ASF International And Premier Martial Arts Shady business practices and outright Liars Highlands Ranch Colorado

In regard to Premiar Martial Arts being a franchise, that is incorrect and someone must have been trying to pass the blame. PMA is a licensing program, which means the owner of the business, the licensee, is not required by law to use any of the PMA systems or follow any of it's guidelines. A licensed program simply gives that person the right to use it. A franchisee is required by law. A licensee is not

Good for you at least you got some money back. They took over $1000 from me.

Although I can't speak for the actions (or inactions) of Premier Martial Arts, I can speak on behalf of other Martial Arts schools who use ASF for their billing services. I do employ ASF for our tuition billing services. What people need to know is simple: ASF is just a billing company that works for the school they represent. I am writing this because your writing leads my to think that ASF is the only one who is responsible and that you imply that your school is totally innocent. Despite whatever Premier Martial Arts is telling you, if ASF takes a hardliner approach, its only because that's the way Premier wants it.

The reason for this is becuase ASF has a program called the Cancell-less Program for school owners that basically gives the school owner the ability to have ASF be the bad-guy and agressively go after every penny they can for thier client without making the school owner look bad. Owners are told to tell their students that they have no control over that end of the business. I will admit that at first, this program looked appealing, until I realized what it actually entailed. I can see how many school owner would want to sign up for such a program, but keep in mind that the School Owner has a choice whether or not to use that program. We, for example, do not use that program. I control who gets cancelled and who does not.

I can assure you that if, after I authorized a cancellation, any ASF staff member ever treated one of my students in the mannor you detailed, I would terminate my relationship with them immediately. I have used ASF for about 6-7 years now and I have rarely had a customer complaint. Never as serious as you describe it.

In my experience, ASF's customer service staff has been excellent. They have never mishandled any of my student's accounts and any errors that are discovered are corrected without question. They have never refused to do whatever I asked in regards to my student's contracts.

In closing, just remember this: Not all schools operate the same way. Use a little business sense: Look before you leap. Read before you sign. Keep copies of everything. Don't be afraid to ask questions from anybody (staff, clients, and students) and don't ever feel pushed or obligated into anything!

Train because you want to, not because you have too.

Shihan Tony Abatecola
Master Instructor, 5th Dan
USA Karate Pawtucket
www.USAKarateRI.com

I was pretty amazed, but they did actually refund $198. I don't think they had any real choice but my experience has been better than most of the other complaints I have read. I also got a reply from the local owner of Premier Martial Arts and he indicated that it is a franchise business and they have to go through ASF. I have also complained to Premier Martial Arts national headquarters but they did not respond. I received a response to my Better Business Bureau complaint yesterday and they indicated that we did not submit the proper paperwork before our August payment was due. This is a lie because we even waited for thier office to open they day we were moving so that we could get the proper forms. I would love to sue them but $198 will not begin to cover the legal costs of going after them. These are criminals and no one should ever do business with them. I will not join any club that employs them and if enough people do this they will eventually go out of business.