You should probably go elsewhere if you want secur
Our child started attending with Hannah at 9 months old in August 2020. She was really good with him and he settled easily, so we had no worries leaving him there. Hannah and her assistants have regularly described him as ‘the childminders dream’, because he’s so laid back. Unfortunately, due to rising cases of COVID-19 and me being extremely vulnerable we chose to temporarily take him out for our safety. After 7 weeks he returned and was clearly out of the habit of attending as he was unsettled. We collected him early twice because he was so distressed and agreed to do settling in sessions the following week to get him used to it again. However, on the Sunday Hannah text to say he wouldn’t be able to go in the following week because of her own personal reasons, she then wouldn’t tell us when he could go back and on the Monday text to give notice to say he couldn’t return. I was so shocked at the unprofessional way this was dealt with as Hannah only text and would not speak to us on the phone as well as the short notice of it all. It also feels very much like our child was welcome there all the time he was easy, but given he wasn’t as settled on his return he was no longer welcome to attend. Therefore, I would recommend that if you want stability for your child and the security of their ongoing childcare and your peace of mind while working, you should probably seek childcare elsewhere.
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Response from Wecare_c
Responded
Hi jo, thanks for your review and I’m glad to hear you was happy with our care up until leaving.
Unfortunately as I already explained to you, I had to reduce my assistants hours when you withdrew your son from his space to absorb some of the financial impact of this. We was completely understanding of your reasons for wanting to do this and allowed you to break the terms of your contract by not giving the required notice period. However, we was then given less than a weeks notice that you wanted to return to the setting. My assistant was unable to increase her hours again at short notice and I was unable to settle your son back into the setting whilst caring for other children and also home schooling my own children at the time.
I answered messages from you about this for 5 hours on a Sunday, whilst spending time with my family. I missed one single phone call from you, which your messaged immediately after and I also answered this.
During this time, you continuously asked me to disregard my own family needs and care of other childminding children, to prioritise your own requirements, including asking me to break Covid and lockdown restrictions on a number of occasions, which I told you I couldn’t do.
We was also informed that once returning to your space, you would potentially be leaving again in a few short months due to your own personal circumstances changing.
With all of this in mind, I actually acted in the most professional way I could, by informing you that we just wasn’t in a position to meet your requirements, despite our best attempts.
I’m really disappointed that you have chosen to make comments that paint us in a bad light because of this. As you say, we offered you the best possible care throughout your contract and was extremely reliable up until you withdrew from your space. As you can see from every single other review we have received throughout my entire career, no one has had a bad word to say about us. We was completely dropped in it ourselves at late notice when you chose to withdraw from the space, the coronavirus has impacted childcare businesses hugely over the past year and we was in limbo not knowing if and when you would return. When you did want to, we just wasn’t in a position to be able to do it. As I say, I charged no notice period, I refunded hours you had been in attendance out of good will and I profusely apologised.
I think it’s very unfair to then say the things you have, but we will take your feedback on board and as I have already said to you in personal conversions, wish you all the best for the future.
