Do You Bill Before/After Childcare Has Been Provided

[Country Kids]

True but at least we don't have to worry about a horror story AND not being paid ::. I think that the majority of the horror stories come from providers that charge in advance because ... well by the looks of the results so far only 1 person that has voted says they let their clients pay after ::::::

So since 3 of us do post paid and known of us have any problems getting paid do you think maybe there would be less issues if more providers allowed parents to pay after the fact?

[nanglgrl]

So since 3 of us do post paid and known of us have any problems getting paid do you think maybe there would be less issues if more providers allowed parents to pay after the fact?

Absolutely not. I think you would find that the majority of providers that have clients pay before care started doing so after letting parents pay after the fact and having problems.

I think if asked most of these providers would say they have less payment problems now "than" (or then? this one always confuses me because I'm comparing but I'm also talking about a time...errr) they did when they let clients pay after care.

[Starburst]

True but at least we don't have to worry about a horror story AND not being paid ::

Boy is that true! When I used to watch a school age girl her mom said she wanted to pay me every week (she paid after care was given) but I ALWAYS had problems (in the beggining even she paid two weeks after) because I always had to ask her for payments many times she paid me late (she usually paid me more like every 2 weeks) or would only pay me most but not all of what she owed me and said she would catch up later but never did and at one point she went a whole month without paying me. I even told her if she wanted she could pay me every two weeks but she insisted on every week- (if you insist on it than maybe you should pay according to that schedule that YOU promised). When you really think about it the money was nowhere near worth watching her daughter because she was there sometimes up to 8 days straight, almost always on weekends, sometimes overnight (once even over 24 hours straight), very inconsistant hours, the girl constantly broke my rules, and we would feed her meals breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks- and she ate what we ate so she got homemade meals; we even had to take her with us to family events because her mom never considered "oh yeah, she has a life" and I was too afraid to speak up. When we did have a car we sometimes picked her up from school too (which was way out in the boonies). In many causes I actually lost more money watching her then I was paid- before I found the other part-time babysitting job (which I got paid 2x as much for and worked about a 75% less- plus I actually ENJOYED it) there were times were we almost didn't have enough to keep food in the house for ourselves let alone a preteen girl who ate like a lumberjack .

The last 2 weeks her mom started slowing down bringing her because I was starting to get a backbone and I guess she knew that I wasn't going to feel sorry for her anymore- I kinda felt bad for her because she was a single mom, I had at that point just found out they were living in a hotel, and she was physically disformed (burns on face and missing some fingers). The two weeks in a row SG stayed over night for only 1 night each week (on nights that I had school the next day ) and then the mom stopped calling me but never paid me for those nights and they litterally skipped town. I tried to call her and tell her that she still owed me for the last weeks but she keeps playing dumb "Oh, I thought I paid you. I'll send a check whats your address again?" umm... you should know that by now since your 9 year old spent the last 3 months practically living there! and at one point I got one of my mom's friends to call her and say he was my lawer and that I was going to take her to small claims court. After a while I just decided to cut my losses and take it as lession learned.

And for me that lession is... GET THE MONEY UP FRONT! Before they skip town

[Laurel]

So since 3 of us do post paid and known of us have any problems getting paid do you think maybe there would be less issues if more providers allowed parents to pay after the fact?

I never had any problems for 15 years collecting on the Friday after care until one day I did.... and still haven't been paid my $450. So now I collect the Monday before.

I watched two children of a single mom and sometimes watched her third after schooler. I watched them for 4 years, was paid the full amount on time every two weeks like clockwork. She was never late paying in 4 years. I never, in my wildest dreams, thought she would cheat me at the end leaving two weeks unpaid. I think she came upon a desperate situation. It seems she wanted to move because her oldest daughter was being bullied in school and couldn't pay the deposit on a new apartment and me.

I called her at work (because I knew she had to answer and also because she left no forwarding address). She was very nice, said she would send it but after a couple of times calling her she never did. I even told her she could pay a little each week until the balance was paid.

How she did it was on their last day, a Friday and payday, she asked if they could just come next week on Monday and Tuesday. I figured she would pay me on Tues. after all those years of being reliable I had no reason to think I wouldn't be paid. She called on Monday to say they wouldn't be in because there was some mix up and their dad came to their house thinking he was supposed to watch them that day so since he was already there he could watch them and she'd see me Tues. Well that never happened...

I checked into small claims court but it just wasn't worth it to me. You have to pay a fee to have the case heard as I recall and then I would have to take off work to go and lose that day's pay, etc. So that was one expensive lesson!

I do take 2 weeks a year unpaid vacation and give them 2 weeks and in all those years she never used hers. So I guess moneywise I might have even come out ahead but still........

Laurel

[GoodKarma]

I get paid the Friday before, in cash.