I posted about the trouble for finding infant care before. And about the ridiculous-ness of my First Skool replying to us that they have 200 (TWO HUNDRED!!!!!) babies on the waiting list. C'mon, 200 babies?
But guess what? We have gotten a spot for our boy in my First Skool and it is the choice that we wanted.
The thing about these types of child care centers is that once they get too big, they become more and more commercialized with no proper feedback system and checks. Calls to the direct line for any of My First Skool child care centers are routed to their call center.
Hey, it is the first time that I know of a child care center having call centers? It is like, "Wah, sheng li zou dua liaos" (Big business already in hokkien)
And I thought only companies selling physical products have call centers. Even GP clinic chains have no call centers. Personally, I feel that having a call center to deal with service related business is bad bad idea. The other person picking up the call will not know the complete details of each and every branch. All calls will have to be routed back to the principal of the child care and then the caller will be told, "We will call you back."
What is more encouraging is that our experiences tell us the call back rate is only about 10%.
Thankfully, when I visited the premises of the branch of My First Skool personally, my experience is so much better. The principal, Ms Serene Chan is a very nice and friendly lady to parents. I told her of my difficulty in getting the call center to give us a correct and firm response as they have been telling us that, "We will check and let you know." And I popped the question about vacancies on the start date that we need to enroll Jayden in.
After much discussion and checks, the answer is a wonderful "Yes, we have vacancy for you!"
Wow wow wow, I immediately paid the deposit for it and proceeded to set up the CDA account. Serene also informed me that we have to come back again, this time with Hazel so that she can brief both of us about the infant care procedures and precautions. She also said that they allow parents to bring their own EBM to pass it to the staff for feeding.
Thanks to the principal, I am starting to like My First Skool a little better.
