I am not one to normally write reviews of businesses that I have not actually used, but my wife and I had such an unpleasant experience with an employee at this location that I felt compelled to leave feedback.
We currently utilize a different Tutor Time location in South Phoenix for our 9 month-old son. The staff and teachers there are wonderful and have been extremely accommodating and kind. Recently we have been looking for one that is closer to our house and scheduled a tour of this location.
The employee that we dealt with at the front desk was awful. Right off the bat they didn't seem to know we had scheduled a tour and repeatedly told us (to the point of exhaustion) that they had no space in their infant room. We were aware of this but still wanted to do a walkthrough and meet the teachers like we had been able to do for the other locations we had gone to before.
The employee would only take my wife on the tour, which basically only consisted of walking about 10 feet to the infant room - that was the only thing they showed her. My wife had wanted to meet the teachers or at least step inside the room to see everything - the employee refused to let her based on a "concern about measles". Never mind that both of us and our son (who wasn't even on the tour at this point) are up to date on our vaccinations.
At every other Tutor Time location I've been to, the location provides pull on slippers adults have to wear in the infant room so they don't track dirt, germs, etc. into the class. While my wife was on the tour she witnessed a parent go in to pick up their child without putting on the slippers. This irritates me not only because they went in the room with a disregard for the health of the other children, but because my wife would have been happy to put the slippers on if it gave her the opportunity to meet the teachers who would be taking care of our son. At every other tour I have gone on at one of these locations, I have been encouraged by the site director to meet the teachers.
When we had questions on pricing, the employee was combative, insisting that they had never heard of the corporate discount that my wife had through her employer, then insisting that it did not apply to our son since he would be in an infant room. When we asked about a refund we had received at our current location for the $100+ registration fee, the employee pretty rudely told us we were wrong and that never happens.
After explaining to them that yes, it did in fact happen for us in the past, we were finally able to get them to reach out to their billing department for clarification. The person in billing apparently confirmed that yes, my wife's discount was valid, and yes, the registration fee was waived on the first year. At the risk of sounding horribly entitled, I will say that it struck me as particularly poor customer service that the employee never bothered to apologize for being wrong, or acknowledged that we were right.
Despite having a calculator right in front of them, they would not calculate the total cost of care with the discount for us, even writing in the folder they gave us that it was X amount, "minus discount". This prompted my wife to actually ask them for the calculator so she could calculate it herself.
It is worth noting that this location does not do part time (less than 5 days a week, the way the employee explained it) for infant care. This is also inconsistent with other locations I have looked at, but somewhat understandable given that the infant room is full.
Throughout this entire process, it felt like this person was doing everything they could to convince us not to get on the waiting list with them. I'm pretty sure that they did not even acknowledge our son once, even though I was holding him the majority of the time. The entire experience was entirely off putting, and hurt my perception of the Tutor Time brand as a whole.
They say that first impressions are lasting impressions. My impression of this location is that I will never use it. read more