Please help!

[littlefish]

Hi everyone, can you please advise me with an issue I have encounter, I recently had an interview with a lady who wanted part time daycare for her 2 years old daughter only two days a week and she mentioned her mom was doing the dropping and picking up so I took her deposit, and a cheque for October when she came to the interview she didn't bring the girl and I asked her where was she? she said grandma is taking care of her so she agreed to stay in my daycare beginning October 1st, she phoned me last week that she wanted to visit with the daughter to see my place and to meet me I agreed she came by on Monday and surprisingly with her mom as well I didn't mind because I needed to meet her as well because she was doing the droppings anyway then both came into my daycare and my other kids were misbehaving because they knew somebody stranger was in daycare, they seem not to like it because the other children were out of control I was so stress out so today was the first day of daycare the girl never showed up not even a phone called and I went to my computer and found a email saying that my daycare is not a good fit for her now she said just rip my cheque and does it. What do I do? I lost another family just because of her should charge for the full Month she signed contract and everything please help I need to know soon. thank you so much for reading. I'll wait for your helpfull response.

[Crayola kiddies]

first ....I never do interviews during daycare hours for two reasons ....the kids will misbehave and I don't know these people and I do not being strangers around my daycare children
second ...I never accept a child into care with out meeting the child first
third ...my contract says deposits are non refundable .....what does yours say?

[littlefish]

Thanks for your input, my contract says non refundable as well, I'll be more careful next time how I manage the interviews this one went down the drain. The mom and Grandma were not a good fit for me, so I'll not
charge for October and I'll be glad not to have nothing to do with them.

[Dreamalittledream]

So sorry that happened to you.
2 things I do, My enrollment is in 3 steps...
I schedule a phone interview, I email a copy of my contract/handbook for them to look over before hand and then a visit to my home. After that, then contract is signed/deposit left.
Secondly, I never schedule a visit during daycare hours. My focus cannot possibly be on the interview, where it needs to be.

[mickyc]

agree with the others. I only interview after hours and the child must be present. My deposit is non refundable and cashed immediately.

[5 Little Monkeys]

I'm odd one out. I only interview during dc hours. I want to see how their child acts around my current group. I guess I'm lucky because I have had only one child misbehave during a meeting and it actually worked out okay because it also enabled the mom to see me in action. As far as strangers, it's no different to me than play groups, playgrounds, library story times etc. do what works for you! I personally only interview out of work hours if the parent can't come during the day. I do enough dc stuff outside of hours that for me, I choose to interview during dc hours and it works beautifully for me.

My deposit is also non-refundable and they sign a paper agreeing to this. Hope you fill your spot soon!

[Secondtimearound]

I do both , I have some days of the week when I will set up an interview and other days when I wouldn't lol !
I have a couple of kids who like to control an interview !!
That's too bad though !! I had a potential client swing by early and check out my backyard ( it's small ) drive away and text later saying they found someone closer . We utilize the park and use my backyard for pick up play . My inside is my seller and my programs , I felt frustrated at first but then was ok about it !

[littlefish]

Thank you all for your amazing advice, long time ago when I was starting my business a daycare provider told me to set my interviews when the children are around so I kept with that advice but that was then, now I noticed a lot of changes in clients behaviours so I'll have to go with interviews after my working hours, we do so much to be so flexible with their needs that at the end in this case it didn't work out but I want to be positive I know I lost my Oct income but I think it was for the best the grandma was very sarcastic and I watched that in just 15 min she was in my daycare, I kept on thinking how was she going to be on those two days when she dropped her grandaughter off I didn't like that she kept being bossy to my daycare children and telling them what to do so I'm glad that it didn't go far, I hope the cheque won't bounce because I had the right to deposit the cheque today, I can't believe their are dishonest people! she couldn't call me to cancel daycare she had to send me an email haha what a joke!

[Secondtimearound]

You meet all kinds of people !! I had a grandma who was sarcastic every time she came ! Once in the summer she came to pick up and her grandchild had gone down the slide and gotten his bottom wet . She says , " well he's soaked , did you let him sit in a puddle ?" There was no puddles anywhere , it was summer , the kids had emptied a cup of water down the slide ! Ugh or he was screaming his head off because he wanted all of the dinosaurs the kids were playing with and she said , "oh he's not allowed to play with the kids or dinosaurs ?
Every time she came , I was so mature sometimes I just wanted to say , nope not him ! He's not allowed to play with the kids or dinosaurs !!! Ugh
I think you may have dodged a bullet !!!

[Rachael]

I do interviews when it suits me. Sometimes thats at 9am, after all my children are here but early enough that no one is grumpy and they've just had morning snack so they aren't hungry either. Other times, it's immediately after closing in the evenings.

But before then, I have had a telephone interview and determined they are a good fit, plus sent them my contracts to review. This means when they come to the house, there is minimal time needed. All that has to happen, is they need to see the facility and ask any questions which have arisen from the contact/handbook paperwork.

I will not hold a place for anyone until the deposit is in my hand and a contract signed. Deposits are in cash, a receipt given and they are non-refundable.

If you have banked your deposit, great. It's non-refundable. She is right in asking you to tear up the cheque for October fees though, as October fees will never be due unless you've provided care - which you haven't. Crappy that they didn't let you know but some people are crappy.

In future, don't permit drop ins, and schedule interviews for when it suits you based on the type of children you have in your care. Nothing you can do now but learn from it and move on. It sounds like it wouldn't have been a good fit so try and see the silver lining.