"Holding fee" normal for in-home daycare spot?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I think many of us wish we could. The reality is there are so many more in homes to choose from then centers the parents would absolutely balk at the idea and go to somebody else. Everybody would have to be on the same page in order for this to work. Yes, it is a lot of revenue lost.

Most (even licensed) in-homes are shitty. The few good ones can change anything they want. Under the circumstances, they *should* charge anything they want. The supply does not meet the demand, not even close.

My bare minimum is no scree time. Absolutely zero.
And I'd like 100% organic everything.

Please. Trust me your center doesn't serve 100% organic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ours had a $100 deposit that supposedly gets applied to the last week but honestly, she's so wonderful that I think most people let that slide and it's used as a bonus..

So basically the provider is supposed to hold a spot for free? She's losing income while waiting for OP's kid to actually attend and regular fees kick in.

I'm the PP you're quoting - in our case, the spot wasn't opening up until a week before we needed it, so no, she wasn't losing any money (well maybe a week).

That's fine. But in a case where the spot is being held for a few months it's not reasonable to think that it will basically be held for nothing.

I'm not sure why you're trying to have some sort of argument with me?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I think many of us wish we could. The reality is there are so many more in homes to choose from then centers the parents would absolutely balk at the idea and go to somebody else. Everybody would have to be on the same page in order for this to work. Yes, it is a lot of revenue lost.

Most (even licensed) in-homes are shitty. The few good ones can change anything they want. Under the circumstances, they *should* charge anything they want. The supply does not meet the demand, not even close.

My bare minimum is no scree time. Absolutely zero.
And I'd like 100% organic everything.

Please. Trust me your center doesn't serve 100% organic.

I said I'd "like" it, not that I have it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ours had a $100 deposit that supposedly gets applied to the last week but honestly, she's so wonderful that I think most people let that slide and it's used as a bonus..

So basically the provider is supposed to hold a spot for free? She's losing income while waiting for OP's kid to actually attend and regular fees kick in.

I'm the PP you're quoting - in our case, the spot wasn't opening up until a week before we needed it, so no, she wasn't losing any money (well maybe a week).

That's fine. But in a case where the spot is being held for a few months it's not reasonable to think that it will basically be held for nothing.

I'm not sure why you're trying to have some sort of argument with me?

NP--I don't think she's arguing with you so much as saying that your comment is sufficiently different that it doesn't really apply to the OP's situation or help. You paid a deposit that was advertised to apply to your childcare fees at some point. OP is being asked to pay for a holding fee (different than a deposit) that explicitly does not apply to any childcare ever. You have an expectation that you'll get a deposit back either in services or money back, so when you don't, you consider it a bonus to the caregiver unless you ask for it back. In her situation, there is no expectation that that money comes back either in cash or services ever, so your situation is sufficiently different so as not to apply.

[Anonymous]

OP, in my situation, I would easily pay $600 to have the spot held for a known return to work day. We have no alternative backup care since our family all lives more than 1000 miles away. We have babysitters, but most of our sitters have day jobs and cannot watch our kids for a day. Our only alternative is White House Nannies which is a $250 annual fee, $16-20 per hour for the nanny plus a $35 fee to WHN. Even discounting the annual fee, a typical 9 hour day is $162 in wages to the nanny and $35/day to WHN for $197. That means that the $600 fee is about 3 days of service from them. If I were to take a non-guaranteed spot at 3 agencies ($50 each or $150), and at the last minute, I could not get a spot the week I needed to start work, I would either have to delay my start (effectively losing my salary for the time it took me to find support and possibly risking my job and starting the job on a really bad note) or pay for WHN to come out. This plus the added stress of having to make arrangements the week before I returned to work, is not worth it. Not only that, but then I would be taking any spot in any daycare and would not be able to pick and choose a service that I really liked. I think $600 is high, but not unreasonable to guarantee me a spot in a facility that I liked when I wanted it.

When our twins were young, we were in a center. And there was a nonrefundable $100 per child application fee and there was no holding fees. We either paid the full tuition (for infants, the rate at the time was $1395 per month which is $350/week) or we lost the spot. When a spot was available, we had to confirm our start date within about 2 weeks, so we could "hold" the spot at most about 4 weeks, certainly not 6 months.

[Anonymous]

I paid $800 to hold a spot but it is applied to the last two weeks of the contract, whenever that ends up being. I did this at our previous home day care also.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Every in-home center makes its own rules so I don't see what's wrong with hers. Sounds like maybe she's been burned by parents who say they will use her and then back out at the last minute. Losing a $50 deposit isn't going to hurt much but you're less likely to back out if you have $400 invested.

+1. I would try to negotiate that it gets used towards the first two weeks of daycare though....

Are you really *that* low? Shame on you.

Shove it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know comparing centers to in-home daycares is like apples and oranges ... but for some perspective, at our center, if you were offered a spot now and wanted to hold it to guarantee that you'd have it in August, you'd be paying monthly tuition for that slot from now until you used it - and that fee wouldn't be applied to future tuition. So, think 6 full months of paid, but unused care/tuition. $400 seems very reasonable in comparison, especially if it gives you peace of mind that you have a safe nurturing place for your child when you need it.

It's surprising that in-home daycares don't do the same. How can they afford not to??

but most do sort of do this.

We got on a few lists. Most in-home providers don't know what their availability will be until a month before you need it. They can sometimes guarantee it if say they know some kids will be moving up to preschool in September or is a family knows they will be moving out of the area on x-date, but overall they often don't know what their situation will be. So when a spot opens they will call you and if it's a reasonable time before you need care you start paying to take the spot because the way home daycare work, if they are short a kid or two they aren't getting paid. So they always want to take the kid who can start as soon as they have an opening. We had to do this with our first daycare and paid for 2 weeks before my son actually started.