hayjay1987
26-10-2010, 06:31 AM
Hi everyone, well what a nightmere this is.....
Back in sept 08 I took on a child and her parents are from very hight and respected jobs. The mum is a teacher and when we done the contracts we had an agreement that over the school terms this little girl was not to come to my setting bacause her mum was not at work, free of charge. Things were fine, they were late paying ALOT of times to a point I had to put in a late payment fee, they totally messed me about very often. I thought about putting my notice in a couple of times but thought against it as I thought they were a nice couple, their child is fantastic, so I left it how it was.
After every summer holidays I wrote out a new contract changing the times as the child went half time at school ect, but this summer holiday she was due to go school full time. I texted parents through the holidays when we can meet up to discuss new arangments......no reply......then mum decided to text me when she was on holiday and all it said was 'I'm inturkey, won't be back for 2 weeks', well in that 2 weeks I went away to Egypt and just before the schools started back I got a text (when I was away) saying 'when are you ba k from holiday, need to talk about the arrangments' so itold her I wasn't back until the Thursday. That weekend when I was home, I tried to contact her again but it wasn't until the Sunday night when her father texted me saying grace will be coming the Monday morning, but then ithought well I've not got a new contract set up yet although I still had the old one so I text dad and said I cannot start a child without no contract so I told them the other one never necessary ran out so I will amend it with new times, payments ect. So the child came for the week, and the next week. The week following without no notice mum text me and said grace won't be coming today as I'm on the sick for a week.....ok fine but you still need to pay, this went on for 3 weeks. Last week in Leicester it was half term so I didn't expect the child to come and there was no fee again, then Sunday night after not hearing from parents AGAIN, I text and asked if child was coming....no reply again. Sunday evening at about 10pm dad text me saying child will not coming again because it's half term for the secondry school and mum is off, I replied back saying I only work to primary holidays as I'm registered to care for under 8s so I said I will speak to my development officer and see what she says because they may still be liable for paying.....no reply again!! Yesterday morning I had a very stern text from dad saying with immidiate effect child will not be coming and they will not be paying the 4 weeks notice as they did not sign a new contract (even though the old one was still in practice but just amended, which I informed the parents), so I told them they do owe the money and written notice because they knew I amended the old one and the was fully prepared to send their child for 3 weeks knowing this. I cannot get hold of my development officer so I have come on here for advice,
Am I right to say they owe me the money?
I don't want to get NCMA involved just yet until I know I'm completly in the right. On my knowledge, contracts do not run out and can be amended any which way as long as you have proof the parents are aware and the old contract clearly states the child does not attend when it is school holidays, surly it's not complusary to write a new one out every time? I just do e a new contract purly through good will and to refresh our memorys??
Any advice I will be so grateful for
thanks xxxx
Back in sept 08 I took on a child and her parents are from very hight and respected jobs. The mum is a teacher and when we done the contracts we had an agreement that over the school terms this little girl was not to come to my setting bacause her mum was not at work, free of charge. Things were fine, they were late paying ALOT of times to a point I had to put in a late payment fee, they totally messed me about very often. I thought about putting my notice in a couple of times but thought against it as I thought they were a nice couple, their child is fantastic, so I left it how it was.
After every summer holidays I wrote out a new contract changing the times as the child went half time at school ect, but this summer holiday she was due to go school full time. I texted parents through the holidays when we can meet up to discuss new arangments......no reply......then mum decided to text me when she was on holiday and all it said was 'I'm inturkey, won't be back for 2 weeks', well in that 2 weeks I went away to Egypt and just before the schools started back I got a text (when I was away) saying 'when are you ba k from holiday, need to talk about the arrangments' so itold her I wasn't back until the Thursday. That weekend when I was home, I tried to contact her again but it wasn't until the Sunday night when her father texted me saying grace will be coming the Monday morning, but then ithought well I've not got a new contract set up yet although I still had the old one so I text dad and said I cannot start a child without no contract so I told them the other one never necessary ran out so I will amend it with new times, payments ect. So the child came for the week, and the next week. The week following without no notice mum text me and said grace won't be coming today as I'm on the sick for a week.....ok fine but you still need to pay, this went on for 3 weeks. Last week in Leicester it was half term so I didn't expect the child to come and there was no fee again, then Sunday night after not hearing from parents AGAIN, I text and asked if child was coming....no reply again. Sunday evening at about 10pm dad text me saying child will not coming again because it's half term for the secondry school and mum is off, I replied back saying I only work to primary holidays as I'm registered to care for under 8s so I said I will speak to my development officer and see what she says because they may still be liable for paying.....no reply again!! Yesterday morning I had a very stern text from dad saying with immidiate effect child will not be coming and they will not be paying the 4 weeks notice as they did not sign a new contract (even though the old one was still in practice but just amended, which I informed the parents), so I told them they do owe the money and written notice because they knew I amended the old one and the was fully prepared to send their child for 3 weeks knowing this. I cannot get hold of my development officer so I have come on here for advice,
Am I right to say they owe me the money?
I don't want to get NCMA involved just yet until I know I'm completly in the right. On my knowledge, contracts do not run out and can be amended any which way as long as you have proof the parents are aware and the old contract clearly states the child does not attend when it is school holidays, surly it's not complusary to write a new one out every time? I just do e a new contract purly through good will and to refresh our memorys??
Any advice I will be so grateful for
thanks xxxx