Nursery given dd place away after 2 years on waiting list - what can/do I do

[ErnestTheBavarian]

This is for sil who lives in WImbledon.
Just got letter from nursery saying that as she has not replied to previous letter, they assume ahe does not want place and they have given it away to someone else.

She did not receive this previous letter, presumably due to postage strike. She has had her dd name down since she was 3 months old (now almost 2.5) and was due to start in January.

Sil appoplectic.

So, what should she do, how should she handle it? Is there any hope of getting her place back?

Thanks

i'd be apoplectic too. has she made plans on basis of that place eg return to work

did she hand over any deposit?did her agreement with them explicitly say she had set time to reply within or forgo place?

written letter by recorded delivery to company HQ and manager of nursery asserting place booked for such long time,and given circumstances of PO strike it is harsh to lose place

demand place be reinstated

genuinely dont know if they are obliged to do so though?depends on the contract they signed etc but seems wholly unreasonable to lose place.surprised they didn't call her

hopefully others can shed light too

The nursery probably just assumed that she didnt want the place anymore, it must be pretty common for people to sign up and then change there mind. Has she tried to phone them to explain what happened? Even if they have given that place away, then they might be willing to put her back in at the top of the waiting list.

also joined a waiting list and paid deposit to secure place at nursery

usually they take deposit to secure place. bit daft nursery to not phone to confirm situation before losing place

Bearing in mind how awful the post has been in London because of the postal strikes I find it amazing that they didn't bother phoning.

ta, some good points - do you reckon she should go in person tomorrow (nursery is just round the corner), phone, or write strongly worded letter?

I personally would suggest she calls up and request a meeting witht the manager, in my nursery we send out letters each term asking if they would like to remain on the waiting list, (it is not often a parent calls to tell us they no longer require a place) and once a place becomes available we send a letter, and also call the parents to let them know if we do not get a response. We only remove a child if we have tried over a couple of weeks to get ahold of the parent and recieved no confirmation. If nothing else she should be placed back at the top of the list.

Oh also i would say to the manager that she will take anything, parents who are inside are nursery, even if only one day a week have more infulence on getting more days than those on the waiting list. (each term we ask parents if they would like to change their days and we try are best to accomadate them) bad spelling

face to face meeting with manager
written complaint to company HQ if applicable
detail any inconvenience eg is place for mum return to work.is it needed by set date
ask for reinstatement of place or top of list

Update - sil, after phoning and leaving a rather stressed out message on the asnwer machine, re examined the letter, and saw its postmark was October 2008, so it's take 11 months to arrive In this time she's paid a deposit, organised everything etc, so the long and short it, it's all been a mistake/misunderstanding, thanks to royal mail - 11 months! - and all is well, and the place is secure.

But the tips were very useful, and she had a speech all prepared in case of a negative response. Phew.

Thanks all.

There was a postal strike last October as well (I remember because several birthday presents I'd ordered didn't turn up in time). Nice to see they're getting round to clearing backlogs...

glad resolved satisfactorily.11mth to get letter.snail mail indeedy

they still should have called though

gerat she has nursery place and can stick to her original plans