I agree. I rent month to month. I do not do it fulltime. I make only what it cost to pay rent utilities ect.... I teach for the love of teaching. I am also going for my time and grade so to speak. I WANT MY 6th dan..
I agree. I rent month to month. I do not do it fulltime. I make only what it cost to pay rent utilities ect.... I teach for the love of teaching. I am also going for my time and grade so to speak. I WANT MY 6th dan..
Trolling.......
and he's just a new screen name for an already banned person
There are several threads on contracts. I just posted here as this was a longer one.
Manville woman wants child's lessons refunded
Published: Monday, March 26, 2012, 6:12 AM
Karin Price Mueller/The Star-Ledger By Karin Price Mueller/The Star-Ledger
Dana Roberts is taking a karate chop to the wallet.
The Manville mom of three young children is fighting to get a refund from Somerville Martial Arts Academy for lessons she said she never really wanted, but was pushed into accepting.
In May 2011, Roberts signed up her daughter Elizabeth, 7, for lessons. She signed a contract and paid $820 for 50 lessons to be used anytime between May and December, she said.
When that session ended in mid-December, Roberts said, instructor Kyle Freeman called to see about signing up again.
"I told him that I really couldn’t sign her up again right now. I have three kids and my husband is on a deployment to Afghanistan," she said. "I tried to explain that it’s too much for me to bring my 7-year-old twice a week to lessons and sit there with a 4-year-old and 1-year-old."
Roberts said Freeman gave her the hard sell, but she explained she also was returning to school in January and didn’t think she’d have the time.
Freeman kept coming up with suggestions on how to get Elizabeth there for lessons, Roberts said.
"I have three kids who were trying to get my attention and I was trying to get off the phone with him," she said. "I honestly felt bullied into signing my daughter up again."
Roberts said she finally gave Freeman her credit card number but she did not sign another contract. Lessons would restart in January 2012.
At the end of December, Roberts’ husband, Anthony, came home for a two-week leave from his New Jersey Army National Guard duty, and the couple discussed the lessons. They agreed Dana Roberts’ schedule would be too hectic, so they decided to cancel them.
Anthony Roberts called the studio several times in the beginning of January and left messages. No one returned his calls. He e-mailed the studio on Jan. 9, explaining that Elizabeth would be withdrawing from lessons and asking someone to respond so they could discuss a refund.
Again, they didn’t hear back.
Later, the company returned a separate e-mail regarding a military program that might reimburse the couple for the cost of lessons, but a refund wasn’t discussed.
And then a $456 charge appeared on Roberts’ credit card. She disputed the charge, but when Somerville Martial Arts provided a copy of the contract Roberts signed in May 2011 to the credit card company, the charge was reinstated.
She said she didn’t understand why no one from the studio contacted her to discuss the dispute. By then, the studio must have known she was trying to ask for a refund, she said.
The couple then turned to the military’s legal services, but the attorney said there was nothing he could do.
"I e-mailed them (Somerville Martial Arts) and asked them for a copy of this contract. They ignored that request," she said. "I went to talk to them personally on March 2, 2012."
The parties had a dispute, but eventually, Roberts was given a copy of the contract.
"They believe they have no legal reason to return any of my money. They also don’t believe they had any legal or ethical reason to contact me," Roberts said. "It’s hard enough being a single parent for the year my husband is deployed. I’m not working, so this was a lot of money that we put out for lessons we do not wish to take and that I felt bullied into agreeing to."
She turned to Bamboozled for help.
‘I don’t bully’
There are no typed dates on the contract, but written by hand, it says: "50 classes pd in full."
The contract also says: "There will be no refunds of amounts paid to SMAA."
We reached out to Somerville Martial Arts and had a conference call with Freeman and owner Patrick Mehrtens.
Freeman said in no way did he give a hard sell to Roberts.
"I don’t use pressure sales. I don’t bully," Freeman said. "I take great offense to that."
Freeman said he was trying to help Roberts find a way for Elizabeth to continue.
We wanted to know why the Roberts’ messages were not returned.
Mehrtens said the studio was flooded after Tropical Storm Irene and there was a time it had no phone service. He also said he didn’t remember the Jan. 9 e-mail.
He offered to freeze the family’s account so Roberts’ husband or another child could take the lessons in the future.
But a refund was out of the question.
"For us to have a refund policy, that would really be a disservice to our ability to run the business," Mehrtens said. "If we do it once, we’ll be expected to do it over and over again."
BUT IS IT LEGAL?
We understand the challenges facing small-business owners, but we wondered if that contract would hold water (thank you, "My Cousin Vinny") in a courtroom.
We asked litigation attorney Timothy Dinan of Laddey, Clark & Ryan in Sparta to take a look at the case.
He said that by verbally agreeing to renew the contract without negotiating any new terms, Roberts agreed to continue the old contract with its provision for "no refunds." But, he said, she could argue in small claims court that she is entitled to a refund despite the contract language.
"First, Dana could argue the ‘no refund’ provision in the contract is a penalty," Dinan said. "Under New Jersey law, penalty provisions in contracts are not enforceable."
Second, she could raise the issue of unjust enrichment. For this, she’d have to show the studio received a benefit and keeping that benefit would be unjust — for example, if it was able to fill Elizabeth’s spot and was in fact compensated twice.
He said if a judge finds the "no refund" provision to be a penalty, the studio has an obligation to mitigate, or lessen, its damages, by finding a student to fill Elizabeth’s spot.
"It would be up to a judge to decide if the studio did in fact mitigate its damages and Dana could recover a portion of the $456 with this argument," he said.
Finally, Roberts may have a claim under the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act, which regulates health club contracts, Dinan said. A judge would have to decide whether or not the studio is a health club under the act, then decide if the contract complies with the requirements of the act.
"The lesson Dana had to learn the hard way is how important it is to know what you are agreeing to before you sign a contract or provide a company with your credit card number," he said.
It’s a lesson all consumers should consider before putting their signature on a contract, he said, and Bamboozled agrees wholeheartedly.
Roberts said she understands they’re trying to run a business, but she feels her request isn’t unreasonable. When her husband returns home at the end of his tour in April, she’ll see if he wants to take the classes. But she says she doesn’t want to send her children there.
"If we had done 10 out of the 25 classes, I wouldn’t have expected a refund," she said. "If they had only answered our messages back then. ... They had no ethical or moral responsibility to get back to me. They only have a responsibility to take my money."
"It’s customer service and if that’s the way they’re going to treat their families, then I don’t want to be part of it," she said.
Gene Ching
Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
Author of Shaolin Trips
Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart
If you are just teaching for the fun of it, and still have to pay rent and utilities, call it a club and request monthly membership fees. Paid on the first of the month or stay home. I would never teach for fun. My time would be better spent doing something else. But should I agree to teach, I would request a large sum of money up front. Tell him that miss once and you will say nothing, miss again and it is over with no refund. This will get you the attendence you want and he will have all that money to think about losing. Give it back down the line if you wish, but it will work better than a contract.
Jackie Lee
I don't sign contract with my students. I don't even ask them to pay monthly. When they come to my 2 hours class, they will pay my 2 hours fee before they leave. This way, I can stop my teaching anytime I want to, and they can stop learning from me anytime they want to.
Last edited by YouKnowWho; 03-27-2012 at 06:21 PM.
That's basically a cash out program and if applied to 100% of the student body it can close a school real fast. The reason being is because there will be times of the year that are slower and the cash flow will decrease (unless you offer upgrades and have a strong proshop). The problem now is you have monthly payments for rent, NNN, CAM's, utilities, supplies, payroll, and miscellaneous and you have no steady income.
The trick with a cash out program is only to offer it to about 10-15% of your student body.
Contracts vs. Monthly Tuition
A school is a membership-based business model. The majority of a martial arts school’s revenue comes from students’ tuition, which is normally paid monthly. A school that attracts and keeps students grows this monthly income. You will have other profit centers and revenue streams such as retail sales, special events, and testing, but tuition is the financial foundation of any school.
The argument for using an agreement for new students holds up better than for using a month-to-month program. Here’s why. Students who sign an agreement are entering your program more committed than students who know they can quit at any time. Even if they do drop out, they tend to stay on longer to try and make good on their agreement. This is especially true if you have done a good job of qualifying the student and helping him/her understand the importance of the commitment.
Value What You Do.
Using an agreement reflects this. It shows that you have a process for bringing students into the school. Like a private school, your agreement process allows only people on your floor who are mentally (and legally) committing to training with you for a year. You are a highly trained, specialized, teacher.
Personally I offer both options to my students but the month-to-month option costs more.
Last edited by Shaolin; 03-27-2012 at 08:59 PM.
My brother liked to give out coupon/token for attendance.
Every time the student shows up on time and attends the class time fully.
At the end of the class, he or she collects a coupon.
The students that attend and collect all the class coupon.
They get a star. And some of the tuition back or credit to enroll in the next series of classes.
If they attend the 5 levels of classes, they collect 5 stars. And some more tuition back at the very end.
If they miss classes, no refund.
Wow!
In England I have never seen a contract for a school. Most people pay by class and run it in a church hall or something, some are pay by month, but they have great facilities.
On Analogy with 'phone contract' or 'gym contract' or etc.
Are you guys stupid?? At a gym I can turn up any time I want from 6 in the morning till 12 at night. Are your classes like this? is your school open all day every day?
When you have a set class time, these are difficult to meet. You can't expect people to pay a contract for set class times, that is not to their convenience.
Think what service you are actually providing these people with.... think about it.
If a phone company said I have to pay a contract for my iPhone but I can only use it from 7-9pm Tue, Wed and Fri I would tell them to F-off.
Don't sign a contract...... Someone is trying to get money for nothing. Sure charge for a course like a collage, but you better have the lesson plans to go with it. Sure charge by the month like a gym, but have facilities people can use at their convenience. I can't think of an excuse to charge by the year unless you really have the best school in the world.
Bottom line, although it may happen throughout the business world, that is no excuse. It is unethical to take money from someone and provide no service. The last thing the world needs is more litigation.
Last edited by RenDaHai; 03-29-2012 at 08:58 PM.
Do you get an experienced and educated personal trainer with that gym membership or do you just get to use the facility and equipment on your own?
Do you actually show up at your gym at 6 and 12am or do you have somewhat of a regimented schedule?
Phone companies do put restrictions on services which is why they have "plans" which can include a combination how many minutes, text and data the client wishes to have typically for a period of 2 years. Sounds like a contract to me.
Most MMA gyms are open 6am-10pm here in the states and most traditional schools do follow a structured curriculum.
How exactly are schools trying to get money for nothing? If students take classes and learns something while getting into shape I'd say that's a fair trade.
Because thats what a contract does. If a student learns something and gets into shape, off course thats a fair trade. But if they are training they will be paying you either way contract or no. The contract is only in place to secure money from people who don't turn up all the time. So its purpose is charging people for nothing.
You could say its there to make people train.. If they have paid there is more incentive for them to turn up. There is some truth in this. But a long term contract?? Sure, do it by the month, especially if your gym has a lot of classes, but not a long contract.
off topic
due to 2 year contract from phone company
I am waiting for iPhone 5 in june. do not want to use iPhone 4s for 2 years while other using curvy like soap and more powerful iPhone 5.
contract or not.
We may always schedule or find a class time that fits most people schedule
usually weekend or some week nights.
etc etc