. I admit this is our fault for not thoroughly checking, but we are not paid by the hour and our payslips are much the same each month.
As for the nursery, the owner claims it is not her fault that she did not inform us of the payment failure as soon as it happenned the first time.
The result of all this is a bill for about £2000 as the new Busy Bees account won't be up and running till January.
The most we could get back is potentially the tax on this, which is the point of the vouchers in the first place.

In addition, she drew my attention to the fact that we were owing for a few months of incremented fees in October and I admit not getting round to sorting it yet. However, her note on the invoice did not mention anything about "by the way, your husband's account owes another £1400".

We're completely gutted about this, especially this close to Christmas with two children.

Does anyone know where I stand?

Any advice appreciated.

oh no this is awful. fancy not telling you until it reached this much. I can only offer sympathy, not advice, as I don't know where you would stand on this legally.

I think it's terrible that something that should be available to all parents, and saves lots of money if administered properly, can end up being so fraught with problems.

Um, you haven't been stitched up, have you? Just general incompetence all round really.

Can you speak to someone more senior and see if you can make retrospective payments? I do feel for you but I suspect there's nothing much you can do. I can't see that there is anything illegal here.

hmmm

busybees could have written / phoned / emailed repeatedly to tell you there were arrears mounting up.

you could have checked the paylsips more thoroughly.

nursery could have told you they were not getting the money too

i don;t see how it could be illegal or a stitch up, you owe the money.

can you negotiate a timeframe for paying them back?

i don;t think you have been stitched up either

i cannot believe the nursery let it go for so long - we get reminded if we miss any payment or part of it

TBH, you have also admitted some fault re the other part of the fees, so i think your nursery have been very patient

sounds very annoying for you but think there is blame everywhere

how rotten. i was also unaware that we had to renew each year and had apparantly not seen the emails they had been sending. But they did then phone me so i didn't end up in you8r situation. seems strange i got a phone call and ou didn't? all i can really suggest is that you ask busybees what their policy is around getting people to renew, although tbh i can't really see you getting round the money owed to the nursery - payment plan as already suggested is probably your best option. duff situation

Agree, presumably you have benefitted from the cash flow of having some of this money in an alternative way whetrh you relasied it or not. You have used the nursery and therefore owe the fees. tbh I'm surprised they haven't told you or even given you notice before now and left you inthe lurch as regards childcare. Perhaps you should be grateful for that. They could have told you earlier, you could have picked it up earlier and the timing now is not the best. You could offer an installment plan to pay it back. However the issue is really between you and the voucher provider, not the nursery.

If I were in your position, I would keep my mouth firmly shut with anything "LEGAL" since you are well and truly in "tort". However you look at things, you owe this nursery money approximately £3400 if I understand correctly. As the previous poster suggested, now is the time to be really friendly with the nursery and pray they agree to an offer of an installment plan.
Sorry to be so blunt, but you did ask.

This is why I choose to make one off payments each months using e-vouchers. This way I can keep on top of things, eg - my company's finance for some unknown reason put a 30 day hold on this month's payment to the voucher scheme and I was able to get it sorted when I realised the vouchers had not been paid into my account. I do feel it is our responsiblity to ensure that the nursery bill gets paid.

But I do agree it would help if the nursery showed a little compassion to sort your dilemma out. If it took them this long to inform you that they have not been paid in full, then they obviously are not desperate for the money.