Huntersville daycare suddenly shuts down, leaves parents in disarray

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. — Some parents in Huntersville are without a place to take their kids during the day after a daycare abruptly closed for good.

KidTime Drop Childcare had a sign posted on their front door on Monday, stating they were closed for good and parents wouldn’t get their money back.

Channel 9′s Jonathan Lowe spoke to parents who were thrown into disarray.

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“Unfortunately, it’s really hard to find high school students, college students that are available and around,” Amy Gulas said.

A letter posted on social media said that, with a saddened heart and after serving the community for over 15 years, they made the decision to permanently close.

“I utilized them to be able to go to appointments during the day or evening events, or weekend events, when my traditional daycare is not an option,” Gulas said.

At KidTime, parents could prepay for future drop-offs. Some parents had credits on their accounts before the sudden shutdown.

“I chose to buy 90 hours worth of time for multiple children for 720 dollars, that effectively never expires,” Gulas said.

The bottom of the letter made it clear that “per their admission agreement,” all sales are considered final and that there were be ‘no refunds.’

“So any money or any hours that you had prepaid for are effectively gone,” Gulas explained.

Gulas is hoping KidTime does right by their parents.

“I’d like them to do the right thing by those they took money from and return it to the rightful owners,” Gulas said. “It’s probably not realistic, but you always hope for the good of people.”

Lowe researched KidTime with the North Carolina Department of Human Services but did not find anything because it is unregulated childcare arrangement. One parent told Lowe over the phone that she’s filing a police rep[ort over $700 she’s now out of.

Action 9′s Jason Stoogenke says that when you pay a business that shuts down, you should dispute the charge right away if you paid with a credit card. If that doesn’t work, you COULD sue in small claims court.

If the business files for bankruptcy, you can file a claim with the court. Obviously, that process can take longer, and you may be at the bottom of the list of creditors. Stoogenke says he’d consider all of these even in a case like this, where the business had a no refund policy.

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