Kidzland 2 Childcare Center

Review: September 9, 2013

To Whom It May Concern,

My son started daycare at Kidzland Ltd in Darboy, WI on Monday, August 26, 2013; however, when he started school on Tuesday, September 3rd, [redacted], the daycare director, failed to check my 4 year old son off the Lamers school bus at 4pm that afternoon. My sister, who was picking my son up at 4pm was told by [redacted] that my son was not on the bus and didn't even call me. My son was missing over AN HOUR. I could not get a hold of Lamers bus line, the daycare, nor the school. Only after I got a hold of Green Bay's Lamers bus line to patch me through to Appleton was when I actually got a hold of the bus driver who found him sleeping in the back of the bus. When [redacted] finally decided to call me, he didn't even know what was going on. He suggested that I call the bus line myself as well as the school. This daycare is not worthy of its 4 stars. How can they allow a parent to worry about their child for over an hour and then continue to charge their clients for pulling them out for a mistake that they made on their part? It was HIS responsibility to check the bus to make sure he was on the bus. I signed the right paperwork before he started school so this would not happen. [redacted] refuses to refund the money and points fingers at Lamers for this issue. This is just as much his fault because he should have PHYSICALLY checked the bus himself. I never authorized or called the daycare to say that I was going to pick up my son from school so they should never have let the bus driver leave the facility until they figured out where my son was. This is irresponsible of the daycare and would not recommend working with such a careless daycare facility. No parent should have to endure this kind of fear or heartache. I hope you will highly consider dropping this facility from your 'Best of the Valley' because this facility is not fit to care for children if they are going to handle these situations like this.

Thank you!Desired Settlement: Cash refund of amount that was debited from bank $187.00

Business

Response:

On September 3rd at 4:20 PM Lamers School Bus route ** dropped off the afternoon children scheduled to arrive at Kidzland. Based on my roster and forms signed by A [redacted], [redacted] was supposed to arrive on this bus. I spoke to both the bus driver and the assistant who was on the bus and told them that there should be a [redacted] that is getting off. The assistant told me he only had one child left on the bus and he turned and asked the child who he was and it was not [redacted]. I asked the two Lamers employees if [redacted] had gotten on the bus and neither could answer me yes or no. Neither the bus driver nor the assistant physically checked the bus or a roster of any kind. At that point I escorted the other other children back to the center and their respective room. [redacted]'s aunt, [redacted], was waiting at the center to pick [redacted] up. I told her that the bus driver did not have him on the bus. She asked me what had happened and I explained to her that it was possible he did not get on the bus. At that time she called A. I told [redacted] to let A know that [redacted] had not arrived on the bus and that he might still be at school. While she was speaking with A, I called the school. I attempted to call multiple times and received only a busy signal. Eventually I was directed to the afterhours message system for the school. At this time, I directed [redacted] to go to the school and check if [redacted] was there. I gave her directions to the school and instructed her to go to the Administrative office and identify herself and that she was there to find out if [redacted] was there or if he had gotten on the bus. I told [redacted] that I would try getting ahold of Lamers and would call A when I received a confirmation on [redacted]'s whereabouts and that A would then contact [redacted]. I then attempted to contact Lamers School Bus Lines via the direct line and extension. The line was not connecting after several tries so I attempted to contact the main line and get directed to the dispatch through another line. I was able to get to the dispatch and explained to them the situation. The dispatcher was unable to contact the bus driver over the radio and asked me for my number and told me they would call me back. After about 10 minutes the dispatcher called me back and told me that [redacted] in fact had been on the bus. He had fallen asleep in the back and the bus driver had not found him until on the return to the bus yard. The dispatcher informed me that the driver was on the way back to drop him off. My associate [redacted], called A and left a voice message confirming that [redacted] was on the bus and being dropped off at the center shortly. [redacted] arrived at 4:50 PM and was picked up by [redacted] at about 5PM. When the bus driver arrived he told me that he had forgotten to check the seats until he was headed back to the bus yard and that's when he found [redacted]. I contacted A later that evening and discussed the whole event to make sure she understood what had happened. She said she was very upset with the bus company and had just gotten off the phone with them after "screaming" at them. I told her I understood why she was upset and that the Lamers employees had broken protocol by not physically checking the bus or confirming a roster count. The next day, A informed me that she was switching [redacted] to a new school district starting September 9th. [redacted] finished out the week at Kidzland and did ride the bus without any further incident. I explained to her that the following week's tuition had already been processed. I did not ask her the reason for switching districts and assumed it had to do with the bus company. One of my teachers told me that A had mentioned that the new school district had programs that were held in the childcare centers which was more convenient for her.

[redacted] contacted me the following week and asked why he had been charged for tuition for the week of September 9th. I explained to him that our policy was for families to give 2 weeks notification before leaving or they would be responsible for those week's tuition, which was agreed upon and signed by A at the time of enrollment. He said that he did not think he should have to pay because "they had no choice" to switch centers because the bus company had made the previous week's mistake. I told him I understood his decision, but that it was not a failure on Kidzland's part and therefore did not qualify as an exception to waive the policy. At no time did A or [redacted] express any concern with Kidzland's service or protocols. If [redacted] and A believe that our "facility is not fit to care for children", I find it odd that they were comfortable finishing out the week with [redacted] in our care. I believe that Mr [redacted]'s motivation for this compaint is solely driven by his desire to not have to pay the childcare costs. The week of tuition was $167 which we have no intention of refunding, which has already been explained to him. A $20 deposit was refunded to A after she returned two key fobs to the center.

I followed our center's protocols for this kind of situation and I located and ensured [redacted] was delivered safely to the center. I was in direct contact with both [redacted] and A during the entire situation. This scenario is a perfect example as to WHY we at Kidzland have EARNED our Best of the Valley awards and a Four Star rating from YoungStar. I am sorry Mr [redacted] feels that slandering our center is an appropriate method to try and get a refund.

[redacted], Director at Kidzland Ltd