fall out over being late

[newandlearning]

hi all...

I'm not quite sure .. everything feels like its going wrong at the moment...

since the beginning of April one of my parents has been late on 8 occasions..
two of them the parent was 20 mins + late so have charged...

the others were all between 10-15 mins late and so today.. I asked parent
if she was ok with me adding up all these 10 min. intervals and invoicing her at end of month on my hourly rate rather than my late fee.

she got totally grumpy about it and said that she didn't want to pay it.. she
is always late in the mornings never gets to be till after the school run and I
think she thinks she's doing me a favour by being late then so can pick up late now.

I know her hours have changed at work and that's why she is late but it robs me of my own family time and have nearly been late for a physio appt myself because she was late.

am I wrong in asking to invoice.. or would you just put up with it?

any advice would be great :)

[Mookins]

I wouldnt ask!! its not her business you are running its yours!!

x x x

[cuffleygirl]

If you are working it you should be paid for it - as for being late in the morning - you cannot bank on it so have to be ready at the expected drop off time - ask the parent if she wants to adjust her contract to reflect her new hours at work - if you don't like the hours encroaching into your family time then you have the perfect excuse to give notice.

I know what you mean I've got a real sorry shower of parents at the moment all of which are early in the mornings and/or late in the evenings and frankly it winds me up - I live in the real world and understand there is traffic a late phone call etc but a I'm really sorry, or would you mind if I am ten early in the morning count for alot in my book - hate it when they don't even acknowledge poor time keeping!

[venus89]

I agree with th eabove - you certainly don't need to ask her, just tell her, stating the reason clearly, that you're adding an extra hour, say, to the bill. Then as cuffleygirl suggests I'd talk to Mum about timekeeping an possible change of hours so she can drop off later but knows you're not willing to work later. Or that you are willing to work later so long as you know you're doing it....

[Blue Boy]

you are right to charge for he lateness. If it continues to happen bearingin mind that you say that her work times have changed, maybe you should review the contract and amend it.

[Ripeberry]

One of my parents pays from 7.30am until 5.30pm, but can arrive between 7.30 and 8am and then will collect up to 6pm sometimes. I don't charge as it's still within my working hours and she usually picks up later if she dropped off later.
If she went over the 'lee-way' then I would impose a late charge, for example arrived after 6pm with no good explanation.
With the motorway traffic, it's difficult to get here on time.

[Twinkles]

Do you have a 'Fees and Charges ' policy ?

In mine it says ;

'contracted hours are not transferrable and arriving late does not entitle you be late collecting without further charge.' ( put a bit better than that but can't be bothered to get up and look ).

However, I don't charge for the odd ten minutes here and there. If it was a very regular thing I would ask them to change contracted hours to cover it.

[miffy]

I overlook the occasional lateness but if a parent was persistently late (and especially if they told me they didn't want to pay - cheek!!!!) then I would charge.

I wouldn't be adding all the time together either - it would be an extra hour each day they were late.

If the problem is because she's changed hours at work then maybe a contract review would sort it out without any more trouble

Miffy xx

[tashaleee]

I would suggest a contract review worded to the parent as 'obviously the current contract is no longer working' and you could see 'what would be best for her needs'

I would do a newsletter and put a copy of the policy stating late fees as a gentle reminder for all parents that contracted times are to be stuck to and dropping late does not mean you can pick up late

If you have a late fees policy in place then you are within your rights to charge this - it is not the parents choice only yours if you waive this :thumbsup:

[jo f]

i'd put it in her best interests to revise her contracted hours to prevent paying more for the time over she is

[mushpea]

I try and be flexible, i have the same problem but the other way round so i supposed dosent seem as bad by the end of the day, child is supposed to arrive at 8am and go at 6pm but arrives at 7.40am every morning and leaves anywhere between 4.30pm and 5.45pm so i dont charge the extra although did have a moan at the child this morning cause as soon as his mum left its 'what can i do, theres nothing to play with' 'can i have a drink' all of which i said yes when i get time , of course this didnt suit and i ended up saying to him 'if you didnt arrive 20min early everyday then things woudl be ready when you arrive!" bless, i know its not his fault but it can be annoying having him pester when i am trying to get my own kids ready for school.

anyway yes if you feel its encroaching on your time then charge her but dont ask her, may be you could say i have added the extra time up and added it on at the end of the week as per the hourly charge to save you paying the late fee this week but next week i will be charging late fees, this way it looks like your doing her a favor but she is still paying

[suzyblue]

I had a parent that was late every day - she was contracted till 6 but came about 20 past and stayed till about 6.45. I eventually put up a notice informing parents that from the next month I would be charging over time as stated in the contracts. This mother then burst out crying as she couldnt understand why I would charge her and then she told everyone at school how awful I was to do such a thing! She never paid but as I had had her son for about 6 years at the time and then his baby sister I didnt want to terminate the contract. Im not so soft anymore!!

[angeldelight]

Any update on this

Is parent still being funny about it?

I would review the contract times if her hours have changed

Like you though I would feel inclined to start charging

Good luck hope you work it out

Angel xx

[SmartKids]

I use to have a parent like yours - late in the morning could be up to 2 hours late and late in the evening - I started charging as per my late pick up policy a late pick up charge and because it was after 6pm it was 11/2 times hr rate - thinking that would put them off - but oh no it did not - at least by charging I wasn't so irrate - but it was also someone who liked to come in chat for a while whilst their child got everything out again - :angry: :angry: :angry: Good luck with whatever you decided

[newandlearning]

hi.. the update is ..

I sent the mum an email saying I was sorry she was upset but felt as this had happened 7 times in April that I needed to at least add up the minutes and charge at my hourly rate (already being flexible as not my late charge rate!)..

she has recently moved her other child to a different school which means she can't get to me quick enough for 3.30 .. I understand this but on mondays and tuesdays especially I don't have other mindees and on these days I have things to do with my own kids like doctors appts (because my boy has just been diagnosed with epilepsy) etc. she nearly made me late for a doctor's appt. last week and nearly had to take the mindee with me. Its stressful and annoying.

anyway.. she is currently planning on reducing her hours at work then she will drop off at 9.30 and pick up at 2.30 and then do her school run.. but this isn't happening for at least another 5 weeks.

I replied to her email saying that as a natural review is going to be happening shortly anyway hopefully at that time we can set up hours which will work better for her and then that way she won't have to pay more than she currently is.

This morning when she dropped off she didn't even look at me .. she was all nice to her child ... I said we're going to visit a farm today 'x' and she said oh that' good 'x' isn't it.. then turned on her tail and stomped off!! felt like shouting 'bye then!' :laughing: :laughing: ... but thought best of it.

You know I do funding for 2.5 hours a day which means soon I'll only get paid for 2.5 hours from her and she will be taking up a full time space but I'm only going to get £12.75 from this family. its a ridiculous amt of money and on top of this the mum is grumpy!!

[jaja]

I had this issue with a family and always ten mins early in the morning and ten mins ealry at night, i asked mum about changing her hours and she had a wobble and pulled her out of the morning, i think i upset her because she thought she could drop off that ten mins because she was early at pick up, problem was i wasnt ready ten mins early so i would constantly be running late and needed that extra ten mins to do things with mine, getting dressed, breakfast, risk assessments, clearing, getting stuff ready and once i even had the hairdryer in my hands, the worse part came on my birthday and annaversary of my dad dieing and i got cross and told her that it couldnt continue as i hadnt had time to get ready or even a cup of tea with my children, we resoled the situation and nana started having her then she told me a month later that actually she couldnt afford me so decided to move her to her aunties instead, I see her dropped off and collected every day and i miss having her.....

sorry ive gone into a whinge, what i meant to say is if you are not happy say someting and stick to it before it gets out of hand and you snap, its your business and when you add up how much money and time it is over a year you wont believe it, we added it up to over 400 quid.... and my sanity.....

hope it works out for you and i am hpoing parent gets a pay rise and comes back xx

[Tippy Toes]

I would definately charge her for the extra. I had a parent who was constantly late on a friday afternoon, starting with ten mins then eventually up to 20-30 mins!! Worst part was she would not even mention the fact she was late! Even when I promoted her such as 'Was the traffic bad?' she would still say nothing! So i started to invoice her for it, £3.50 for each late pickup (for every half hr) she eventually asked me if i could increase her contracted hours.

The thing is you really do start to get fed up with it and become cross with the parent!

If the parent is that grumpy, annoying and getting to you I would terminate contract, its just not worth it!

Good luck hope things improve for you :)

[caz3007]

I must be lucky, most of mine pick up 10 mins early. One of my mums occasionally has a meeting at work and MAY be late, but she always asks me if its ok. I have very rarely had a couple of parents be late, one was 45 minutes, but didnt charge as this is really rare.

If it was happening all the time, then I would say I had to charge

[Curly Quavers]

ah just give notice!!!!! :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

I know I am over sensitive about EVERYTHING but why should we have to deal with people like this day in day out?

[Mookins]

ah just give notice!!!!! :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

I know I am over sensitive about EVERYTHING but why should we have to deal with people like this day in day out?

i dont tolerate any bad manners, bad attitudes etc from adults...had too much of that working in pubs and hotels in the past...i could be broke but I would rather say "ex-terminate" than take c*#p like that

x x