East Pennsboro KinderCare — Local services in East Pennsboro Township

I sent my son to Enloa KinderCare from June to the middle of August 2023. The caretakers and the environment were good. I am pleased with the development my 16 month old had during that period.

But overall I had a bad experience due to last minute cancellations and a bad refund policy. I outline the details below.

For context, I put my son in this daycare full-time, five days per week, and they charged me $400 weekly. I paid the $400 in advance for the following week each Saturday. Thus, I was paying $80 a day in advance.

In my 2.5 months of using the daycare, there were four times we were asked to keep kids at home or the Daycare was closed. On two of these occasions, they sent the message out the night before. On the other two occasions, the message went out the same day. One of those times, my mother-in-law had already left to drop my son off. One of those times was from an outbreak of hand, foot, and mouth disease, which led them to cancel for two straight days leading into the weekend. This was a very contagious disease, so this is understandable. Though they didn't act fast enough to stop most of the kids from getting infected. Further, I was not given a full refund (details below) In the other three times it was because there were not enough staff. In two of these instances, we were asked to keep our kids at home in exchange for $50 credit. Note that $50 is less than the $80 I already paid. . So we were asked to keep our kid at home, for an amount less than what we had already paid to send them there. One of those three times was a last minute announcement that daycare was canceled because staff had all called off. This was the instance my MIL had already left to take him to daycare. For the three times they were short-staffed, I would remind the reader that while emergencies happen, lack of staff is a problem with their business operations.

In that instance where they announced daycare was canceled after my MIL had already left with my son, I had to fight to get my $80 back. For reference, here was my exchange with the Kindercare location director. Director (July 31 Monday morning): If you are receiving this message. Your child’s classroom will be closed July 31. We just had another call out. This effects xx, xx, xx, xx, and xx. I am truly sorry for this inconvenience. Me: May I have a refund for this cancellation? Director: Unfortunately the rate for 4 days is the same for 5 days. Me: It is my understanding that by paying weekly, I am paying for 5 days of care per week. Since Kindercare will only be providing 4 days of care this week due to your staffing shortage, I am respectfully requesting a refund for the cost of 1 day of care. Director: I can make the adjustment this time, but going forward, it will be the same price regardless of days attended. After the two day hand-foot-mouth disease cancellation, I also sought a refund. We had already paid our $400 in advance, and so I expected a $160 for the two canceled days. Instead, she gave us a $100 refund. After I asked why, she responded to me: Director: We charge weekly, not daily. It is $400 per week for 5 days and $300 per week for 3 days. I disagreed. In my view, their last minute cancellation of two days was not equivalent to me voluntarily switching to their 3-days-a-week plan. After some back-and-forth on the phone, she wouldn't budge on the refund.

Anyway, dear reader, I hope this...

At first this daycare was everything I wanted until my infant started getting hurt constantly. I had to sign an incident report every week and my trips to the ER became frequent. The infant room is filled with carpet but somehow my child, who could not crawl at the time, bumped her head on the small section of the room where there was tile. That was just the beginning. Next she started bumping her head on rocking chairs, cribs, and changing tables. Once I walked in and she had a bruise that no one could explain. Which means she obviously was not being watched! My child has been hurt so frequently that I lost my job because of the amount of times I had to go pick her up and take her to the ER. The director told me that it’s common for babies to hit their head and I should call her doctor so she could explain the normalcy to me. It would only be normal if my child were hurting herself at home but that isn’t the case. I had a meeting with the director and national director and was told that things would be different. One week later I get a call that my child crawled into the changing table. She ended up having to get a scan because the bruise/bump was so big. That was the incident that cost me my job. I would rate them as zero stars for...

The company is known to be high quality but my experience has been terrible. Enrollment took forever. Online was the only option for enrollment. Called in and was redirected to the site. Put an inquiry in on the site and followed up only to be screened again by email with the same questions I had answered in the inquiry. Completed enrollment and couldn’t get an exact amount for what I owed weekly. Accrued late fees for weeks. Did the math on my own to determine what I actually owed. Sent email detailing what I determined and got no response. Began paying the amount I came up with & kept getting fees. After 2 months I got answers. I was told all late fees were removed and I needed to pay the difference that day or care would be suspended. PAID IT IMMEDIATELY. Just to be turned away at drop off because I submitted improper doc for a physical. (2 months prior) Inquired as to why that would happen without notice, got a response saying bring an older physical in and that my payment for the week was late (absent all week.. denied care)… I would say unorganized, unprofessional, unwelcoming, inconsiderate. Would not recommend. Withdrew...