ComplaintsforAlpha Montessori

• Initial Complaint

  04/27/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Our son ************** used to go to Alpha Montessori. Then the pandemic happened and we had to take off our kid from the school. We paid the tuition for the full month of March 2020 even though he attended only 5 days in it. During admission, we were asked to make an extra payment of one full month's tuition as a security deposit which we were promised to receive upon unenrollment. We have a pending balance that the school needs to refund us. The school needs to refund the remaining tuition and the security deposit which adds up to $1492.5 ( Security deposit of $995 and tuition of half the month of March(995/2=$497.5). We tried reaching out to Ms.****** the owner, through email and phone multiple times but have not received any response so far. We waited patiently as it was a pandemic and things were uncertain. But I feel we have waited a reasonable amount of time now and things are almost back to normal. We cannot make use of any credit to our account as my kid is in public school and we don't need after-school or any other programs. So kindly issue us the refund.

  Business response

  06/06/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/04/28) */ BBB Complaint Case#XXXXXXXX To Whom It May Concern: We have already replied via the online response, but since we could not send any documents as supporting documents, we are sending this email also. The two attachments that are relevant to review are attached in this document. 1. Parent Handbook - Please refer Page 25 for Financial Policies and Page 26 for the Security deposit. 2. Signer copy of that they have read, understood and agree with the school policies as stated in the handbook. Response that was sent in the online response. Our school policy which is the same in most day care centers is to collect a month's tuition as deposit which is applied to the last month's tuition. When the parent gives a written notice in the 1st week of the month that this is the last month, we then apply the deposit and tuition is not collected for that month. This is clearly stated in the parent handbook and also explained to the parent when they sign up and also give the deposit. Parents receive a copy of the handbook and we ask them to sign saying that they have read and agree to the terms. A copy of the handbook (please refer to page 26) and a copy of the signed statement from the parent is also sent in a separate email as we could sent attachments via the online response. The consumer in the compliant asked that we refund the deposit immediately. We explained that we need a month notice so we can apply the deposit and we reminded them of the school policy documented in the handbook which they received and acknowledged. The deposit is on file and it can used anytime if she wants to send her child for a month but as per policy we cannot refund the deposit. This applies to all parents. The deposit is collected for a reason. If we know that a parent is withdrawing a child in the month, then we know we have vacancy for next month and we can admit potential parents and/or we can adjust staff hours accordingly to account for the number of children. We have turned away potential children as we had a count on who all were still admitted to the daycare. Regarding prorating tuition fees. This is also clearly explained in the Parent Handbook on Page 25 in the Tuition Payment and Late Charges section. Tuition Fees are not refunded and Parents and is explained and documented in the Parent Handbook. Giving last minute notices no matter what the reason is, does not help us manage our business. We have these policies precisely for this reason. We have to effectively manage a business with correct number of staff and we can do this when parents give the withdrawal notice in the 1st week of the month and also once admitted, the tuition is for the entire month as agreed to in the handbook policies. This is clearly explained at the time of admitting the child and also the reason why it is in the handbook and why we ask parents to read and sign that they have read, understood and agree with the policy. We have communicated several times to the parent and offered to keep the deposit on file if they want to enroll the child for other activities like summer camps.

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