New Nursery cancellation

[prudent]

Can anyone help please? I recently called a nursery to see if they had any available space. I was asked to pay 50 registation fee, which i did. I received a response from the nursery asking for a month's payment in advance to secure the place.

 

I refused to pay this, as all this was happeing over the phone as i was relocating from one part of the Uk to another and at this point was basing my decision to go with this nursery on ofstead report and proximity to where i will be living. I needed to see the nursey myself, which would be about 2months later when we re-allocated. The nursery said, this meant they cannot guarantee the place and i was ok with that.

 

The nursery also requires a 3 days settling-in period / trial period for the child. When i arrived on my Son's first settling in day, i was asked to pay a months notice before settling-in can commence and fill and sign a bunch of form, over 20 forms. I sincerely didn't pay too much attention of the forms as there were a lot of them.

 

I gave them a cheque, but on both my son's first and second day, he was extremely unhappy, which was unlike him, considering he has been going to nursery and different childcare places for over 2yrs. I also noticed on his first day (i had to spend an hr there as he wouldn't settle), cases of kids smacking eachother not been handled well and the garden area seems unchild friendly and a few other things that made me unconfortable. The mere mention of nursery time got my son screaming, this was odd as he normally enjoyed nursery a lot.

 

After day2 of settling-in, I immediately notified the nursery that as his settling-in hasn't gone so well, that he will not be starting the next day as scheduled. Only to be told that i will need to pay a six week payment (1312 pounds). I immediately cancelled the cheque and asked them to bill me for the settling-in days instead . They refused and are still chasing for payment and threaten to take it to court.

 

Any advice will be appreciated, where do i stand legally?

Edited December 6, 2011 by prudent

[Conniff]

Have you fully read their t & c and are there things in there that you would consider 'unfair' if so, then you should have a read of the The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999

 

Keep in mind that a contract breach can only result in a claim for damages so they cannot profit from a breach. If they claim you have breached the terms of the contract, they will have to show how they have come to the amount they are claiming you have to pay and that they are not a penalty charge which is not allowed.

[kurvaface]

What was the pusrpose of the "settling in " period and what do their terms and conditions say about a situation where children fail to settle in? Could it be that the "Settling in" period was in fact a "trial period" in everything but name?

 

I think as well as the The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 , perhaps also the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 applies here as you could reasonably argue that you understood it to be a trial period and what they are saying is actually misleading.

[Conniff]

Could it be that the "Settling in" period was in fact a "trial period" in everything but name?

 

 

Fully agree

 

Only to be told that i will need to pay a six week payment (1312 pounds).

 

I think they are either trying it on or have been ill advised.

 

Don't give in to their court blackmail and keep us informed of any further correspondence.

[prudent]

I don't have any copy of their terms and conditions. It may well have been on the heaps of forms i signed on the first settling-in day. Is there any way i can legally request for copies of those forms? If so, would my request be in form of a subject access request? Will they be legally bound to supply me with this information?

[prudent]

Just received the court information from the nursery, unfortunately it was sent to my old address, so the date i needed to reply by has past. In addition to this i still haven't had any response from the nursery on the subject access request.

 

Can anyone please help?