A group of parents are still fighting with a local daycare to get their money back for months of service they haven’t received.
In April, the Ministry of Children and Family Development set guidelines stating that, if a parent notifies a facility they are withdrawing their child temporarily due to COVID-19, the facility must not charge any fee for the following calendar month or any future months in which the child is withdrawn.
Regardless, one local parent said she has been charged more than $15,000 by Richmond Star Education for her three kids who have not been attending the centre since March.
“We have been paying for the daycare services that we aren’t receiving. There is a lot of money going out of our household right now, but we don’t receive anything in return,” said Yvonne Gasarch, a mother of three and an essential service worker, who claimed that Richmond Star owes her $15,330 in total ($1,710 per child/month and $1,690 per child as deposit).
And Gasarch said she is not alone. There are another 15 families still waiting to be reimbursed, by the childcare centre in South Arm, she added.
On April 16, the Richmond News reported that 39 families whose children were temporarily withdrawn from Richmond Star Education, were demanding the centre provide either a full refund or full credit for the months their kids would not be attending.
The following day, Richmond Star sent the parents an email stating they would receive a full refund, but when Gasarch inquired further, she was told she would not get the money until June 1.
On June 1, Gasarch showed up at the facility, but staff refused to give her the reimbursement.
“They told me they were unaware of my case and used different excuses to send me away,” Gasarch told the News.
The Richmond News reached out to the daycare’s management for comment. They declined an interview but provided the following statement:
“We face more than 90 families. All decisions need to follow government guidelines and our company’s policy to avoid mess or arguments. Please understand it,” read a statement forwarded by the daycare.
“We just need parents to provide more info to support their request and our decision of refund,” it continues.
Gasarch said she had already forwarded them all the information they had asked for, but the school still hasn’t got back to her.
“We have been through the most emotionally difficult times of our lives. We don’t know how long this will take,” said Gasarch. The situation is unacceptable, she added, particularly given the Ministry of Children and Family Development is providing enhanced funding to licensed childcare centers in B.C. that have stayed open during the pandemic to offset lost income due to children staying at home.
“I totally understand if a daycare facility needs to find ways to keep teachers on staff. But now that they already received financial support. It’s unfair for parents to pay out of pocket for a service that they never received,” said Gasarch.
