My family has been taking karate at the David Deaton Karate Studio in Brentwood for a little over 4 years. For at least 3 of those years we were paying tuition for 3 students who were all in the Black Belt Club and by my calculations we have paid somewhere in the neighborhood of $15,500 over those years; so, we were very good customers. My son started as a Little Dragon when he was just under 5 years old and has been taking lessons for 4 years. He is a black belt candidate with over 300 classes and has participated in the required 4 tournaments. Other students meeting these criteria got approval to test for their black belts, which is done twice per year. My son was denied approval by Mr. Deaton to test for his black belt because the requirement is that you have to be 9 years old and the test was being given 13 days before his ninth birthday. It seemed like a technicality to me; but since my son really wanted to earn his black belt and he was so close, we settled in for 6 more months of classes and tuition so he could test in the Fall. The other black belt candidate students started the black belt review classes. On May 1st we received a letter in the mail stating that the Brentwood dojo would be closing at the end of the month. I called and spoke to the receptionist in Hendersonville and asked if my son could go ahead and test now given the extenuating circumstances. We would never be able to complete the last few months of classes to test in the Fall because the other two locations are 45 minutes from our home and it is not feasible to make a 1 1/2 hour drive for a one hour class twice per week. She spoke to Mr. Deaton and called me back and said he could take the test but it was only 3 days away and my son had not been participating in the black belt review class like the other students. We began practicing that night and I kept him out of school the next day to practice and attend 3 karate classes in order to prepare for the test on such short notice. While at the dojo practicing, one of the instructors pulled me aside and said there had been a miscommunication and that Mr. Deaton said my son could NOT test. So after all of this time and money spent to earn a black belt my son was denied the opportunity to even test. It was heartbreaking to tell him that even though he had spent 4 of his 9 years working toward this, that he would never earn his black belt in karate. In addition, we were always told that you never lose the classes that you pay for as long as you remain active. We have paid for many classes for my son and myself that we will now never be able to use. This is completely shameful and unacceptable treatment of good, long term customers. Don't assume that because this studio has been around for over 40 years that your investment is safe. Mr. Deaton is nearing retirement and his decisions reflect declining interest in the good reputation of his business and poor business acumen. read more
