NCMA / Deposit Concerns

[manjay]

Hi ya, I have just been elected as a member of the National Policy Forum to represention the East Region and am attending a volunteers conference at the end of the month. One of the agenda items is How to Promote the NCMA! I feel that this is a matter that I need to bring up as I can see them loosing members hands over fist with information like this coming out.

I will report back with any information I get. I hope it will be of help.

You are so right Mick. I too believe that fundamentally the NCMA is a worthwhile organisation. However they are not doing them selves any favours in the way they are dealing with legal issues.

[Hebs]

Plus compensation for the trauma x

[michellethegooner]

Rang legal line back to update them - she said about ringing the police but they she added in that it might encourage tit for tat in that she makes allegations about me to Ofsted. my neighbour came round to see if i was alright bless her. My head is spinning and is all over the place.
i am soooo tempted to allow this go to court and see if i win - blu fin said that they would represent me - wow how lucky am I! This is ridiculous - basically because I have been nice and allowed the deposit to be offset against fees then I have shot myself in the foot. I asked why that is on the contract then and she said the contracts are perfectly fine.

She did say about the cooling of period and when I talked about this last year with Blu fin they said that there is no such thing - i asked her why they are contradicting themselves.

arrrrgggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh this is doing my head in totally.

That is why I would personally ring the police they may make complaints regardless at least then it is on record of a dispute

[wendywu]

I put in a complaint about the NCMA legal team years ago.

Well after 13 years I for one will NOT be using them again. From Oct onwards i will be going with MM.

Go to the police Pip and DONT refund, let them take you to court if they want to. THEY signed the contract.

[TheBTeam]

I must admit I thought for dh and I having one insured with NCMA and one with MM, and then picking the one that would help us the most in a situation, that said seems like MM might win hands down

[aly]

Ring the police - if you don't I will - I'll report a disturbance!

& you keep the money - if they take you to cuort - forget NCMA - just show the contract & today print from the NCMA website what it says about non - refundable deposits etc - case dismissed!

I would, as they could change it slightly in their favour etc.

[Mollymop]

My god, how disgusting this woman and her mother are to come round and scream at you in front of your mindees - Hugs.

NCMA are not doing themselves any favours by not supporting you, don't they realise how many childminders are on this forum who read these threads?

I for one am an NCMA member who has never needed to use their legal help but now I am wondering whether being with them is such a good idea! There have been so many threads in the past about NCMA not being there to help the minders in question that are in trouble, money owed to them - NCMA always come up with a hidden clause or something so that the minder is left out of pocket. They are no help at all sometimes!

I would be very tempted to let it go to court too, after all the parent signed the contract that clearly stated deposit taken and non - refundable. End of story

I would also think about giving NCMA (or Ofsted) a call about the parent screaming at you on your doorstep in front of mindees so that someone has a log just incase the parent does decide to complain to ofsted although if she did complain what exactly would she complain about when her child hasn't even started with you?

Hope u are ok ~?

[green puppy]

Sending hugs your way Pip, what an awful situation! I have just renewed my insurance with mm instead of ncma. Agree with the others though about logging a complaint with the police.

[miffy]

Hope you're OK, Pip.

I agree with everyone about notifying the police, even if she does go to Ofsted (and she might do that whether you've rung the police or not) at least you will have this on record.

I wouldn't refund her either - whatever NCMA say you have it in writing that she agreed to the deposit being non-refundable. I know it's very stressful but I wouldn't let her bully me, especially after what she did this morning.

Miffy xx

[dawn37]

You poor thing, this woman is a bully, you've had a very lucky escape in one respect as I feel you would've been constantly been in turmoil with this woman over her child. I would definitely ring the police so its on record, if she does take things up with ofsted, you havn't done anything wrong but at least a police report is there to show exactly what this woman is like..she doesn't stand a chance.
I can't believe how unsupportive NCMA are being, I've just been funded my insurance with them but I feel next year I will be changing to MM.

Sending you huge hugs xxx

Dawn

[dawn37]

Sorry, afterthought...If you don't report to the police & this goes to court, if you mention about her screaming at you in front of other mindee's, they may ask why you didn't report it to the police at the time?

Dawn

[cuffleygirl]

Pip - stand your ground - ring the police - let the parents take you to court - You will win it is commonsense a deposit is a deposit is a deposit - in this case for care in the future it was taken up so there parents forego the deposit.

Going to the police may instigate a tit for tat but ofsted will not want to go involved in a contractual dispute, for a start they cannot complain about care they haven't had any.

I also am going to go to MM when I renew, this is the deciding factor for me - I have a problem with NCMA's clause about childminders breaking contractual agreement by refusing care if the parent doesn't pay - that too is outrageous. It wouldn't be an issue to withdraw service for non payment in another line of business.

[WibbleWobble]

keep your chin up pip my love....you are in the right so dont let this awful woman and her mother get to you.

Regarding NCMA..well (sorry pauline) they sound like a right load of ! I am with them at the mo but as soon as it runs out i will be defecting to MM. I have not heard a positive thing about NCMAs support of the childminder...its all for the parent....well its not the flippin parents who pay for this service is it?


sorry for rant


sorry to pauline for language


mandy xxxx

[rickysmiths]

I hope you are alright Pip. I had a very similar situation in that a Contrat ended in a very unpleasant way. I think the parent must be directly related to your parents!

I think the fact you offset the fees in on part of the contact against future fees and then ticked the box that they were non returnable just makes the situation merky. I make it clear and mark on the contract that it is non-returnable and at the point of signing I say that as long as all payments etc are up to date I would hope to offset it against the 4 weeks notice period.

I make it very clear that if they fail to take up the place the deposit is not returned.

I would stick to your guns over this with the parent. The parentIhad a run in with turned up at my house to pay what she owed me and sign all the paperwork to end the contract. I was politness myself and made sue dh was present. She came in, threw and envelope of money in my face and then started the verbal abuse in the hopes I would reply in kind, which of course I didn't. We realised quite quickly that her friend was by the front door trying to record everything on her phone. I was a shaking , crying, wreck by the time she left threatening to take me to court. We rang the Police immediately and reported the incident incase she tried to asslut us again. On the Monday I also rang Ofsted so the incident was recorded incase she did make a complaint. I advise you to do the same, it is not tit for tat at all . It is called covering your own back.

On balance how likely are they to actually take you to Court? These people tend to get mouthy and abusive in the hopes they will intimidate us to their advantage because sadly they don't like coming face to face with the consiquences of their actions.

I never heard from my woman again. She had caused havoc at school as well and left the area soon after.

It is very distressing but stick to your guns. When you send the letter send it recorded delivery so she has to sign for it. At the same time send it to yourself recoded delivery as well so you have proof that it was sent and when, if she like my girl she will refuse it and it will come back to you, at least you can prove you tried to contact her.

Good luck. Big hugs. Remember you are right.

[Pipsqueak]

just rung NCMA membership and legal line to point out their error in what it says on the website and their response - 'oh - lets us check that'
a senior member of the legal team is supposed to be getting back to me asap

now getting snotty texts from the parent

[aly]

just rung NCMA membership and legal line to point out their error in what it says on the website and their response - 'oh - lets us check that'
a senior member of the legal team is supposed to be getting back to me asap

now getting snotty texts from the parent

make sure you keep them to prove to whomever

[TheBTeam]

just rung NCMA membership and legal line to point out their error in what it says on the website and their response - 'oh - lets us check that'
a senior member of the legal team is supposed to be getting back to me asap

now getting snotty texts from the parent

Make sure you save the texts!

[Minstrel]

Oh pip what a you've been landed with!

Hugs xxx

[Ripeberry]

Sorry you are having so much trouble Pip. As others have said, report it to the police and keep copies of all texts. That woman is harrasing you.
This is one of my biggest nightmares and there are a few famillies around here that do this kind of thing, even to pre-schools and primary schools who have lots of people. Worse if you are on your own
But you have your virtual friends on here and I'm sure some RL CMs will be able to help.
I'm thinking of changing to MM for the contracts side.

[LOOPYLISA]