My child's preschool teacher planned to keep her 3 days per week after school starting in December. In August, another family wanted her to start right away and said she really needed the money. So, we agreed that she would start keeping my child 2 days per week in August and that I would pay her for 3 days per week to hold the spot , and she would keep her 3 days per week starting in December. I got a text last night that due to her son's ball games, she would not be able to keep her the extra day from December until the end of March. That did not keep her from accepting the extra money each week. She did not offer to repay the extra money she received or to give us a credit for the extra money towards our future services. We have no contract. so I know I am just out of luck, but I would just say to parents to beware of paying for services you are not receiving because anything can happen afterwards. Quality childcare is a priority for our family, and she is a sweet and loving provider to my child, which is the reason we agreed to this arrangement. It crossed my mind that something could happen (such as she could fall and break a hip and not be able to keep her at all), but I did not see this coming.

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Well that's crappy. Talk to her face to face. Calmly and nicely. Ask her to tell you what your credit amount is or if she plans to issue a refund, like you're expecting it. Because you really should be. And insist on a contract!

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Wow, so there was no written agreement concerning the security deposit and if it was refundable or not?

I can see both sides. I can see her needing the income generated from the spot and not being able to save it thus meaning you would either need to begin using it or forfeit it to another family. You choose to use it.
I can also see how you would feel it is unfair and would feel like you were stringed along since you are not going to be able to use3 days per week like you originally planned.

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Thank you for the good advice. Fortunately, after politely and professionally pointing out all the ways we have been respectful to her needs as well as ours since August (I would leave work early when she needed yet still pay for the full 2 hours), she apologized for changing the plans with little notice and agreed to stick to our original deal. We will also not be paying for days that she does not keep her in the future. Since she was keeping our child from 3 to 5 PM, and her son's games start at 5 (about 10 minutes from our home) and he drives himself to the games, she decided that being a few minutes late would not be a huge hardship and agreed to keep our agreement. He was on the team last year, and the games were on the same days last year, but she said she forgot about that when she agreed to keep her. I'm glad it is resolved and really appreciate the advice to be calm but expect an acceptable outcome (such as a refund). Good advice for this situation and for many other times in life as well.

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