Day Care Complaint #462

Almost as soon as I found out I was pregnant with Dee and my due date was set for early June, I let LP's day care center know they would have a new charge come September. I was even specific in saying that "Bun" would start the day after Labor Day - the same as LP two years earlier. This was important because it was also the timeline I had provided to work for my maternity leave.

Wednesday of last week I handed in Dee's registration forms and fees at the front desk of the center and confirmed her start date. In case you are wondering, the reason for the delay was that I had to wait until her 2 month doctor's appointment to get the appropriate forms filled out.

Friday as I was picking LP up, the office manager told me that Dee couldn't start on the 2nd, "Another baby is starting on that day and we don't like to have two babies start at the same time." I was pissed and dumbfounded. What the heck kind of policy is that? And why not tell the other person to take a different day - we have an established relationship, don't you reward your best customers? She offered me the week of August 25th or September 15th.

WTF? No freaking way I am going back to work two weeks later than anticipated! And the 25th is a short week - they are closed the 28th and 29th to prepare for the start of the new school year. I don't want to have to pay for an extra week that I don't want or need and be shortchanged. In fact, we had been planning on keeping LP home that week so we could save some $ (they charge you for the full week even if they are closed).

This morning I called the office manager and told her neither date was satisfactory. I explained about our plan to keep LP home and how it defeated the purpose if Dee was going to school. She heard my concerns and told me she would talk to the director (one of my favorite people in the world) and see if they could work something out.

She called me back later and said that the director was "willing to make an exception for us." Even though it meant she had to rearrange enrollment. As for "rearranging enrollment" - I asked how many kinds would be in the room. "Eight on Dee's side and three on the other." Dunno, sounds to me like there was plenty of leeway. Gee, thanks for the favor - I hope you enjoy the $560 a week I hand over to cover caring for my two generally well-behaved and adorable children.