Are there any nursery workers around who can advise me on the likelihood of getting ds' fees back?

[TAFKAtheUrbanDryad]

We have been having an ongoing saga with ds' nursery (there are previous threads I will link to in a minute) and have now decided to withdraw him altogether. I gave notice last week, which means that we have 3 weeks left of him being at nursery 1 day. I'm not going to take him back, however, as the standard of care has been so substandard that I feel physically ill at the thought of taking him there. When I talk to him about going to that nursery he just starts crying and clings to me.

The 3 weeks outstanding amounts to roughly £120 which is a lot of money for us. Obviously it's in the nursery contract that we have to give notice before taking him out, but surely they broke the contract first by not providing him with adequate care? Is there any chance of getting his fees back? And if so, how do I go about it?

TIA

First thread.

Second thread.

I remember reading your posts before and I was quite TBH.

WRT fees being refunded I would imagine that it will be highly unlikely, a decent nursery would probably do so as a gesture of good will, but then you know yourself how decent they are. I would ask though you never know.

Personally I would just bite the bullet, swallow the fees and just be thankful that your DS isnt their anymore.

Put it down to experience - all beit a bad one- and get on with finding a decent place for your DS or find a good CM.

same as atworknotworking.....

We withdrew our two dd's from a nursery due to terrible care and a member of staff that looked like she had a mental health problem my dd was terrified of her and i wouldnt put them back so they kept my deposit which we agreeed and that left a deficit which we didnt pay not heard anything from them yet. So would maybe chat with them and see what they say.

Well if you don't ask you won't get

but unless they have acknowledged that the issues you raised with them were indeed problems, and that their care was inadequate you may be unlucky

Well, they did acknowledge that there was a problem, and they supposedly implemented strategies to prevent further issues, but the underlying cause was never addressed. We also never got any of this in writing, unfortunately, although I do have a complaint to Ofsted at the moment which documents it thoroughly. It's still my word against theirs though, isn't it?

My nursery very rarely goes past the sending letters stage if a parent leaves without settling their debt

it has been know for children to be excluded util parents have paid what they owe if the children are still in the nursery, but for £150 my management would just write it off.

Really Pippel? This is a chain, so might be more organised?

I mean, what are they going to do? Blacklist ds? He's already settling in at a much better playgroup.

we are a chain as well, they just dont think its worth the hassle and it doesn't happen that often so its easier to just write it off, £1000 would be different but not for £150

Hmm, worth thinking about, thanks Pippel.

Do I need to get his tracker book (or whatever it's called ) first?

how old is he? His new playgroup should have started a new one anyway, but our files are available for parents to take home anytime they like, so if you want it and you dont want to say he wont be coming back just say you will bring it back next time hes in. Its not the end of the world if you haven't got it though

He'll be 3 in Jan.

Ive read the ops in the other threads now but not the threads, I would have absolutely no problem in pulling my dds out of there and not paying them, they didnt do their jobs and didnt give him adequate care. I would also consider giving ofsted a ring.

I've already put a complaint to Ofsted in, but haven't heard anything other than an acknowledgement of my complaint, so I'm not holding my breath on that!

Just wondering whether to try and get his tracker book (I couldn't give a damn either way, but do I need it for when he starts school or whatever?) or just go and cancel the direct debit now?

ofsted should just turn up at the nursery unannounced, this happened to us last year when someone put in a complaint saying we didnt stick to ratios (it wasn't true and was probably an ex member of staff).

You dont need it because his playgroup will have one to pass on to the school, and lots of children start playgroup or school without ever having been in another setting. So that will be fine.

Just cancel the direct debit, I would

Cancel the direct debit as soon as you can.
They probably won't chase you for such a small amount.
Don't worry about the tracker book. His new place will be able to start from scratch.
I'm glad you have made the decision to withdraw him and complain to OFSTED.
I used to work for a large chain, absolutely hated it. It's all about the money.
Industrious insects by any chance?

DS1's nursery attempted to keep our £220 deposit when he left, plus extra that they owed because they claimed (but couldn't prove) that we owed them £60. We had to fight with them for the best part of 3 months to get the money owed to us from them (over £300 in total). They were a chain and seemed to have the entire of their head office sending us threatening emails, phone calls etc on a daily basis. Thankfully in the end their area manager saw sense and sent us a cheque for the money owed to us immediately once she realised the extent of the problem. I therefore wouldn't rely on appealling to their better nature to get the money back just cancel the direct debit.

I don't think I'd deal with a chain nursery again after that.

i'm a bit confused, have you already paid for the 3 weeks or not? completely agree that tracker isn't important, as any new setting can carry out observations and have you fill in a questionnaire shortly after he starts to get the info.