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Celeste's Childcare
Information for Celeste's Childcare, a Family Child Care Home in Bellevue WA:
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Provider Name: Celeste's Childcare Approximate Location: 2445 139th Ave SE, Bellevue WA 98005 Contact Phone: 4256410485 |
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Website: http://celesteschildcare.com/ License Number: PL-6659 Capacity: 12 Age Range: birth - 13 years 0 months Enrolled in Subsidized Child Care Program: No Type of Care: Full-Time Additional Information: Initial License Date: 06/20/2012. |
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Reviews: There are 1 reviews for this provider.
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| Rated 1 star by Rebecca on 2020-02-19 06:49:16 | |
| Comment: | Unfortunately we have to give Celeste a low rating due to lack of professionalism and lack of consistent communication and being an unreliable/unstable provider and most importantly providing hazardous unsanitary conditions for children. We terminated her services and parted ways much sooner than I would have anticipated given her positive reviews, however we later found out many of the reviews weren’t genuine or were from her own family members or former employees. When touring with Celeste we made it very clear what we were looking for and what my schedule was. I explained that sometimes traffic can be an issue coming from Seattle to Bellevue and I would always communicate if I were ever to be late and of course reimbursement for extra time. I didn’t ask for special accommodations, I told her what we needed and allowed her to decide if that would work for her. She assured me no worries and that she had never enforced a late arrival policy. I also made it clear that there would be a handful of days that I would have to pick up my daughter late (6 pm) due to appointments, which we agreed to in advance and it was signed into our agreement. However, the daycare has posted hours on the care.com website that showed Celeste’s Childcare was open until 6 pm anyway. I thought this was confusing but was told she changed her hours to end at 5:30 due to lack of demand. Ok no big deal initially but I came to realize very quickly that she would just make up policies and change things without notice and seemed to be at her random convenience or how she was feeling that day. Additionally, Celeste was told ahead of time my daughter had allergies to dairy and that I would supply her almond milk. I had no problem bringing her own stuff, but again Celeste made it clear that wasn’t necessary and she would accommodate my daughter because she too supposedly has a dairy allergy. Ok, that seemed reasonable. All was well until I asked a question for clarification in the handbook Celeste gave me.About a month into our time with her had passed at this point and I asked about the vacation time written in the book. It stated she only took one paid vacation a year during the Christmas holiday. Even though verbally she told me something different when I first met with her. She later stated that she takes two vacations a year where the child care center was closed and parents would still have to pay despite her being closed. I brought this up because it was not what we talked about and didn’t match the handbook agreement I signed. She acted as if I had just thrown acid in her face, like “how dare you ask me a question”, and ultimately blew me off. I shrugged it off and decided we would just readjust, but it was unsettling and as you can imagine this lack of communication and inconsistency poses a huge problem for a working parent. Not only did I have to pay for her two vacations, if I had to work during that time I would have to pay another childcare provider to cover her. Do the math, that’s insane. Then the snow came. On the Friday before the “snow storm” was supposed to happen, Celeste mentioned without me asking about it, that they just typically follow the school district schedule but if there wasn’t much snow on the ground not to worry because she would remain open regardless of school closures. So Monday comes, no snow. I check ahead to see if she had any issues or closures and she stated she would be open. Twenty minutes later she changed it (not sufficient notice) and I was stuck without care because she decided to close and I still had to pay for her services despite having no childcare. This went on for several days as she decided to stay closed. There was no snow on the ground at my house, or at hers, I checked. All the while I was supposed to report to work but couldn’t because I had no care and she had my money. Again, very confusing. I looked at her handbook and her website to get clarification as to what the policy actually was and it wasn’t listed. So I called and asked for clarification and Celeste flew off the handle and became very aggressive; it was odd and not expected. She started screaming at me and telling me I had no right to question how she runs her business and that she had made so many “special accommodations” for me and that I should just be grateful for that and not question why the daycare was closed. She stated that I was the only parent who “had a problem” with her closing. For clarity, I didn’t have a problem. I just asked what the actual policy was because it kept changing and I had paid for services and wasn’t able to use them. There was nothing in her written policy about this( at the time, she has since changed it due to getting in trouble from her licensor) and I would consider that theft. She never returned my money and refused attempts to recover funds. She went on to say she never told me she would stay open if there was no snow and accused me of calling her a liar (which I never did, though, she was lying) and then she went on this diatribe about how I was late picking up my daughter once the month prior ( which again, previous notice was given and the agreement was signed, and I paid for the over time AND it was a roll over fatality accident that caused me to be late. No one can plan for that and I’m lucky I was only 20 minutes late!) and how she had to accommodate my daughters dairy allergy which was now all of a sudden a burden! All of these things were discussed and agreed upon ahead of time and frankly not unusual designations and she just blew up and threw it in my face like she had gone above and beyond for me and made me feel like a bad parent because I asked about the SNOW POLICY. For the record, I paid for her services, she wasn’t doing me a favor! She treated me like I was not a valued client and that I should be grateful for her services despite them being unreliable. While we certainly are grateful for childcare, respect is earned and not given freely. For someone to act in such a way was incredibly off putting and unprofessional. Businesses should be grateful for their clients! We are the ones paying their bills. It’s inappropriate to treat me as if I owed her something. I paid her in full well in advance of her services even being provided and she failed to provide them reliably. She was screaming and to the point where I was feeling extremely unsafe. She belittled and berated me until I was at the point of tears. Even though I was clearly upset and asking her why she was speaking to me in such a way, she kept on with the snarky commentary. It was like she was triggered when I asked for clarification and just turned into a completely different person. Due to her no refund policy I was forced to keep my child in her care until the deposit period had ended ( we were forced to be pre-paid a month and a half in advance). Which in hind sight is a red flag. The whole time I felt like I was walking on eggshells. I would seriously steer clear of Celeste’s Childcare Center. If you’ve ever met someone with bipolar disorder, this was very similar behavior. Other things happened over the course of our short time there that were more concerning as it pertains to cleanliness and safety. There were twelve documented times I showed up to drop my daughter off and Celeste wasn’t there and I counted 10 children unattended while her assistant was in the back room doing something else. We also had to have my daughter treated for hives and an infection caused by the daycare having her sitting it wet clothes (pee, which is insane because my daughter is potty trained). It’s so sad because at first we were fooled by how warm and caring Celeste seemed to be but, I think perhaps she is suffering from a mental health disorder or is having a trying time in her life. We did a background check with the courts as well and the information about her indiscretions came back late and it was alarming. These are things that don’t get reported to licensing agents so there was no way to know. We should have checked more throughly but hopefully my lesson learned can be another person’s warning. Good luck! |
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