Busy Bees Asia ✓ ACRA Verified

Amanda ★☆☆☆☆

5 months ago

Poor management. Zero cares about your child or their education or their staff quite frankly. My family and hundreds others has been impacted by the closure of one of their childcare centres closing as a result of the closures of the HFC building. While the date of the closure of the building itself came as a surprise and shock to its tenants, Busy Bees did absolutely nothing to retain their clients. They did not try and find a new space for the children and staff that came under their care in this location and this disappoints and angers me immensely despite sending out notices weeks prior to their cessation notice that "we had nothing to worry about" and "they are monitoring the situation closely". When it came down to it, it was simply "too hard" for them to try. So the options they came up with for the students, teachers and staff impacted? Transfer to the closest centres which is 20-30 mins away by public transport IF they have availability in their ranks. No attempt to organise shuttle buses. No attempt to open new vacancies or apply for more capacity through regulatory bodies. Just a lousy letter to the parents late on a Friday afternoon. The kicker? They didn't even inform their teachers or staff until late in that afternoon - some teachers finding out first from parents. Shame on you management team. There are much better ways to handle this situation (eg. at least try and find a space or better yet, inform your staff first?).

Eric Chan ★☆☆☆☆

2 years ago

Do not send your child to any school/childcare centre under Busy Bee. The administration and finance and school principal is totally incapable. Owe refund that is pending for more than 3 months, worst they still charged/debit my account even my two children has already left the school one month before. Despite various communication to the school admin and principal answer is the same the admin will respond, however there is no way to get any response from them nor the school. Just wonder if the CEO of busy bee is still aware he or she is running the business properly? How can you run a business that only focus on recruiting new students but with such disastrous operation ? No proper communication and refuse to response to the queries, only very fast response if it’s for new business.

Mel S ★☆☆☆☆

2 years ago

Have been chasing the school for the refund on my deposit since Nov 2023 till Apr 2024 and still no refund. The admin will insist on calling during my office hours when I am not free, and if i call back later in the day (still during work hours) there will be no response. The emails from admin will be asking if i have received the refund when HQ should be well aware or be able to check back end. They are also unable to reply on my simple queries and ignore my emails.

Serene Yow ★☆☆☆☆

2 years ago

I have been chasing for the refund of my deposit (x2) since November 2023 till today - 30 Jan 2024 and it is so difficult to reach their so called finance department ! Called the school and spoke to the principal EVERY MONTH and her reply would be the same. Refund will be credited into account by month end and apologise for the delay because just so coincidence their system are upgrading to a new one so there is so issues now. But it had been 3 long months and your system upgrade is still not done !! And neither the principal and finance department have the initiative to call and update on the refund status when they jolly well know that the refund cannot be credited back into account. Empty promises for 3 bloody long months with no follow up, no sincerity in their apologies and every time I called in to their finance department and request for call back, I have not received a single call from them till date !!! WAKE UP YOUR IDEA !!!

Andrea Phua ★☆☆☆☆

a year ago

My journey with Busy Bees Asia / Small Wonder @ St George was a disheartening setback: -Facilities was an outright disgrace compared to other Small Wonder with dusty, rusty handrail at staircase that is reachable by children going to level 2, dirty drop off/pick up area with water marks & fallen leaves (children are expected to be barefoot here). These wasn't informed & shown to us during center visit (was told, children to take lift to Level 2), further actions taken only after complaint sent. -ECDA's approved subsidy not deducted from next billing despite umpteen chasers to admin & finance, same for refund process during withdrawal. Results that parent doing their job by following up the same issue repeatedly with no reply to our emails. -A teacher released 3 wrong children to us when we were there to pick up only 1, turned her back and walk off right away. This sheer recklessness and lack of basic supervision are horrifying. It shattered the trust between parents & staff also exposed children to unnecessary risks. This should never been allowed in any childcare establishment. Knowing that a lot of new children will be joining at the same period (Jan 2024) with new parents showing up at the center for the first few days due to half day policy applicable for new enrolled kids, shouldn’t the district manager / principle be more observance during this critical period? - Responsibility for these egregious failures ultimately falls on the shoulders of the current district manager / ex-principle (Ms. J. Png). Instead of addressing concerns and implementing corrective measures, no respond from the district manager rather, it was passed on to the new principle or stall time for any feedback I have submitted to the center via text and only follow up after I submitted an official complain to the Busy bees Asia HQ. Ex-principle also failed to show up during center visit even we have made an appointment with the HQ 1-2 weeks before (she was still the appointed principle at that time), failed to reply any email sent in by us on enrolment related topics also, failed to inform new enroll parents on the change of Principle until we asked her about it. - As if these horrors weren't enough, administrative blunders continued to pile up, with the updating of contact information proving to be yet another debacle. My contact number was inexplicably linked to another profile, resulting in a cacophony of missed communications and confusion also, PDPA violation! Such amateurish mishaps underscored the systemic dysfunction that had taken root within Busy Bees Asia. - To add insult to injury, the abrupt cessation of the center without so much as a whisper of notification upon enrolment was the final indignity. Families, having entrusted their children to the care of Small Wonder @ St George, were left stranded and scrambling for alternatives, blindsided by the callous indifference of those entrusted with their children's well-being. Lastly, I am still thankful to the other district manager from other areas (Ms. L. Toh) who has assisted us, showing concerns to every nightmare that we’ve encountered and trying to help us thru even there is a limit she can support due to the incompetence of the admin, finance, original district manager. Not forgetting to thanks the good teachers in this center and I totally witness and feel the tiredness and helpless in them due to lean manpower with no assistant teacher in my child’s class (soiled clothes are not rinse) which I am not sure why manpower are still lean despite agreeing the enrollment for quite a numbers of new students across all levels. In summation, it was a very unpleasant experience with Busy Bees Asia / Small Wonder @ St George - cautionary tale of incompetence & neglect. Parents beware entrusting your children to such an institution is a gamble not worth taking. Let this serve as a reminder to always exercise due diligence and scrutiny when choosing a childcare provider. Our children deserve better than the catalogue of failures offered by Busy Bees Asia / Small Wonder @ St George.