I had several beginner lessons for adult with Ms. Chang last year. I first signed up for the monthly package with her to save on the tuition but due to my schedule, I had to reschedule a couple of times and she told me the monthly package was just for people who could come in regularly and that I needed to switch to one by one lesson, when I could make it. I agreed and that was my understanding. A couple weeks after that, I was busy and could not take the lesson previously scheduled with her, so I cancelled and did not contacted her again to schedule any further lesson. Neither did she contact me again even though I had given her the check for the whole package amount and if deducting the one by one lesson rate, she might still owe me money.
About her teaching, I did not learn much, and I concur with another parent who gave review here that she just gave me practices then asked me to play during the lesson, without a lot of instructions and it was overwhelming for a beginner like me. I hesitated to give negative rating before because I thought maybe I didn't have enough time for her style to work.
Fast forward to now, I contacted her again and our conversation was immediately heated. She blamed me for not following the policy of giving 2 weeks notice, I told her it was her who asked me to switch to the one by one lesson. If I don't contact her to schedule the next one, it means there is no next one. I asked her if she saw that I just "disappeared", wouldn't it be the norm as a teacher and in a business relationship for her to follow up, shoot me an email saying "Hello, I haven't heard from you, what's up?", especially when she had my prepayment check. Her answer is: "why do I need to do that, I have a lot of students..."
Bottom line is, she didn't follow the norms either and she did not care, but she blamed me! Not professional much and not an effective teacher for me, Ms. Chang!
Update: Ms. Chang: yes, I contacted you to inquire with skepticism, since I saw those "stellar" reviews here. I also inquired several other music schools for kids. Doesn't mean we will pick you after a trial lesson. But after experiencing your professionalism (more like the lack thereof) when dealing with students, I have no regrets to give you this review. To illustrate your temper: here's what you just emailed me: "How big of you? Now, the whole world will know how ridiculous you are. Good riddins!" Anyone interested will know more about you too. And thank you for commenting!
Regarding your comment about I owed you money for books: I paid for the first set of books from you and after one or two lessons, you decided they did not work out and switched them with some other books. At the time I cancelled my last lesson, I still had two more to schedule with you so even if my memory did not serve me right and I indeed owed you money for the three children piano booklets, what's left of my prepayment is more than enough to cover. I'm even more surprised that you did not follow up on someone who owed you money but if I indeed owe you, please email me your records and I'll be happy to send you a check.
2nd Update: This is getting ridiculous. How many times will you continue to go back and change your comment, Ms. Chang? I paid you in advance for four lessons, plus one free trial lesson that you offered to everyone back then just to try you - so don't speak like I owe you in terms of lessons. Whether I took all four paid lessons is still a matter for checking, I don't believe I took all of them as you said. You also said I owe you registration fee which is laughable because how did you let me go on for 5 weeks without paying for the $25 just to get in your program, and how did I write you a check for 4 lesson plus books and hand it to you in person, but not for the $25 registration fee required to START the enrollment, if there was a requirement? Books wise, your email said I owe you $6.53 for 1 book, I'll just assume you are right so let's not use plural here and you'll get your check for $6.53. You are just scaring all your potential customers away with this unprofessional back and forth. Expect my check in the mail and stop changing your comment because I don't have time for this. read more