Sluggers Academy

I do not accept the response from the business owner in this caseI would like to first address the hitting lessons ($400)They provided no information whatsoever at the time of purchase that the hitting lessons were non-refundableDue to the fact that there was no notification to me, the consumer on this, they are legally obligated to return the unused amountsI signed nothing to the effect that the hitting lesson was non-refundableIn order for their claim to be valid, they would need to produce proof of this policy and that I was made aware of thisNeither of which they are able to do, so they will need to immediately return the funds. With regards to the response related to the *** season, my complaint still stands and the only reason this has escalated to this point is due to the behavior of this business owners partner, *** ***Upon speaking with ***, he started out the phone call very belligerent with me asking me rudely "are you an athlete, do you know any athletes? Well I doI know a lot of athletes"*** then went on to tell me how much of a "successful businessman he is" and that once he heard I was going to file a formal complaint he stated that due to "my attitude" he wouldn't be refunding any of the pre-paid amounts and proceeded to hang up on meNot once during this call did he actually take the time to ask or even listen to the underlying issue...NOT ONCEAs a business owner myself, I recognize the importance of understanding a clients issue when it arises, listening to all sides, collecting information and then professionally following up on the issueNone of this happened in this caseThe behaviors exhibited by *** *** are clearly not those of a "successful business man" who should handle issues/complaints with way more professionalism than he is clearly capable of. Perhaps in the future, someone else should work with customers as he doesn't appear to have the mental aptitude for it. Based on all of this, unless the business owner recognizes their error and rectifies the situation, I will move forward with additional means to expose them for their actions/behaviors and collect the monies due to me.
Regards,
*** ***

In speaking with my partner, *** ***, ** *** account of the discussion is in stark contrast from my partner's account of the exchange of dialogue. To begin with, *** started the conversation apologizing for not responding sooner as it took a few days for *** to get back to ** ***. He started to explain that a good friend of his had died which had preoccupied him over the prior few days. ** *** had no interest in listening to ***'s explanation. ** *** then proceeded to berate a number of good people within the Sluggers Academy / *** *** organization. The tone of ** *** was totally inappropriate and after a period of time *** ended the call abruptly due to ** *** continued ranting. In ** *** response, I do not see anywhere a reasonable foundation for a refund of the *** *** fees. Conversely, in my initial response I laid out a number of reasons why the fee is should not be refunded. In terms of the package for batting lessons, there was a discount extended for the package similar to when you typically purchase anything in bulk. If we were to refund unused lessons to everyone from a package, it would defeat the purpose of offering a package. Customers who are not sure if they will continue should purchase lessons one at a time. As I mentioned, ** *** unused package is still valid and there are multiple coaches on our staff who can provide lessons to his daughter if he is not interested in someone specifically coaching or giving instructions to his daughter. As I mentioned in my prior correspondence, we have over players this year (both boys and girls) playing on our travel teams. We pride ourselves on running a solid travel program for both girls and boys. ** *** is alone in his complaints toward our program

This is in response to a letter our business received this month from Revdex.com of Eastern MA, ME, RI & VT regarding a dispute between *** *** and Sluggers Academy, LLC - complaint #***. Please note the letter requested I respond via the Revdex.com Online Complaint Management System but I was
unable to find that on your website and there were not any specific guidelines in the letter as to how to access this. I am one of the owners of Sluggers Academy, LLC. We own and operate an indoor sports facility in *** **. In addition to baseball, softball and other sports related activities, Sluggers Academy, LLC also sponsors boys baseball and girls softball teams. Our business has been in operation since January 2012. In August of ** *** daughter accepted a position on the *** *** *** *** team. There were a number of girls who tried out for the team who were not offered positions due to a cap on the number of girls on a team. With ** *** acceptance of the position for his daughter was a non-refundable financial obligation. The team practiced weekly from August thru current and will continue to practice weekly through the end of the season (end of July 2015). In addition, as part of her *** *** *** package ** *** daughter was given access to weekly batting cage time as well as weekly strength and conditioning classes run at our facility. Finally, ** *** daughter was provided a standard team uniform package. As outlined above, the *** *** *** team fees cover more than just tournaments - weekly practices over an month period, weekly batting cage time, weekly strength and conditioning classes, and a uniform all are part of the fee and are expenses which Sluggers Academy incurs. In addition, the tournament fees that ** *** daughter's team will participate in this summer have been paid months in advance. With a roster of players, the philosphy of the *** *** *** program is to attempt to play all of the girls approximately the same number of innings over the course of the season. We object to ** *** assertion that his daughter sat 3X more than any other player. It is interesting that ** *** claims his daughter sat more than all of the other girls in the two fall tournaments but admitted he never approached anyone associated with the program or Sluggers Academy over the winter about the issue. If this was such an issue, a concerned parent would approach the coach, *** *** coordinator (Coach ***) or the general manager of Sluggers Academy (*** ***). ** *** did not do any of that. In the first spring tournament the coach of the team did make a mistake inserting a late player into the game for ** *** daughter as he states; Coach *** realized it was a mistake, spoke to the team coach who rectified the situation the following inning. It is unfortunate that ** *** pulled his daughter from the bench during the following game and quit the team. That being said, his actions were embarassing to all and subsequent to that day he has been outright rude in speaking to my ownership partner as well as staff members of Sluggers Academy and *** ***. We are refusing to refund any portion of ** *** fee for *** *** due to the 1) the fee is non-refundable for all players, 2) Sluggers Academy has incurred significant amount of expense for practices, uniforms, tournament fees, coaches salaries, etc associated with the team, 3) ** *** daughter used the Sluggers Academy facility over the winter months, and 4) ** *** daughter took a roster spot away from another player in August of last year. In terms of the hitting package ** *** purchased for his daughter, there is a discounted rate given to the customer for purchasing the package which ** *** received. The package is non-refundable at the time of purchase. We are more than happy to honor the remaining time he has on his package that he purchase for his daughter but a refund of this package was not what the agreement was. In closing, I would like to note that our girls softball and boys baseball programs have had a number of very positive emails, postings, etc over the past few years. ** *** made threats to us about filing a complaint. We are so confident in our ability to run a top notch program/business and ** *** flawed analysis and rude behavior that we told him to do so versus giving into his threats. Either myself, my business partner, or any of the other employees of Sluggers Academy would be open to any further conversation on this matter. Feel free to call (***) or email me (***)

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved
Sincerely,
*** ***

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved
Sincerely,
[redacted]
?

The scope of my response is limited to the hitting lessons, as the response from the partner in this organization is relaying inaccurate information that he obtained third hand.  I will state AGAIN the business in question here is required BY LAW to disclose their refund policy. Per [redacted] Law, 940CMR 3.13(4)(a): "It is unfair and deceptive trade practice: (a) To fail to clearly and conspicuously disclose to a buyer, prior to the consummation of a transaction, the exact nature and extent of the seller's refund, return, or cancellation policy;". Not only was this information not disclosed to me verbally, there was nothing posted at the place of checkout that discloses the organizations refund policy, therefore they are actively engaged in deceptive trade practices that are not allowed in the [redacted]. The suggestion that I would ever have my daughter engage with this organization as a resolution to this issue and the outstanding hitting lessons is ridiculous given what's transpired here. I will give Sluggers 10 business days to refund the full, unused amount for the hitting lessons before turning this matter over to my attorney and the court system.Regards,
[redacted]