What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Texas
My children were in day care for 2-days a week half day care starting in April. My wife and I visited the location before we signed up the kids (1 and 3) and we were told that it would be $20/half day/child. So, each week we would owe $80 for the care they were to receive. My wife gave them her credit card number to charge to, but after 1.5 months went by with no charge, she started paying by check instead.
Suddenly we received a notice in the mail that the 1year-old's rate was $42 for half-day care and please remit additional payment. Well we were shocked to say the least. My wife wanted to talk with the director that was usually there (the owner 'director' was never at the school), but she was leaving the school in two days. My wife waited until the new director started and brought up the discrepency with her. The new directory agreed that we were to pay the $20/half day for the 1 year-old and that she would take it up with the owner. A week later, my wife asked if she had talked with the owner, the directory said yes and everything was as we expected, and we moved on.
So, three months go by before we hear anything again. In those three months, my wife starts communicating with the owner to work on bringing her training course to the instructors at the school, and the owner even attends one of the classes. Suddenly, in August, the school shuts down without any notice. My wife goes to pick the children up and is notified that it will be their last day as the school is closing that week. Again, quite a shock. Well after the dust settled, we call the owner to let her know that since we paid for the entire month up front, we were owed some money ($100) for the remaining time the children did not attend school for.
Here's where it gets nasty. Next thing we receive is a letter from the owner saying we now owe $770 for the higher rate that she believed we were supposed to be paying ($42/hour). I called immediately and tried to relay my wife's story (missed a detail but got most of it right) and she said she would look into it. I called back later and left a voicemail asking for copied of the contracts that we signed that would indicate that we were to pay that rate. I never heard from her in regard to that.
A month passes and now, in October, we receive another letter saying this that and the other, and now the amount we 'owe' is magically reduced to $160 based on some sort of "professional courtesy". So, my wife and I generate our own letter, and list out the chain of events that led us up to this point in fine detail (even to the point of listing out every day the children were at school, which checks paid for what, etc). At the end we held to the fact that we are owed $100 for the additional time after the school quite suddenly shut down. We also point out that we still haven't received a copy of the contract.
Now, we receive an email from the owner saying that the amount is now back to $770 and she is threatening using a collection agency, reporting us to credit angencies, or even pursuing legal action. This is getting rediculous. We are willing to forgo our $100 and walk away, but we refuse to pay any more money to this person.
So, this is my question: what are our rights? She still hasn't sent us contracts, and her tone indicates that anything that she has that we might have signed probably doesn't mention anything about rates... if this is true can she still hold us to this incredibly high rate? What are we legally bound to in this circumstance? How can we protect ourselves from her? How can I protect my credit score from her?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thranil
My children were in day care for 2-days a week half day care starting in April. My wife and I visited the location before we signed up the kids (1 and 3) and we were told that it would be $20/half day/child. So, each week we would owe $80 for the care they were to receive. My wife gave them her credit card number to charge to, but after 1.5 months went by with no charge, she started paying by check instead.
Suddenly we received a notice in the mail that the 1year-old's rate was $42 for half-day care and please remit additional payment. Well we were shocked to say the least. My wife wanted to talk with the director that was usually there (the owner 'director' was never at the school), but she was leaving the school in two days. My wife waited until the new director started and brought up the discrepency with her. The new directory agreed that we were to pay the $20/half day for the 1 year-old and that she would take it up with the owner. A week later, my wife asked if she had talked with the owner, the directory said yes and everything was as we expected, and we moved on.
So, three months go by before we hear anything again. In those three months, my wife starts communicating with the owner to work on bringing her training course to the instructors at the school, and the owner even attends one of the classes. Suddenly, in August, the school shuts down without any notice. My wife goes to pick the children up and is notified that it will be their last day as the school is closing that week. Again, quite a shock. Well after the dust settled, we call the owner to let her know that since we paid for the entire month up front, we were owed some money ($100) for the remaining time the children did not attend school for.
Here's where it gets nasty. Next thing we receive is a letter from the owner saying we now owe $770 for the higher rate that she believed we were supposed to be paying ($42/hour). I called immediately and tried to relay my wife's story (missed a detail but got most of it right) and she said she would look into it. I called back later and left a voicemail asking for copied of the contracts that we signed that would indicate that we were to pay that rate. I never heard from her in regard to that.
A month passes and now, in October, we receive another letter saying this that and the other, and now the amount we 'owe' is magically reduced to $160 based on some sort of "professional courtesy". So, my wife and I generate our own letter, and list out the chain of events that led us up to this point in fine detail (even to the point of listing out every day the children were at school, which checks paid for what, etc). At the end we held to the fact that we are owed $100 for the additional time after the school quite suddenly shut down. We also point out that we still haven't received a copy of the contract.
Now, we receive an email from the owner saying that the amount is now back to $770 and she is threatening using a collection agency, reporting us to credit angencies, or even pursuing legal action. This is getting rediculous. We are willing to forgo our $100 and walk away, but we refuse to pay any more money to this person.
So, this is my question: what are our rights? She still hasn't sent us contracts, and her tone indicates that anything that she has that we might have signed probably doesn't mention anything about rates... if this is true can she still hold us to this incredibly high rate? What are we legally bound to in this circumstance? How can we protect ourselves from her? How can I protect my credit score from her?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thranil