Renzo Gracie

20 November 2014Dear [redacted]:
As per your request, please find Renzo Gracie's response to the above-mentioned complaint.The customer explains (in “Customer’s Statement of the Problem”) in his own writing that he did receive [verbal] explanation of the contract; this is true....

All of our customers are explained, in detail, their “Buyer's Rights,” and are required to initial this section of their contract with Renzo Gracie PA Academy.Please see “Attachment A* (Renzo Gracie Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu PA Academy)...Under “Buyers Right -60 Day Notice of Cancel or Change,” it clearly explains the requirements to cancel the “... 12 Month MINIMUM contract...” As a matter of fact, this customer (like all our customers) initialed this section of the contract. This of course runs contrary to the customer's statement that his understanding of the contract was that, “...[I] pay for a year and then I was done...” (See Complaint).
Here are the facts:This customer signed a “12 Month Minimum Agreement” with Renzo Gracie Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu PA Academy on 20 December 2012. Customer failed to properly cancel his membership/contract with the Academy as stated in “Attachment A.”
Customer was past due for August, September and October of 2014. Payments were returned due to “insufficient Funds.” As of 31
October 2014, [redacted] reported customer as “30-71 days late.”
Customer has since paid his past due amount of $315.00, and has satisfied his obligation to Renzo Gracie.[redacted] will report on 31 November 2014 that customer is “Paid in Full” and has a “Zero Balance.”Renzo Gracie is not obligated to give this customer any refund. Customer had full use of the academy during the duration of his contract. Our obligation to this customer has been met.
Further, please see “Appendix B.” Customer, in his own words, states that he has, “... enjoyed training with you guys...”In closing, please see “Appendix C Customer states that his reason for wanting to cancel his membership with the academy was due to his, “... wife had a baby, and I’ve been spending my evenings at home with them...” This was great news to us, however this customer simply needed to abide by the agreement he signed and initialed to properly cancel with the academy.We congratulate this customer on the new addition to his family, and it is our sincere hope, that in the future, he considers enrolling his son or daughter in our Children’s Jiu-Jitsu program...we look forward to itSincerely,Karen L Renzo Gracie PA Academy

On behalf of Renzo Gracie Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu PA Academy (“The Academy”), I Karen Latta proffer (offer, tender, submit, extend, volunteer, suggest) the following response to Complaint ID [redacted], in the following manner:Complaint [VERBATIM) —“This letter tenders a resubmission of redaction of...

membership from the academy. Our family has relocated to California as of November 2014. I had previously sent in a letter of redaction but did not receive any further notification of receipt. Hence, this is a follow up request.”ResponseI am not sure what a “resubmission of redaction” means... I do understand what each of these words mean used properly/separately, however the context in which they are used herein is a mystery to me. For the sake of this letter, I will assume Ms. [redacted], MSN, BSN, RN, AAS, President-Elect, [redacted] International, is attempting to state that she is resubmitting a letter of cancellation of her contract. Unfortunately, The Academy NEVER received such a letter of cancellation via “Certified Mail, return receipt requested" as per pages 2 and 3 of her membership agreement that she SIGNED AND INITIALED on page 2 and SIGNED AND INITIALED again on page 3, and the complainant has not produced her receipt from the US Post Office, or other recognized delivery service.I congratulate the [redacted] family on their recent relocation to the west coast and I hope they are enjoying the beautiful weather there (be it California or Harrisburg, PA), however their relocation does not negate the fact that a binding contract was signed by the complainant, and the procedures listed clearly and repetitively on said contract were not followed. I challenge Ms. [redacted] to provide me with her true and valid receipt from the US Post Office showing her initial attempts to cancel her contract with The Academy. We at The Academy take great pride in our personal involvement and attention to our students, however it cannot be expected of us to follow the travel and relocation arrangements for each one of our hundreds of students.As far as the complainant alleging that her letter dated 10 June 2015 (RECEIVED TWO MONTHS LATER, 10 AUGUST 2015 AS PER THE US POST OFFICE STAMP) is a “follow up request,” I again ask for production of the proper receipt showing any all previous letter(s) sent AS PER HER MEMBERSHIP AGREEMENT.Complaint [VERBATIM]–“Please affirm that you all have canceled the memberships for the aforementioned parties as previously requested and that no further monies have been deducted for the time periods of 11/2014–6/2015. Also, we will request that if there were monies wrongfully debited from these accounts, that they will be rightfully returned.”ResponseMs. [redacted]' membership agreement will not be canceled until the balance owed, which includes arrearages, late fees, and return fees (due to the complainant canceling her credit card The Academy has on file) are paid in full. Attempts to deduct payments from the complainant's credit card on file will continue until payment in full is received as per the membership agreement. When the complainant is ready to make payment is full to The Academy, she may contact our billing company to receive the current balance owed to date. Please know, this is not an invitation for the complainant to harass or call repeatedly, our billing company, as was the previous experience.Complaint [VERMATIM] –“We have enjoyed our time at the academy, and thank you for the skills and value imparted in our children.”Response -We at The Academy strive to fulfill our students' goals. It sincerely pleases us that your experience with us was "enjoyable” and The Academy had a positive influence on your children.In closing, please know that we take extra steps to ensure our students understand completely each and every word of the membership agreement they are signing and initialing. It does us no good to produce unhappy students, but please also understand that we are running a business here, and we must abide by the amicably signed membership agreement.Karen L[redacted] Renzo Gracie Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu PA Academy

It's sad when your at this gym for 2 years and all they care about is getting your money even tho you got hurt their training and have a doctors note asking to suspend membership till he works on fixing the nerve damage

It's sad when your at this gym for 2 years and all they care about is getting your money even tho you got hurt their training and have a doctors note asking to suspend membership till he works on fixing the nerve damage

Review: On May 1, 2013, I asked to cancel my membership in person at the gym as the one-year term I signed up for had expired. At that time I was informed that my contract was automatically renewed for another year without my knowledge or any notification from any representative of Renzo Gracie PA Academy.

The person I spoke to pointed out to me that the two page agreement I was given when I joined has one sentence stating that 60 days’ notice must be given before the contract ends in order to cancel and that without sending notification the contract automatically renews for another year. However, that is different from how the contract was verbally explained to me when I joined on March 19, 2012. On that date, I asked how the membership works after the one-year term expires and was specifically told that the membership fees remain the same but on a month-to-month basis. Because of this, I would like to end my membership as of the end of my current bill cycle. I am currently charged $99 per month.

I sent a certified letter to this effect to the owners of Renzo Gracie PA Academy which they received on May 10, 2013. I have not received a response.Desired Settlement: My desired outcome is for Renzo Gracie to cease billing me for services I am no longer using and for which I did not approve. I am not asking for a refund for the month I've already been billed even though I asked to cancel before that date. I would however like for any further billing to my credit card to stop.

Consumer

Response:

[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 Administratively Resolved]

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because: The response I received did not contain any kind of offer. It contained several accusations and attacks on my character that I do not believe to be accurate. The attorney they hired has said he will be willing to speak with me directly, so I will attempt to do so. My response to him is attached. I have faxed this response to his office and mailed him a copy as well.

Regards,

Business

Response:

Please see attached

Consumer

Response:

[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 Administratively Resolved]

Review: [redacted]

**. [redacted] did not answer all my stated concerns. I asked him to provide specific examples of what he called my "...abusive conduct." As you can see from his response, he was not able to provide any such examples. He merely restated the accusation. I maintain that my one conversation with a gym representative on this matter was short and cordial. He also did not answer my question as to whether or not the gym has honored my request not to renew the contract again. I understand that they say they didn't receive my initial letter, but I assume at this point it is clear I'm not renewing again, and I would like some written confirmation that that is the case.

I cannot accept this response, because as of now no offer has been made to resolve the dispute. However, I have spoken to a member of **. [redacted]'s office to schedule a meeting with him and a representative from Renzo Gracie. We have tentatively scheduled a conference call for either July 11 or 12 depending on everyone's schedule. She has stated that she'll follow up with me by July 9th to schedule officially. I do appreciate the fast responses I've received from **. [redacted] and the willingness of him and Renzo Gracie to meet with me on the issue, and I am hopeful that we can come to a fair compromise at that meeting.

Regards,

Consumer

Response:

On July 22, 2013, I participated in a conference call with an employee of Renzo Gracie, [redacted] as well as [redacted], Renzo Gracie's attorney. I restated my concerns with them and reiterated my desired outcome which is to no longer be billed by Renzo Gracie. **. [redacted] informed me that the owner of the gym, [redacted], is currently in the hospital, so she was unable to attend the call. He assured me that he would relay the details of our call to **. [redacted] and that he would get back in touch with me in the next few days to let me know her response. I'm hopeful that she will get back to me with an offer to settle the dispute once she is recovered. I will update the Revdex.com when I hear back from **. [redacted] or **. [redacted].

Regards,

Business

Response:

Please see attached

Consumer

Response:

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because:

I am once again rejecting this response as no offer to resolve the dispute has been made. I will address **. [redacted]'s points in order:

1) The contract you've enclosed is very confusing to someone who is not an attorney. Certain parts are crossed out, and no one area lists the entire cancellation policy, but instead references other parts of the contract that are not next to each other. As I've stated before (and you did not address this point) I took the office manager's verbal explanation to be accurate when she told me that I cannot cancel until after the term expires and that once the 1 year term is up, the contract reverts to a month-to-month basis.

2) This is the third time you or your attorney has accused me of using irate, argumentative and vulgar language. For the third time I will give you the same response. I did not use inappropriate language or raise my voice in the gym. I have asked each time you accused me of this to provide specific examples of the language you are referring to. You still have not been able to do this, so when you talk about making false claims and slanderous comments, it seems to me that this is the worst case of both of those things.

3) the office manager did not simply offer to reduce the payments from $99 to $75. She was only willing to do this on the condition that I sign a new 1 year contract from that date, extending the number of months that I would need to pay. As this is exactly the policy that I consider unfair, I didn't see that as a true offer to resolve this dispute.

4) Contrary to what you said, I am very willing to hear other offers other than immediate cancellation. I have stated that as my desired outcome, but no subsequent counter offer has been made by Renzo Gracie. One potential offer that I think would be fair to both parties is to find a compromise. For example, I believe I should not have had to pay any months. You believe I should have to pay 12 months. I would like to offer that we meet in the middle, and I will pay 6 months of the contract. This would make my last payment August 22, 2013. If you cannot agree to some kind of compromise, another way to resolve the dispute is to allow the Revdex.com to arbitrate the issue for us. I would certainly be open to that. Please keep in mind that this is not any kind of threat of legal action. I am just offering to let the Revdex.com hear both sides of this dispute and decide an outcome for us. I am also open to hear any resolution that you would like to propose.

5) I did not file this complaint to tarnish your reputation with the Revdex.com. Your ranking on the Revdex.com website is already an F without my complaint. For your information, there have been 3 complaints about your business not including mine, one of which you did not respond to. The reasons stated for your F rating are as follows:

Revdex.com does not have sufficient information to determine how long this business has been operating

Failure to respond to 1 complaint filed against business

Revdex.com does not have sufficient background information on this business

Your lawyer also informed me on our call that in the few months he's been working with you, I am the second customer to file a complaint. He did not tell me what the other complaint involved, but he did say that you resolved it. As far as I know, my complaint is not public as I cannot view any of the 3 previous complaints made against you. I do not wish to tarnish your company's reputation privately or publicly. I think your gym has a great product. I simply no longer wish to use it, and based on your office manager's verbal contract with me, I don't believe I should be forced to continue my subscription.

It seems you feel that I've in some way forced you to retain a lawyer, but I assure you that was never my intention. I came into the gym and discussed my issue. I was told that I needed to write you a letter, so I did. I didn't receive a response to the letter, so I sent a similar letter through the Revdex.com. You then had your attorney respond. I scheduled a meeting with you and the attorney, and you weren't able to attend. All I've been trying to do throughout this process is speak with an owner of the gym, and have a civilized conversation about my dispute to see if we can come to a fair resolution. But this letter is the first piece of communication I've gotten that has come from you, and the letter ignores a lot of the conversations I've already had with your attorney either through the Revdex.com or in our conference call that you couldn't attend.

Your attorney told me during our meeting that he would call me back shortly with an offer to resolve the issue and that all you wanted was to make sure I was satisfied with the outcome. Over three weeks have passed since then without any response from your attorney, and now I receive this letter in which you explicitly state that you will not make any offer to satisfy my complaint.

I truly am not trying to frustrate you or waste your time. I feel that I have a valid complaint and that it is not being taken seriously. It seems to me that your cancellation policy is designed to make it difficult for people to cancel. If you had sent any kind of notification by mail, email or phone call, or even just telling me when I came into the gym that it would automatically renew, I would have cancelled immediately. When I was told the contract goes month-to-month at time of sign up, I believed it as this is how every other gym I've used has handled cancellation. I sincerely hope that you will consider my above two offers listed in point #4 or that you will respond with an offer of your own. If you no longer wish to discuss this dispute. please just send a response to the Revdex.com stating that you are not willing to make any offer and that you would like them to close the complaint as they see fit. I hope that is not your reaction, but I don't want to waste your time or mine any further if you're not willing to work with me.

Regards,

Review: I joined renzo gracie academy pa on 12/20/2012 it was a 12 month contract, I was verbally explained how the contract worked at no point did anyone say that the contract renews after a year, I was under the impression I pay for a year and then I was done. They kept billing me for a whole 6 months after the first year of my contract without my knowledge or approval, I wasn't given and notice that they were renewing my contract for another year. I send the owner a certified letter saying I want a refund for the last 6 months they debt from my credit card. The owner told me on the phone I cant cancel till another 12 months goes by and I have to give 60 days notice of cancelation before the end of the year. The contract is bogus.Desired Settlement: I want a refund for the year of payments they took from my card and I want the late payment remarks removed from my credit report. Or I will take a more legal route to ending this scam artist.

Business

Response:

20 November 2014Dear [redacted]:As per your request, please find Renzo Gracie's response to the above-mentioned complaint.The customer explains (in “Customer’s Statement of the Problem”) in his own writing that he did receive [verbal] explanation of the contract; this is true. All of our customers are explained, in detail, their “Buyer's Rights,” and are required to initial this section of their contract with Renzo Gracie PA Academy.Please see “Attachment A* (Renzo Gracie Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu PA Academy)...Under “Buyers Right -60 Day Notice of Cancel or Change,” it clearly explains the requirements to cancel the “... 12 Month MINIMUM contract...” As a matter of fact, this customer (like all our customers) initialed this section of the contract. This of course runs contrary to the customer's statement that his understanding of the contract was that, “...[I] pay for a year and then I was done...” (See Complaint).Here are the facts:This customer signed a “12 Month Minimum Agreement” with Renzo Gracie Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu PA Academy on 20 December 2012. Customer failed to properly cancel his membership/contract with the Academy as stated in “Attachment A.”Customer was past due for August, September and October of 2014. Payments were returned due to “insufficient Funds.” As of 31 October 2014, [redacted] reported customer as “30-71 days late.”Customer has since paid his past due amount of $315.00, and has satisfied his obligation to Renzo Gracie.[redacted] will report on 31 November 2014 that customer is “Paid in Full” and has a “Zero Balance.”Renzo Gracie is not obligated to give this customer any refund. Customer had full use of the academy during the duration of his contract. Our obligation to this customer has been met.Further, please see “Appendix B.” Customer, in his own words, states that he has, “... enjoyed training with you guys...”In closing, please see “Appendix C Customer states that his reason for wanting to cancel his membership with the academy was due to his, “... wife had a baby, and I’ve been spending my evenings at home with them...” This was great news to us, however this customer simply needed to abide by the agreement he signed and initialed to properly cancel with the academy.We congratulate this customer on the new addition to his family, and it is our sincere hope, that in the future, he considers enrolling his son or daughter in our Children’s Jiu-Jitsu program...we look forward to itSincerely,Karen L Renzo Gracie PA Academy