September 2023 by Shan L.
I sent my son to Enloa KinderCare from June to the middle of August 2023. The caretakers and the environment were good. I am pleased with the development my 16 month old had during that period.But overall I had a bad experience due to last minute cancellations and a bad refund policy. I outline the details below.For context, I put my son in this daycare full-time, five days per week, and they charged me $400 weekly. I paid the $400 in advance for the following week each Saturday. Thus, I was paying $80 a day in advance.In my 2.5 months of using the daycare, there were four times we were asked to keep kids at home or the Daycare was closed.On two of these occasions, they sent the message out the night before. On the other two occasions, the message went out the same day. One of those times, my mother-in-law had already left to drop my son off.One of those times was from an outbreak of hand, foot, and mouth disease, which led them to cancel for two straight days leading into the weekend. This was a very contagious disease, so this is understandable. Though they didn't act fast enough to stop most of the kids from getting infected. Further, I was not given a full refund (details below)In the other three times it was because there were not enough staff. In two of these instances, we were asked to keep our kids at home in exchange for $50 credit. Note that $50 is less than the $80 I already paid. . So we were asked to keep our kid at home, for an amount less than what we had already paid to send them there.One of those three times was a last minute announcement that daycare was canceled because staff had all called off. This was the instance my MIL had already left to take him to daycare.For the three times they were short-staffed, I would remind the reader that while emergencies happen, lack of staff is a problem with their business operations.In that instance where they announced daycare was canceled after my MIL had already left with my son, I had to fight to get my $80 back. For reference, here was my exchange with the Kindercare location director.Director (July 31 Monday morning): If you are receiving this message. Your child's classroom will be closed July 31. We just had another call out. This effects xx, xx, xx, xx, and xx. I am truly sorry for this inconvenience.Me: May I have a refund for this cancellation?Director: Unfortunately the rate for 4 days is the same for 5 days.Me: It is my understanding that by paying weekly, I am paying for 5 days of care per week. Since Kindercare will only be providing 4 days of care this week due to your staffing shortage, I am respectfully requesting a refund for the cost of 1 day of care.Director: I can make the adjustment this time, but going forward, it will be the same price regardless of days attended.After the two day hand-foot-mouth disease cancellation, I also sought a refund. We had already paid our $400 in advance, and so I expected a $160 for the two canceled days. Instead, she gave us a $100 refund. After I asked why, she responded to me:Director: We charge weekly, not daily. It is $400 per week for 5 days and $300 per week for 3 days.I disagreed. In my view, their last minute cancellation of two days was not equivalent to me voluntarily switching to their 3-days-a-week plan. After some back-and-forth on the phone, she wouldn't budge on the refund.Anyway, dear reader, I hope this was helpful.
