A Round About Way Of Getting Out Of Late Fees???

[DaisyMamma]

DCM informs me Monday that DCK will be here early instead of going back to school for half day Friday after DR appt. I say ok, $X for extra time.

Thurs. rolls around and pickup is X minutes late = $ late fee.

Friday morning is here and DCM pays some of the late fee and informs me that DCK will be going back to school instead of coming here and so I need to pay her the rest of the $X fee she prepaid for today!

OK, here's the kicker. Its still only a half day today, so of course the day costs more than normally! I said, actually I only owe you $1 because dck gets off buss at 2 today, not 4. DCM says "oh, i didnt know we paid you extra for that" (WHAAT?) I actually said this: "well, if you want DCK to stand in the driveway until 4, that's fine." LOL :: :: ::

In the end I'm reflecting and realize that I should have required the initial fee for the plans made on Monday since it is in my contract that you pay even if you don't come and I PLANNED on this all week. AND I kept my DD home from school to play with DCK!

Thanks guys for reading, the confrontation stressed me out, and getting it off my chest made me feel better.

[Blackcat31]

Sheesh....the lengths some parents will go to to avoid extra fees or just to make the fee structures even more complicated.

Glad it worked out for you and yes, in the future...stick to billing for what they scheduled and if any time goes outside of those contracted times, then charge additionally.

I would also NOT provide any services without late fees (actually ALL fees) to be paid IN FULL.

[littlemisssunshine]

at least you knew what to tell her some of these cheap parents leave me thinking!!! they'll go to any extent to get free or not pay for childcare... =(

[MarinaVanessa]

I require payment up front when parents request any extra time that goes beyond their scheduled hours of care (I call them reservations) and I charge them the drop-in rate. If it isn't paid for then I won't hold the spot. Even my drop-in clients pay up front as soon as they request their reservations through e-payments.

FT, PT and Drop-in clients all know that this is non-refundable. They can make changes with more than 24 hours notice from the start time of the reservation. The amount that they paid is a credit towards the new time/day but they can only change it once and they have to reschedule to another day within more than 24 hours of the start time of their reservation.
They can't make changes with less than 24 hours notice so if it's less than 24 hours from the start time of their reservation and they can't make it then their fee is lost.

Sounds harsh but I got tired of clients reserving and then changing their days up all of the time or clients cancelling at the last minute and then asking me to hold their fee as a credit or put it towards their next week's fee etc. You may want to think about adding some of these to your contract and policies.

[jokalima]

How Do I start charging late fees to a family that comes late every once in a while? I decided not to at the beginning because I thought it was a one day thing, well it was not. It is not every day either but it does happen several times during the month, yesterday they were 9 min late and when the parent came in was in home clothes, they go to work in very professional clothes so I knew they did not go to work and on top of that came in late to pick up, I could not ask for the late fee because I did not know how to start charging now when I did not do it before????

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

How Do I start charging late fees to a family that comes late every once in a while? I decided not to at the beginning because I thought it was a one day thing, well it was not. It is not every day either but it does happen several times during the month, yesterday they were 9 min late and when the parent came in was in home clothes, they go to work in very professional clothes so I knew they did not go to work and on top of that came in late to pick up, I could not ask for the late fee because I did not know how to start charging now when I did not do it before????

Search for "Late Sign Out Sheet" on the board.

[Blackcat31]

How Do I start charging late fees to a family that comes late every once in a while? I decided not to at the beginning because I thought it was a one day thing, well it was not. It is not every day either but it does happen several times during the month, yesterday they were 9 min late and when the parent came in was in home clothes, they go to work in very professional clothes so I knew they did not go to work and on top of that came in late to pick up, I could not ask for the late fee because I did not know how to start charging now when I did not do it before????

Here is a great thread about late fees/late sign out sheets. https://www.daycare.com/forum/showth...ate+sign+sheet

[DaisyMamma]

How Do I start charging late fees to a family that comes late every once in a while? I decided not to at the beginning because I thought it was a one day thing, well it was not. It is not every day either but it does happen several times during the month, yesterday they were 9 min late and when the parent came in was in home clothes, they go to work in very professional clothes so I knew they did not go to work and on top of that came in late to pick up, I could not ask for the late fee because I did not know how to start charging now when I did not do it before????

I just had to deal with this myself. Another member shared a great letter with me, which I modified and sent home to all families, informing them of recent breaches of contract, which are from now on going to be charges for, as stated in my contract. The letter was very friendly.
I then took the opportunity to update my contract and sent that home with it, requesting it be returned signed within two weeks. I added some things into my contract that needed to be addressed, including giving myself some extra paid holidays, sick days and a week of paid vacation.
PM me your email address if you would like to see the letter.

A simpler way is to simply mention to DCP that they are late and from now on you will be charging late fees based on your contract.

[jokalima]

DKM called @ noon to ask if I could keep child one more hour after DC is closed, i said yes... Is this time still consider late fee time? Or prearranged overtime fee?

[DaisyMamma]

DKM called @ noon to ask if I could keep child one more hour after DC is closed, i said yes... Is this time still consider late fee time? Or prearranged overtime fee?

I would charge more than normal daytime rate but less than late fees.