Great Expectations Abusive staff, dishonest, cruel and failure to provide sevice-RIPOFF Los Angeles California

CO NOT JOIN GREAT EXPECTATIONS!

I am very displeased to say that I have just been verbally abused by staff for a service called ?Great Expectations.? I have just signed up for the extremely expensive service, and I have been treated astonishingly poorly and even abused by more than one of the staff at the Los Angeles location at 1640 S. Sepulveda Blvd. suite 100, including by the director of the facility.

Although the three day cancellation period has passed, I formally requested to be reimbursed for monies already paid and released from my contract with Great Expectations because of their abusive actions. They have denied me the request, and I ask the Better Business Bureau to assist me in reconciling this issue.

On August 16th 2006, I came to the Great Expectations Los Angeles location to have my pictures and video taken. The video set-up was problematic for the staff, and could not get it working. So, I was asked to have my pictures taken instead while the video situation was corrected. The photographer, Stan, was immediately and incredibly rude to me. He started by telling me to reschedule my photo session, because he said, ?this is a dating service, and you need to look nice.? First of all, I did look ?nice? and was wearing my outfit of choice. He would later claim he was giving me advice. The way he gave me ?advice? was far from friendly and was very condescending. I asked him to please take the pictures anyway, and to please treat me with respect. He responded, ?With respect?? And I said, ?Yes, you are being disrespectful and rude.?

?Jesus, I hate people.? Stan said.

After this unexpected verbal abuse, I left the photography room appalled. I asked one of the staff to use a different photographer, as I could not tolerate such abusive treatment from Stan. The receptionist, Trevor, who admitted he had never taken pictures before, stepped in and took my pictures.

After this, the video problem had not been reconciled, and I never had my video taken. I asked to speak with the director of the center with regards to the photographer's verbal abuse towards me. I was sure that the problem with the photographer could be worked out with the facility's director. Sadly, it was not.

The director of the center, who said her name was Alyse Feldberg (spelling?), agreed to speak with me. I told her what had happened, and she said ?I'm sorry? and called the incident embarrassing. But she never apologized specifically for Stan's behavior, and instead proceeded to forgive Stan's actions by telling explaining how stressed he's been lately. I then asked for an apology from Stan.

Flustered and hesitantly, Stan came back to speak with me with the director present. He did not apologize for his actions. Instead, he said, They want me to apologize, so I am going to say I apologize,? and turned his eyes away. He then proceeded to make excuses for his attitude and comments. I asked him for a direct apology, and he said, ?You may not be satisfied, but that's the best you're going to get out of me.? I was very disappointed.

The director then did her best to change the subject and not address the need for accountability for the abusive language. Stan the photographer refused to genuinely and directly apologize for his actions, and the director never demanded a direct apology from Stan. She herself only apologized only for the situation being ?embarrassing? and danced around the issue of a customer being treated absolutely inexcusably and harmfully.

It is indeed inexcusable what I went through. How can this happen with a legitimate company who presents itself as caring about people? Is verbal abuse acceptable? Where is the accountability?

A few hours later, I called the director and asked to be released from my contract and to be reimbursed because of what I went through earlier. The truth is, all I desired was to be treated kindly and respectfully. My phone call was the second chance for the director to treat me as such. But to my great surprise, despite my polite demeanor, the director had now completely changed her tune from pseudo-apologetic in person to vicious, nasty and threatening over the phone. Though I calmly and sincerely asked to be released from my contract due to the whole experience being tainted with negativity, she outright refused, then without provocation of any kind, dared me to take legal action. I calmly told her that I understood the contract, and that I still wanted to be released because I was treated so unspeakably horribly by Great Expectations.

Where in the contract does it say Great Expectations may abuse its customers?

Despite my calm manners and sincere request, the director only responded by further taunting me to ?find a lawyer,? and that ?you don't have a chance? and that ?no judge in the world would side with you.? It is very important to note that these taunts from the director were absolutely unprovoked, that I was calm throughout the conversation while being yelled at by the location's director, and that I never once mentioned taking any legal action whatsoever. I only asked to be reimbursed for monies paid and released from my contract on moral grounds, not legal ones.

If I'm stuck in the contract, how could I possibly use the ?service? now? Instead of service I was verbally abused. How will it be OK for me to even go to Great Expectations after the director herself was so unprofessional, hateful and disrespectful? The only way things can be made right is by Great Expectations releasing me from my contract. Clearly, Great Expectations does not care about me, to such a drastic extent that they are abusive towards me.

There is no way, after even the director of the center was so inhumane towards me and unapologetic for the abuses I've suffered, that I can be a customer of Great Expectations.

Great Expectations did not provide me with service, only verbal abuse. They never even took my video. I've received ill treatment, verbal nastiness and taunts from even the highest ranking person at the Los Angeles Great Expectations. This is cruel, abusive and unacceptable.

I highly recommend Great Expectations be boycotted.

Tommy
Los Angeles, California
U.S.A.

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