Facility - 4/5
Teacher - 4/5…read more
Policy - 1/5
Bad experience we got - 0/5
So we've been a customer for more than 3 years, maybe more. My 2 girls take private piano lessons here.
Bad experience
My kid's teacher was off, and we were given a sub teacher. This guy called Juan, wasn't patient with my girl and made her cry. Then after she cried, he just sat back and played with his phone. I DID NOT pay $40/ session just to have my kid cry and the teacher playing with cellphone. The owner Melody Ouyang was on vacation. The business manager apologized, but I never heard from the owner about the horrible experience. All they did was, to schedule another makeup class for my kid. But it was a terrible experience for my kid.
Policy
They have this ridiculous withdrawal policy, which is they charge $50/child when we want to withdraw kids from the school during Sept-July. No other schools has withdrawal charge like this.
So on June 2, 2018 I was surprised to get a bill that charged me $164/kid for June tuition and another $189/kid for September tuition. Well, they said there's a $25/kid enrollment fee for 2018-2019 year and that I must pay Sept tuition to hold my kids' spots for 2018-2019.
I said I'd like to withdraw my kids due to the bad experience we got (see above) and the business mgr said no refund for the amount we've already paid (September tuition) and when I pressed to move the Sept tuition to cover July, so I don't have to pay for July tuition, she kept saying she needed to get Melody Ouyang's permission (which Ouyang was gone on vacation for a long time, more than 2-3 weeks).
I can't pull my kids in June/July, because they require a 30-day notice prior to 1st of each month.
Long story short, I don't want Ouyang to come back and deny my request to move September tuition to cover July. If she declines in late June, then we must cram 9 lessons into 3 weeks. In July, they only have 3 weeks of lessons (due to Independence Day week). So before Ouyang comes back from vacation, I requested to just pay July tuition and cram 9 lessons into 5 weeks time. July lessons: 3 lessons plus September lessons 4, plus make up classes.
They acted like they were giving me a favor and didn't charge me $50 withdrawal fee/kid (which I was told, that $50 fee is if I pull my kids during the school year). But I finished 2017-2018 year, from September 2017 to July 2018, so actually, there was no reason to charge me $50 withdrawal fee/kid in the first place.
I am just appalled and disappointed after having been a loyal customer more than 3 years, to be treated like this. Never heard back from owner (Ouyang) personally. I sent her an email about the horrible experience and never heard back from her. I put my kids into the school because she's a Juilliard grad, but my kids were never once under her tutelage - understand Ouyang is very busy. So the fact that Ouyang is a Juiliard grad, doesn't help my kids' piano skills at all.