Advice on Refunds

[apick]

So I am a newbie just getting my daycare up and running and had finally gotten my first family enrolled. They didn't need care until January so I was holding 2 spots for them for almost a month. To do this I told them they must pay me for the first 1/2 of January up front. Well right after they paid me and gave me all the paperwork I got an e-mail saying they realized they can't afford childcare and want their money back ASAP.

The bad thing is my husband and I have been struggling financially and desperately needed that money to pay our bills so I don't have all of it to give back to them currently. Can I tell them they have to wait 30 days to get a refund? I will be adding this to my handbook asap but don't currently have a policy regarding refunds, just that they will get their money back, so I wasn't sure how to handle this.

[MamaG]

I don't hold spots for free. They'd have had to pay in advance at half the regular rate. Plus I don't give refunds! Each parent pays in advance for the next week of care. If I close for any reason I deduct the days fee from the next weeks tuition. You are in a pickle. Good luck. If your hand book isn't specific about how they get the refund or when I would tell her whatever you want. I also charge an enrollment fee, non refundable, just to get the paperwork and my handbook. I don't give away my time or my paper and ink. Keep us posted on how this works out.

[LaLa1923]

No refunds........Sorry, but this is the reason you take a deposit. So when they decide not to come you were compensated at least some..

[itlw8]

a deposit hold the spot and is non refundable if they could get it back why take a deposit they are welcome to attend those 2 weeks

[cheerfuldom]

If your contract says the deposit is refundable if they change their mind, why even collect a deposit?

Anyway, revamp your contract in the future and figure out a way to get this money back to them asap before they get ugly about the whole issue.

[wdmmom]

They've paid for 2 weeks of daycare. Tell them that they can utilize the service but there are no refunds. That's the purpose of a security deposit.

If they are not satisfied with that, I'd offer half the deposit back. The other half penalty for breaching the contract.

[Holiday Park]

They've paid for 2 weeks of daycare. Tell them that they can utilize the service but there are no refunds. That's the purpose of a security deposit.

If they are not satisfied with that, I'd offer half the deposit back. The other half penalty for breaching the contract.

^ THIS ^ I seriously doubt they would fight you ,if you present it that,way and in that order.

[Hazel]

I will only hold a spot for 2 months MAX and they must put down 2 weeks deposit. It will go toward their FIRST week and their LAST week. They must make a payment on the second week. (I've had 2 people fall behind by a week, saying They were stuck and would pay me Friday and then disappear)
I do NOT give refunds... You could offer to them that they can still use your services for those 2 weeks, but no refunds. That's what a deposit is for!

[MamaG]

^ THIS ^ I seriously doubt they would fight you ,if you present it that,way and in that order.

She already told them she would refund them! She can't change her mind now.

[Meeko]

In the future make SURE that people know that refunds are not an option.

A few years back, I had a single Mom tell me that she was expecting a huge tax refund and wanted to pay for many months care up front.

I made her sign a form stating that there were NO refunds. I wasn't about to get a chunk of cash and have to either keep it separate just in case she wanted it back....or be a position of having to pay back many hundreds of dollars if she decided to quit. I told her I would use it to pay off some bills and would not be in the position to pay back for ANY reason. She signed it and it worked out fine because she stayed with us several years.

But I would never had done it without an iron-clad agreement on paper.

Even though it worked out, I don't think I'll ever do a long term thing like that again. There were times I worried about things like her losing her job or something and that I would feel sorry for her and therefore guilty I had taken so much money from her even though she offered it.

[Francine]

I have a little guy that is going to be starting daycare January 2nd, he will be 4 1/2 months old. His parents have been paying me 1/2 of my normal rate since she found out she was pregnant, just to hold the spot all totally nonrefundable. I probably would have charged her more but I wasn't really looking to fill the spot anyway so getting 1/2 was just an extra bonus. I have NONREFUNDABLE a couple of times in my contract.

[Mom&Provider]

This the same post as found here w/a few additional facts:

https://www.daycare.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56841

There is nothing in her contract to say deposits are non-refundable and she has already told them they can have the money back, she is on the line to pay it back IMO.

It's unfortnate, but with nothing in writing she must pay it back, period. Considering they had given her the funds 24 hrs prior to her spending some of it, it seems unreasonable that she ask for 30 days or any time really to pay it back. I agree this family obviously should have thought this through before they agreed to someone providing care for their children, they didn't and that ****s.

I'd imagine if this went into a court she'd be told to pay it back. No services have been provided, nothing mentions deposits in her contract and she has verbally agreed to pay it back.

Sorry it ****s, but lessons are sometimes learned through our mistakes...