Please note, this rating is not based upon the quality of the teaching or the activities themselves, which are excellent, but rather upon my interactions with some of the staff:
When I scheduled my trial t'ai chi session, the lady I spoke with seemed to understand my request because she repeated it back to me over the phone. However, as I later discovered, this was not the case. Upon arrival, I was ushered into a tiny, private room, which I thought was rather odd, since t'ai chi typically requires more space. Instead, I was given a private session consisting of stretching & breathing exercises. At first, I thought this might be a precursor to the t'ai chi lesson itself, so I didn't say anything. However, when I realized that it wasn't, I said as much to the instructor. Strangely, she didn't acknowledge what I'd said & just kept going with the lesson. I thought that maybe she hadn't heard me for some reason, so I reiterated my point. She never gave me an adequate explanation as to why we were doing something else. That irked me. I'd already paid for the trial lesson (it was $10 after using a 50% off Yelp coupon), so I just finished out the class.
I will say this, even though it didn't turn out to be what I'd initially expected, the lesson itself was great, & I felt very relaxed afterwards.
Then, she proceeded to show me their rates & asked which plan I'd be signing up for. Um, I'd just told her multiple times that I'd come there expressly for t'ai chi, so how am I supposed to make up my mind if she didn't teach it to me?! I looked at her rather incredulously & said the aforementioned, albeit in a much more tactful way.
Not only did she clearly not listen to anything I'd said nor appear to care about or understand my requests/needs as a customer, but she was excessively pushy in trying to get me to sign up. When salespeople get pushy, I push right back & then push my way out the door. ;) I almost never make financially significant decisions on the spot. I need time to mull over my options. Some gyms/centers think they can steamroller people into signing up, but that tactic won't ever work on me. I was open-minded about the possibility of signing up there, that is, until she started to push, & then I started to sour on the idea.
In hindsight, I probably should've just cut my losses, but at that point, hadn't yet tried t'ai chi at other places in the area & was still researching my options. I couldn't seem to find many conveniently located t'ai chi centers, so I signed up for another trial class there, just in case it turned out to be my only other option. This time, she asked me to pay $20 up front, since I could only use the Yelp coupon once. Had she given me what I'd initially asked for, I wouldn't have had to pay again for another lesson, this time at double the cost. That irked me as well. I have no idea why they call it a "trial" class since they charge the same exact amount for a regular, individually priced class. There's clearly no difference. Ridiculous.
It wasn't until AFTER I paid the fee that she told me that their class WASN'T actually traditional t'ai chi but rather a combination of different things. Great, NOW she tells me. My gut instinct was to ask for a refund, but because I didn't have a backup place at the time, I decided to go ahead with the lesson.
After researching martial arts instruction, I found out that the standard practice of any place worth their salt is NOT to charge for trial lessons & to also allow you to take a bunch of free classes before you decide to plunk down your cash. Of course, I didn't find this out until after I'd already sunk $30 into two lessons, which irked me even more.
I then signed up for trial martial arts lessons at some other places, & noticed that ALL of them let me take at least a week of free trial lessons. In fact, one particular place let me take a WHOLE MONTH of free classes, & big surprise, guess where I ended up?! Not only were the master, instructors, & students all warm & welcoming, but they were confident enough about what they had to offer that there was no need to push or nickel & dime prospective students; they simply demonstrated their excellence by letting potential students fully experience how good they actually were... for a whole month! That's the mark of a place with confidence & integrity.
I then knew what I needed to do: I canceled my trial t'ai chi session at Dahn Yoga & got a refund. I realize that t'ai chi isn't Dahn Yoga's main focus, but regardless, my experience with their staff left me feeling like I'd been intentionally misled & ripped off. They should've kept to their word and not charged me for the next lesson, given that the mix-up that was clearly not my fault. That's just good business etiquette for ensuring repeat business. Plus, it's a bad sign when a business fails to make good on an original arrangement & instead persists with something you clearly don't want. It felt like a deliberate bait-&-switch. read more
