SaveAFewBob.ie Survey Reveals That 1 in 5 Parents Have Recently Negotiated a Discount on Their Children’s Crèche Fees

Dublin, Ireland, August 01, 2009 --(PR.com)-- SaveAFewBob.ie, Ireland’s one stop information shop for value-conscious consumers, yesterday announced that more than 20% of Dublin parents with children in crèches had successfully negotiated a discount in recent months. Also found was that 2 in 5 parents believe that Dublin crèche’s offer poor value for money.

The survey conducted online for SaveAFewBob.ie by Monitrack, an internet research company, interviewed a sample of parents from all demographics across Dublin. The survey measured parents’ opinions towards the crèche their children are attending, as well as their perceived value for money.

“It is clear from our research that with regards to crèches, as with many services, customers do not have to accept the high prices that a small percentage are attempting to charge” SaveAFewBob.ie’s Niall McHenry believes. “Our research proves that crèche owners are sensitive to the financial position of parents. If you don’t ask you won’t receive. Ireland has a fantastic standard of childcare across the board and it makes good financial sense to seek better value.”

With one in four respondents paying more than €1,000 per child per month and almost three in four paying more than €750 per child per month, for many of these families the monthly crèche costs are the equivalent of paying a second mortgage. 2% are paying over €1500 per child per month, while 18% paid €500 to €750 and nearly 8% paid €500 or less.

The survey also found that the overall level of satisfaction with Dublin crèches was quite high with 93% of respondents stating that they would recommend their crèche to a friend. Of those who had concerns the most notable were a lack of flexibility with regard to having children attending on a part-time basis and having to pay for the crèche even when the child was not attending. Turnover of staff was also a major concern.

The survey also discloses that most parents were not willing to compromise on price when it came to selecting the most suitable crèche for their child. The cost of sending their child to a crèche came well down the list when choosing a crèche. The most important factors which parents cited were location, their impression of staff and the quality of facilities. For the full listing in order of importance to parents see below:

1. Location
2. Impression of staff
3. Facilities
4. Opening hours
5. Ratio of carers to children
6. Cost
7. Provision of meals/nappies
8. Other

“Running a crèche professionally is an expensive business for owners with high rental and labour costs. There is only so much wiggle room that crèche owners can afford in negotiating with parents,” said Niall McHenry of SaveAFewBob.ie. “The government clearly needs to help out through providing some form of tax credit by subsidy to parents that work. This is the only way that a fair agreement on price can be reached that will satisfy both the crèche and the parents.”

To view the full survey results visit the site www.saveafewbob.ie

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Other useful links:

About Us http://www.saveafewbob.ie/about/
Creche survey findings http://www.saveafewbob.ie/creche-survey-june-2009/

About Founder Niall Mc Henry
Mc Henry is a graduate of Economics and French and also holds an MBA from UCD. He has had a varied career to now working in the meat processing, banking and property sectors in Dublin, New York and the South of France.
Most recently he was a Director of Overseas with Gunne New Homes, a division which he set up 4 years ago and managed until the downturn forced its closure last summer.