early childrens learning academy Reviews (%countItem)
early childrens learning academy Rating
Address: 3525 hulmeville rd, Bensalem, Pennsylvania, United States, 19020
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I paid my tuition for my children for the month of March and then due to misleading and unprofessional communication from the owner withdrew them. The owner, John h***, a Michigan attorney, had not refunded me the appropriate amount yet, which should include March 14-31, as he noted in writing that families would not be charged the weeks of the 14 and 21 which would have been my required two week notice. He will not confirm when I will receive my refund. Further he posted confidential financial information about me on *** as well as confidential HR info about a former employee.
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We are in receipt of your letter regarding ***'s complaint.
*** continues to have a difficult time differentiating her opinions, feelings and wishes from facts, and continues to want to 'fight' with us, whether it be complaints to you, or her repeated threats of commencing litigation.
*** is, in fact, entitled to a refund, but not in the amount she has demanded. I have explained to her that the refund amount we will be giving her is consistent with what our written policies are, of which she is aware, both because she acknowledged to me she was aware of them, and because they are set forth in the materials we provide to parents. However, despite the foregoing, *** demanded she receive a larger refund, though, beyond her demand she really wasn't able to offer a rational explanation why that should be the case.
I finally spoke with *** after she sent me several emails and a few phone calls demanding her refund immediately. I tried to explain to her that the Detroit area (where our corporate office is located) is under a mandatory closure order, just like the Philadelphia area, and we are not going to be able to immediately issue the refund to her, nor could I state with any certainty when our offices will be permitted to reopen so we can process the refund. *** did not find this response satisfactory, and continued to demand an immediate refund in the amount she was demanding.
We are still waiting for the MI Governor to let us know when we can reopen our office, and once that occurs we can then process her refund, assuming we're even still in business. I say assuming we're still in business, because our five (5) child care centers in and around Philadelphia were all ordered closed by the PA Governor in mid-March, and the only thing clear at this time is that we will not be allowed to reopen until sometime in May, if even then. So, as you can see, the least of my concerns right now are *** and her only passing familiarity with the truth, and her unreasonable demands.
Finally, and again, we will be issuing a refund to *** once we are permitted to reopen our offices, and we have the money on hand to do so, and the amount of the refund will be as provided for in our written policies, which *** acknowledged to me she is aware of, but feels they should not apply to her.
Please let me know if you have any further questions, try to stay healthy during these difficult times.
[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed as Answered]
Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because:
Thank you for sending John’s reply to me. It was laughable - perhaps he would have had more success as a comedian than he seems to have as a business person.John is licensed as an attorney in Michigan and given his experience in bankruptcies it does not surprise me at all to hear him state that the refund that I am due will be processed “...assuming we are still in business.” I do not anticipate that he will reopen the business under its current name. He has a history of making conflicting statements and the fact that he refuses to refund me the correct amount ($1907) in a timely manner, is indicative to me that he has no intention of refunding me.
I have all of the emails between him and I and I will be glad to share them with you. He first stated (in a memorandum sent to all customers of the facility) that he was going to charge customers an undetermined amount and pay his employees an undetermined amount. This is simply unacceptable business and I was unwilling to go along with that. I informed him that I was unwilling to pay any amount as he was not going to be providing the service for which I was paying. He tried to claim that his employees were going to be unable to file for unemployment - which as a business owner and attorney was a profoundly naive statement at best, at worst a blatant lie. He runs a business, and only receives payment when he actually provides the service for which he bills. Nothing more, nothing less.
As such, I immediately withdrew my children from the center. (This was over the weekend 3/14-3/15). On Monday 3/16, he then sent out another memorandum to all customers stating that he would not be charging anyone for tuition for the weeks of 3/16 or 3/23. The center requires that you give two weeks notice when withdrawing children, which I did on 3/14. Thus, since he stated (in writing) that nobody would be charged for the weeks of 3/16 or 3/23, and those were my two week notification period, I should not be charged for those either. To charge me and nobody else is discriminatory.
There were individuals working for his business on 3/16 which is when my refund should have been processed. (I know this because I spoke to the director on the phone at the center's phone number on that date). I have been in contact with both John and the center director numerous times throughout this, so to state that he cannot send my refund due to the center being closed is ludicrous. Banks are open and he clearly has access to his businesses’ funds. In his response he states that I am “the least of his concerns” and he will not process any refund until he has “the money on hand to do so.” This was all pre-paid tuition, so should not have even been recognized on his books as earned income yet, but rather prepaid receivables. As such, it should all be immediately available for a refund.
I am happy to send you the memos John sent out as well as the e-mail correspondence between us if you would like to see it. He clearly contradicts himself repeatedly, makes inaccurate statements and is blatantly rude and disrespectful. This are unethical and improper business practices about which any potential future customers should be aware.
Regards
:
*** has always proven herself one of the more 'difficult' customers to appease, and this appears to be no exception.
FYI prior to her sending you her latest missive she had disputed the creedit card charge by which she had paid us the last amounts due, and took for herself the entire refund she felt she was entitled to. Thus, one wonders why she continues to send you her complaints.
Regardless, if you look below and review the attached you'll see both how we came to calculate the amount due, the fact that *** consented in writing to our policies as recently as March 2020, and the fact that she also consented to our charging her with our attorneys fees should we need to retain counsel to collect any monies due from her.
Obviously, given that she took the refund she wanted, as opposed to what she was contractually and consensually entitled to, we could now proceed in court against her for the balance due, along with the charges of our attorney for collecting same.
Assuming she let's the matter drop now, I have no intention of pursuing this further, as we are glad that she has moved on to another child care. However, should she continue to engage in harrassing us, publishing defamatory allegations, whether to the Revdex.com or through social media, which she already did and then deleted, then I will, likely, change my mind about that decision.
Finally, I am not going to litigate ***'s defamatory allegations with the Revdex.com, so I will not be responding to the rest of her hysterical claims. Suffice it to say that she is correct when points out I am an attorney, and if necessary, we can retain counsel and litigate her claims in the appropriate court in PA, along with collecting the contractual balance due to us.
Thank you for your attention and stay safe!
TTFNJDH