Thomas Studio of Performing Arts

Review: I had originally registered my daughter for classes however, there was a scheduling conflict. This school holds registration in June and was unable to accurately predict the future. I had contact the school to change classes. I reviewed options with a woman who was very friendly and reviewed my options. She said the only remaining class was at 4:15pm. I had still not received my daughters' bus schedule and explained to her that her bus usually dropped her off at that time and it would not be sufficient time to get her there. At that time she had offered that she could refund the amount that I had paid for Septembers tuition however, she would not be able to refund the registration fee that I had paid. Being that my daughter is starting in a new building within the district, I said that I would look into the bus schedule first that it may come earlier than it previously had. The call ended confirming that if I was able to get my daughter there for the 4:15 class, I would do so but if not, I would call back to have her removed and to be refunded the Septembers tuition. Her bus does not drop her off until 4:30 so I contacted the dance studio. They now have no recollection of the conversation and are refusing to refund the tuition. I understood that I would not be receiving the registration fee as thoroughly explained in the first conversation however, they have now conveniently forgot the conversation and refuse to refund. As previously stated, the first person that I talked to was very friendly and was willing to work with me. The person I spoke to last stated that she "spoke with the entire staff" and no one remembers the conversation. I did not recall the name but I'm pretty certain it was the same person that I spoke with the first time.Desired Settlement: Refund of one months tuition.

Business

Response:

Regarding complaint ID# [redacted]The customer making the complaint suggests that we expect families who register for our fall program in June to be able to "predict the future" with regards to their family schedule. We did open registration for the Fall 2016-17 season in April of 2016 and have been following a similar schedule for many previous seasons with great success. We allow for registration as early as April for those customers who know their child's schedule and/or are prepared to make other activities work around their dance classes, however we in no way require anyone to register this early as we recognize that there are many factors that affect a child's after school schedule. Registration If a family does not feel comfortable committing to a certain day and time for the next season, we encourage them to wait to register until their schedule is solidified.As you can see in the email print outs included, we have very clearly established policies regarding refunds of tuition fees. We do not issue refunds for tuition or recital payments, but we do offer a full credit to be used towards any future classes within the studio including our summer programs. We maintain this policy because we are committed to keeping our class sizes within a certain number and once a class is considered "full", we turn away other prospective students who are interested in the class. Providing a refund to every family who has a schedule change would adversely affect the studio financially and render us unable to maintain the high quality program that we are so proud to have established. We do our very best to provide those customers with an alternate class that works for their schedule and if this is not possible, hold that credit forfuture classes. We feel that this policy is fairto both the customer and the business.This customer registered through our online registration system and, in doing so, agreed with these policies and signed the agreement. The customer claims that she was told she could receive a refund, but is unable to provide the name of the person she spoke with on the phone. Our staff keeps a detailed phone message book and has no record of this conversation.After receiving a very rude and somewhat threatening email, we did partially refund the customer on August 30th. Credits often take a few days to go through the system so she may not have seen those funds appear before filing her complaint. We also responded to her email in a professional manner on August 30th and provided the details of the refund in that correspondence for her reference.Sincerely,Linda S[redacted]

Owner/Director- Thomas Dance Studio

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.