Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:19/07/2024

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I spoke with the owner/coach about concerns I had had with her services I was paying for. The circus class my son took kept starting later and later taking up 15-25 minutes of their 45 minute class due to the equiptment not being set up. I gave her solutions for this problem and wanted to have a talk with her to get a mutual agreed upon result. However the owner was completely rude and gave me attitude and brushed off my concerns. Never again did she approach me or apologize for her behavior. After the recital she sent me a rude email on ******** which in turn snowballed into several harassing messages. She threatened to take me to small claims court for the invoice being outstanding which I was fine with as there hadn't been a solution to the class time being taken away from the participants. She then threatened to add on a $** late fee which she had no late fee policy nor did I sign a contract. I then received an email from a collection agency stating she sent my file there with this "made up" late fee. *** ** ***** **** *** *** ** ***** *** **** ******** ******** ****** ******* * ********** *** ***** ****** ******** ** ****. Regarding my concern she took my advice and put a 15 minute break between classes to get equiptment set up and room ready for the upcoming performance year.
  
  I could care less about an apology now however I won't pay an additional **$ to her when there hadn't been any late policies in effect and I wasn't getting the services I was paying for

  

  Business Response

  Date: 19/07/2024

  Hi,

  On April 15th, 2024 ****** opened the door to our class every 10 minutes to take note of what was going on. On this particular day ****** brought her son to class 5 minutes late. ****** would regularly drop her son off late for class between 5-10 minutes. I checked the time on this particular day it was 5:25pm when I placed the hoop on the rope when ******'s son walked into class. During this time the kids were warming up playing tag. After the equipment was setup we have the kids gather their equipment for our year-end show. This takes them time to gather and place their ball, rope and hula hoop in their spot. This class is for 8 year olds and younger. By the time the kids finished warm-up and setting up their equipment we start our run through without music then with music for our showcase. On this particular day she would open the door every 10 minutes to take note of what was happening. We ask and have a poster posted by the door in our lobby (attached to this file) parents to not open the door to help keep a safe environment for the kids. With a parent watching makes the others shutdown, those who have ADHD lose focus, kids start to act out. At the end of this class on April 15th ****** wanted to talk to me. I asked her to talk to me in front of my next class because I wanted witnesses to witness our conversation. ****** raised her voice during the conversation in front of my students mentioning all her complaints, she noted multiple comments of things she felt was wrong, and wanted to see a change. ****** on April 15th, 2023 opened the door to take note of the class at 5:50pm and 6:10pm. I have 2 other coaches who witnessed the class her son attended of her opening the door and witnessed the conversation I had with ****** along with a class of students. During this conversation I asked ****** to drop the class. It was obvious I couldn't make her happy. Prior to this conversation she had a conversation like this with me after Christmas. I knew this time I needed witnesses around. ****** said she was happy with the class and wanted to continue for the month of May. She mentioned I gave her attitude when I said I was done having this conversation. I walked away after she made the comment you must think I'm a ***** for bringing this up. I told her she couldn't talk like that in front of my class of students.

  I took her feedback to my coaching team to see how we can make improvements. We did add the 15 minutes prior too to help allow families more time to come after school, help families clear the lobby for the next class, and to not rush setup. There are three coaches in this particular class coaching. 2 coaches setup the larger equipment while one starts the class. ****** was unable to know this because she was always late attending class. 

  On May 1st, 2024 ****** was given her invoice. Our Deadline for invoices is 10th of every month. As this is mentioned multiple times in our 2023-2024 information brochure attached to this file. May 10th passes, then on May 26th I send ****** a message on messenger mentioning I know your always on time for your payments, I feel bad charging you our late fee, would you like more time to make the payment? She asked if she could split the payment into 2 payments one on May 31st and June 20th screen shot attached. I agreed with her payment plan. May 31st passed no payment, on June 1st after our showcase it was brought to my attention ****** tore me apart in the audience. My mother in-law happened to be the one sitting in front of her. I messaged ****** after the show mentioning I'm sorry you feel this way. Your payment is over due, these are the steps if your payment is not paid by June 20th, a late fee of $***** will be added and if your invoice is not paid by a reasonable amount of time I will take you to small claims. I sent ****** a friendly reminder on June 19th screen shot attached, On June 21st I sent her another reminder a late fee of $***** will be added on Monday, June 23rd. No payment was made. ******'s invoice was taken to small claims on June 25th.

  ******* 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 06/08/2024

  ********* *** ****** * *** * ***** ** *** ****** **** **** *** **** **** ************ 

  In regards to the print out ******* sent there is no late payment fee stipulated. It simply states she wants invoices paid by the 10th.  I stated in a message reply to her that she has to have a late fee stipulated in writing in a contract in order to be able to  charge and collect one. This information was given to me by phone from ******** *******. *** ** **** ****** ** ** ********** *** ************ ******* ****** ** * ********** *** ******** * *** ****** ***. I had several conversation with her over the last few years where she stated she "Isnt the type of person to make someone pay cancelation or late fees." She told me there were families who just stopped attending her studio and she wouldn't charge them any fees for not letting her know they were stopping coming. She mentioned she did not like to be like that. 

  She also noted in her correspondence to you as per my suggestion in the discussion I tried to have with her; she took my idea to add 15 min to the schedule between classes to have all equipment set up and ready as to not keep taking students time up. Classes should not be back to back when equipment needs to be set up.  Furthermore she may have had a conversation with her 2 highschool student helpers regarding this but it was not relayed to any parents. 

  Yes I did open the door to see what was happening in class as there was no music playing and the routine wasn't being practised so I wanted to know what they were learning.There is now a sign on the door which went up in the last week of May at the end of classes, it is more about the philosophy of the business. There was a handwritten note on the door that it would be opened when class was done. There are not any kids in his class with ADHD and me checking to make sure my son was being treated fairly is not unacceptable.   I had several conversations with ******* throughout the year as my son mentioned numerous times he was bored in class because they were just doing hula hoop stuff they were not using the circus equipment or learning anything new; he hadnt even been on the silks. Her vague reply was they had to practise the routine. Even though the routine needs to be worked on I mentioned to her they could be doing and learning new things after doing several run thrus of the routine. When I had my last conversation with ******* regarding them starting the class later and later into the students time she got extremely rude and turned her back on me. Her first reply was "I will pull him out of the recital he wont be in it and then you can stop coming to class". As a professional her response was appalling as being a coach she should have the student at heart first and be willing to work with them to find a solution to any issues they are having. For her to just dismiss my son and threaten to pull him from the recital after his hard work was completely unprofessional and hurtful. Especially being that the recital was only a few weeks away, 

  The studio does not have any parent watching nights or progress reports corresponded to them. ***** *** ******** **** *** **** ****** **** **** ***** **** ****** ** ******* **** ***** ***** ** **** **** **** *** ***** *** * ********** *****. Had I know my son was just kneeling on stage for 2 off the 3 minutes of his "performance" I would have pulled him from the studio LONG ago! 

  Which brings me to some pretty disappointing issues I have with how things worked out. At the recital she never told my son that they would be performing with another gymnastics class. The 6/7 year olds did not have ANY practises with any other classes even at dress rehearsal the day of the show. When they were on stage all of a sudden there was lets say 10 as I am not sure exactly the number of extra girls on stage doing the routine with them. My son was heart broken their spacing was all messed up and people didnt know where to stand. You could not even see the small kids behind the older kids!  This is EXTREMELY unprofessional and should not have happened. As well there was a video being played of the athletes season; I asked my son if he was suppose to be on stage. He nor I were informed they were to go onstage to watch the video. When I seen all the kids going on stage I walked him to the stage and had him sit there with the rest of the students. The preschool class had a 6 min performance and parkor had 7, the gymnastics which had several classes put together had a 3 minute performance of which more then half was spent waiting, The classes are big enough each one could of had their own routine where they actually showcased what they learnt. 

  After the recital I received a message from ******* stating she heard every word I said about her at the show and then continued on.She was accusing me of not buying tickets for my son to sit in which I know for a fact she did not harass the other parents whos students were running thru the audience and sitting in the audience seats that were NOT paid for.  I was actually in tears at the show because I felt so heartbroken for my son. My family who I bought 2 tickets for (left after my son performed so he sat in one of the 2 extra seats I had paid for) were the ones who voiced their opinions and that I can not control. I did tell her what I myself said as again it is constructive criticism for her. She took numerous of my ideas I gave her over time and used them for the recital and such. I have given her art and school supplies for her preschool. I have recommended her and shared and liked her post for ******* on ********. I have referred people there for circus and parkor. As well as give her information about grants she could apply for. ** ******* *** *** ** *** **** *** *** ** ** *** ***** ** ****** ************* ***** *** *****. I did not want to get into all this she said nonsense but it is the facts. 

  As for me saying "you must think me bringing this up is ****** or however ******* worded it is not correct., I said "I am not bringing these things up to be a ***** I am bringing them up so you as a business owner can rectify it. She walked away on me saying "I dont have time for this I have class" I again said "that is why I asked you when we could speak regarding the concerns I had about circus". She was the one who chose to do it then and there, 

  ** ******* ***** *** ***** ******** *** *** **** ** ************ ** ** **** *** ***** **** *** **** ******* *** **** *** ********** ******** *** *** *** **** ** ** ** **** *** *** ** **** ********** *** * **** *** *** ****** **** **** *** ** ** * *********** ***** ******** **** **** ****** **** *** *** ******* ***** ******** **** ** ******** 

  Lastly I ordered a picture of my son from the photographer, sent the money to Channel Performance and she will not let the photographer send me the picture. I do not know if she even forwarded the money to the photographer but I want my digital download I paid for, with holding business from a third party does not seem like a good business practise to me. 

   

  Regards and apologies this is so long