My son was interested in jiu-jitsu, so we went to Brazilian Fight Factory (BFF) and signed him up for what was explained to me as a six-month series of classes. Unfortunately, what followed was a frustrating experience involving billing issues, poor communication, and a complete lack of consideration for the customer.
During the first month, I was charged an additional $238 outside of what I understood to be the contract. I complained, and the money was ultimately returned to me through Venmo. Looking back, that should have been my first red flag.
My son initially enjoyed the classes, but he was one of the only older kids in his class. I would not recommend this gym for children over 8 and under 14 based on our experience with the age mix and instruction. He also became increasingly uncomfortable with being regularly paired with girls. Jiu-jitsu necessarily involves close physical contact and being in another person's personal space, and this became a genuine concern for my son.
I raised this concern directly with BFF's administrative representative, Ani, as well as the coach. I was told that my son was not yet big enough for the general class. I communicated to both of them that we intended to stop attending because the program was no longer comfortable or appropriate for him.
I was perfectly willing to honor what I understood to be the six-month agreement. In fact, I accepted paying the sixth month even though my son attended zero classes during that month. I did not ask for a refund or an exception. I believed in honoring an agreement in good faith, and BFF therefore received $238 for a month in which it provided no services to my son because the gym could not comfortably accommodate him.
Then I discovered the billing had continued.
When I reviewed my credit card statement, I found that I had been charged for three additional months, totaling another $714, despite my having already had two conversations with the administrative representative about ceasing classes. At no point during those conversations was I told that I needed to submit a separate written cancellation request in order to prevent continued billing.
When I escalated the issue to the owner, rather than taking responsibility for the failure of his employees to clearly communicate the cancellation procedure, he was adamant about enforcing what I consider a grossly disproportionate financial burden on the customer--leaving me out over $900 for services my son did not receive.
What is particularly troubling is that the owner chose to hide behind a contract and cancellation procedure that I was not furnished a copy of, rather than recognizing that I had clearly communicated my intention to discontinue the classes to two employees and had already willingly paid for a month of unused services in good faith.
My experience with BFF has left me with serious concerns about its billing practices, customer communication, and the way management treats customers when there is a dispute.
If you choose to do business with Brazilian Fight Factory, I strongly recommend reviewing every charge on your credit card and getting every cancellation instruction in writing. Do not assume that telling their staff you are discontinuing classes is sufficient. Get confirmation of the cancellation procedure and documentation of the cancellation. read more