Waiving Late Pickup Fees

[Meeko]

Case by case

If a mom who is normally never late calls and tells me she is stuck in traffic, I will wave the fee. However, when a mom calls and says she's stuck in traffic for the third time that week and every other mom coming from the same direction has no problem at all.......late fees apply. I just use my judgement. Some clients are honest as the day they were born. Others will use any and all excuses and lies to save themselves a buck and/or get around policy.

[Unregistered]

on the other hand

I'm a parent of 4 children one being a newborn and the other 3 are school aged. I have been late twice both due to car problems and did not have a cell to call but was about 10-15 min late when picking up my child. Today I made a honest mistake and didn't pick up my child until it was 35 min later than the normal pick up time. I was at my son't school presentation and like ALL of us mother's sometimes we forget...This stinks because I remember looking at the clock and reminding myself I had to go..one eye blink later ...DAMN I was late.. I have never done this before...and of course since I didn't have a cell to call I couldn't call~ The daycare was about to call Child Protective Services on me due to neglect! WTF are you kidding me!! After 35 min of a honest mistake and then want to charge me 50.00 for 35 min! Come on now..fine I can understand being paid 1.00 a min for being late...I understand I wouldn't want to work for free either but..come on and then on top of it give me a threat that they will call child services for me being late! Is this normal for child care centers to do this? Or is this lady just a HUGE BITCH! Anyone have answers please....??? Because I just don't understand this!

[momofboys]

I'm a parent of 4 children one being a newborn and the other 3 are school aged. I have been late twice both due to car problems and did not have a cell to call but was about 10-15 min late when picking up my child. Today I made a honest mistake and didn't pick up my child until it was 35 min later than the normal pick up time. I was at my son't school presentation and like ALL of us mother's sometimes we forget...This stinks because I remember looking at the clock and reminding myself I had to go..one eye blink later ...DAMN I was late.. I have never done this before...and of course since I didn't have a cell to call I couldn't call~ The daycare was about to call Child Protective Services on me due to neglect! WTF are you kidding me!! After 35 min of a honest mistake and then want to charge me 50.00 for 35 min! Come on now..fine I can understand being paid 1.00 a min for being late...I understand I wouldn't want to work for free either but..come on and then on top of it give me a threat that they will call child services for me being late! Is this normal for child care centers to do this? Or is this lady just a HUGE BITCH! Anyone have answers please....??? Because I just don't understand this!

You said you were late twice due to car problems & now 35 min late?! Wow, I'm sure you signed an agreement being made aware of late fees. The fees are high to encourage you to pick up on time. For some parents if the fees were low they would be late every single day. The provider is not a "huge expletive" as you so kindly put it. How would you like to work 35 min late with no notice? I think your provider has the right idea. I likely would not charge that much but would still charge at least $35.

[Unregistered]

I'm a parent of 4 children one being a newborn and the other 3 are school aged. I have been late twice both due to car problems and did not have a cell to call but was about 10-15 min late when picking up my child. Today I made a honest mistake and didn't pick up my child until it was 35 min later than the normal pick up time. I was at my son't school presentation and like ALL of us mother's sometimes we forget...This stinks because I remember looking at the clock and reminding myself I had to go..one eye blink later ...DAMN I was late.. I have never done this before...and of course since I didn't have a cell to call I couldn't call~ The daycare was about to call Child Protective Services on me due to neglect! WTF are you kidding me!! After 35 min of a honest mistake and then want to charge me 50.00 for 35 min! Come on now..fine I can understand being paid 1.00 a min for being late...I understand I wouldn't want to work for free either but..come on and then on top of it give me a threat that they will call child services for me being late! Is this normal for child care centers to do this? Or is this lady just a HUGE BITCH! Anyone have answers please....??? Because I just don't understand this!

There's nothing worse than wondering when a parent is going to show up, especially after about 10 minutes. At 35 minutes, she was probably quite freaked out and with no phone to call, what else could she have done but to call child services. If you were at a school presentation, you should have mentioned this to the provider when you found out you would be attending the presentation. Perhaps she wouldn't have felt the need to mention the call to child services then. At least she would've known where you were. You may have still been charged the late fees though.

Also, you can get a cell phone for emergencies. They have some that you just pay for what you use in minutes. It's not a bad investment when you have that many kids along in the car.

[MarinaVanessa]

If you're thinking about waiving fees then do it on a case by case basis and DO NOT advertise that you will do that. Just word your handbook to say that after x amount of time you will charge if they are late. If they call you to tell you they are running late and it doesn't happen very often or they don't take advantage of you, you can waive the fees and not charge.

The moment you advertise that you "may" waive certain fees you're asking for trouble. In parent language that means that they can try to be late as much as possible until you decide to actually charge them.

[Blackcat31]

I'm a parent of 4 children one being a newborn and the other 3 are school aged. I have been late twice both due to car problems and did not have a cell to call but was about 10-15 min late when picking up my child. Today I made a honest mistake and didn't pick up my child until it was 35 min later than the normal pick up time. I was at my son't school presentation and like ALL of us mother's sometimes we forget...This stinks because I remember looking at the clock and reminding myself I had to go..one eye blink later ...DAMN I was late.. I have never done this before...and of course since I didn't have a cell to call I couldn't call~ The daycare was about to call Child Protective Services on me due to neglect! WTF are you kidding me!! After 35 min of a honest mistake and then want to charge me 50.00 for 35 min! Come on now..fine I can understand being paid 1.00 a min for being late...I understand I wouldn't want to work for free either but..come on and then on top of it give me a threat that they will call child services for me being late! Is this normal for child care centers to do this? Or is this lady just a HUGE BITCH! Anyone have answers please....??? Because I just don't understand this!

we all forget our kids? :confused: I can honestly say THAT has never happened to me before.

In ALL my years of providing care I have NEVER heard that one before. ::

I'm sure the school you were at while watching your child's presentation had a phone in the office that you oculd have used. There were probably 15 parents sitting near you who probably had a cell phone you could have borrowed as well.

If I have a parent 35 minutes late (with no phone call) and was unable to contact any emergency contacts, I would absolutely call CPS. Who knows what could be wrong!

[DaisyMamma]

If a parent calls i waive the late fee. I have 3 parents who work in dr's office's and sometimes they don't get out in time. As long as they give me notice, i don't charge.

Are these parents making overtime during this time? Or getting paid for staying late? Or are they salary?

[DaisyMamma]

I'm a parent of 4 children one being a newborn and the other 3 are school aged. I have been late twice both due to car problems and did not have a cell to call but was about 10-15 min late when picking up my child. Today I made a honest mistake and didn't pick up my child until it was 35 min later than the normal pick up time. I was at my son't school presentation and like ALL of us mother's sometimes we forget...This stinks because I remember looking at the clock and reminding myself I had to go..one eye blink later ...DAMN I was late.. I have never done this before...and of course since I didn't have a cell to call I couldn't call~ The daycare was about to call Child Protective Services on me due to neglect! WTF are you kidding me!! After 35 min of a honest mistake and then want to charge me 50.00 for 35 min! Come on now..fine I can understand being paid 1.00 a min for being late...I understand I wouldn't want to work for free either but..come on and then on top of it give me a threat that they will call child services for me being late! Is this normal for child care centers to do this? Or is this lady just a HUGE BITCH! Anyone have answers please....??? Because I just don't understand this!

You are actually lucky you weren't charged $1 per minute, per child. With 4 little ones you really do need a cell phone. And there was definitely people with phones sitting next to you.
I'm sure it wasn't a "threat" to call childcare services, but actually that's the next step. No phone call from you and provider can't get in touch with anyone to take your kids, what would you expect the provider to do?