Kicked out of nursery

[billericaymumtobe]

Hi,

miso my nursery announced on Sunday that they will close at some point on Monday and Tuesday leaving me with a difficult situation due to struggling to take time off work at such short notice. They also said that no fees would be refunded as it was outside of their control. I posted on local fb group saying that I wasn’t happy with the decision and asked parents of children in other nurseries that they thought. I sent an email to the nursery but didn’t get a reply so sent another one saying I was unhappy with the policy and short notice and asking for an apology. Now the nursery owner wants to kick my daughter out saying that my post damaged her nursery’s reputation.
Does anyone know if they can do that? It’s clearly an overreaction from their side as I’m happy with the nursery and staff and just disagreed with a policy. I’m very upset and don’t know what to do. Doesn’t look like the owner will change her mind.

I think you will have to check your contract as she may be required to give you notice. I presume this was during the heatwave? Lots of nurseries closed for safety reasons and ot wasn't necessarily unreasonable to do so. If you were on social media talking negatively she may simply want to protect her business.

Presumably they weren’t just shutting for fun?

can you really not see why the nursery are annoyed at the way you handled things?

But shouldn’t the nursery refund the fees or at least partially?

If it’s a privately run nursery then I think they can do what they like within the terms of their contract with you. Sorry, I think you are stuck with looking for new childcare.

Yeah they're probably within their rights according to the terms of the contract. Lesson learnt.

@Rummikub well they still have to pay their staff so no. It doesn't work like that.

There will be is a clause in your contract regarding the unexpected closing/ payment issue. As it’s a private nursery I imagine they can refuse access to anyone they want as other private businesses. They may need to give further notice per your contract.

Dod you name the nursery on social media named the nursery, which was unnecessary and you ran straight onto social media first rather than speaking to them. If the manager is so unhappy she wants to remove the child is sounds like your post was less asking for information and more slagging then off, so it’s understandable she wants to protect her business. There was really no apology in the initial email? In circumstances like this usually there would be, it’s absolutely not something she wanted to deal with, but there was a heatwave and she did what she thought best to keep staff and kids safe and mitigate the risks at her workplace.

I would look i to your contract but as jts a private business I think you will find theybcan ask you to leave. Your daughter isn't being kicked out they just no longer want you as a customer which unfortunately means your daughter having to leave. Maybe think twice before posting negative things about a compny you rely on on social media in the future. And get ready to have to make last minute alternative childcare arrangements for the foreseeable future because schools will do the same for various things, heat, snow, boiler broken, no water etc etc

To be honest lots of nurseries and schools closed Monday and Tuesday and moaning about it on social media is totally inappropriate.

I'm not surprised they don't want anything to do with you and your daughter after this you've basically bad mouthed them when they probably did what was best especially if it's not a modern totally air conditioned space where very young children and babies could potentially become unwell.

You could try writing a letter of apology to the owner but if nurseries are like round here they'll have a huge waiting list and so they'll have other people just ready to take the space!

It's up to the owner who they choose to have as clients you bad mouthing them has not helped your case whatsoever and if it went legal it would look dreadful on your part.

Yes, they can do that. They probably have a policy or wording in the contract somewhere to say so too. They are a business not a service so can pick and choose who they select as customers.

You slagged them off on social media and sent emails demanding "an apology?" How was an apology going to change anything?
I don't blame them for wanting you to leave.

I'm pretty sure the first nursery we used had something about this in the contract we signed - not publicly badmouthing the nursery or something like that, can't remember the exact wording. If you've signed similar then there's not much you can do. Our current nursery has had to close a few times due to not enough staff, although to be fair to them they try to offer us hours at other times to make up what we've paid. I don't know if they offer refunds to full time children.

They sound controlling and reactionary. You are allowed to express truthful personal.opinion about a business online. Probably better off without them. Find a lovely childminder instead.

That’s why I said partial refund.

im sure the nursery makes a profit.

I would start looking for an alternative.

What we’re you hoping to achieve with SM posts and apology demands?

What notice would you expect the nursery to give when the decision to declare the heat an emergency came quite late, and weather can’t be confirmed til close to the fact? Two weeks ahead of the heatwave, it was “scheduled” for Sunday and Monday instead; it gradually moved.

Our nursery attempted to stay open with its crappy portable air conditioning but lots of children got heat exhaustion on the Monday so they decided not to open on the Tuesday. Entirely out of their hands and the right decision.

Why would you name and shame on social media for something like this?!

We have no idea if what OP posted was truthful and to be honest if she posted "oh no DDs nursery having to shut because of the heat, are other nurseries doing the same?" I doubt the manager would bother asking her to leave.

Why wont they refund.the fees. You've paid for a service you haven't received. Talk to trading standards

Check your contract. Many private nurseries will have a clause in saying there's no fee reduction in the event of adverse weather, especially if they have to close part of the way through the day as staff are already there and need to be paid. That usually get invoked for heavy snow but the high temperatures this week would also count. It's to ensure they can keep the children safe.

And why go straight to social media? There's nothing to gain from it and many nurseries and schools have a contract mentioning not doing this.

You should delete the Facebook post if you haven't already done so.

It's very telling that the OP hasn't shared what she actually posted on social media. I'm guessing her message wasn't just XYZ nursery is closed due to the extreme weather, are other nurseries in the area staying open?

Because that's not how nurseries work nd it would have been clearly stated in the contract.

I don’t think you can slag off a nursery on social media (especially if you name them) and then expect to use the service.
These types of businesses survive on recommendations - you will have damaged their business with this

What did you say? It must have been strong to warrant your contract being cancelled. I think customers forget that small, independent businesses take it very personally when they complain on sm, you are complaining about a small team, not someone like Tesco.

If it was due to the hot weather, I am not sure what you expected really. I would be annoyed if I was the manager too. Our nursery stayed open as a very generous parent bought the nursery air conditioning units but I was expecting them to shut and was making alternative arrangements for if they did.