ComplaintsforHere We Grow Learning Center

• Initial Complaint

  08/28/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We signed our daughter up for their wait list in July of 2022. They wanted us to give a deposit of $381.00 to put her on the wait list and told us this was refundable should we need to cancel for any reason. They notified us 8-17-23 that our daughter's assigned start date was 9-5-23. This did not give us enough time to notify them within 30 days that she would not be starting at that time. They are now refusing to refund the deposit and taking a very long time to respond to us either via phone or email. Despite me notifying them 8-21-23 that our daughter would not be attending they pulled out a tuition payment from our account anyway on 8-28-23 of $72.20. They are now saying these funds will take a week to return. This is all completely unacceptable and I demand a refund. I have tried to work with them civilly but their lack of cooperation is infuriating and I cannot communicate with them any further. Please step in and get us a refund of our $453.20.

  Business response

  09/15/2023

  **************** signed a contract on 7/15/2022 which stated she wanted her child to start care on 9/1/2023. Her child would have been 2 years old on 9/1/2023. On the initial inquiry she stated she needed care as soon as possible. 
  The contract clearly states: 
   If you have enrolled your child at HWGLC and decide not to attend, you will only receive a refund on the final weeks tuition if: 
    1. Under the age of 12 months. You have given at least a 75-calendar day written notice before the provided start date. 
    2. Over the age of 12 months. You have given at least a 30-calendar day written notice before the provided start date. 
  
  On 7/13/22, we sent her the contract to sign. We wrote out in the contract email a reminder that we need a 30-day notice to receive the deposit back, which was in addition to the language on the actual contract.
  
  I sent **************** an email on 12/5/22 asking if she was still wanting to start her child early. If so, we had an opening for her in April 2023. She responded on 12/8/22 that she wanted to keep the September 2023 date.
  
  On 8/17/2023 I sent **************** an email to set up a playdate, which we offer to all families before beginning care. On 8/21/23, **************** stated she was going to keep her child home but wanted to put her child on the waitlist. We do not have a waitlist, only a priority list and I informed her we need a concrete date to put her on the priority list. I also informed her again that we require a 30-day notice to refund the deposit. 
  
  On 8/22/2023, **************** called the center asking questions, I was home with my sick child, so I responded over email and sent her a copy of the contract she signed on 7/15/22, which states her start date of 9/1/2023 and states the refund policy. We have the hard copy of that contract on file.
  
  Between 8/22/23-8/28/23 we went back and forth about how our priority list works. 
  
  On 8/25/23 the *** withdrawal for $72.20 which was for care on 9/1/2023 was sent through. Due to her late notice that scheduled withdrawal could not be canceled in time.
  I notified **************** immediately of our accounting error and let her know that would be refunded the following week. **************** stated that was not ok, so we worked to rectify the situation. On 8/30/23 we received notice Originator not known/not authorized. So that tuition was never withdrawn, and we were charged a $12.00 fee.  
  
  Therefore, the only money that was withdrawn from ****************** account was for the $381 regulatory fee/deposit that was forfeited, as stated in the contract. 

  Customer response

  09/18/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  First, the tuition money WAS withdrawn from my bank account. The only reason it was returned after I made the BBB complaint was because I contacted my bank for help. ***** made no effort at all to communicate with me that they were taking steps to correct the action. They notified me ****. I then told them that I would not be submitting my daughter for care and they again made no good faith effort to work with me to find a solution. I had to pull teeth to get any response. On top of their horrible customer service ******* kept telling me she would "contact the owner" whom she stated was a "he" yet on their site it is clear the owner is a woman. I was never informed of any result that effort led to. Therefore leading me to believe she was jerking me around to purposely not answer my questions, which were in good faith. I was never given a 30 day notice that my daughter would be starting care on 9-1. In fact, I was notified on **** that her start date was 9-5. **** was the first I was ever informed of this change. Therefore they broke their contract. And as such I am owed a refund. 
  
  Regards,
  
  ***********************

  Business response

  09/27/2023

  See attached contract

  Customer response

  09/27/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  

  Yeah giving me a copy of the contract is about all they ever did. It even states that should a family choose to push back their start date a flex contract will be required. We never signed one and they pushed back her start date anyway with no 30 day warning to us mind you. ****, as I said before, THEY broke the contract and as such I am owed a refund. They also made no good faith effort to resolve this with me, and they are continuing to refuse to resolve this with me. I will push this to litigation if I have to as this kind of business practice is absolutely shameful and should not be tolerated by anyone. 

  When I contacted them in August I was rudely asked to "give her sympathy" because she was home taking care of her sick child. Which I was happy to do and made a point of saying that she could call me to resolve this via a phone call when she was back in the office as I was sure there was something that could have been done. Instead she refused to call and barely responded to my emails, as has been evidenced by this complaint process. I was never informed they were "working to resolve" the tuition issue. I was never informed they were doing anything except "reaching out to the owner" for a new start date. I never heard back and all of a sudden had some weird amount withdrawn from my bank account. What is $72 anyway? It sure wasn't $351. In what universe does it take a full week to refund someone's money that was wrongly withdrawn in the first place? In what universe is 2 weeks not enough notice to take me off whatever list for pulling tuition they had? The only reason this happened was because ******* did not do her job and continues to not do her job. She expects the world to stop when her kid is sick yet gives absolutely no empathy or understanding to HER OWN CLIENTS who are going through a difficult time. I never did hear back about changing my daughter's start date - which as it clearly states in the contract they want to rely so heavily on - IS POSSIBLE. When my husband and I were at their office signing this thing they looked up the available start dates right there and wrote down 9/1, telling us it was "more of a placeholder". But now they want to be sticklers and say 30 days from 9/1. Well why then was our start date changed to 9/5 and we were never notified? The only reason ******* could not give me a new start date and walk me through this new flex contract and procedure was because she was not doing her job because she didn't want to. They are purposely trying to jerk me around and they are wasting a lot of people's time in the process. $351 is nothing to them. I am certain they have already found someone to take our place on this list. It is, however, alot to my family. I'm not sure how them acting this way is going to prove they are a reputable business. I demand their rating be changed. I demand a refund. They refused to work with me even tho I was clear that this "flex contract" is what I wanted yet they refused to provide it - once again - breaking their own contract. This entire complaint could have been avoided had they simply replied to me with the same respect as is customary of any business and let me switch to that flex contract. Yet they refused to even mention it. In fact in her own response to this complaint she mentioned there was no such flex contract. Which is apparently untrue. And was more information than I ever received myself. Why? Because they wanted to keep my money for them doing no work for me and being exhaustively rude and uncooperative. I demand a refund. 

  
  Regards,
  
  ***********************

*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. ↩