festivalman

Yeah. I could rant on for a while here, but I'd just end up all stressed out. Tiger Schulmann's karate is potentially a good school. The problem is that they have 1 thing in mind over all else. Getting as much money from their students in as short a period of time, and not allowing any refunds etc if you don't cancel within the first 30 days. The beginner class is a scam. You sign up for 100 lessons for around 1300 bucks. These are beginner only. Each beginner class is EXACTLY the same class, every class. jumping jacks, toe touches, jab punch, cross punch, jab-cross-hook combinations, kicking of 3 different types on pads, self defense move how to get out of a choke and wrist grab, and that's it. EXACTLY the same class for all 100 classes. You could get the same thing from a 20 dollar tae-bo tape. After about 30-50 classes into this, they'll approach you and offer you the multi-thousand dollar plan for 250 more classes, even though you have 70-50 classes left on beginner. You're stuck taking this tae-bo like class unless you submit to this crazy sales tactic. There is no advancement beyond absolute bottom of the barrel karate unless you commit (with no refunds possible) to 3 years, and about 4 grand worth of lessons. On top of that, they make you pay at least 230 a month until you're finished, with no other low payment options available. They want this so they can get as much of your money as possible before you try and quit. Apparently the new york district attorney won a case against them. It was centered around franchise fees which I won't debate here, but he tacked the following onto the bottom, and it's absolutely true. Tiger schulmanns eventually appealed and won the franchise thing, but the part about the lessons still stands totally true to this day and should be illegal. Spitzer also found that the school engaged in "bait and switch" sales tactics to entice consumers into signing up for karate classes. Students paid an initial fee of $1,500 for 150 classes. However, high pressure sales tactics were used to induce students who had not completed the 150 classes to sign a second contract for intermediate classes, which cost $3,525 for 250 sessions. Refunds were not given for unused classes and students could not advance to the next level of instruction without signing the more expensive contract. Thus, students were being charged $5,000 for 400 classes.