USA Shaolin Temple

Review: This so called Shaolin school is a direct scam using the shaolin temple name and legacy to scam people out of their money, the so called school director is a alleged former shaolin temple member who allegedly ran away from this organization to seek asylum in the united states, I signed up for this class for a specific three month time period and paid $475:00 for a pair of crappy sneakers, an ill fitting uniform and a cheap $15:00 sidewalk sold appearing T-shirt [ I later threw these items in the trash] after the first class where I found myself performing weird, very uncomfortable awkward movements including childlike cartwheels that can be seriously injurious [ I injured myself in the groin area and the knees that has not healed to this day, my gait is seriously compromised and I never had this problem before] I informed this alleged former shaolin monk that I will no longer be attending his classes and I will be cancelling my membership, I was informed very disrespectfully that I could not receive a refund for my hard earned money. Three months later I find that this alleged shaolin monk had the gall to steal another $345:00 from my account even after I had no correspondence with this business what so ever, the website advertised online for this scam business is www.usashaolintemple but shows up as a illegitimate website when entered into the Revdex.com find a business complaint system.Desired Settlement: I would like a refund for the $345:00 deducted from my account without my authorization

Business

Response:

Dear [redacted]:

Please be advised the undersigned is General Counsel to the USA Shaolin Temple, the not-for-profit secular branch of Mei Gou Shaolin Sui, a religious corporation. The undersigned is a member of the Board of Directors of the first entity, and a Trustee for the second entity. We acknowledge receipt of the above referenced complaint and wish to respond as follows.

Initially it is interesting this gentleman never contacted our organization with any direct complaint. We strive, as a Buddhist temple, to maintain harmony with our community as well as resolving any issues for those not ready to undertake training in Shaolin Kung Fu/Chan Philosophy.

We offer discounted membership for those who choose to register for 3 months. Each individual decides for themselves whether they are ready to undertake a serious commitment to their training. Other options are a trial class ($20.00) or a one month membership. Moreover, to ease the burdens of administration, we offer a discount to those who sign up under auto-pay rather than receiving and paying a monthly or tri-monthly bill. [redacted] chose to commit for 3 months and receive an initial discounted membership of his own volition, and having made that choice he is bound by the consequences of his decision. He had every opportunity to take a trial class, or sign instead for a one month membership. Likewise he chose the second discounted option for renewal fees via auto-pay. It was [redacted]'s obligation to request from the front desk manager a cessation of membership.

[redacted] never spoke with [redacted], who is a 34th generation Shaolin monk who defected to this country in 1992, and was awarded political asylum and ultimately citizenship. We choose not to respond to [redacted]'s ad honomin attacks as Shifu Shi Yan Ming's reputation among martial artists, Shaolin monks and Chan Buddhism are beyond reproach, as evinced by numerous documentaries with National Geographic, Discovery Channel, etc. [redacted]'s false accusations only reveal his lack of readiness to undertake Shaolin training, and we wish him well as he seeks out another path where perhaps his temperament is better suited.

His complaints about the uniform and training shoes he received for free upon enrolling are equally unfounded. We sell the training shoes for $35.00 a pair and they are only to be worn inside our training facility. These training shoes last on average one year with vigorous training. Moreover our training uniforms come from China and are the same uniforms Chinese Shaolin Kung Fu students wear at the Shaolin Temple in China. I still have my first uniform from 2001. They are supposed to be loose to allow freedom of movement, as these items are not a fashion statement.

We checked our daily sign-in sheets, and contrary to [redacted]'s claims, he came to train several times - not once. He never canceled his membership with our manager, and never spoke with [redacted], nor advised anyone else at temple, including myself, of his decision to quit or cancel his auto-pay account. [redacted] never complained of any injury to anyone at thetemple, including myself, [redacted], or Temple a manager [redacted]. [redacted] never requested any medical treatment and never filled out an accident report. We have checked with our student body, and nobody recalls anyone injuring themselves during any class in the past 4 months. Shaolin Kung Fu is a vigorous training regime that leaves us all sore in the beginning; however, as we carefully monitor for injuries, I can a sure you, no such event transpired within our facility. [redacted] simply stopped coming.

Nonetheless upon receipt of this complaint, and checking our books, as we did not see any activity for [redacted] after his initial 3-month period expired, we have canceled those additional recent charges of $345.00 he received on his last bill.

While we think it would be in bad taste to publish [redacted]'s ill-tempered complaints on your web-site as they were never addressed directly with our organization in a mature and respectful manner, nonetheless should you chose to publish [redacted]'s unfounded complaints, we only ask that you likewise publish our response herein.

We hope our resolution satisfactorily comports with your standards, and would note in closing that had [redacted] simply contacted our organization with the auto-pay issue, we would have resolved this issue peacefully after confirming he did not train during the effected period.

I thank you for your courtesy and attention herein.

Sincerely yours;