Daycare Contract

Hey guys, so we called the references for the Daycare provider we really liked and they had nothing but wonderful things to say about her. The second couple we spoke to did have an issue with the contract they had to sign before their daughter was accepted. Apparently, the contract states you must give two months notice if you are planning on pulling your child out of daycare. This couple told the provider well in advance of two months that they would be pulling their daughter once their new baby was born, and she still ended up making them pay for two whole months of daycare, even though the child didn't go. I can understand that this is a business for them and their livelihood, but does two months not seem a little excessive?

At this point we've got no choice but to go with this provider, since I'm going back to work on May 7th, but are we still able to negotiate some of the terms on the contract she is making us sign, or will we just have to suck it up and hope for the best?

Thanks everyone!

2 months seems a bit excessive to me considering most licensed centers only require 2 weeks.

I live in NB and here the licensed day care notice period is 2 weeks if we are planing to pull the kids from day care and it worked out great

My DS will be starting in Sept and our daycare only requires 2 weeks as well.

We thought our daycare requiring 1 month was a little much...2 months?! That's just nuts!

But you know that up front. Maybe she finds it difficult to fill the spots, or maybe she knows she can do it since she's the only game in town, so two months notice is OK. You have to agree to it if that's her terms. If you don't agree, you really can't argue it, just go elsewhere.

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Originally Posted by Zonny

You have to agree to it if that's her terms. If you don't agree, you really can't argue it, just go elsewhere.

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Not necessarily. I wouldn't "argue" it, but you certainly could bring it up to the provider and have a conversation about it. What if you or your SO lost your job? You'd probably be given 2 weeks notice.... The provider shouldn't expect you to send your kid there for another month and a half afterwards! "Standard" time of notice is generally two weeks, I would bring this up to the provider in a calm, rational way and ask her if she would amend the contract for you.

We just found a daycare provider for our son, and there was something in the contract that we didn't like - she wanted all Stat holidays off, but wanted full pay for them. Since neither hubby nor myself works on Stat holidays, we don't make money, so had an issue paying our provider for a full day of care just because it was a Stat day. I brought this up to her in a calm, rational discussion, and she very easily changed her contract so that we would not be required to pay her a full day's pay for Stats.

If you really like the provider, talk to her about the issue and see if you two can find a common ground.

OK, I guess that argue was the wrong term. Personally I wouldn't have it in me to try to change the existing contract. If the terms didn't meet my needs, I'd walk away.

My current before/after school care closes for holidays, we pay a flat monthly fee, same thing when we were in a centre before DS started school. It never occurred to me to ask for an exception to these policies.

talk to her about it and explain your concern, she may change it. Also when you are providing notice always provide written notice, not verbal (that's how they get you) and have two copies (one for her and one for your own record). then if you get her to sign and date them there is no confusion and you wont have to pay for an extra 2 months.