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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Please Critique Term/Late Payment Notice Letter
Holiday Park 10:26 AM 12-30-2012
This is a spin off from my prior post called another non payment issue, wwyd

Here is what I have typed up in my notes , ready to send by email.

" Late Payment Notice

Dear ************

Your child care fee of $100.00 was pro-rated due to being closed jan 1st, and also subtracted $5.00 for over payment of your previous payment for last week. Your fee for $70.00 the week of Jan 2-Jan 4,2013 has not been paid and is now over due .

Please pay this balance in full by 5:30 PM on Monday Dec 31 to avoid termination of child care services.
Payment for child care is due on Friday's by 5:30pm, or the last attended day of each week if Im closed on a Friday (or either of us on a vacation/absence) .
Your prompt payment ensures that I can provide for my family and pay my bills on time.

Also, the Parent Handbook was sent out 2 weeks ago and the due date for having contracts signed was Dec 30TH . I have not been contacted in any way regarding making plans to have these forms signed, since **** was out on vacation last week. If you wish to continue care with me you need to come by to sign the new contract by Monday Dec 31 no later than 5:30pm. So wpayment for this week plus contract signing is due at that time, no later.

Otherwise , here are your options for terminating care :

Option 1:
If you feel you are not in agreement with the new Hand Book terms, and /or do not wish to continue care any further from this point, you do not have to pay the fee for this week and I will have your child's things ready for pick up on my front door.

Option 2:
If you would like to discontinue care but need an extra week, you can do so, as long as the fee for this upcoming week, as well as for the week of Jan 8-11 is paid in full ,upfront by Monday no later than 5:30pm.
Sincerely, *********

Thank you! "
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Holiday Park 11:26 AM 12-30-2012
My husband said:
" I would erase the part your prompt payment ensures that I can provide for my family / pay bills. Your prompt payment ensures child care services for said week "
So I'm removing that part. That was actually part of a late payment notice form I used from the daycarelady.com website.
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MarinaVanessa 12:47 PM 12-30-2012
How about this instead:

Dear DCP

Your child care fee for the week of Jan 2-Jan 4 2013 has not been paid and is now overdue. Here is a breakdown of your fees:

$***.xx regular child care fee
$ XX.xx credit due to Jan 1st holiday (daycare is closed)
$XX.xx Subtotal
$ X.xx credit for over-payment of previous week
$XX.XX Balance

Please pay this balance in full by 5:30 PM on Monday Dec 31 to avoid termination of child care services.

As a reminder, payment for child care is due on Friday's no later than 5:30 pm, or the last attended day of each week if the daycare is closed (or if a client is on vacation).

Also, the Parent Handbook was sent out 2 weeks ago and the due date for having contracts signed was Dec 30TH . I have not yet received your new contract or have been contacted regarding these forms. If you wish for me to continue child care services please sign the new contract and have it to me by Monday Dec 31 no later than 5:30 pm along with your payment.

If you feel that you are not in agreement with the new contract and policies, and/or do not wish to continue child care services, here are your options:

Option 1:
Contact me no later than Monday Dec 31 no later than 5:30 pm to notify me and you will not have to pay the fee for this week and I will have your child's things ready for pick up and place them near my front door.

Option 2:
If you would like to discontinue care but need an extra week, you can do so, as long as the fee for this upcoming week, as well as for the week of Jan 8-11 is paid in full ,upfront by Monday no later than 5:30pm.

If I do not hear any communication from you by the deadline it can be assumed that you wish to no longer continue child care services and child care services will no longer be provided effective immediately. Your child's belongings will only be held for a maximum of two weeks, after that your child's items will be donated or disposed of as deemed necessary. Thank you for your understanding and promptness in this matter.

Sincerely, *********


I'm curious to know if you have tried to call them before you send the notice out. And are you planning on emailing it?
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Holiday Park 01:14 PM 12-30-2012
On Friday I accidentally called her (touch screen phone was not locked) while out running arrends after my 1dcg left. It was 20 minutes until mypayment deadline time when she texted me saying she couldn't return my call becase she was at work. And then a few minutes later she texted that dcb would not be attending care this upcoming week (again) .
I was busy running arrends and wanted to wait unil I could think straight and see what others thought before even repying, and was still hopeful that MAYBE she would be calling or texting me sometime this weekend at the last minute , like she has done before. Nope, nothing. I didnt temind her about anything because Im done giving her reminder texts/emails . I did it for s month straight and just stopped . Its not my responsibilty to make sure she follows through.
I will be texting her to let her know she has an email on the way. And that's it.
I can't call her because she's always working and never know when she is working or not. Text is the best way to communicate. But I feel an email is more professional . She did confirm (by text) that she recieved the new parent handbook on Dec16th . So there is confirmation she got it. If she didn't make the time to look it over/read the email all this time, it's not my problem.

It even said in that email " It will need to be signed to verify you are in agreement and plan to continue care with me" I gave dec 30th as the deadline(then thinking it was the last day, not realizing there was a 31st). So I could just not communicate any further with her. But brcause I wanted to be nice about it I am doing her one last favor by sending this email . Because shes alwas been the type to play dumb every single time and act suprised as if she "didn't know" . So I can imagine her acting totally blind sighted if I didnt give her any warning at all. Plus the fact she even told me he wasn't coming this week makes me think she is planning to just bring him the week after.

Last time she told me he wouldn't come at all (and at the last minute on a Friday) she assumed she didnt have to pay . I had to remind her that payment whether or not he comes has always been my terms, and that the only reason I didn't charge the last time before that was because her mom gave me advance notice of 30+ days. Because at our interview and her mom was there, I told them both a vacation week was only free if I got advance notice of 30+ days or more. So her mom told me like two whole months in advance. Starting Tue that perk is out the door. There will only be 1free week (equal to the # of days he comes, which is 4days) a year , plus 1half rate week with specific stipulations on that one.
I still don't charge when I close . So she is still getting a better deal compared to some other providers and all centers in my area.
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Holiday Park 01:20 PM 12-30-2012
I feel I have to be strict because I am VERY limited to the number of kids I can take into my care at one time . *and* I do this as a real business to pay my credit card bills and suppliment my DH's cost for groceries . I pay on my taxes and even after deductions and everything still end up owing $ back to the state. But I still do this to be home with my kids and help put food on the table.
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MarinaVanessa 02:37 PM 12-30-2012
No I get it, I was just wondering if you had made any form of communication with her in regards to your contract. I do believe that one has to be firm with their business. When I first started I had a 2 page contract (one sided) and that was it. It took me 2 months to realize that it wasn't going to work well that way.

Since then I've grown to a 4 page contract (front and back) and a 17 page handbook (front and back). I still however put reminders up all over and if someone is on vacation I text or email reminders.

If you still want to keep this DCF but still want to be firm maybe instead of "Please pay this balance in full by 5:30 PM on Monday Dec 31 to avoid terminationof child care services." you can put "Please pay this balance in full by 5:30 PM on Monday Dec 31 to avoid suspension of child care services.". It's still firm in saying "Hey, your child isn't going to be allowed back here until I get paid and get that contract back" but not overly aggressive.

I hope you added late payment fees in your new contract and policies .
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Holiday Park 05:16 PM 12-30-2012
Thanks . Actually the parent handbook looks just yours that you let me see and copy (around 15 pages fromt&back) with most of the same terms, but changed to fit certain things I do my way ;-)
I didn't have a contract or Handbook with her. The contract is a 4 page overview of the handbook that basically has her contracted hrs listed, how much add on days are,rate, payment info,etc.. And says signing it means they agree to the Parent Handbook . All my clients but one have I-Phones , and I just figured out today that the pdf file can be saved on the I books APP and viewed at anytime, anywere :-) So now I have it on my phone .
I sent her the email like above (corrected version) along with a copy of the handbook AND her contract , in case she couldn't swing by herself she could have some one else swing it by with payment.
I got a text not long after with a bunch of excuses and her saying tomorrow she would bring in the forms filled out along with payment. She must be stuck on the free week thing (with advance notice of 30+ days) because she mentioned how she and her mom can't give advance notice wen he won't be here. I think she still hasn't read the handbook and that I need to tell her that perk is no longer offered. However I do give the free 1week,& half rate week now. I am still willing to give her free weeks if she can give *very* advance notice of 3+ months. I can print off some coupons to give for that, ("free one week tuition for whole week absense if advance notice 90days is given" ) .

This is what she said :

"I just received it and read it. ****** is sick I have not been able to get anywhere to print out the agreement. I do not have a printer set up at my house. I work very hard to provide what I want for my child. That is why I have placed him in your care and not daycare but it is hard for me to pay for weeks that he isn't there and I've said before that I don't know my schedule early for your convenience to tell you he won't be there. It's the beginning and mine and moms schedules are subject to change. "

"Beginning of the year"

" I will be by tomorrow before work with signed agreements and payment. I would like a tax ID number so I can claim child are on my upcoming taxes. "

I am giving out forms (by a certain date I pick, probably end of Jan) with totals of what they each paid and will be requiring them to sign to verify for my own taxes. I do have a tax ID # and like to make aure I have proof that they paid me what I tell the irs , they did so they don't try to claim more on me behind my back. I didn't keep any attendance records / sign&out sheets or do receipts this whole year like I did in yrs past . All I have is hat's on my APP from when i got my i-phone mid year. And didn't even document all attendances on that. Starting tomorrow I'll have sign in/out sheets mainly for tax porposes (for 2014) . Im not licensed but I try to follow most regulations/rules to be at/above licensing standards too. I love being organized too :-)
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MarinaVanessa 08:58 PM 12-30-2012
Sounds like you are doing great then.

When you do see her make sure you make it clear again that by signing the contract she is legally AGREEING that she is paying daycare fees based on enrollment, not attendance. That if paying for daycare every week regardless of whether her child attends or not something that she can afford then she should not be signing the contract.

Have you thought about offering drop-in services? Basically it's what she has now but you charge a daily rate instead of a weekly rate and she can pay for the days that he attends only. You can even have her pay for a week block instead of just daily if you want with the condition that she has to call to check and see if you have space, she can't just show up.

The flip side of this is that her spot is not guaranteed so you can keep advertising to replace her and if you get full then she's out of luck. Drop-in care is more expensive of course to make it worth it to you but it's a trade off for not having to pay for weeks she doesn't need daycare.

I do drop-in childcare and it works out for me. I have a separate drop-in contract and while my FT clients pay $160 per week ($32/day) and my drop-in clients pay $40/day. I can fill my empty spots when kids call out and drop-in parents can pay only for the days that they need. Is that something that you thought about offering your DCM (at a higher rate than regular FT or PT clients)?
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Holiday Park 05:30 AM 12-31-2012
Yes that is something I thought about offering and then completely forgot to include it in my email. I will be texting her soon .
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