Bright Minds Home Childcare

Summary: I cannot comment on the quality of the actual care for the children as I didn’t get that far. Due to their deceptive business practices we terminated our contract before even starting the care. Read the contract carefully and decide if you are willing to sign an ambiguous contract that will be interpreted «in the spirit it was written in» to ensure that they take your money despite what their contract says.
Long Story: Bright Minds Home Childcare seemed ok when we visited. Their staff present at the time (I believe it was Sally) seemed very nice and friendly. The location was fairly clean. Their registration fee of $ 75 is the highest we’ve seen compared not only to other in-​home cares, but also to daycare centers we visited. We signed a contract for our child and put down the registration fee and one week’s worth of care deposit.
The contract states that there is a two week trial period during which either party can terminate the contract without notice. A separate clause states that a two week notice is needed to terminate the contract. I understood that to mean that in the first two weeks either party can terminate the contract without notice (as stated) and that I would receive my deposit back. So one week before we were even to start, due to unforeseen circumstances, we were forced to terminate our contract. As a courtesy we notified Bright Minds Home Childcare immediately. Maddie (who was the person we signed the contract with) took our call, was courteous, and told us that our deposit would be returned. About 10 minutes later she called back and said, «We are not returning your deposit. Good luck» and hung up before we could even utter a word. I called back to get an explanation for the sudden change of heart (and breach of contract), just to have Maddie rudely say, «We are not returning your deposit. You can argue with Woody if you want» and hung up.
This was the first point at which I learned that Woody is the owner of the care. I called Woody and explained the situation. I read the relevant portions of the contract to him. The way I understood the clause, the deposit is not retained if the termination happens in the first two weeks. Woody’s interpretation was that they retain the deposit no matter what, unless they receive two weeks’ notice. I am not sure why they would have the «no notice» clause to begin with then. When I pointed out that the contract was ambiguous and that I understood it to be otherwise, he said, «well the spirit in which the contract was written was meant to be otherwise.» Unfortunately, Woody doesn’t understand how contracts work and that implied terms in spirit of the agreement are not legally binding. The intention does not make up for a poorly written contract.
I was disappointed to find that Woody values that $ 325 profit over honoring a contract and his business’ reputation. I am not wasting my time, effort, and more money challenging him through the legal system, but find it extremely deceiving to exploit ambiguity of his contract just to get some extra cash.
Finally, the situation did expose another significant thing that otherwise wouldn’t come to my attention. Maddie is personally involved in caring for children, and to see her go from courteous to downright rude in matter of minutes would worry me if I was to entrust her with my child. So at the end of this, I am glad we dodged a bullet and did not put our child in care of a scheming business and unreliable people. We did like Sally.
We erroneously recommended this place to a few of our friends before the whole fiasco, but we’re retracting that and making sure that none of our numerous friends with kids come even close to this place.