When I moved to Winston-Salem recently I look for a group meditation that met regularly. As it turns out, less than a mile from my house, a place called Vyb studio offered meditation group on Tuesday nights and a drop-in on Thursday.
All of their sign-ups were to be done over the internet, but I wanted to check out the place first. I met the owner, and the place look nice enough, so I handed her $40 on the spot to sign-up for their two-week "try everything deal" for newcomers. I attended the meditation session that night and it was decent.
That night I signed up online as per the company's instructions for the drop-in medication class coming up on Thursday and for what's called a "sound bath" coming up on Sunday. On Thursday, 29 minutes beforehand I was received notice that the class had been canceled. "Okay, thanks," I said. These things happen.
Approaching this Sunday evening sound bath session, midday as I was about to depart from my house, I received an email from the owner, which I read quickly. It said that a memorial event of sorts was going to be held, and that the sound bath class for 7:30 that night was canceled. Perhaps I should have lingered more on what the memorial service was all about. Nevertheless there was reference to a 7:30 sound bath as opposed to the 5:30 one that for which I had signed up.
So I queried to see if the earlier one was still going to be held. The owner wrote me back and said that she meant to say the 5:30 class was canceled. I wrote back and light-heartedly said, "Okay well there goes my first week..."
About to now leave the house, within minutes the owner wrote me back and said will we will refund your money immediately, give us your zelle address, no need to come back. I was shocked. I hadn't said anything other than what was obvious. I had no idea until the owner's "don't come back" message that her dog had died.
I consider a dog to be a member of the family and I can understand her grief, but in the original email that I read, perhaps too quickly, I didn't see any such phrasing. Only after she said no need to come back, we'll refund your money, did I learn that her dog had died.
I waited for a day, to sort things out in my own mind and then wrote back and said to this was a misunderstanding and which could be clear up in 45 seconds. Clearly each of us misunderstood each other. I waited a day and received no response. The next day in the early afternoon, still with no response, I sent her my zelle address. Later that day she sent me back my original payment.
It's a shame; I would have been a long-term client. I had been in a meditation class for more than five years in my previous town. I liked the meditation and was looking forward to more as well as to the sound bath. No one, however, myself included, wants to go any place where they're not wanted and told not to come back.
Why the owner didn't want to salvage a potential long-term client is a puzzler. My 'offense' was not so grave that she needed to immediately return the money, and say no need to come back. Even in her own mind, however, if she felt justified in taking such action, when I wrote the email explaining that it would take less than 45 seconds to clear up the misunderstanding, I was sincere.
We could have continued on, and all would have been well.
I write all this to let you know that sometimes, as a customer, no matter what you do, you're going to encounter a business that is going to misinterpret what you say or do, or view you in a negative light, when ostensibly, you had no intention of being uncaring, disrespectful, or unsympathetic. I simply was not aware that her dog had died until after I received her last response.
So, take all this in perspective, if you want to be a client a Vyb, I can't say one way or the other what you ought to do, but this is my story, it is accurate to the penny, and I wish you well in your endeavors. read more