Daycare won't refund deposit or tuition after Covid closing
Hi all,
I'm looking for an attorney that specialized in contract law. Specifically I'm looking for someone who can give legal advice about what my options are regarding my day care. My day care refuses to re-enroll our child unless we sign a ridiculous covid waiver form/contract addendum (which is within their right), but now they won't return our deposit and first month's tuition. More specifically they've just completely ghosted us and won't answer our emails. Can a daycare even refuse to re-enroll and not return a deposit if you don't agree to a contract modification?
They also owe us a partial refund from what they received from the PPP, but now they won't even acknowledge our existence. All and all we're probably out 10K+ :(
Aug 10, 2020
Parent Replies
I can't speak to the deposit issue (though will say that the conditions for a deposit refund were very explicitly spelled out in our preschool's contract, so it's worth doing a close reading to see if it also is in yours). For the PPP, though, tuition refunds are not an allowable use of PPP funds, so it's possible that they made this promise before being advised that it was not permissible. In an ideal world they would just be honest and say so, but I can imagine they may just be dodging questions about it in the interim to avoid confrontation. I would not expect to see that money back, and would probably just focus on getting the deposits refunded (or, depending on your goals, on getting your child enrolled without the waiver requirement). Good luck--hopefully someone can provide an attorney suggestion!