My daughter has went to a daycare center for a year and a half. The first year was awesome. Her teachers were great and she was learning so much. When she turned 3, she had to be moved up into a new class with new teachers. This is when things started to go down hill. She has had over 5 new teachers since the end of the summer. Nothing is ever stable and every time I go to pick her up, the teacher is yelling about something. She would randomly get put into time outs for things the teacher couldn't completely tell me about. Almost like she didn't know who did it and just picked a random kid. My daughter is very well behaved and only got one time out in a year. My patiene has been waning with this center for almost 6 months and I decided three weeks ago to pull her out. I gave a two week written notice with my check two weeks ago. I never told her teacher I did this and it was mentioned to me last week so I assumed everything was good and she would be done this week. I called about her schedule for the final week today and they informed me they never recieved a note so I would have to give them another two weeks. I don't feel I should have to pay them for another two weeks since her teacher obviously found out from someone who had read the note. I'm not sure what to do. They people who run it has also changed hands and they aren't very nice which is another reason I want her out of there!
Do you have a copy of the note? Always keep a copy, always put a date on things like this.
If you have found a new daycare for her then simply respond by showing them a copy of the note and tell them she won't be attending any longer. If they threaten legal action, threaten back. Tell them you feel their methods are questionable and a letter to whatever licensing agency will be sent asking for an investigation.
Do you have a copy of the written notice you gave them? And a cancelled check???? Did your check have a memo on it saying, final payment or for final 2 weeks?
You do not have to pay them another 2 weeks.
You did that already.
You can report them to the State agency that license daycares.
All Daycare facilities, have to be licensed.
You can file a complaint if they get ugly about this.
I would tell them you already gave your notice and will not give two more weeks point blank. Who did you turn your letter into? I would go straight to them. Also did you make a copy? Next time something like this happens I would make a copy and have whom ever you give the original to sign and date the copy that they received it!
I wouldn't pay them squat. I would just stop going as planned and not pay. What are they going to do about it?
Who did you give notice to? I am assuming you gave notice to the business office and that should be good enough. I don't see any reason for you to give notice to the classroom teacher.
M.
In the future email your notice and ask for a confirmation. That way there's no confusion. Other than that, you have to decide if you think it's worth fighting.
You don't have to give them anything. As soon as you have a new daycare secured, stop taking your daughter to the old one. Even if you have to lose some money over it, your daughter being in a better environment is the key. I admire you for recognizing a situation that was not good for her and moving her to a better one.
A., tell the director that you know that they got the letter because someone told the teacher you were leaving. Tell her that if she does not honor your notice, you will tell EVERYONE you can find to tell about your experience at the daycare, and it will cost them business. Ask her if shaking you down for 2 more weeks of money is worth all the bad publicity you are going to heap on them.
If she still demands the notice, go tell the new place what happened. Ask if you can wait another two weeks to bring your child to them because of the way this place is treating you. If they are a decent daycare, they will wait. If you have any friends who are willing to watch your daughter for a day, I'd use them so that your daughter's presence in that facility is lessened.
Now you know to make sure that a notice is signed off on (two copies - one for them to sign acknowledgment of, and one for them to keep).
Dawn
Sorry to say but if you didn't document the note you'll have to give them another 2 weeks notice or risk them hounding you for the two weeks payment. They could file in small claims court and you'd have to prove that you gave them 2 weeks notice.
Did you hand the note to someone? If so, name that person and that would be documentation of your giving them notice. Did you talk with someone about the notice in specific terms? If so that is documentation. Did you keep a dated copy. That's documentation.
What did the teacher specifically say to you? If she said she knew you were leaving that is documentation. But if she just said something vague then it's not proof that she knew.
You may have to accept this as a learning experience. Always keep a dated copy of notes, not just ones that give notice. And, always talk specifically to someone about leaving or about making changes or about requesting information and make note of the conversation on a calendar or in a journal.
If you decide to leave then start building documentation as best as you can from memory in preparation of a small claims suit. Write down conversations and approximate dates not only about leaving but about your efforts to gain co-operation from the facility. That way, if you go to small claims you have the ability to show that you worked up to leaving a note to end services. That might help your case.
Do you have a copy of the note? Did you have someone sign that they had received it?
