Nursery refusing to honour it's advertised discounts - any advice?

[Ceebee74]

The nursery DS1 and DS2 go to advertise they offer 10% discounts for NHS employers and also 10% for having 2 children in - both of which I qualify for.

DS2 has just started going there 4 days a week which has coincided with DS1 getting the pre-school vouchers which they are deducting from his weekly fee.

So I asked the office manager if she could let me know how much the fees are going to be weekly taking all that into account. She has come back with a figure which only gives us 10% discount and she is refusing to budge saying she cannot give me any more discount.

The way she has worked it out, I think she thinks she has given me 20% discount (she has treated both DS's fees as 2 seperate accounts and taken 10% of each one then added them up at the end but this is not 20% discount).

I am going to see her this afternoon (I have been dealing with the deputy manager who has been acting as a 'go between') and if I can't get her to understand that she has only given me 10% and is refusing to give me the 20% I am entitled to - do I have any recourse?

I should add that DS1 has been going there for 2 1/2 years and is very settled and happy there and I am very happy with the care so I don't want to move the boys over this and feel they have me over a barrel. I just think that bearing in mind that DS2 will be attending the nursery for 4 years, that is 6 1/2 years business I will have given them so I think I am owed what is rightfully mine!!

Can anyone help before the meeting this afternoon?

I think you need to re-read the nursery T&C and see whether it applies both discounts (NHS and two children) simultaneously, or whether the maximum discount is 10%.

have you got the original paperwork showing the discount?

so, she should be taking 10% off each set off fees plus another 10% for NHS discount?

FWIW, any discounts at DS;s nursery are off one set of fees only

i.e 2 children, only the first child qualifies for the reduction in fees

Can you ask her to show you exactly how she has worked it out - make her take you through the figures step by step, and hopefully at some point the penny will drop if she has worked it out wrong.
Is it meant to be 10% off the total bill for having 2 children there, of is it 10% off the bill for the second child?

I think that it is unlikey you will get 20% off, i think it will be a 10% discount and the eacjh will be used 'not in conjunction with any other offer' as it were

Bonsoir I know that they do give 20% discount as DS2 has been going 1 day a week for the last 6 weeks and to calculate the weekly amount for them both, she added up what the total fees would have been and then deducted 20% off (I was there when she did it) It seems to be the introduction of the vouchers that has messed things up - am wondering if they say that once a child qualifies for the vouchers, then they can't get a discount aswell??

Ruby I think the above has answered your point about only the first child qualifies for the discount - it is definitely not the case.

As it is, they have already craftily put DS1's weekly fee up by £3.50 so that they are recouping some of the voucher back - if I can't get them to agree with what I am saying, then I am not going to get any benefit of the vouchers at all

vouchers are surely a separate issue?

they get the £ from the government ...

i know the vouchers do not affect sibling discount at DS's nursery

littleducks they have already set a precedent by giving me 20% of the total bill when DS2 started 1 day a week.

Ruby my view is that the vouchers are completely seperate and as they get the money back, it is not an issue - but they seem to think that because I am already getting a discount with the vouchers that is sufficient

My last post should say they have put up DS1's daily fees by £3.50 so they are getting £14 per week back from the vouchers anyway!!

i think as a precedent has been set already then this stands you in good stead

I have just got back from the gym and the deputy manager had left a message on my phone asking me to ring her. Just spoken to her and she had spoken to the manager who had said that she would offer us 15% but no more - due to wage increases/increasing overheads they really couldn't go any lower

Not sure what to do now - it is still not the 20% that they advertise but better than the 10% originally offered.

Any thoughts?

15 % is still a good discount. but i would hold out for the 20 %

the vouchers are a red herring, the money is given back by the government, so the nursery are not losing out by still offering you a discount.

it is a shame they are doing this as , as you say, you will have given them years of business

they should not have offered a 20 % discount without ensuring it was going to be viable

having said that, if they won't play ball, i would accept 15 % as you don't want to disrupt the children, but i would make your feelings plain

Lulu thanks for your thoughts. I know 15% is a good discount and it is 5% more than I thought we would get when I first got pg with DS2 and we were working out the finances as I didn't know that they offered 10% discount for having 2 children there - I only discovered that when I was filling in the paperwork for DS2 to start a few weeks ago!

so they had not evne told you that you were entitled? i wonder how many other paretns don't know