WIMMERA Uniting Care’s proposal to move to a direct debit only pay system for their childcare operations has upset some service users.
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Wimmera Uniting Care sent a letter to parents on October 8, advising them that from January 1 the only way to pay bills would be via direct debit.
Horsham resident Jason Wright said he would stop sending his three children to the childcare centres because he did not trust Wimmera Uniting Care to correctly charge him.
“The problem is we often get incorrect bills,” he said.
“We’ve had bills where basically we’ve been overcharged between $400 and $600.
“In June and July this year I didn’t receive a correct bill at all. It is completely hopeless.”
Mr Wright said he often had to ring the organisation to have the bills corrected.
“The reality is if they’re going to this system I have to pull my kids out,” he said.
“I don’t trust their accounts department because of the number of mishaps they’ve had.”
HAVE YOUR SAY BELOW
Mr Wright said his family was entitled to a number of child care rebates from the Federal Government, and those rebates were not often applied to his bill.
He said when this occurred he was forced to ring Wimmera Uniting Care to rectify the issue.
Wimmera Uniting Care early years services manager Sallie Millington said the move to direct debit was designed to reduce the number of errors.
“I am very confident the changes will make things more accurate and efficient,” she said.
“Ultimately, we’re trying to do things better. Many organisations are moving this way, we’re not alone in this decision.”
Ms Millington said the introduction of prepaid services would also alleviate the number of billing errors.
“The last thing we want is children and families disadvantaged by this decision,” she said.
“I understand it has caused some concerns and I welcome people to call me directly if they have any issues.”
Ms Millington said Wimmera Uniting Care had researched the effectiveness of direct debit and found it was a better system than the one currently in place.