Originally Posted by Core12:
Currently, my policy is to get one week deposit to hold a spot and then it will be used for the last week their child is in care. I have been reading other posts and noticed a lot of ppl are stating their deposit is non refundable...just wondering if maybe that would work for me.
Using a "deposit" and applying it towards their last week of care
IS having a non-refundable policy. You aren't giving them the money back, you are applying it towards something. You just have to say that it's non-refundable.
I don't call it a "deposit", I call mine a "fee". The word deposit insinuates that you get it back and since I don't give it back I call it a fee instead. Tom Copeland has a good article about it
http://tomcopelandblog.com/how-would...rs-program-and.
I don't call it a "holding fee" like Tom suggests but that's because I have a separate fee that I charge if someone wants to start later than a week (I don't hold spots if they're not going to start within a month).
I charge all new full-time clients a flat two-week security fee of 2 weeks worth of full-time care, and part-timers 2 weeks worth of part-time care. If part-timers move up to full-time care then pay the difference in the deposit. If part-timers later move back down to part-time they can give me enough notice to cover their holding fee or they lose it, it's non-refundable.
So for example if a part timer enrolls for 3 days at $155 a week they pay a two-week security fee of $310 plus $155 for the first week of childcare. If they don't want to start within a week then there's a weekly holding fee on top of that.
Later if they move up to full-time then they pay an additional $90 to go towards their 2-week security fee.
If they move back down to part-time then they can give me a minimum of 2 weeks notice but if if they give me less notice than their security fee covers then they don't get a refund for the difference.