DCG Won't Be Here, and Payment Not Received

[blandino]

I have a DCF who pays for 4 weeks at a time, and payment was due this past Friday.

At the beginning of August we changed tuition due dates to Friday instead of Monday. So I have been sending out reminder emails on Friday afternoons to the families who haven't dropped off a check yet, so that they can do so at pickup. I sent a payment reminder to this DCF, and at closing time she came and went and NO CHECK IN THE BOX (Upon closing, I realized this). I thought okay, well she will see it over the weekend and bring it on Monday. Not ideal, but it was okay.

Then... I realized that DCM is on vacation until Wednesday and DCG is out Monday & Tuesday (staying with family while DCM is on vacation). I sent another e-mail reminder tonight, saying that anything received after today will incur a late fee.

I have a strong feeling I won't hear from them until later in the week. I used to chalk mom's forgetfulness up to being spacey, but last month when it was payment time, DCG was sick until Wednesday of that week.

So I am figuring that each month they are waiting on a paycheck to come in, and that person gets paid on Wed/Thu. I guess they don't mind paying the late fees, but I don't want to keep doing this. I have a "no pay no stay" policy, but the DCG won't be here on any of the days that payment is due. By the time she is back, I'm sure they will have the check with them.

I am not really sure how to handle this. Clearly late fees will be applied, but what do you do next ? Talk about altering payment arrangements ? Honestly, could see terming over this. This DCG is our absolute favorite, and aside from this the family is lovely and kind. But this is a big thing to us, and isn't acceptable.

[Familycare71]

How frustrating!!! IF a parent brought up the situation to me that they had a hard time paying on fri and would like to pay on an alternate day I would do it- BUT she hasn't-
I guess you are getting more $ for less work tho

[Play Care]

I would address it head on. "Susan, I noticed you were late with payment the last two months. Is there a reason?" Depending on her answers you can decide how to go with it. I know that sometimes in this business because we are "home" clients may wrongly assume that we don't really need the money. And I think that misconception needs to be addressed head on. Good Luck!

[JoseyJo]

I personally wouldn't be bothered by this- I would just charge the late fees and move on- as long as you haven't provided services without being paid and you have a deposit on file.

I allow parents to pay on Monday at d/o if they pay in cash. If their child is sick on monday when they call to tell me they usually ask if they should stop by anyway w/ the payment. One day doesn't make a big deal to me so I say no, it's fine to bring @ d/o with the child (and don't charge a late fee since I said it was fine). I haven't had any parents abuse this (so far at least!!)

BUT- if this really is a deal breaker to you I would tell her so. She may not really realize (even though you have told her) how big a deal this is to you. If you thoroughly explain to you that it is such a big deal that you are going to term over it unless it is resolved and she does it again then it becomes a respect issue instead of a payment issue and you should term.

[Sunchimes]

Personally, I would ask her directly what was going on. If the problem is that they get paid mid-week, then I would work out a new plan. I have a family that pays monthly. They get paid on the 25th. Each month, I print out a 2 month calendar from printfree.com. I use a Sharpie and count the days they owe me for that month. Some months it is 21, some 23, etc. I give it to her a few days before payday, and on the 25th, she has a check ready for me.

People don't generally have a choice on when they get paid. If this was a great kid and a good family, I would be more than willing to go this little bit extra to keep them. It takes me 5 minutes max and makes everyone's life a little easier.

[blandino]

Thanks ladies ! Yes, it is more of a issue to us because they haven't said a thing, have ignored two attempts to contact, and are purposefully keeping DCG home to avoid payment. I mean they aren't going to be able to keep doing this month after month, but right now it feels very disrespectful to ignore our reminders and to have someone attempting to "pull one over on us".

[blandino]

I don't want to seem like I am blowing it out f proportion. But it doesn't bother me that they are knowingly ignoring a policy.

We switched to Friday payday, so that everyone has ample opportunity to remember their checks (we will take them at any point over the weekend too), so that we don't have checks staggering in in different dates, and so payment is more cohesive and we dont have to do multiple trips to the bank. We have 14 DCF paying us, and since there are two providers who split the daycare income, we Really wanted things as organized as possible.

I guess in my mind, if they don't have the amount of money each month when it is due, then they could pay bi-weekly or figure out something that works around their pay schedule.

If it were any other family, I would definitely be terming. But they really are a good family.

[MyAngels]

I would definitely talk to them directly and ask them if they are having trouble paying the bill in a timely manner. If it's just a matter of carelessness then this will likely prevent future problems. No one likes to be thought of as living paycheck to paycheck if it's not actually true, right? If they actually are having money issues you might offer to accept an extra amount added to each payment until they've built up enough that they're paying in advance.

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

I personally wouldn't be bothered by this- I would just charge the late fees and move on- as long as you haven't provided services without being paid and you have a deposit on file.

I allow parents to pay on Monday at d/o if they pay in cash. If their child is sick on monday when they call to tell me they usually ask if they should stop by anyway w/ the payment. One day doesn't make a big deal to me so I say no, it's fine to bring @ d/o with the child (and don't charge a late fee since I said it was fine). I haven't had any parents abuse this (so far at least!!)

BUT- if this really is a deal breaker to you I would tell her so. She may not really realize (even though you have told her) how big a deal this is to you. If you thoroughly explain to you that it is such a big deal that you are going to term over it unless it is resolved and she does it again then it becomes a respect issue instead of a payment issue and you should term.

Same for me.
But, I agree about addressing it if it is a deal breaker or highly irritating to you!

[blandino]

I can honestly say I can never predict the response I will get from this forum. I thought I was going to get so many people upset with me for allowing this.

And I really thought everyone would be more upset about a family who habitually and purposefully pays late, and is avoiding bringing their daughter so that they don't have to pay.

Haha. I really thought I was going to get a stern talking to about allowing this. ::

[littlemissmuffet]

I'm pretty zero-tolerance on late payments... BUT it does seem like it's an issue about the parents being paid before they pay you... so I would bring it up and if that's the case, I'd provide an alternate payment date along with an inconvenience fee ($10/week?).

[Blackcat31]

I'm pretty zero-tolerance on late payments... BUT it does seem like it's an issue about the parents being paid before they pay you... so I would bring it up and if that's the case, I'd provide an alternate payment date along with an inconvenience fee ($10/week?).

That's how I would handle it as well.

I currently have a long term family that has been switched from paydays every Friday to now being paid on the 1st and 15th of each month.

Of course, the 1st and the 15th never fall on my required pay dates so what I did was have them pay their regular fee plus whatever additional days were between MY pay date and her next pay date so sometimes she is paying 2 weeks + 3 day and sometimes she is paying 2 weeks + 1 day..... however we can work it.

I "allow" this because the family is long standing and has never paid late and has excellent communication with me about this. (something your family is lacking though...)

I think it may be time to have a sit down conference with her about this so you can all come together and decide a payment plan that works for everyone and one that accounts for the fact that little DCG doesn't have to miss so much daycare just because of odd pay dates... kwim?

[JenNJ]

I have a family who gets paid on Tuesdays for one parent and the 15th & 30th for the other. They pay me on Wednesdays. I totally get why and understand it is out of their control. I just made another payment contract for them stating payday is Wednesday. I hole their checks until Friday when everyone else pays me and I do one deposit at the bank. Its not a problem for me.

[TheGoodLife]

That's how I would handle it as well.

I currently have a long term family that has been switched from paydays every Friday to now being paid on the 1st and 15th of each month.

Of course, the 1st and the 15th never fall on my required pay dates so what I did was have them pay their regular fee plus whatever additional days were between MY pay date and her next pay date so sometimes she is paying 2 weeks + 3 day and sometimes she is paying 2 weeks + 1 day..... however we can work it.

I "allow" this because the family is long standing and has never paid late and has excellent communication with me about this. (something your family is lacking though...)

I think it may be time to have a sit down conference with her about this so you can all come together and decide a payment plan that works for everyone and one that accounts for the fact that little DCG doesn't have to miss so much daycare just because of odd pay dates... kwim?

That seems like more of a headache than anything! When I had my girls in daycare, Id get paid once a month as a teacher. I'd put money aside in savings so I could have it ready when it was due. I'd never expect my DC to go around my paydays- that's just budgeting 101! How do these people manage any bills?!

[Blackcat31]

That seems like more of a headache than anything! When I had my girls in daycare, Id get paid once a month as a teacher. I'd put money aside in savings so I could have it ready when it was due. I'd never expect my DC to go around my paydays- that's just budgeting 101! How do these people manage any bills?!

Oh, it IS a headache sometimes but I agreed to it a while back and they have a great track record with me about communication/respecting policies and even paid the late fee while the change in their pay dates was going on....I actually asked them what was up and mom told me the whole story.

I don't think she would ever have asked me to make alternate pay date arrangements because she too, felt it wasn't my issue.

I offered so I am ok with it.

I see where you are coming from though and because she had the same attitude as yours, it was something I had no issue doing.

It's when parents EXPECT you to make exceptions that have me going "NO!" right away.