DC Centre Verbal abuse; manipulation; problems with contracts and refunds; poor business practices; charge for services not rendered Omaha Nebraska

Purchased seminar in Sept 08, studio knew it was cancelled but did not inform until was 5 minutes from location in Kansas City. I asked for my money back and they stated no, it was not their fault. However, the took the money and the service was not provided. They state it will stay on the books until another seminar is scheduled. As of Feb 09 none have been scheduled and services at the center are being cut back.

Purchased cruise package in Sept 08. This package included a show case dance in Dec 08, coachings and a cruise from NewOrleans to Cozumel on January 15-19. On Jan 5th I inquired as to when we would receive the travel arrangement documents. I was told it was cancelled due to former employees not doing their job. They were going to reschedule for another date and location. Due to my schedule this was not acceptable and I requested a refund. The refund was to be in full due since the Show Case event was paid for under my yearly contract and they added 7 lessons to my dance lesson acct, I asked for these to be removed and they refused. The coachings were on the books and none had been used so I asked for those to be taken off the books as well and they refused. Up until late January I was refused to discuss this with the owner and they were still refusing to refund my money. I have disputed this on my credit card as well, which the owners stated they would only refund the cost of the cruise minus the other items. I did have a statment of account for the last two years which indicated that no coaching had been received since August 08 so the statement the center made to the credit card company was a lie. Even though they stated I had received 3 coachings since September. I was informed by my instructor that I was not being billed for coachings and that Buddy the owner was going to stop by occassionally to watch us, which is not what a coaching is. A coaching is a full 45 minute lesson with that other person involved in the entire lesson not stopping by. I was also informed I was not being billed for coachings by my instructor Zach Messenbrink.

Due to the above situations and them not being honored as purchased I have been verbally abused by the owner of the company and the director of the company. The first occurrence was when I requested a statement of my account since I started dance lessons. I requested this from my instructor on Monday January 5, 2009. On January 7th when I was to have 2 lessons I was at the center and asked for the printout. My instructor and the director both stated they would not provide, they would provide at another time. I stated I had requested this 2 days prior to being in for my lesson and stated I needed it then as it should have been ready. Finally after much discussion and dramatics on the part of the director I did receive this printout. When I started checking the printout I questioned why the 2 private lessons I had received on December 21, 2008 did not appear on the printout with the front desk person the director stomped in and stated "What do you want now!!". I then stated I was asking about the 12/21 prize and where it appearred on my statement, then while he was there I asked my instructor where my prize was from 1/4/09 which was 250.00 in private lessons and why it was not on my account yet. He stated we don't add those until Thursday (which would have been the next day) and then the director came back and said you have to come in before we add them; so there was conflicting information from two of the employees. Again the director was very angry that I was questioning my account, which I believe is my right since they do not give any ongoing summary of activities added or used.

Also on the 7th when I was scheduled for 2 lessons I received a Text message from my instructor stating he could not move another student for the first lesson; which was a surprise since there was no one in the lesson block when he wrote me in and he confirmed I was scheduled for 515 and 600 pm on that date. He stated he could only do the 600. When I showed up prior to the 600 lesson he was not teaching the other couple as he had stated in his Text message he was cleaning in the studio. He completely ignored that I was there, I put on my shoes and waited until 6 for my lesson to start. He still had no inclination that he was going to teach me a lesson, then the director came over and said we need to talk, what is your problem? I again stated the above and other issues I had and requested a meeting with the owner. He said no and was not interested in discussing anything only saying no. I told him the conversation was over and I wanted a meeting with the owner. From that point he stomped off into the executive offices. Finally he came back and that is when the other problems occurred in regard to the print out of my account.

So on this date I was lied to by my instructor, treated disrespectfully and like a criminal for wanting a printout of my account, and also told my lessons were now going to be cutback from 4 to 2 per week as I did not need 4 now.
The contract that I had paid for November 23, 2008 was written up as 4 lessons per week.

After this date, I wrote a certified letter to the owner of the company describing problems I had experienced, the cruise, and the competitions, and various other items that had transpired in the last month mainly but that had impacted the quality of the service since approximately July 2008. This did not sign for the letter until the 19th of January but it was sent on the 12th of January. They then scheduled a meeting on the 24th of January to meet with them. When I showed up they had the director with them. I stated the meeting was not going to take place as I had requested the meeting was with them not them and the director. After that meeting they agreed to review the cruise issue, would not refund the seminar that was cancelled, and would not reimburse the money for 2 meals for each competition (there were 4) as the contract they issued stated they would reimburse. In the meeting the CFO stated the language was old and it should have been removed long ago and yes it really did indicate they would reimburse two meals per competition and that those were not the meals within the competition fee as it was stated. They asked what if I would be willing to give them a chance again and continue my lessons. I stated I was basically done with the center and did not want to continue. Felt that I would not be given quality service as I had been used to prior to July 2008 and therefore did not want to continue my dancing and that I wanted my money back. In the end we agreed I would give them a chance and my instructor was to call me and arranged lessons the next day. The next day he called and I missed his call but in his message he did not indicate any lesson dates and/or times. I returned his messgage via a Text message letting him know I received his call and that I was unavailable for lessons on that day or that week but I would be available the next week. He responded via a text message but again did not provide any dates or times for lessons for the next week.

On January 18th, I left a voice message at the DC Center stating to cancel all lessons that were scheduled until further notice. The reason for this is I wanted a discussion with the owner(s) before I returned to the center and felt that my concerns were going to be dealt with.

As of this date (2/20) I still have not received any dates and times for lessons from him. Per the discussion with the owners he was to let me know when he could schedule lessons with me. I do not believe they have dealt with the situation and have not provided the schedule information as they stated would happen.

What I would like is a refund of the year dance contract in full as it appears they do not want to teach me lessons since the instructor has not scheduled or proposed a date time for lessons as they ownere stated he would. This has been the way he has handled dance lesson scheduling in the past. The amount of this contract was as follows:

Total package included:
238 private lessons
unliminted group classes and practice parties
Expo Team which includes: Interschool, Show Case and another dance exhibition in August/September time frame
6 Hobby Club dinners and 3 VIP dinners which all occurred in 2009.
3 competitions with dates not given only names.

Total Cost:
27,750
Discounted by the cost of the competitions:
10,750
for a balance of 17,000

None of these services have been provided as I have not had a lesson since Dec 26th, 2008 and my contract from the prior year did not expire until mid December 2008 and included the VIP dinner in December 2008. I actually had 80 lessons on the books as of 11/23/08, won 2 private lessons on 12/21/08 and won 4 private lessons on 1/4/09 ($250.00 worth of lessons). I had used 16 lessons on the competition triip to compensate the instructor for missing work on those dates and a some lessons during the month of December. I should have approximately 58 lessons still on the books from the contract I purchased in December 2007 in addition to the 238 purchased in November 2009. They have not fullfilled either the 2007 contract as I was to have 4 lessons per week but have not received this amount due to the Director cancelling my lessons to accomodate other students, my instructor cancelling my lessons after he confirmed they were scheduled and many other scheduling issues due to problems at the center. I do not believe they will provide the 238 lessons from the November 2008 contract as they automatically cut back my lessons on the 7th as the instructor stated I did not need 4 per week as he had planned out since I was not going to competitions--this is another part of the conflict I will discuss later--even though I had signed up for 4 per week and paid for them.

The situation with the competition occurred as I needed to know dates and was not given any so I started researching on my own via the Internet. I found the dates and costs associated with these competitions which they basically gave me for free for the entry fee and the lodging for myself and the instructor per the contract; however, the entry fees posted were approximately 110% less than what they were charging. I stated if they were going to charge 110% more than the competition organizer I was not going to attend which did not impact either myself or the instructor monetarily since I was given these for free. However, this became a much bigger issue for the instructor than I believed it should have. He has always stated that he and the center never made money on the competitions but he started discussing how if I paid the entry fee that the competition organizer posted I would have to give him $900 for the money he lost from the center(remember this was in the cost of the competition in my contract that I was given a discount on). How he made this much money for per diems that they were not going to give him, lessons that I would have to give him for the days off work (which is normal) and I would have to pay for the lodging for himself and me. With this I stated I was still not going to the competitions and that in addition to the fee issue they dates of the competitions they gave me conflicted with personal plans so I would not be attending anyway. On the 24th when I met wth the owners they stated if I was not attending the competitions then they would replace the value of the competitions from my account to private lessons on my account. I have not officially received this in writing from the owner as I have not been back to the center since the meeting on January 24th (a Saturday) when all dance instruction is not scheduled.

I feel this business is very good about taking the customer's money but not delivering the services that have been paid. The management treats the customers with disrespect more often than with respect and bad mouths prior customer's by name to existing customers. Instructors have left unprofessional messages on students voicemail. Employees within the organization as discussing confidential business with other dance instructors outside of the center and with existing students. Since this disagreement I have had many students inform me of what the instructors have told them about the situation and what they have been told by other students. I have had students state the fact that I sent a confidential, certified letter to the studio which they heard from an instructor outside of the studio.

Yet I am to believe they will provide quality service when in fact their employees showing displays of not providing quality service and not respecting the privacy of the customers. They claim to be the "Best" in the area however I would only say they are the best at collecting money and not providing the "Best" services. I have been denied a refund of all unused services by this company. I believe a refund of the unused services should be in order due to the service and the lack of privacy from their employees in regard to a conflict with management

Anonymous
Bellevue, Nebraska
U.S.A.