Late Payment Policy

[jammiesandtea]

This guy is big-time trouble. Previously paying late is strike number one. The comment he made after he slipped on the floor was strike number two. Questioning your new late payment fee and the "legalities" of it, is strike number three. I would turf his behind before he can screw you over, because he most certainly will.

And for the record, what he is referring to is interest accrual. It does not apply here. You are not charging him an interest percentage per day, or interest for the benefit of a loan, etc. You are charging him a penalty fee for being late with his daycare service payment. It's a PENALTY as a consequence of doing something he knew he shouldn't do, and chose to do anyway. He can avoid having to pay the penalty, not by attempting to hide behind a (non-existent in this case) law, but by NOT PAYING HIS DAMN DAYCARE FEES LATE.

I understand you like his kid, and maybe you need the income from them, and filling spots may not be so easy in your area? I can empathize. But mark my words. This will not end well, and if it's not you who terms, it will be you who gets burned.

[Other Mummy]

Term them. Do it today. This guy is going to make your life very difficult. I don't care if I was down to one child. I would term.

[mcar]

I agree with everyone else that this guy sounds like trouble. I have a termination for non-payment (which I have done) and huge fees for NSF cheques but I do not have a late fee. I do however require all my parents to hand me post-dated cheques every three months. I am normally handing out a newsletter based on the season every three months and put a reminder in for cheques. I send an email reminder the week before. If they are more than two days late, I require the next batch to be for six months or until the end of their contract. It has worked so far

[gravy_train]

Can't believe I am back on here posting about this guy (well actually, yes I can), but here goes. Earlier this week there was an incident where I asked him how his first day back at work was after the holidays and he replied, "good - some of us like our jobs." I had to pick my jaw up off of the ground after that.

Next, I had to close early for an appointment and he came rushing in 2 minutes after my closing time (happens 50% of the time when he picks the child up), was not apologetic and became very defensive and tried to shrug it off when I said that I really need him to be here to pick his child up on time, especially that day when I had a scheduled appointment that I had to get to on time. He said, "well, it's X:01." As my husband said, you can't rush into the grocery store 1 minute after it closes - that's why we have closing times. We all know that it takes a good three-four minutes to get the child dressed to go outside and then another few minutes before the child is in the carseat and out of the driveway. More than that though is that I really feel a lack of respect going on here and that he thinks that his time is more valuable than mine. Makes me so mad!!
Do you consider 1-3 minutes after your closing time to be a late pick up?

[mickyc]

Yep that is a late pickup! I would charge for it. Also wondering if he is constantly late picking up why he is still there?

[AmandaKDT]

Yes, I have charged it to a family that was having issues with arriving on time. It have become a non-issue now because I did it.

My sister was accidently late picking up her kids from her daycare center on new years eve because she didn't notice the sign saying they were closing early. So she had to pay $60 for being 15 minutes late - ouch! Be sure she will make sure they are never picked up late again and she will take the time to read the signs! They charge $2 per minute per child - I think I need to raise my late arrival fee! Lol!

[Crayola kiddies]

well I cant believe your still putting up with him ..... he sounds like the dad of the family I term a year ago....he had a problem with my holidays and he made a comment like "I work for the government and I get 4 weeks holiday and your just here and you want three weeks? and he waved his hand to signify my playroom when he said "your just here" I handed him a term notice the next day .....he had absolutely no respect for what I did and he had made other disparaging comments prior to that and that was the final straw.....this type of person thinks you are beneath him and he is proving that to you by being just a few minutes late .....if I was closing to go to an appt and this was prearranged I would expect parents to be there 5 mins early in order to get the child dressed and out the door, however when this parent was not there at 5 mins to closing time I would have dressed the child and be standing on the door step with my vehicle running so that when they pulled up you hand the kid off and say "you a few mins late I need to get to my appt" .....this guy is passive aggressive and I would show him the door

[5 Little Monkeys]

I don't have a late fee but I don't accept their child back until payment is paid. I ask that payment is here in the mornings but sometimes a parent forgets the cheque or mom wrote the cheque and dad didn't bring it so there are times I don't get paid until the end of the day, but that's not a big issue to me unless it's done repeatedly. I don't go to the bank until the evening or the next day anyways.

If you have it in your contract that the late fee is "x" and the parent doesn't want to agree to that, then I would say "I'm sorry but all families have to agree to my contract and if they choose not too, than alternate care is needed. Would you like to give your notice now?"

As for 1-3 minutes late, no I likely wouldn't charge my late fee which is $10 for the first 15 minutes unless it happened often. The times that the parents have been late, it's been a noticeable time and I've charged but I would likely give a 5 mins grace period. If I needed to be out the door right away I would have the child dressed and ready to go ASAP though!

[gravy_train]

i know, i know... my partner and i are planning another baby ( i actually just had a miscarriage a few weeks ago) and I thought I would be closing end of June at the latest so was hopign to just kind of coast through the next few months without having to find a new family.

[gravy_train]

AmandaKDT - so would you charge your late fee to someone arriving 1-2 minutes after your closing time? The thing with this guy is that he is late at least half of the time he picks the child up and isn't the least bit apologetic about it.. combined with his other behaviours, i am just fed up!