I am really disappointed in my experience with Creative Soul Music School. We originally signed up because of a teacher we loved, but that teacher quit unexpectedly during the season. After that happened, there were no other lesson times that worked for us with a teacher we preferred, so I reached out to cancel. I used their Contact Us form on the website and also called to cancel, but I never received a response. A couple of months later, they contacted me saying they had not received payment. I explained that I had already sent a message requesting cancellation months earlier. They told me their policy is that cancellation only becomes effective thirty days after they send a cancellation form, but they never sent one. They even acknowledged that they do not regularly check their emails and said I should have come in person to cancel. I do not understand why I am being penalized when they were the ones who were unresponsive. I followed the process that was available to me at the time. For them to refuse to honor the date I originally contacted them feels unfair and comes across as a way to keep charging customers longer. Their pricing is also very high for what you actually receive. We have since switched to a private tutor who charges half the price, is more flexible, and also offers recitals. There are clearly better options out there. Based on my experience, I would not recommend Creative Soul. The communication, policies, and customer service were very frustrating. read more

This is a badly-run little music "school" where an aging, paunchy, past middle-prime hippie-type named Joshua sits at the front desk doing nothing except getting you to sign up. Then he gets your credit card information so that they can charge you for as long as they want to. Getting signed up to TAKE lessons there is easy, My story is about trying to STOP taking lessons there. When I signed up Joshua had told me about the 30 -days notice but NEVER said WRITTEN 30 days notice and NEVER said that in addition you had to fill out THEIR FORM which you also have to get from them! So I took three lessons and decided to quit due to numerous problems with scheduling and teacher no-shows. I gave Joshua 30 days notice IN PERSON but was made to pay for a whole other month after that because of a technicality. I didn't think it was quite fair but OK, I'll pay for another month if that's the rule. THEN Joshua said that because I had cancelled a week into another month I had to pay for that month too. This was ridiculous but just paying THIS $159 was easier than fighting with them and AGAIN, I confirmed with Joshua that I had quit and told him specifically that therefore I did NOT authorize any further charges on my credit card after this one. He said nothing about any form or other notice or whatever. SUMMARY: When I received notice of this last $159 charge I thought it must just be a mistake but no. I school says they haven't received THEIR FORM back. WHAT FORM??? So I have now been charged $159 each month for FOUR months of lessons...(or 4 weekly lessons for four months) which would equal 16 lessons. SIXTEEN lessons! I've ONLY HAD THREE. So let's see, each lesson cost me $200. A little high to pay for some teenager or 20-something to teach. It's basically at this point that whether there's a signed form or not or whether they told me about it is really not the issue anymore. I mean, do you really want to do business with someone who thinks it's OK to charge you that much money for nothing based on mis-communication or instead of working with you or contacting you or doing SOMETHING to work it out instead of just smiling at you standing firm and not budging and taking your money no matter what the reason. I don't. I question their business intelligence. Is it really worth $159 to piss off a client so badly that they write reviews like this? It seems it would be more valuable to STOP charging the client $159 and save the expense of hurting their reputation. Makes you wonder either how smart they are, how hurting for money they are or who is actually running the ship over there. Hello???....Samantha and Casey Thomas??? Are you there??? Surely this is not how YOU BOTH want your business run so I'm going to assume you don't know how your business is being run in Watauga. read more

Horrible experience with the Colleyville location management. My son's teacher quit this location and so the school offered other locations, days and times that would not work for us. When we demanded a refund we were told no that we needed to submit a 30 day written notice and could finish the 30 days out if we wished. I did that and then was told that there would now be a teacher available at this location same day, same time. Great! We go to the lesson and there was no teacher scheduled. I asked for a name of the person I had been communicating with and was told they cannot give out names. I didn't realize I was dealing with such a highly classified organization! I message the person I was communicating with and they told me I put my last day as 2/10 even after I got confirmation that the last day would be 3/13 via text and email. Nice way to CYA! All they care about is money and not the experience of my child. My child has severe ADHD and has finally found something he is interested in only to be disappointed. Shame on you Creative Soul. read more

They will absolutely steal your money if you don't fully understand their cancellation policy. I ran into a situation where I didn't have time for lessons after I signed up. I called, got no answer, but left a voicemail indicating I needed to cancel. It slipped my mind until I saw the charge hit my bank account. I called to ask for at least a partial refund as I was willing to take part of the blame. Not them. They politely told me to pound sand because muH policy. That's no way to run a business but it's how they run theirs. Their conscience apparently allows them to steal money from you over policy. Stay very far away from these thieves. They'll sell their souls for a few hundred bucks. This is the first time I've ever left a negative review online. That tells you a lot about my experience with these thieves. read more

Front desk cannot offer any help with issues we've had with zoom links not connecting. I lose money every holiday or snow day that they close down bc fees are not prorated and the only make up option plus on Saturday (which does not work for us). The scheduling system is ridiculous in that switching time slots one time (a Dr appointment for example), you lose your time slot for the duration of your membership and have to find a new time to take the class. The bright side are the instructors. They're super nice people, they're patient and knowledgeable. The company itself is greedy and poorly run. read more

Do not recommend for group classes. We participated for 1 year at Creative Music School in the Little Soul Rockers class. While it was a good social experience for 4-6yo based on music, no curriculum was followed to build skills, and teachers didn't follow their "musical ladder system." I anticiapte this gap in education was due to churn. During that time, we had 4 different teachers, some for only a few weeks. Also, due to the churn, the kids were also unable to participate in the concerts advertised as part of the program. Communication regarding teacher absences or changes was non-existent, leaving students and parents questioning if the substitute was temporary or permanent. As a 25+year musician and parent, I was extremely dissatisfied with the level of communication and educational value offered by this location & program. While feedback had been shared in the past, unfortunately, they waited to send a formal feedback survey during the cancelation process and acknowledge the significant gaps. read more

I've been enjoying how Creative Soul inspires children and adults to learn music. An excellent group of people works here, and they're all wonderful with children. They have a knack for boosting the self-esteem and abilities of little children. I think this is a great venue to take classes for both children and adults. We need more people like this in the classrooms of the world's future! read more

Creative Soul Music School - Musical Instruments & Teachers Near Me - Watauga, Texas

I initially called to ask about trying to get advice and assistance about which instrument would be the best fit for my son. I was told that I should enroll my son into their week long music camp. During 3 hours each day, the children were supposed to be taught the fundamentals of basic music, and to be given exposure to an array of instruments. I was told that this would help to narrow down which path I should pursue. Monday- No instruments used. Tuesday- No instruments used. Wednesday- My son shook a maraka and played with a xylophone for 2 minutes. Thursday- My son was able to pick up a guitar and play with drums for 10 minutes, only after I had voiced my frustration of no music being taught. Friday- The children were supposed to use what they had learned over the week to perform for the parents... Instead the leader turned on a movie for the children to watch. Do not waste your time or hard earned money at this pitiful excuse for a music school. read more

This company just wants your money. They want a 30 day notice before they stop billing you but you can't find the notice on their website. They said it on the website. We also left several voicemails and several emails. They are very hard to get hold of but they take your money as fast as they can when they know you are trying to give notice. They are not honest people. I would not recommend. read more

We had an absolutely horrible experience at Creative Soul. We signed up for the Lil' Soul Music Class for our 3 year old. After starting almost 15 minutes late, the instructor finally began the class. There were nine kids in total and it was complete chaos. The teacher had little to no control of the students. She spoke so quietly you could barely hear her. My child had no idea what to do half the time. There was practically NO TEACHING going on. On four separate occasions one of the children fell down pretty hard on the cement floor. Kids were yelling and running around the room out of control. This isn't the kind of behavior I want my child to learn. We ended up leaving early to find out they will not be refunding our money. We paid the annual fee and for the class in advance. They will be keeping our money for a service that was not sufficiently provided. It was a terrible experience. read more

Please read, THIS IS NOT A SPAM I am very disappointed by the lack of commitment in their words. They are holding me responsible for their own faults and will not refund me the amount of $600 they over charged me. They priced quoted me for an amount, but I was charged more than quoted (They even accept the fact that they misquoted) plus they did not complied with time stipulated on contract for each lessons. Even though they knew about my claim, they never put a stop on my payments and continued charging my card every month while I was waiting for owners to get back in touch with me to solve the situation, something that never happened. I called many times cause I was avoiding to get this far but the only solution they offered me was free lessons, which I did not accepted (and of course if you think about it, it was not free cause they already took the money from my card) Now I'm requesting the reimbursement of each single dollar they overcharged me and finally Casey contacted me back by email saying that they will NOT REFUND me the money back. COMPLETELY UNFAIR & IRRESPONSIBLE ON THEIR PART!!! I am a single mother who takes care of her children completely on her own and I don't have $600 to give away just because. I am determined to go to court if necessary. I only wanted for my kids to learn how to play piano and become good at it. Instead I end up having an awful experience from people that don't want to be responsible for their mistakes. And hey, I know we all make mistakes, that's not even the issue here. But if you know you are wrong, due your part, be responsible and fix it. read more

This company charged for private lessons during pandemic and will not let you have those private lessons. I find it very disappointing that they just want to collect money and not offer the service that was paid for. I do not recommend this place. read more

Wow. I don't even know where to start. I bought my son a guitar for Christmas, and decided to sign him up for lessons. Although I've been playing for 25 years, sometimes kids receive education from someone else better than their own parent. I remembered Creative Soul because the marketing firm I used to work for did some work for them, so I decided to give them a try. We took a tour of the Watauga facility and that alone should raised red flags. The facility itself is pretty run down & many of their on-hand instruments are broken and look to have been that way for quite some time. But my son was excited so I chose to lean into the whole "never judge a book by it's cover" rule, and we signed up. Our first lesson was not anything what I expected. After closing the door (which he had to prop his backpack against to keep closed), our instructor started right in having my son start learning to play things without even an introduction to his instrument. I made it very clear that he had never even picked up a guitar before, and still the instructor never introduced anything to him. Parts of the guitar, string names, nothing. After the lesson, the instructor sent him on his way without any type of paper or even recommendations for any literature to help my 8yr old kid understand/remember the things he learned in order to practice. To the point that after the lesson, my son said "Do you remember any of that? because I don't." He also said, "That guy kept say the word 'fret' - what is that?" We just finished our 7th (and last) lesson. Nothing has ever been sent home with my kid - he has just been expected to memorize everything he's learned in class and then practice it at home. I am not a control freak, so I've just let the instructor do what he does to see if there's any fruit to his style of instructing. Had it not been for my knowledge of the instrument, my kiddo would be completely lost right now. We have to print chord charts here at the house and write down things so that he can actually practice. The crème de la crème for me was what followed next. We recently went through some terrible medical issues that are causing us to completely re-shift all of our finances. My goal was to remove my son from guitar lessons for a brief time to give us time to recoup financially, and then return after a few months. I put in the hold notice 10 days shy of the 30 day notice required, and wrote a heartfelt email explaining our situation, asking if we could forgo any charges at the beginning of the month due to the immediate nature of what we were facing. I emailed the owner Casey directly as well as the general email. No one responded. I then asked the attendant at the front desk (Nolan) who told me she would have to get with the owners. The following week , she proceeded to tell me that the owners couldn't waive the entire $75 tuition, but could reduce that to $37.50 since there had been a bad weather day in February the previous week - that would make it balance out. I told her that would strain us, but I would try to make it work. March 1 came, and they tried pulling the full $75 several times. Luckily (unluckily) because of our dire situation with finances, there wasn't enough in the bank to cover the $75 and failed. I tried calling to no avail, so I texted their main account number. I was told by Casey's wife that they had no clue what I was talking about. The best they could do is break up the $75 into (2) payments of $37.50 so that when my son returns to lessons, he would be in good standing. I spoke with Nolan later that day and asked what was going on, and she assured me she was looking into it and even confirmed what she had said before - that I only owed $37.50. I paid the $37.50 on a credit card, and no sooner than I had made it home, an additional $37.50 was deducted via my debit card. After several hoops, I got that refunded. I woke up this morning to an additional charge, plus a reversal. Honestly, had they told me "No, you will still owe the full $75" in the first place, I would have just found a way to pay it and moved on. But I'm big on people/companies following through with their word which is the main reason I was so upset by all of this. The bigger part for me is also that $75 means more to them than the people behind it. I realize they don't owe me anything, but with everything we're going through with our medical situations on this end, some mercy and grace would have been nice. Had I have been cancelling for a typical reason, I would understand being strict about the full 30 day notice. But it's not like I planned on getting sick, and there's not much I can do about it. An opposite version of this story: After we told Reveal Martial Arts we would need to pause our membership through June, their response was that they cared about our family & want to sponsor us through June. It's not hard to care about people. We won't be back to Creative Soul or recommend it to anyone. read more

These guys are like family. I have personally taken lessons as well as my daughter, would highly recommend. They have a wonderful ability to bring people together and have provided excellent communication throughout the covid experience. I appreciate you guys very much. We attend the watagua location and love working with allen. read more

First of all this is not a fake or spam review this happend to a friend, they dont comitte to the arranged prices and they continue charging your credit card even if you tell them you dont want to continue with they service they charged a friend over 600 dollars and dont want to return it not even after talking to the people in charge read more

My daughter signed up for voice lessons the first lesson was amazing and my daughter was given one song to learn. The next lesson my daughter showed up and was given a different person and different song to learn. She talked way too fast and was more interested in telling my daughter she needed to watch the sound of music than teaching her voice. Was told her 1st voice coach was sick. 3rd lesson and I received a call 12 minutes prior to her scheduled time, telling me my daughters voice teacher was sick and there was no fill in. 4th week I call to make sure her voice teacher is going to be there and that her lesson was still on. Was told her voice teacher was in a production and would not be back until Jan. Was told they had a fill in who would work on original song. Took my daughter and she was given a 3rd song to work on. I stopped payment on monthly billing was harassed by text, and email for payment. When I explained that I stopped it because they were not providing the service I was paying for. Was told I could pay it and continue with fill in or I could never come back to school again. School never took responsibility for outright lying to us and was the worst experience for my child. I do not recommend this business! Buyer beware!! They lie and have a bad business. The owner contacted me and told me that I had to continue to pay regardless of the service or we were never welcomed back to there. We won't be back!! read more

We began private lessons for guitar and drums in June and stopped at the end of September. We attended 1 summer camp and registered for another camp that was cancelled. The camp was quite good and very fun. The private lesson instructor was friendly, engaging, and decent with music knowledge. A few positives attracted us to Creative Soul originally when we began to look for music lessons during our move to Fort Worth from East Texas. The opportunity to form bands and perform around the local community, the good equipment, and the school environment were pros. What we did not like is the automatic billing on your credit card for the month. They close all holidays and if your lesson falls on a holiday you will still be billed for the lesson even though they are closed for example Monday Labor Day, etc. They did explain to me in a follow up phone call, after we gave notice to quit lessons, that they bill a flat monthly rate for 4 lessons per month. So if there is a month with 5 weeks in it then you "get a free week" and if there is a month with a holiday on your lesson day then you pay for the lesson and it all "balances out" through-out the year. For missed lessons they will allow you to attend a "make-up lesson" on Saturdays during a 2 hr time window. We cannot do weekends for make-up lessons. During the follow up phone call they said they also offer a Thursday make-up lesson opportunity. But this option was not communicated to us until the follow-up phone call after we gave notice to quit. Unfortunately, these are group lessons even though you are billed for private lessons. You are also required to give 30 days notice to quit before you can stop being billed for the entire month of lessons. Much of this was not explained to us until after we decided to find a more personalized music lesson option and gave notice to quit. So communication during our experience with this music school was poor. I feel much of this should have been explained when we signed up and we still have no idea what "the ladder system" is or recital schedules etc. I had a very negative opinion of the whole experience of Creative Soul except for the summer camps until the follow-up phone call. The follow up phone call was the one bright spot in a bad experience and improved my opinion of the company. The gentleman who called was friendly, patient, and did his best to clear up questions. Until that phone call I would not have even considered going back to Creative Soul but that small bit of good communication and customer service makes me at least consider it as a option for some of the camps they offer. I still do not agree with the billing policy and the need for 30 days notice to quit but I did appreciate the more thorough explanation and follow-up phone call which demonstrated some effort to improve customer service. read more

Worst place ever!! Very dishonest people. Teachers quit or didn't show up for lessons and they still expect me to pay for that!! They charge your card in advance for lessons. When I said we were just done due to inconsistency they had the nerve to attempt to charge my card for 2 months in Advance. Will not return calls or emails. Very dishonest business. Stay away!!! read more

If you are looking to delve into music for you or your child, take a good look at Creative Soul. The staff is caring, professional, patient and talented. My child isn't always easy to teach, but he is receiving great instruction that is helping to foster his love of music. He takes private lessons and also plays in a band with other beginners, so he is also learning to perform. read more