Charge for Partial First Week?

[DBug]

I have a little guy starting this week. He'll be two days per week, but dc mom wants to introduce him to the group in stages. I'm completely fine with that. She brought him for one hour today, and stayed with him. Then she's planning on leaving him here for two hours on Wednesday. Next week he'll start his full contracted hours (full days, 2 days/week).

I haven't actually had a gradual integration like this before, but I was assuming that I'd be charging the full day rate for both days this week. When I mentioned that to my husband though, he was a little taken aback. Am I wrong to charge full rate for this week of integration? I always explain in interviews that they're paying for a spot -- whether they use it fully or not, they still have to pay for it (or I'll find someone else who will ). That makes sense right? What do you do? I just want to make sure I'm not taking advantage ...

[meli829]

I stated in my contract that if they choose to integrate their children, they can have as many days as they need, but the full price for the day will still apply. I am just starting out and my rates are low, so I thought it was fair to do it this way.

[legomom922]

Just my opnion, but I think a little courtesy goes alonggggggg way. My DCB starts wed & only 1 day this wk for hrs, even though she is contracted for 3 days, but as a courtesy & being a new client, I am only charging her $20 vs $35. I would not charge full rate for something like that.

[kendallina]

Just my opnion, but I think a little courtesy goes alonggggggg way. My DCB starts wed & only 1 day this wk for hrs, even though she is contracted for 3 days, but as a courtesy & being a new client, I am only charging her $20 vs $35. I would not charge full rate for something like that.

I agree...I think it's a lot to charge full rate for that, especially if it wasn't discussed ahead of time or stated in your contract.

[QualiTcare]

if you actually let this mom/child take the spot instead of another child (meaning you had another child that was going to start had she not) then i would say charge the full rate.

but either way, since it's already happened, it seems a little late to be asking. this is something that should've been discussed ahead of time. i'm sure the mom would be blown away if you wanted to charge the full rate for the day she stayed with her child for one hour. cut your losses and consider it a lesson learned.

[DBug]

Totally not the response I expected . But, it is good to know what other providers do in this situation. Still, I think I'll still charge full-rate. Dc mom did contract for full days starting this week, so I set those days aside for her. I did explain that, once registered, she does need to pay for contracted hours (half-rate for sick days, but full for every other day whether dcb is here or not).

It is a sellers' market right now where I am too -- I've turned down so many families over the summer that I'm not worried about a parent being offended by my billing procedures

[legomom922]

Wow....

May I also add, I was supposed to go camping with my family this weekend, and we WERE told that if we cancelled within 5 days of our arrival, we would lose our deposit. Well we had to cancel yesterday, and I explained the situation, and they are refunding all of my deposit other than a $5 fee. That to me is world class customer service, and I will say good things about them. Word of mouth goes along way. Sometimes you have to be human and put aside rules, regulations, & greed for the well being of the customer. I live by the golden rule: Treat others the way YOU would expect to be treated!

[TGT09]

If that's what you insinuated then I will be the odd man out and agree with you.

I wouldn't purposely do stuff because you can get away with it though because in the end it could come back to bite you.