ComplaintsforBindi Yoga

• Initial Complaint

  02/26/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I purchased a 10-class pass back in Oct. 2019 and four 10-class passes on 1/1/2019 from Bindi Yoga. I have the original receipts for these purchases which explicitly state they do not expire. By my calculations I had only used 8 of my 50-class passes (between 10/17/18 - 9/20/21), so I should have 42-classes left. I had been ill and recovering from medical procedures since early 2019. I was ready to come back to my yoga classes and when I consulted the mobile app they use to schedule classes and passes, I had none left. When reaching out to them, I was told they made changes and had emailed members and posted on their website that they made an expiration date on those class passes. I do not recall seeing any such email and I didnt visit their website since I wasnt able to go to any classes at the time. I would never have purchased all of the additional 10-class passes if they could change their passes with no expiration to a self-proclaimed expiration date.I paid $121.88 for the 1st 10-class pass and $280.00 for 4 additional 10-class passes on 1/1/2019.In reaching out to Bindi Yoga on two different occasions and they are not willing to allow me use of my passes nor in refunding what I paid for the class passes.

  Business response

  03/02/2023

  In response to the above complaint.  Our business was severely impacted by COVID, health clubs such as ours was shut down for longer than other businesses.  We had to make changes and one of those changes was to encourage our class pass holders to use up their passes during our shut down.  We went to virtual classes within a week of shutting down. ****************** did only gentle classes at our studio.  Most of our virtual classes were gentle classes. Our first offer to our class pass holders was an offer to convert those passes into a membership.  We would credit the value of any classes on their account towards a membership option.  Many of our pass holders chose this option.  The other option we sent out was times for personal practice.  Students could come into the studio and practice with a video or something similar all by themselves.  This obviously was for safety reasons. In the summer of 2020, we sent out an email to all class pass holders that due to the number of passes on our books we needed to attach an expiration date of summer 2022.  I actually didn't expire classes until December 31, 2022, to give students even more time. 

  ****************** purchased a 10 class pass on 10-10-18 she used up those 10 passes from 10-17-18 to 2-27-19.

  She then purchased 4 of our 10 class packages on 1-1-19 out of those 40 classes she used 7 of those leaving 33 passes left.

  On 1-1-22 she again purchased another special pass that she used none of those passes had a 1-year expiration date on them.  

  We feel we gave ****************** enough time to use these passes. We gave ample notice to all our class pass holders, we had it listed on our website as well as mentioned it in several of our newsletters.

  The reason I strongly feel we did everything possible to notify students is out of **** passes we had on our books this is the only person that has disputed this change. 

   

  Customer response

  03/08/2023

   
  Complaint: 19502361
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  
  

  ?I understand that a lot of business were impacted by COVID. Everyone was impacted in some way. Im just not sure why something beyond my and Bindi Yogas control gives them the right to change their minds on a contract that explicitly stated it did not expire. If I didnt want a virtual experience after working a 10-hour day virtually with my job I felt it was OK to do so because the class passes had no expiration. If I wasnt interested in attending in-person classes at the time due to needing to protect someone at home who would be at greater risk if they got COVID, I again ******* to do so because the class passes did not expire. And as I had mentioned previously to Bindi Yoga, I had been recovering from multiple injuries and surgeries from mid-2019 through 2021 of knee surgery, then broke same leg, then shoulder surgery, then surgery on my scalpall that plus COVID led to depression that is just now dissipating. My desire to come back to a place and practice that I had enjoyed before all the chaos of the last 3 years of my life I believed would be available to me because the class passes did not expire. 
  
  If the class passes had originally had an expiration time frame on them, I certainly would not have purchased as many as I had. But because their offer explicitly stated they did not expire I made sure to purchase enough to get me through **** months of yoga practice. Also, if the class passes had an expiration time frame, I certainly could not have just decided to extend their expiration time frame because of COVID and that it wasnt convenient for me. I would have had to have received consent or a mutual agreement with Bindi Yoga to do that. So why is it OK for them to make a change without my consent?
  
  As previously shown, I did purchase a 10-class pass in Oct 18. By the app we use to schedule the classes we attend that covered the following dates:
  10/11/18, 10/17/18, 10/31/18, 11/14/18, 12/5/18, 1/9/19, 1/16/19, 1/23/19, 2/6/19, and 2/20/19.
  
  And in Jan 19, I purchased 4 of the 10-class passes that did not expire. Again, through the app, these were the class dates: 3/6/19, 3/13/19, 3/20/19, 9/25/19 and 9/20/21. By my calculations that leaves 35 classes left for me to use.
  
  And I never brought up the class pass I purchased in Jan 22 as I fully realized that since it had an expiration time frame when I purchased it that that was fully on me. I have never asked to get credit for that pass whatsoever. 
  
  And I think it is great that all the others that had class passes that had no expiration either didnt keep track of their classes, used them up in a way that worked for them during that time with the options that they provided, or they were just OK letting them expire. And Im glad that Bindi Yoga stayed in business - but I feel strongly that they have breached the contract that I originally purchasedand not the one that worked best for them later on. I did not agree to that and I did not spend time searching out information on their website or by reading emails when I wasnt in a position to go to yoga over the last 3 years. 
  
  
  I would still like to have my original class passes back and have the originally purchased contracts honored by the business. As both parties did not agree to any change in the terms. A reasonable person would not have expected the contract terms to be able to be changed by the business. Plus, the action of changing the contract terms is an unfair and deceptive act by them that only benefits Bindi Yoga.
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************************

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