ComplaintsforKinderCare Learning Centers LLC

• Initial Complaint

  11/29/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  My son, ****** *******, was enrolled at the Brown Deer Kindercare location - 8750 N 51st St, Brown Deer, WI, 53223. Phone number is (414) 354-3770. This is regarding account # **********. Parents are (me, father) *********** ******* and (mother) ******* *********. ****** was enrolled from 7/26/2021 through 11/5/2021. We gave 2 weeks notice (notified on 10/22/2021) that ****** would be exiting the program to Cynthia, who was the same woman who enrolled ****** originally. She indicated that she would have everything in order for ****** leaving (they call it "graduating") the program. Cynthia quit or left the position on 10/29/201. Around the same time period, the director, Alice B******, was not present most of the time; she indicated later by email to me that she was out ill for approximately a week. These two things apparently manifested a problem from our account because we continued to get charged for the next week of daycare (dates of 11/7/2021 - 11/13/2021). I contacted Alice that we had already put in our two weeks and ****** was no longer enrolled by email. She replied and indicated that she would look into it. It was my assumption that this was the end of the situation, but I was wrong. Over the following weeks, I received occasional "courtesy" calls and SMS messages from Kindercare about our account. I assumed that it took 1-2 weeks for processing the cancellation and ignored these. After receiving approximately 6 contacts from them, I logged into the online account and found I had a $73 fee. There is no indication of what the fee is for, but it appears to be a "late fee" for not paying the erroneous 11/7-11/13 fee. I have contacted Alice and had three replies. She indicates that she will look into it, but never a response on "what/why" the fee or getting it removed. Contacting the general Kindercare phone number leads nowhere but an answering machine and no call back. This fee seems to be erroneous by all accounts and should be removed

  Business response

  12/02/2021

  Hi ***********,
  We’re sorry to hear about your experience, and we appreciate you taking the time to bring your concerns to our attention here. We understand how frustrating it can be when you believe you have been billed in error, and we expect our teams to go above and beyond to address and resolve any billing concerns as quickly as possible. We apologize that we may have fell short in communication and transparency through our staffing changes, and we want to assure you that we have provided our teams with ways we can go the extra mile to support our families through the graduation process. This includes making sure all billing is accurate at the time of disenrollment, and we want to thank you again for sharing feedback that will help us better support our families. We have reached out to our local management team for your center, and we have been notified that they have removed the remaining balance from your account. From what we understand, we have also had the opportunity to speak with you directly regarding your concerns, and we want to thank you again for your time. Families like yours are why we do what we do, and you’ll always have a home here.
  Warm regards,
  Carlie, Family Support     

  Customer response

  12/02/2021

  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.  Please note that I spoke with a lady this morning after contacting the corporate office.  Her name is Yan (spelling?) and she was able to resolve the issue quickly and we were able to discuss the situation briefly.  The billing issue is completely resolved now and I apologize for any inconvenience.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *********** *******

• Initial Complaint

  11/08/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Briella, along with my 2 other kids have been loyal students of kindercare for 5 years. She was just turned away for staffing issues. That is NOT okay. We pay for full time daycare, and have had spots secured for YEARS. If there is a staffing issue the new students need to leave. This is absolutely not acceptable and needs a resolution ASAP.

  Business response

  11/24/2021

  Hi *******,
  Above all else, we want to say thank you for being a part of our KinderCare family for 5 years and counting. It means the world that you have trusted us to look after all 3 of your children, and we truly apologize that we may have let you down recently. We understand why what you have explained would be frustrating, and we appreciate you giving us the opportunity to go over this with you. As childcare providers, we know that we play an important role in making sure your day goes according to plan, and we strive to be there for the families who are relying on us no matter what. Were sorry that Briella was asked to stay home; however, we want to assure you that it was not due to staffing issues. Now more than ever, nothing is more important to us than the health and safety of the families and team members in our centers, and we have gone above and beyond to follow CDC and local ***************** guidelines when it comes to COVID-19 exposures. The District Leader of your center, *************************, has confirmed that Briella and all other children in the Preschool,Pre-Kindergarten, and Transitional Kindergarten classrooms were asked to stay home for a 10 day quarantine period after a COVID-19 exposure at your center.We understand how much of an inconvenience this can be, and we apologize that certain classrooms in the center needed to be shut down temporarily. We have confirmed that the Center Director, *******, notified all families of the exposure via email and explained why their little ones needed to stay home, and our District Leader states that ******* also spoke with ******** father over the phone as well. Nonetheless, we have provided our staff with ways we can go the extra mile to make sure our families feel supported and heard during these hard times, and we greatly appreciate you bringing your concerns to our attention here. We are always looking for better ways to support our families, and we will use your feedback to do so. Thank you again.
  Warm regards,
  ******, Family Support 

• Initial Complaint

  11/05/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  I submitted application materials to determine if my children could begin enrolment at a KinderCare location. I never accepted enrollment or completed an enrollment process, my children never attended the kinderCare location. On October 7th 2021 I received a statement for an outstanding balance. I reached out to the corporate phone number provided in the statement and was told I would have to speak with the local center to resolve the inappropriate charge. The local center assured me that since my children never completed enrollment the account balance would be removed. Today I received a collections call for the account balance. My children never attended and were never enrolled in a kinderCare location. I need KinderCare LLC to resolve this fraudulent charge and to remove this balance from collections.

• Initial Complaint

  10/12/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  I enrolled my son to kinder care in early 2016. He only attended a month or so and we took him out due to not feeling safe at kindercare; toddler to teacher ration unacceptable, room was freezing cold when picking up my son, sitting by himself at a table with no snacks while the other toddlers ate a community table. It was unacceptable. Fast forward to October 2021 and I am getting a letter, text messages and calls from a debt collector regarding a balance from kindercare. Almost 6 years later? We never received any notice of any kind regarding a balance for almost 6 years and now we are being contacted by a debt collect? No, I dont think so. The harassment needs to stop and the balance needs to marked as zero.

• Initial Complaint

  09/21/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  There was a Credit to my account for $444.80 at the end of my child's last month here, due to the center closing from COVID exposure. The childcare was not available so we were issued a credit for the time that he was not in their care. They said they would refund the amount into my bank and never did. The credit disappeared and though they have tracking on the refund and show it was never refunded into my account, their banking department cant find what went wrong. I have called multiple times over the last 4 weeks and no one can give me a response as to where my refund is and I just keep getting the "we will email you, when we find out what happened." If this companies books and banking are so far off that they cant find this that should be a huge concern. They refuse to give me the refund promised even though it shows I am entitled to one.

  Business response

  10/09/2021

  Hi Amber,

   

  Thank you for sharing this issue with us. Our records show that there was an issue in completing the online refund so we sent a physical check. Our records show you received the check and deposited it on September 27, 2021. Please let us know if this is not correct.

   

  Thank you,

  Rachael, Family Support Team

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩