Deposit And Overnight Cancellation

[dEHmom]

wow that just erks me. i can't stand liars! its no different if you put a deposit on a house, and then decide otherwise, OR even if you realize you can't get the financing for it! you are still out your deposit because the deposit says "i am 100% agreeing to take this".
it really bothers me how people have such major issues with daycare providers. especially when it comes to the cost. I understand it is expensive. but if you break down your charge/day by the amount of hours the child is in your care, it's a few measly dollars an hour. for heaven's sake, you pay your plumber more! from my experience, people care more about the cost of childcare than the quality of child care. blows my mind. I don't trust anyone to care for my children, so I am staying home until all of them are in school. And then I'll probably take on 4 full timers anyway!

[Blackcat31]

There's no short cuts to finding good day care parents. You can't do it over the phone. You can't do a thousand phone calls and have it equal to the one interview where you are face to face and get to see the kids and the kids/parents in action.

I don't allow people to sign up after the frist two interviews. I make sure they really have time to THINK about it. I make sure the interviews are days if not weeks apart. On the third interview THEN they can write me a check. I don't do a third interview unless I'm sure I want to give them a probationary slot.

If you want good day care parents you have to really work at the interview/screening process.

Ya know after doing daycare for so many years, I'd always consider myself lucky when I got a good family. But when you really think about it, it isn't always the care we provide or our rates or what we have to offer that dictates if we get good families or not it really is the screening process. No matter how we change or adapt our programs to fit the communities needs, or how tough we get with the rules and enforcing them, it really all comes down to the screening process. There are bad and good and so-so families everywhere. It's how WE weed them out and sort through them that really makes a difference in the type of families we get. Nannyde has the right idea, that proper screening makes ALL the difference. I have had a few families that said all the right things and agreed to all the policies, but still I had a weird feeling....and every time the weird feeling turned out to be right. I didnt have problems with paying or not showing up or even sending their kids sick; in fact I didnt have any issues that even related to childcare policies...the issues I had were something I didnt even think about and needless to say I ended up FINALLY terming them and spending the next few weeks wondering why I didnt listen to my instincts in the first place.
I know that I for one, am going to focus more on the interviewing process and screening families in the New Year and hopefully reaping the rewards of what child care should be like for providers.

[jen]

If she didn't sign the contract you technically can't keep the money. .

I don't think thats true. If the client were to take them to court to get the deposit refunded it would be their word against the providers.

[dEHmom]

Well.....

I'm furious right now! Just checked and the parents cancelled the cheque for the deposit 3 days after! I wish I knew before hand that I could've taken it to their bank, or even mine and gotten it certified! GRRRRRRRR

[kidkair]

Live and learn. Take a deep breath. Let it go. And don't make the same mistake twice.

[KEG123]

That ****s. Live and learn I guess.

[Preschool/daycare teacher]

Well.....

I'm furious right now! Just checked and the parents cancelled the cheque for the deposit 3 days after! I wish I knew before hand that I could've taken it to their bank, or even mine and gotten it certified! GRRRRRRRR

How does a person cancel a check after it's already been deposited into your account?! If that's possible what keeps everyone from doing that after they write a check for something? Or did I misunderstand? I thought you said you deposited their check after your daughter's dance lesson (the same night they paid you). Then talked to them on the phone and they asked for it back, but you said no. Are you saying they were able to cancel their check after you'd already deposited it and told them no refunds? That sounds like a messed up banking system to me!
Next time I'd definitely make them sign a paper saying they were paying a non-refundable deposit to hold their child's spot. Even if they haven't signed a contract yet (since in that case they wouldn't have had time to read it all before signing), I'd at least have them sign their name and date with a statement that they understand it's non-refundable to hold their spot.

[MyAngels]

How does a person cancel a check after it's already been deposited into your account?! If that's possible what keeps everyone from doing that after they write a check for something?

They called their own bank and put a "stop payment" on the check. It's not difficult to do, but there usually is a fee that's equivalent to an NSF fee. There's really nothing to stop everyone from doing it, although stop payments are usually reserved for cases of lost or stolen checks or fraud, not routine checks that you write yourself.

[dEHmom]

Because I deposited it, without certifying it (cost me money to do so), or going out of my way to take it to their bank directly to secure the funds, they were still able to stop payment on it because it hadn't cleared their bank yet. I don't have holds on my account, never have, so if I deposit a cheque I can pull the money immediately.

I talked to a few lawyers around here, explained the situation EXACTLY and they advised me that without a contract signed, a deposit is a deposit and majority of them are NON-Refundable. The reason a deposit gets placed is to guarantee that service is yours. Goes both ways. She insisted on meeting on the Tuesday because they weren't available the Wednesday morning, and she wanted to secure those 2 spots for her boys before anyone else placed a deposit. She understood too that the deposit was non refundable and would be put towards her childs care.

Anyways, I was informed that if contacting them by phone to request payment was not successful, to write them the demand for payment with a set amount of time to pay it.

In my demand I was as thorough as possible with information regarding her sons names, cheque written date, deposit date, stop payment dates, phone call dates, as well as when childcare would commence dates. This way here, should it actually be an issue in court, I can say "how else would I know the kids names, etc etc etc". Just because I didn't have the contract signed by them doesn't mean anything. They had a verbal agreement with me, they knew they pushed ahead in line and cost me potential clients by doing so.

I am giving them 3 days to call me back before I mail out my letter to them. Registered, so that will be an addition charge to them. The letter explains that should this matter need to be settled in court, not only will they owe 200 for the original cheque, they will owe NSF fees, loss of income due to clients turned away AND for time spent in court, plus the court fee, etc.

My husband says I should pursue it into the court room should it head that way, however I think if they don't respond to the letter with a payment, I'll just learn from my mistake. I don't think I will bother taking the time to go to court for 200 dollars. Just a tick off. My own fault, but I assumed because they insisted on coming before anyone else just to make sure their spot was guaranteed it meant they were serious about the daycare.
I can say though, in a sense, that I'm very glad things turned out this way. Probably saved myself trouble down the line.

[dEHmom]

Does anyone know how to find out the address of someone who has an unlisted phone number?
The address I got from those people isn't valid any longer. They've moved since, so it's their old address.

[dEHmom]

never mind I guess it's the right address, just wrong postal code. Easy Fix!

[Preschool/daycare teacher]

Just curious if you have heard anything back from them yet? I still cannot get over how a bank can allow someone to cancel their check for a small fee, that they've already written to someone. I understand for lost or stolen checks, but the banks need to have some kind of procedure so that that is the only way a person can cancel their check. That's stealing, plain and simple, if you ask me. They received the spot held for them since they paid the deposit. But taking that money back without your go ahead just sounds like they stole from you. And was dishonest, in the least.
Hope the letter scared them to their senses so that they'll pay you back...