Full Time Instructors

[Jiffy]

I too would like to know your reasoning.

[Zorbasan]

i think billing companies might want a year long contract per student for the billing, plus they are obviously going to charge for it so either your rates go up or you wear the cost.

the main issue for me would be the contract. getting people to sign a year long contract for something like this is going to turn people away. people arent going to know after 1 or 2 free classes if its want they want enuf to sign a 12 month training contract. plus if they read this forum they will get the notion that 12 month contract = McDojo

[AngelaG]

Well as it's not my own story I can't go into to much detail, but someone I know got messed over very badly by a billing/marketing company.

They didn't turn up when they said they would, they were careless with the students' private information, they ended up costing more money then they brought in/saved.

Apart from that, they try and get a substantial money up front (up to 2 years in some cases). If the student decides to leave before then it's up to the billing company whether the student gets their money back or not. If they don't get their money back this will breed bad feeling and it will be your dojo/dojang that will get the bad name as money grabbing conmen.

I just don't think it's that hard to keep track of payments, especially if you get the students to set up something like standing orders.

[Akaratechick]

AngelaG

Out of curiosity how many students do you have or did the person have who had the bad experience. It sounds as though the experience was due more to bad character than billing companies being bad.

[bushido_man96]

Contracts are not a bad thing, if they are used properly. There should be options for signing 3, 6 or 12 month terms. Usually, a beginner can sign up for 3 months without any reservations. The year long contracts will usually be picked up by those who are already full members, and have been for some time, and know they will continue to do it.

There are people who have bad experiences out there, and this happens with everything in life. If we never went to another restaurant because of the service we got at one, we would have trouble finding places to eat on dates!

[parkerlineage]

We do 1 month and 6 month contracts at my sensei's dojo.

I'm not sure what I'll do in mine - probably, while I'm at college, I'll do it for free anyway; college students have no money, from what I hear.

[AngelaG]

I keep track of students' payments personally. It's not that hard, it gives the personal touch, and we let them know from the start that if they don't pay they will not be allowed to train. We give them a few weeks grace, and if people discuss problems with us we might be able to compromise. This kind of give and take is lost with billing companies.

[bushido_man96]

We do 1 month and 6 month contracts at my sensei's dojo.

I'm not sure what I'll do in mine - probably, while I'm at college, I'll do it for free anyway; college students have no money, from what I hear.

I'm not in college, and I still don't have money!

Where you going to school....I may have to relocate.

[Jiffy]

haha