I'll be honest, when it comes to choosing a daycare center, I want to know the real deal from someone who's been there. That's why I'm grateful to parents who take the time to share their honest experiences. I found out about this daycare through a friend who's been looking for the perfect place for her 2.5-year-old and had visited almost all the centers in Ufa. She was still on maternity leave, so she hadn't sent her kid there yet.
I'd been with Bébé Club for almost two years, and I thought I knew what to expect from a private daycare. But we left due to the lack of a toddler group. Ignoring the negative reviews, I decided to trust my friend's opinion and dismissed the bad reviews as the work of jealous parents or people who want a free ride. I mean, I'm not that kind of person, I thought, and went to check it out.
During the tour, I was impressed. They have their own kitchen, and the facilities are relatively spacious. The owner answered all my questions patiently, and I got a good impression of the place.
The monthly fee is 25,000 rubles, including meals, with no extra charges for missed days, and they have a system for calculating days off.
I paid 5,750 rubles for five days, including commission through Sberbank, but cash payments aren't allowed.
I barely made it through the first five days.
And today, I found out that my friend lasted only two days. She said it exactly - 'I made it through two days before we escaped, leaving our shoes behind.'
I didn't hit it off with the administrator, who seemed more like a warden from a women's dormitory.
I made a critical mistake on the first day: we arrived at 7:15, thinking they'd just let us in, and I could unpack and change the kid while waiting for the staff to arrive. It's how things worked in our previous daycare, but here, they seemed to have a different system. At 7:30, we called the doorbell, and after a minute, they slowly got up and opened the door. That's when I inadvertently earned the administrator's wrath, and I was in for a rough time for the rest of the week.
The administrator-warden-dormitory-supervisor got her hands on my kid's medical record. I brought in the classic doctor's note, stating that the kid is healthy, with no signs of giardiasis or pinworms. But that wasn't enough. She said I needed three separate documents:
- A health certificate
- The results of the giardiasis test
- The result of the enterobiasis analysis.
My pediatrician didn't bother with the hassle, since we're transferring to a kindergarten, not enrolling, and she simplified the paperwork by filling out everything on one document. When I asked if there might be any issues, she said she's never had anyone's document rejected and they've never come back for anything.
Before bringing my kid to the kindergarten, I sent a sample of the future document to the administrator. She said yes, it would be fine if my pediatrician uses that standard. She didn't send me any examples of analysis documents, though.
But when the head administrator took the document, she said I hadn't included the results, i.e. the analysis results didn't meet her expectations on the document with all the stamps and additional documents. When I got upset about why she had replied in WhatsApp that the sample would be fine, they just said 'we didn't understand each other, I'll clarify if I need to redo it.'
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I was denied access to the cameras for the first two days, citing that they hadn't signed the contract yet, even though the documents were submitted, the money was taken from me, and the health certificates were collected. Can you imagine? Those first days are the most nerve-wracking for moms.
access to the camera was granted at the end of the second dayxa0
On the first day, I wanted to put my kid in the group, but they yelled at me, saying 'you're not allowed to be here!' The administrator was yelling from the reception area multiple times, while I was trying to put my kid in the group as the first one in the kindergarten.
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One day, I annoyed them by going inside to help my kid change, and later that evening, I had to dress my kid myself, because no one wanted to help (for 25,000 rubles a month, I shouldn't have to dress my kid myself) - no matter what I did, I was always wrong in their eyes.
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I've experienced some frustrating issues with the child care services at this facility. When I returned the broken keys to the gates, I was told that there were no other keys available, so I had to wait for 1-3 minutes to be let in and let my child in as well. It's not just the time I had to wait, but also the fact that I had to stand outside in the rain and wind with my child looking at the gates. Even when I walked out to the gates with my child, I still had to wait for 2 minutes.
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I was also surprised by the additional clothing my child had on, including snow pants, group clothes, and a hat that wasn't even theirs. And to make matters worse, there were only 11 children in the group.
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But what really took the cake was when my child had an accident in their pants, something that hadn't happened in over a year. It's not like they couldn't tell me when they needed to go to the bathroom, but apparently, the staff didn't bother to take them. And to add insult to injury, there were only 11 children in the group.
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The soiled clothes were carefully packed into two separate bags, but I wasn't given them that day and wasn't even informed about what had happened. My child and the administrator waited for me outside without the bag, even though I had been picking up my child's extra clothes every day. When I asked for a change of clothes the next morning, I was shocked by the smell that had seeped into the fabric in just one day.
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I was also surprised by the rules and regulations in place, including a ban on hanging a child's backpack on the shelf and a record of my early arrival in the morning, despite the fact that we didn't even enter the gates until 7:32.
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Complaining to the owner of the facility is also pointless, as she seems to have a personal relationship with the administrator and may even retaliate against you. And to make matters worse, they told me that «If you don't like something, you're not being held back!» It's clear that this is not a place that values its customers' opinions or concerns.
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In fact, it feels more like a closed-off, secretive place than a second home for my child. I was actually intimidated by the idea of asking questions or expressing my concerns, as the staff seemed to look down on me and ignore my requests.
So, to all the parents out there, if you don't like your child, then this place is definitely the right choice for you. But for the rest of us, I would advise you to think twice before sending your child here. I didn't believe the negative reviews at first, but now I'm living proof that you should learn from others' mistakes and not your own.
I was a bit skeptical about the customer support at first, but my experience was actually pretty great. I had a question about the return policy, and they got back to me within a few hours. The process was super easy, and I got a full refund within a week.