Late Fees Charged after The Account Has Been Paid

LMaDaM on 03/05/2017 - 20:33

Hey everyone! I'm hoping to get some thoughts from the OzBargain universe about a situation with late fees from a childcare centre.

To cut a long story short, the latest statement from my kid's childcare centre included an unexpected series of late fees added to the account. When I spoke to the centre about the fees, they told me that the fees related to previous charges where I had been late in paying. The late fees have been applied retroactively - months after the charges had been paid in full.

I suppose my main question is "Can they legally apply late fees after a bill has already been paid?"

A bit more detail to set the scene:
- The contract with the childcare centre did mention a $2 late fee per day, however the fees have never been applied to the account before now so I forgot about them.
- My wife and I hit a financial rough patch last year, and we were late in paying the childcare fees while waiting for my wife's first paycheck to arrive from a new job. We let them know what was happening, and they were ok with us paying late. No late fees were mentioned at the time.
- All of the bills were settled ASAP, and everything's been paid on time ever since.

It's not a huge amount of money, so I'm not looking to turn this into a massive drama… but I feel like we've been given the rough end of the pineapple. Does anyone have any thoughts about arguments that I can raise with the childcare centre to see if I can get them to waive the late fees entirely?

Thanks in advance!

Financial

Comments

  • Findo on 03/05/2017 - 20:42

    How many days did it take for you to pay after the due date? I would send a firm, but polite email reminding them they were fine with it at the time and they shouldn't be charging things many months down the track.

    • MaDaM on 03/05/2017 - 20:54

      I don't remember exactly how long because it was about 5mths ago.. I discussed the fees with them today, but they're sticking to their guns.

      I'm hoping I have more than just the moral high ground before making a bigger deal about it.

  • [Deactivated] on 03/05/2017 - 20:59
    +1

    Sounds reasonable to me - they have extra work dealing with late payments, reminders, follow up, etc so deserve extra payment.

    • MaDaM on 03/05/2017 - 21:06

      I suppose that might be the case normally, but there wasn't any extra work for them in this instance. Besides, I would've had to live with it if they applied the fees at the time (and told me about it), but it feels like they've just chucked on an arbitrary fee down the track just to see if I'm paying attention.

      • Kangal on 03/05/2017 - 23:05

        It really depends…. how long was the late payment, and how much are they charging you?

        If you don't know exactly, a good estimate will help us understand if you have something to stand on.

  • lubos on 03/05/2017 - 23:25

    Send a polite email to the owner/manager explaining the situation. Don't complain about their staff so they don't get defensive. I'm pretty sure if you reach out to the right person, they will waive the late fees without any drama.

    And if they don't… well, that's life. Sometime you come across people with no empathy. Then just pay and feel sorry for them.

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