My concerns with Willowbrae is wholly about the corporate inflexibility and arguable gouging of…read morefamilies.
The care our twins recieved there was good. Their teachers were caring, they were fed well and obviously nurtured. Routines were consistent, communication is solid. During the two weeks we were there, it was clear that there was some sense of community as there was a fundraiser going on for a family facing some severe health challenges.
And perhaps that last point is what I find so frustrating about their corporate policies.Willowbrae is extremely expensive; amongst the highest in the city. There's certainly some perks (cameras, an app, fancy security, etc) that are being paid for with the fees.
We moved to the city for my husband's work while I was pregnant. As our twins neared one year old my efforts to return to work picked up. When offered a very desirable job, I was asked to start in 3 weeks, giving me 2-3 weeks to find two infant childcare spots - which is kind of like looking for a unicorn. I called 17 providers. After a week, willowbrae returned my call with a unicorn. I went to look at it and was impressed. I was told that the pricing was competitive and in line with other providers. I was also told I had to make a decision quickly. So we did and signed the contract, paid registration and deposits.
The night before the kids started, another daycare called; one that had been on my radar, that was more convenient on our commute and... Would save us $800 a month. As a non profit, family focused daycare, they did 3 things right off the bat that made it clear this we should make the move:
- they agreed to hold the spots for 2 weeks so we could get SOME value for the $2500 we had paid to Willowbrae.
- the do not require a registration fee or deposit
- they told me that the spots had opened up for our two BC a mother had lost a job, and she was not charged anything for the sudden need to leave.
We told Willowbrae the next morning, our first morning, that we would be leaving in 2 weeks. We acknowledged we owed them 30 days notice and expected to have to pay for the following 2 weeks after we left.
Not good enough for them. They insisted they would have to charge us for the complete following month. See their policy for contact changes is 30 days notice beginning on the first day of the next month. So we told them on the 13th and they had us pay for the following 49 days. Had we told them on the 28th, we'd have owed 34 days. If we had said on the 3rd we had owed for 59 days.
When each day was costing us over $100, this approach to contract changes which can sometimes be controlled by families but often cannot, is unfair - an opinion shared by most I talk to. We exchanged several phone calls and emails with local franchise administration who continually deferred to the corporate policy being immovable. Meanwhile the corporate office did not return any of my calls and the local franchise refused to give me direct contact information. I will - boldly but confidently - say that I ensured all conversations and communications were polite, aware of the uncomfortable conflict I was bringing to people. I assured them that I respected their people, appreciated their service, but needed them to consider my situation.
In the following month I also confirmed that they aren't really all that competitive, running $100-400 more expensive a month for each infant space than EVERYONE else I talked to.
The whole experience with Willowbrae cost us nearly $4000 for our 13 month old twins. And it was still worth it to us to move. We are extraordinarily happy in our new spot.
My advice to others is, Willowbrae offers a great calibre of chilecare but customer service, family relation in this situation and flexibility is garbage. You must be confident in your choice - and many of you will have that luxury - and you must be committed to staying, because they are committed to making it miserable for you to leave.
