Complaint Review: Terri J. Mulhern - Community Kids Daycare - Daycare Diva - West Des Moines Iowa

 I'm sad to see such horrible things posted about Terri. I've had two toddlers in her care since April of 2016 and she has provided my children with excellent care. I had originally taken them to a large chain daycare center and my children cried every single day during dropoff and pickup. I have no concerns with the care provided by that center. However, after enrolling them in Terri's daycare, they became excited to go every day and were happy when I picked them up. Terri treats the children in her care like family. Her home has become somewhat of a second home for them. Her cost is completely affordable and she goes above and beyond for her clients and their children. She will not spoil/coddle your children but instead teach them to be independent and respectful. They receive wholesome meals and snacks and also learn preschool material. I cannot say enough good things about this woman.

I was also an employee of Terri's (community kids daycare) for a short few months. I had problems getting my paychecks on time and she never paid me for the last entire month I worked for her. She claimed it was because she had been turned in to DHS and believed I was the one that called. She also took money out of my checks to pay for Aflac coverage that was cancelled before I was ever elgible.

I was also an employee of Terri's (community kids daycare) for a short few months. I had problems getting my paychecks on time and she never paid me for the last entire month I worked for her. She claimed it was because she had been turned in to DHS and believed I was the one that called. She also took money out of my checks to pay for Aflac coverage that was cancelled before I was ever elgible.

I was also an employee of Terri's (community kids daycare) for a short few months. I had problems getting my paychecks on time and she never paid me for the last entire month I worked for her. She claimed it was because she had been turned in to DHS and believed I was the one that called. She also took money out of my checks to pay for Aflac coverage that was cancelled before I was ever elgible.

I was also an employee of Terri's (community kids daycare) for a short few months. I had problems getting my paychecks on time and she never paid me for the last entire month I worked for her. She claimed it was because she had been turned in to DHS and believed I was the one that called. She also took money out of my checks to pay for Aflac coverage that was cancelled before I was ever elgible.

We have known Terri and utilized her services for many a year, we have never had any circumstances come up with her trying to juice us for more money then what she has worked for, and she has taken wonderful care of my child. I would recommend Terri to anyone that I know that is looking for daycare.. Her and her family are wonderful people and she is always ready to help when situations come up. In all honesty Terri doesn't even charge a high rate compared to almost all other daycare providers that I have been introduced to. She is very bendable and always ready to help. For all of these people hating on her I say that there is more then one side to every story, Terri is not a bad person in any way shape or form, she has a very big heart and people take that to their advantage and want to run all over her and that is not right. I just want to say to all the haters quit hating and do something better with your time, Terri is a good woman and I will stick to that for anyone that would like to battle that with me.. My family loves Terri and will always give her kudos for all the work that she does... Thanks Terri... Brush the haters off....

We have known Terri and utilized her services for many a year, we have never had any circumstances come up with her trying to juice us for more money then what she has worked for, and she has taken wonderful care of my child. I would recommend Terri to anyone that I know that is looking for daycare.. Her and her family are wonderful people and she is always ready to help when situations come up. In all honesty Terri doesn't even charge a high rate compared to almost all other daycare providers that I have been introduced to. She is very bendable and always ready to help. For all of these people hating on her I say that there is more then one side to every story, Terri is not a bad person in any way shape or form, she has a very big heart and people take that to their advantage and want to run all over her and that is not right. I just want to say to all the haters quit hating and do something better with your time, Terri is a good woman and I will stick to that for anyone that would like to battle that with me.. My family loves Terri and will always give her kudos for all the work that she does... Thanks Terri... Brush the haters off....

We have known Terri and utilized her services for many a year, we have never had any circumstances come up with her trying to juice us for more money then what she has worked for, and she has taken wonderful care of my child. I would recommend Terri to anyone that I know that is looking for daycare.. Her and her family are wonderful people and she is always ready to help when situations come up. In all honesty Terri doesn't even charge a high rate compared to almost all other daycare providers that I have been introduced to. She is very bendable and always ready to help. For all of these people hating on her I say that there is more then one side to every story, Terri is not a bad person in any way shape or form, she has a very big heart and people take that to their advantage and want to run all over her and that is not right. I just want to say to all the haters quit hating and do something better with your time, Terri is a good woman and I will stick to that for anyone that would like to battle that with me.. My family loves Terri and will always give her kudos for all the work that she does... Thanks Terri... Brush the haters off....

We have known Terri and utilized her services for many a year, we have never had any circumstances come up with her trying to juice us for more money then what she has worked for, and she has taken wonderful care of my child. I would recommend Terri to anyone that I know that is looking for daycare.. Her and her family are wonderful people and she is always ready to help when situations come up. In all honesty Terri doesn't even charge a high rate compared to almost all other daycare providers that I have been introduced to. She is very bendable and always ready to help. For all of these people hating on her I say that there is more then one side to every story, Terri is not a bad person in any way shape or form, she has a very big heart and people take that to their advantage and want to run all over her and that is not right. I just want to say to all the haters quit hating and do something better with your time, Terri is a good woman and I will stick to that for anyone that would like to battle that with me.. My family loves Terri and will always give her kudos for all the work that she does... Thanks Terri... Brush the haters off....

First of all, a deposit for daycare is not like a deposit for an apartment; which you would have know if you had done any research on your child's care and talked with any other established daycares (in-home or centers). Second of all, yes, sometimes Terri is unprofessional. But frankly, if we had wanted complete professionalism we would have gone with a center instead of an in-home daycare. The unprofessionalism is the whole reason someone chooses in-home, that's the idea of it; it's not supposed to be like a true business. You obviously have no idea what kind of daycare provider Terri is since you didn't actually have her care for your child at all. Here is what I know: I recommended Terri to a coworker of mine that had been taking their child to a center. They decided to go with her and paid for a full year of daycare using the POGO option. After a couple months they decided that a center was more in-line with what they wanted for their child. Terri paid them back in full! My husband needed 2 life-threatening surgeries last year. As you can imagine, it was a very difficult time for us. After the surgeries, once our family had all gone back home, Terri cooked us dinner for 2 weeks! Another daycare mother's grandmother was sick and dying last year. This daycare mother was single and had no one to leave her child with. Terri let that child stay with her for a week while the mother was out caring for her grandmother! This website has let you tarnish Terri's good name for free, but will make her pay $500 to have her name clearedthat's the definition of a rip-off! The only site that continues to have anything negative to say about her is this sitebecause they are extortionists! Even the Better Business Bureau has given her a rating of A. http://iowa.bbb.org/WWWRoot/Report.aspx?site=145&bbb=0664&firm=32025390 My only advice for you is: Good luck with using your friend as a daycare provider. As soon as you have any issues with how she's raising your child, we'll see how professional your friendship will become!

Adam: Thanks for bringing the BBB website to my attention. I have spoken with them and they are going to get back to me by the end of the day today about how long it will take to get the website updated, as I did respond to the complaint and I am in the right. But don't imply to people I am a bad business, when the F was simply for not reponding to a complaint, not that there is any evidence that I am a poor childcare provider. You also don't have any evidence I am a Poor childcare provider, as you keep implying, because I have never worked for you - you cancelled at the last minute and are angry about my not returning your deposit and I understand, but it does not change my policy and no matter how many times you post here I will not change my mind. As for the receipt, I save every receipt I write in MS word, so yes I opened and cut and pasted it. The fact the date goes next to the signature and was in writing on the origional is something I cannot help, as I don't have the ability to scan it in. You are free to complain all you like about your deposit. But if you continue to imply I am not a quality provider I will take action, because you have no knowledge of that. Posting on the web is simply your way of venting. The individuals who use me for childcare will not buy for one minute that you know what you are talking about, and new parents who hire me will call my referrences and take the word of someone who actually knows something about how things are here. I am sorry you are angry. You were told from the very beginning you did not have to use the POGOs and you were told from the very beginning that the $280 was to hold your spot. What did you think it was for? You need to get better educated.

I would like to comment again on her so called "receipt". Note again that it is not signed or dated by us, and it is something that she obviously just typed on her computer to post here. It not a real receipt.. its not something that she printed to have us sign. Which is why she just typed it on this post, as opposed to having a real receipt that would of require her to scan it to her computer! Also, on her claims about the better business bureau. Please see this link and you will see that she actual ranks as an "F". The lowest possible grade. http://iowa.bbb.org/WWWRoot/Report.aspx?site=145&bbb=0664&firm=32025390

Terri does a good job trying to diffuse, and make a non-issue out of very legitimate complaints against her by saying that we are just angry. Sounds like she's simply being manipulative. Terri claims that she doesn't need the money, but yet she asked me to pay her in advanced and have it in her account by 5:30! (please refer to the email in my previous post). Terri claims that my Fianc visited her at a bad time, but Terri still scheduled it with my fianc (this is almost amusing!!). She claims that she gave us the receipt for the deposit, yet the so called receipt in her post is not signed or dated, and it looks like she simply typed it up at the last minute to paste on this site. And yes, there is something in her hand book about giving notice I already shown what it was in my previous post ( I didn't neglect to put it in my previous post.) and it says nothing specific about a deposit. Even if it did, it would still be moot as we didn't sign it. And I wasn't aware that deposits' are always nonrefundable?! I especially wasn't aware that deposits are always nonrefundable when there is NOTHING to state that it is and, there is no signed agreement stating so. Terri is full of excuses and lies, and will even go as far as blaming this Rip-Off Report web site for people having very real issues with her. And yes, Terri, it is shady. You are a employed by these families and it is bad business practice to ask your employer to get paid in advance for free work. Anyone reading this.. Ask your employer to get paid for 6 months of work not completed, and see how fast you get laughed out of the office. Please do not be fooled by Terri Mulhern. As consumers you have the right to be fully informed about the person that you will be hiring to watch your children. I would advise that you read my post and emails between Terri and my Fianc and then read Terri's reply. Then ask yourself if this someone that you really want to be involved with. Note how defensive Terri gets with us in her emails. Also note that she has NOTHING to prove her side other than calling us angry to try to diffuse our complaint against her.

Terri does a good job trying to diffuse, and make a non-issue out of very legitimate complaints against her by saying that we are just angry. Sounds like she's simply being manipulative. Terri claims that she doesn't need the money, but yet she asked me to pay her in advanced and have it in her account by 5:30! (please refer to the email in my previous post). Terri claims that my Fianc visited her at a bad time, but Terri still scheduled it with my fianc (this is almost amusing!!). She claims that she gave us the receipt for the deposit, yet the so called receipt in her post is not signed or dated, and it looks like she simply typed it up at the last minute to paste on this site. And yes, there is something in her hand book about giving notice I already shown what it was in my previous post ( I didn't neglect to put it in my previous post.) and it says nothing specific about a deposit. Even if it did, it would still be moot as we didn't sign it. And I wasn't aware that deposits' are always nonrefundable?! I especially wasn't aware that deposits are always nonrefundable when there is NOTHING to state that it is and, there is no signed agreement stating so. Terri is full of excuses and lies, and will even go as far as blaming this Rip-Off Report web site for people having very real issues with her. And yes, Terri, it is shady. You are a employed by these families and it is bad business practice to ask your employer to get paid in advance for free work. Anyone reading this.. Ask your employer to get paid for 6 months of work not completed, and see how fast you get laughed out of the office. Please do not be fooled by Terri Mulhern. As consumers you have the right to be fully informed about the person that you will be hiring to watch your children. I would advise that you read my post and emails between Terri and my Fianc and then read Terri's reply. Then ask yourself if this someone that you really want to be involved with. Note how defensive Terri gets with us in her emails. Also note that she has NOTHING to prove her side other than calling us angry to try to diffuse our complaint against her.

Terri does a good job trying to diffuse, and make a non-issue out of very legitimate complaints against her by saying that we are just angry. Sounds like she's simply being manipulative. Terri claims that she doesn't need the money, but yet she asked me to pay her in advanced and have it in her account by 5:30! (please refer to the email in my previous post). Terri claims that my Fianc visited her at a bad time, but Terri still scheduled it with my fianc (this is almost amusing!!). She claims that she gave us the receipt for the deposit, yet the so called receipt in her post is not signed or dated, and it looks like she simply typed it up at the last minute to paste on this site. And yes, there is something in her hand book about giving notice I already shown what it was in my previous post ( I didn't neglect to put it in my previous post.) and it says nothing specific about a deposit. Even if it did, it would still be moot as we didn't sign it. And I wasn't aware that deposits' are always nonrefundable?! I especially wasn't aware that deposits are always nonrefundable when there is NOTHING to state that it is and, there is no signed agreement stating so. Terri is full of excuses and lies, and will even go as far as blaming this Rip-Off Report web site for people having very real issues with her. And yes, Terri, it is shady. You are a employed by these families and it is bad business practice to ask your employer to get paid in advance for free work. Anyone reading this.. Ask your employer to get paid for 6 months of work not completed, and see how fast you get laughed out of the office. Please do not be fooled by Terri Mulhern. As consumers you have the right to be fully informed about the person that you will be hiring to watch your children. I would advise that you read my post and emails between Terri and my Fianc and then read Terri's reply. Then ask yourself if this someone that you really want to be involved with. Note how defensive Terri gets with us in her emails. Also note that she has NOTHING to prove her side other than calling us angry to try to diffuse our complaint against her.

Terri does a good job trying to diffuse, and make a non-issue out of very legitimate complaints against her by saying that we are just angry. Sounds like she's simply being manipulative. Terri claims that she doesn't need the money, but yet she asked me to pay her in advanced and have it in her account by 5:30! (please refer to the email in my previous post). Terri claims that my Fianc visited her at a bad time, but Terri still scheduled it with my fianc (this is almost amusing!!). She claims that she gave us the receipt for the deposit, yet the so called receipt in her post is not signed or dated, and it looks like she simply typed it up at the last minute to paste on this site. And yes, there is something in her hand book about giving notice I already shown what it was in my previous post ( I didn't neglect to put it in my previous post.) and it says nothing specific about a deposit. Even if it did, it would still be moot as we didn't sign it. And I wasn't aware that deposits' are always nonrefundable?! I especially wasn't aware that deposits are always nonrefundable when there is NOTHING to state that it is and, there is no signed agreement stating so. Terri is full of excuses and lies, and will even go as far as blaming this Rip-Off Report web site for people having very real issues with her. And yes, Terri, it is shady. You are a employed by these families and it is bad business practice to ask your employer to get paid in advance for free work. Anyone reading this.. Ask your employer to get paid for 6 months of work not completed, and see how fast you get laughed out of the office. Please do not be fooled by Terri Mulhern. As consumers you have the right to be fully informed about the person that you will be hiring to watch your children. I would advise that you read my post and emails between Terri and my Fianc and then read Terri's reply. Then ask yourself if this someone that you really want to be involved with. Note how defensive Terri gets with us in her emails. Also note that she has NOTHING to prove her side other than calling us angry to try to diffuse our complaint against her.

The client who wrote the last comments on my report is angry because he did not get his deposit back. As anyone who has hired daycare knows, deposits are to hold a spot for a period of time. In Adam and Michelle's case I help an opening I could have filled for over 3 months. That's more than 12 weeks that I could have been paid by another family for an opening. I did not get a phone call from anyone about their opening. As for the claim that Michelle came and I was in the shower, it is true. The parent who was with the children has been background checked and is an approved Sub on my license. Not only that, but I tried to tell Michelle Friday was a bad day to visit because I had State legislators visiting my home that afternoon and needed to get ready. She had waited until the last minute of her maternity leave to schedule a ply date, when she had 7 weeks previous to do so. It seems to me if they were so concerned they would have come by for a visit sooner? To top it all off I had an employee call in sick that morning so I was working with twice the workload I normally have while she stayed for over 2 hours. If there was an issue it probably should have come up then. I don't buy that Adam and Michelle just happened to have a friend quit to do daycare the last week of her leave. Even if it is true, he neglected to paste the part of the handbook I referred him to which states that 2 week's notice is required. I am pasting his receipt below and the portion of my handbook which deals with two-weeks notice to terminate care. CHILDCARE RECEIPT Received From ****** and ********: The sum of $280 for the care of their infant (yet to be named ) for the 2 week's deposit, which will be refunded as follows. $140 will be used for the first month of childcare, and the other $140 will be refunded after 90 days, provided all childcare fees are paid on time and there is no balance due. Should either party terminate care for any reason 2 week's written notice is required as per the childcare handbook. Mrs. Mulhern is allotted 30 days to return any refund from the date of termination although every effort will be made to do so as quickly as possible. Signed:_________________________________ Date:_____________________ ************ EIN # *********** Here is the portion of the handbook which they obviously don't feel applies to them, because they received the handbook prior to interviewing with me. They had every opportunity to ask any questions and discuss this policy if they had an issue with it. Termination of care: We require 2 full-week's notice in order to terminate care. If you notify us on Wednesday, your full 2 weeks begins the following Monday. This allows us time to adjust for our staff's payroll. We need to be notified by noon on Monday in order to count as a full week. Your two week's notice must be paid whether your child is in attendance or not. Should we decide we are unable to care for your child, you will be given 30 days notice, except in the case of non-payment. As far as I am concerned, Rip-off Report's offer to help me fix my bad reports if I pay them money is a scam. If you check with the BBB, you will find that after turning in accurate information my file was updated and is now clear. I don't belong to the BBB and they did not ask for any money in order to make a determination in my favor. DO NOT be fooled into thinking that just because a parent is angry they are right! As far as the employee who blogged, whose name is Destiny, She has never contacted me about any missing paycheck, probably because she just stopped showing up to work and never came back. An employer can only look so hard for an employee who disappears. She now has her w-2, which she called and told the IRS he boyfriend said was wrong, as if he does my payroll. All this without telling me. In addition the week she wrote all this crap about me on here she used me as a reference for a job and went and told the lady she was very happy here and that I would give her a good reference. As soon as that provider found this report she took a whole new look at this girl's honesty. I am still listed on her Resume and reference list as a person who would attest to her skills. I will not be paying Rip-off report money to make me look good. In 24 years I have pissed maybe 4 families off and it just happened these 2 used the internet to blast me. Read this report and believe what you will, there are dozens of families who will tell you their children get excellent care. I have never had issues with my license, my inspections or anything else. And to imply I am a rip-off artist for offering free time in return for asking a parent to pay their bill early is ridiculous. If I were going to go out of business I would have done it a long time ago. I have already filled Adam's slot with a family who is thrilled with being able to get extra daycare for paying ahead. Offering a discount for services is acceptable in every other business there is, but somehow if I do it: it is shady? I will not apologize for helping parents with one of the biggest expenses there is to raising a child. I choose to do daycare, I don't have to. I have a husband with a great job and I don't need the income. Maybe you should ask yourself if rip-off report is just out to make money by letting people post any nasty thing they want and then forcing businesses to pay money to have it removed. Even when we sent them documentation proving our side, they have refused to remove the inaccurate information. It seems to me this website is the biggest rip-off of all.

I was going to bring my child to Terri Mulhern, but after some very unprofessional behavior I decided against it. My fianc and I thought the POGO (pay one, get one) was a bit strange and could lead to money problems, which the person who reported her has experienced. We decided to give Terri the benefit of doubt, and would simply avoid any financial issues by not participating in her POGO program. Well, the problems started before the baby was even born (we interviewed with her a month before the due date). A week before the baby came we tried to contact Terri to give her an update as the baby was going to be here a few days late, and that we still needed paper work. We decided that we wouldnt start day care until after the baby was 8 weeks old, but as soon as we brought the baby home from the hospital we tried to contact Terri AGAIN to give her another update, and schedule a play date, AND that we still needed the paper work. 2 weeks after the fact we were finally able to get a hold of Terri. Again, we gave Terri the benefit of the doubt. The last straw was when Terri tried to contact me at work a week before we were going to start child care. (She contacted me on 03/02/09 and we weren't going to start until 03/10/09) She wrote me an email stating that she would give me a month for free if we would pay for our first month in advance on that same day (03/02/09), and it had to be in her account by 5:30 PM (weird to say least) . This was very strange and seemed very unprofessional considering we haven't even developed a relationship yet. Would you ask your employer to get paid in advance and work extra for free??? To me this screamed that something wasn't right. She gave some lame excuse for needing the money (I Copied and Pasted the Email on the Very Bottom), but I'm guessing that I wasn't the only one who she asked. The ironic thing is that our friend decided to go into day care that week of 03/02/09, and we made the decision to cancel with Terri that same week to go with our friend. I tried to call her several times as soon as we decided to go with our friend. Her voice mail on her cell phone was full and I couldn't leave a message (again, unprofessional). I was finally able to leave a message on her house phone to inform her of our decision and ask for our deposit back. The deposit was for $280 which would apply for the first and last week of day care. My fianc decided to write an email to Terri on 03/09/09 because we haven't heard from her all week. Terri finally decides to write us back on 3/10/09 AFTER complaining about us to one of my co-workers who also brings her children to Terri!!!! In Terri's reply to us she states that we would not get our deposit back because it was too short notice, as we just emailed her last night, and that she didn't receive our voice mail. Too bad she doesn't keep up on her voice mails or she could be lying. The kicker is that we did NOT sign her hand book and no where does it mention any thing about losing a deposit. Terri seems to think that reading her handbook is enough of an agreement even though it states that it needs to be signed. She also claimed that she gave us a receipt which is not the case. She is either lying (again) or is mistaken. Needless to say, we didn't even start day care and we should get our deposit back. We tried to contact her which ended up with us leaving her a voice mail a week before hand. We would of emailed her, but apparently she only responds to emails when she is in the risk of losing money, because she never bothered to respond to our earlier emails. Either way, I will be reporting Terri to the Better Business Bureau, and we will also be contacting a family lawyer if we do not receive our deposit in full. (we actually contacted our family lawyer since I wrote this and is said we have a case. Which is funny because Terri states in her last email that we wouldnt) I'm sorry folks, but I cant let cheap or free day care blind me from poor business practices and possibly poor child care. I think its funny that you people are attacking her former employee when her point about not being paid still stands! Besides, if the former employee was so horrible with your kids and only sat around and breast fed all day.. Why would Terri have her around for more than one day!! Maybe its because Terri is working the system to have as many kids as possible. Yeah, that screams quality day care to me. Well, enjoy your cheap day care because that's what youre getting at that zoo. I haven't even gone over the list of things that my Fianc witnessed when she dropped by the couple times that she did. Such as Terri showering while another parent was watching the kids, Umm has this parent gone thru back round checks is she licensed.. Or does she even has consent from the other parents to watch their kids?? To any one else out there be warned, and do not hand this lady any large sums of money. I mean do you think that it looks good for people to be going back and forth like this??? I figured I would have problems getting the money back considering that she was asking ME for money before we even started day care!! I have copied and pasted the email that Terri wrote to me on 03/02/09 asking me for money, and I have also pasted the email between my Fianc and Terri regarding the deposit. I will also show what Terri's own hand book states regarding termination (says nothing about a deposit and we didn't even sign it). The email chain starts at the very bottom and works up. "Termination of care: We require 2 full-week's notice in order to terminate care. If you notify us on Wednesday, your full 2 weeks begins the following Monday. This allows us time to adjust for our staff's payroll. We need to be notified by noon on Monday in order to count as a full week. Your two week's notice must be paid whether your child is in attendance or not. Should we decide we are unable to care for your child, you will be given 30 days notice, except in the case of non-payment." this is the only blurb on termination of care..... "By signing your child intake form and financial agreement (we never signed!!), you are acknowledging that you have read, understand and agree to all of the terms in this document. You will be held accountable for this agreement from the day your paperwork is signed. No changes may be made to this document, except in writing, signed by both parties. Please understand that this is a legal and binding agreement." From: ******** (Terri) To: ******** Subject: RE: Regarding daycare? Date: Fri, 13 Mar 2009 14:26:02 -0500 ******* If you look at the receipt you received for the deposit it clearly states that you must give notice for termination of care . I have held a slot for you for over 5 months and I am not returning your deposit it is non-refundable. You had an obligation to reach me in person or send me written notice, not leave a voicemail which doesn't exist as of today, because I have checked every phone line I have. In addition, I have gone through my vonage phone records and show no call from any of the numbers I have for you or Adam. It is not OK for you to pay a deposit to hold a slot and then drop me at the last minute and not expect to lose your deposit. And you received your paperwork because you told me you had it when you came for your visit. In addition, as of your visit you gave no indication your child would not be starting. The fact of the matter is that you changed your mind at the last minute, which you are free to do but you will not be receiving a refund. Your deposit pays for the time your slot was held for. Whether or not you signed your paperwork you received it and have just admitted you read it. It clearly states in there that 2 week's notice is required to terminate care. This applies to everyone including you. So even if ***** called last week it is not 2 week's notice. The whole purpose of paying for a deposit is to hold a slot the daycare could otherwise fill. I allow parents to use half of it for their first week of care, which you will not be using because you dumped me. And the other week gets used as one week of your two week notice when you terminate care, which you just did. You are welcome to call an attorney if you do not think I am right but they will tell you that a deposit is just that, a downpayment to secure an opening. I am sorry if you misunderstood that fact. Terri From: ********** [mailto:*********] Sent: Friday, March 13, 2009 10:19 AM To: Terri Subject: RE: Regarding daycare? Terri You did not receive a voicemail from me, if was from my fiance ****. As I stated in my previous email he attempted get a hold of you by phone but no one answered. Your cell phone voicemail was full, so he tried your home number and left a message when there was not an answer. During the period before we were to start daycare with you, we were not still looking around. In fact I had sent you two emails, one before my daughter was born and one after, giving you updates and requesting the paperwork. Since you never responded to my emails at those times, Adam and I opted to call you about our decision to withdrawal once it had been made rather than sending you an email. It just so happened that last week circumstances had changed with my friend and she decided to offer to watch my daughter. For obvious reasons we feel more comfortable leaving our daughter with a good friend of mine rather than someone we didn't really know. No where in your handbook, which I am assuming is what you refer to as your policy, does it even mention a deposit. Therefore you do not have any written guidelines or rules about deposits and when they are or are not refundable. Neither Adam or myself have signed your handbook or financial aggreement, which do not mention a deposit, and therefore are not bound by those contracts. You said yourself that the deposit money of $280 was to cover the first and last week of care while you are watching our child. However, you had yet to begin to provide daycare for our daughter and therefore for that reason and the fact we never signed anything or any document regarding the deposit we are entitled to a refund of our entire deposit. Perhaps if a depost were to be non refundable for what ever reasons or due to a withdrawal before care was to begin, it should be clearly outlined in your handbook where both parties would be in total agreement. We expect to receive our refund of $280 by mail by Friday March 20th 2009. Please send the refund to: ****** ****** *********** West Des Moines, IA 50266 RE: Regarding daycare? From: The Mulherns (*************) Sent: Tue 3/10/09 8:41 AM To: ********* ********* I did not receive a voicemail from you, and as you are aware from your handbook, I require written notice as I have held a spot for you for more than 3 months. You have had my email address this entire time, and could have let me know in writing as soon as you know. As you are now cancelling with less than 24 hours notice it is in my policy that your deposit is non-refundable. I will however, discuss it with my co-providers. The sad thing is that I knew from the beginning that after reading Jason's rant you had your reservations. I wish that you had been more forthcoming and that you had been honest about the fact you were still looking so that I would have been prepared and not been hit with this at the last minute. As I made clear in the interview, I budget to pay staff and therefore when a spot is held for more than a month the money is not refundable if adequate notice isn't given. I am sorry if this upsets you, but we took an opening we could have filled and went without that income to wait for your child. I will let you know what portion, if any of your deposit we will be refunding. Terri From: ******** Sent: Monday, March 09, 2009 7:26 PM To: Terri; ***** Subject: Regarding daycare Terri **** tried calling you last week, your cell phone voicemail was full so he left you a message on your home phone. I am just checking to make sure you got his message. Circumstances have changed for us, my friend has offered to watch Ella and we have decided to go with that option. We apologize for it being last minute but it was something that just came together last week. Please mail us our deposit to: ***** **** ******** ******* **** Or I can come and pick it up from you. Just email me back or call me at *** *** **** to let me know if I need to come pick it up or if you will be mailing it. Thanks From: Terri Mulhern [mailto:***************] Sent: Monday, March 02, 2009 2:50 PM To: ******* Subject: A proposition 4 U from the babysitter ***** I left a voicemail for you earlier but I forgot to leave contact info to call me back. My home phone is ***-***-**** and my cell phone is ***-***-****. I had talked with **** the other day and she had indicated you would be doing your fees monthly. As our son is coming tomorrow from SC (he just got back from Afghanistan and my hubby wants to take a trip with him, I thought I would see if you would be willing to take care of your fees for March today if I double them for you for paying early. It would need to go into my bank by 5:30. Please let me know. After 3:40 I will be in my car going to my children's spelling bee. My bank is First American and I can give you account info if you could drop it off for me. Please let me know if this is possible. Terri Mulhern

I have been with Terri Mulhern for over 2 years now, I have paid ahead/ gotten deals numerous times, and I have never had a problem. I have a question for your Mr. L where else can you go and get childcare for your son so cheap? I can say for experience that I have never paid full price for a week of daycare. She is fair to everyone, offers every one of her parents deals. She always help with watching kids late, or taking late payments if the parents don't have enough money. She never raises her rates which you neglected to mention. And as far as the former employee, I know exactly who you are! Don't even start about the quality of care you think she gives her daycare children. You fed my daughter many times off of a DIRTY highchair that you refused to clean! You let my child fall down stairs on to concrete and didn't even get off your butt to help her. To think that is only my kid, who knows about the others. All you did there was breastfeed your son ALL DAY. You can not complain, you sat and watched TV and ate free lunch every single day. I can tell everyone of you reading this that, my kids get all the love and attention that they deserve. I have never thought that they have been mistreated, both of them are advanced in every category. My daughter just turned 2 and Terri has helped tremendously with potty training. My daughter knows her ABC's and many songs that I did not teach her, and she talks extremely well for a 2 year old. My daughter crys all the way home whenever we leave her house, and I know my daughter is not the only one. Next time you post something why don't you tell the whole story.

I worked for Terri (owner of Community Kids) for a few months in 2008. I can say that I am really not surprised that customers had problems getting their money back since I had problems getting paychecks multiple times and have still not recieved my last paycheck. I still havn't recieved my tax information from her and it's February 21st. This isn't even going into the lack of quaility care for the children at the daycare, but the bottom line is do not get involved in a buisness relationship with this woman.

My children were in Terri's home when Mr. Lantz had his Rant. They came home crying and scared. Mrs Mulhern has always been an excellent childcare provider for my children and others. When I heard what had happened I was angry. How dare he act like that in front of small children? Anyway, All of us have used the Pay one get one at one time or another. We have enjoyed months of free daycare and I for one would not even ask for a refund if I got dumped tomorrow, as I haven't paid for daycare in 3 months! Mr. Lantz should have read his handbook. It clearly states that there is no refund for free time, so he was not entitled to any kind of money back. The fact Mrs Mulhern felt bad about giving them notice is admirable, but she did not owe him anything. In addition, she gave him 2 month's notice to find new daycare and was willing to watch his child free for the entire time, which no other daycare would do. If any parent lets this post keep them from hiring Terri, they are depriving their child of a loving and fantastic childcare. You will notice that not once did Mr. Lantz say they were unhappy with the care their child got.

Mr L was my childcare client for 3 years. During that time he received more than $7000 in free daycare, which he forgot to mention. He also forgot to mention that his handbook states that there is no refund given for free time, which is what he was happily enjoying when I lowered my numbers. I offered mr Lantz the opportunity of finishing out his free time, but explained that there would be no other children his child's age. The Lantz's decided to find new childcare. I had made arrangements ahead of time with Tina (the mom) to give the Lantz's 3 checks for the refund I felt I should give them, even though Per their handbook I did not owe them anything. She agreed but did not tell him, which was not my fault. When Mr. L showed up to pick up money he got enraged and began screaming at me in front of my children, my daycare children and my husband. I told him he could feel free to sue me and to please leave. Mrs L came back and appologized. She assured me he would cool off and took the checks and left. She also thanked me for caring for their child and assured me that they had never been unhappy with their child in care here. I have the emails to prove she agreed to the terms, that they were happy with me as a provider and that there was no problem whatsoever until Jason lost his temper. After taking the checks and assuring me they would not be cashed early, Mr L began going to my bank every day for days before the checks were dated for, so of course it took days to cash them. He asked my bank if I had other accounts and asked them to transfer money from these accounts so that he could cash the checks. He began sending emails telling me he knew there was money in other accounts and telling me to transfer the money. I called my attorney and asked for advice. He advised me that as my handbook clearly states that there is no refund for free time, and as Mr Lantz was in free time when he left, that I could give him the money if I felt I should, but I did not have to. He also advised me that I should stop payment on the final check so that Mr L would stop harrassing my bank every day. I stopped payment on the check and notified Mr L. Mr L has now gone so crazy that he is emailing people who are not involved and harrassing them. He is posting on my husband's recruiting website for the state of Iowa and on other site simply trying to force me to pay him. It is not going to happen. I am a great daycare provider. I let go of 7 families this year and Mr. L is the only one who even asked for a refund. No-one else felt I owed them anything. I have given away more free daycare thahn you can imagine, and Mr L was all too happy when he was on the receiving end of the free ride. Guess what, the free ride is over because he can't be civil.

On 9/10/08 Terri responded to an email my wife sent her on 9/2/08... Her response is copied below... Please note, this is not the first time we've gotten the excuse that "when someone pays her, she'll pay us"... In fact this was the exact same story we got when she put the stop-payment on the check back in July... ------------------------------- From: Terri Mulhern [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2008 11:49 AM Subject: RE: Your final payment As soon as the State of Iowa issues the $3800 in daycare payments they owe me for the last 2 months of daycare for my state kids. Sorry I didn't reply sooner, I was attending to a relative who passed away and his family.