Bartenders Academy

Greetings Ms***,
As a follow up to our most recent conversation, I take all complaints and customers both seriously and personally The reason for this is that we exist as a company specifically to help our students become more successful Especially students such as yourself who were hardworking, very talented, and ultimately successful in graduating and getting a bartending jobAs we had discussed in class after this message, many students attended the school because they had received great referrals and recommendations from friends and family The unfortunate set of circumstances that occurred were truly very unique in nature, and was not reflective of our character as a company and for that we do apologize as a company and myself personally for any moment you feel like you did not receive the full expected experience of your trainingJust to highlight a few things we have discussed since We had an unexpected instructor/employee departure while I was at a bartending conference in OregonUpon my return and learning of this I immediately brought in a past instructor who would continue to teach class I did pull everybody aside to get an account of what happened while I was gone and also addressed the class as a whole to explain that we have a new instructor who was familiar with the content and had successfully helped hundreds of students before graduate and find work I gave out my personal mobile number and email to everyone in the class and requested their partnership in alerting me to anything else that could potentially affect their experience in a significant or even minor wayThis was the last communication that we had until 11/ I understand that many of your issues that occurred were no longer brought to me, but were brought to the instructorIt was only at the point of receiving this message that I had become aware of some of the concerns yourself and others were having and took immediate actionI truly wish I had known about these issues earlierI did stop into several classes to check in but none of the feedback included what was bubbling under the surfaceI say this to all of my students: "You are my eyes and ears." I give out my personal cell phone and email to every student for both good and bad feedback, so I and the rest of the team has an opportunity to respond immediatelyThis has actually been part of the reason the school and our students have been so successful; we've been able to respond quickly and appropriately to potential issues that ultimately lead our students to having a better than expected experienceIn this particular instance I would have like to have done more to find this out earlierDue to personal reasons that were affecting job performance at the school, the new instructor was immediately let go once I became aware of the complaints and I personally resumed teaching classes From the feedback I received, most students were initially doubtful about the amount of knowledge they had learned, the skills they had developed, and their ability to pass the final examination However, after a few classes working together, the new feedback was not only positive, but consistent along the lines that although there were many hiccups during the training, in the end, every student commented that they couldn’t believe how much they had learned in just a few short weeksOur own personal conversation was very positive at the end of the courseYou are truly an impressive student, person, and thank you for bringing this to my attention Because you chose to speak up, many others ultimately had a very positive experience If there is anything else that I can do on my end or the school can do, please let me know directly and I’ll be happy to do soKind regards, much success, and happy holidays!
Peter C***

Review: I started attending Bartenders Academy on Oct 12, 2015 and I am still attending the last day of class is Nov 12. Myself and other students that are in our class feel like we have been taking full advantage of. The program that we Signed up for was 5 WK course 4 hours a day Monday-Thursday from 6-10pm. We are supposed to be thought the fundamentals of bartending and resume building, job placement and among other lessons. Our first week of class we were introduced to our Instructor Jeff. Jeff was there Monday-Wednesday of week 1 off Thursday for a wedding and then back Monday and Tuesday of week two. On Wednesday of week two I was contacted by out instructor Jeff tell us there would be no school on Wednesday because a pipe had broke and that he would be in contact with us to let us know that would be going on for Thursdays class. Thursday came and Jeff emailed me saying there was no class because the pipe was not fixed. At 5:37pm Thursday night I received call from an employee stating that we did have school on Thursday night after being told that we did not have school. I then called Peter the owner of the school and Peter told me that we did not have school and that school would resume regularly on Monday. When we arrived for class for the beginning of out 3rd week on Oct 26 we walked into to having a new instructor by the name of Craig who introduce himself as out new instructor and that he was taking over teaching our class and who also stated to the classes that out previous instructor Jeff had thought our class the wrong way of doing things and also changed things in our lessons. On Tuesday Oct 27th I called and spoke with Peter the Owner and told him my concerns and how I was feeling about the school and the issues that were accruing there told me that he was going to come to the school on Wednesday and speak to our class as a group and let us know what was going on. Peter did come to the school but he pulled us in his office and spoke with us individually one on one. At the end of the night each student was told a different story and that their concerns where never addressed and were told not to worry about it. The instructor Craig also brings his girl friend to class everyday and leaves the class or goes into his office several times having the student practicing and teaching ourselves. Several things that we were supposed to achieve in this class we haven't not. All the student walked out of class Last night 11/9/2015 because we just could not take it anymore. I feel that this school is not there to help the students or teach them. I feel as if they took us for everything we have and left us hanging out to dry. Most of the students paid for this course in full and are going to be walking away unconfident and not knowing what we should know because of an unprofessional institution. I feel like each student should be able to get some form of refund from this school.Desired Settlement: I would like to be reimbursed the money that I paid for a service that I feel was not received in its fullest.

Business

Response:

Greetings Ms. [redacted],As a follow up to our most recent conversation, I take all complaints and customers both seriously and personally. The reason for this is that we exist as a company specifically to help our students become more successful. Especially students such as yourself who were hardworking, very talented, and ultimately successful in graduating and getting a bartending job.As we had discussed in class after this message, many students attended the school because they had received great referrals and recommendations from friends and family. The unfortunate set of circumstances that occurred were truly very unique in nature, and was not reflective of our character as a company and for that we do apologize as a company and myself personally for any moment you feel like you did not receive the full expected experience of your training.Just to highlight a few things we have discussed since. We had an unexpected instructor/employee departure while I was at a bartending conference in Oregon. Upon my return and learning of this I immediately brought in a past instructor who would continue to teach class. I did pull everybody aside to get an account of what happened while I was gone and also addressed the class as a whole to explain that we have a new instructor who was familiar with the content and had successfully helped hundreds of students before graduate and find work. I gave out my personal mobile number and email to everyone in the class and requested their partnership in alerting me to anything else that could potentially affect their experience in a significant or even minor way.This was the last communication that we had until 11/10. I understand that many of your issues that occurred were no longer brought to me, but were brought to the instructor. It was only at the point of receiving this message that I had become aware of some of the concerns yourself and others were having and took immediate action. I truly wish I had known about these issues earlier. I did stop into several classes to check in but none of the feedback included what was bubbling under the surface. I say this to all of my students: "You are my eyes and ears." I give out my personal cell phone and email to every student for both good and bad feedback, so I and the rest of the team has an opportunity to respond immediately. This has actually been part of the reason the school and our students have been so successful; we've been able to respond quickly and appropriately to potential issues that ultimately lead our students to having a better than expected experience. In this particular instance I would have like to have done more to find this out earlier.Due to personal reasons that were affecting job performance at the school, the new instructor was immediately let go once I became aware of the complaints and I personally resumed teaching classes. From the feedback I received, most students were initially doubtful about the amount of knowledge they had learned, the skills they had developed, and their ability to pass the final examination. However, after a few classes working together, the new feedback was not only positive, but consistent along the lines that although there were many hiccups during the training, in the end, every student commented that they couldn’t believe how much they had learned in just a few short weeks.Our own personal conversation was very positive at the end of the course. You are truly an impressive student, person, and thank you for bringing this to my attention. Because you chose to speak up, many others ultimately had a very positive experience. If there is anything else that I can do on my end or the school can do, please let me know directly and I’ll be happy to do so.Kind regards, much success, and happy holidays!Peter C[redacted]