Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/11/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  We attended a tour of school of rock golden because my 9 year old wanted to start drum ******s. Directly after the tour, my son was so excited that he asked when he could come back, so we ended up getting scheduled for his first ****** right there. We were told to come back for his ****** Monday at 4:30, and that the office manager would also be there at that time to finish getting us all set up. We arrive Monday, I sit down in the office with a young woman with red hair. I ask her if there is anything I need to do to finish signing him up- she said no all good! And just stared at me. At this point they have none of my info and I feel like its weird for my son to go to a music school but you dont want me to sign anything? Or like fill out any forms at all? So then I ask when and how to pay and if there are online invoices or what- she just says no we dont do anything like that and continues to sit there. The whole encounter is weird, but I assumed they were just laid back music people. She then tells me we dont want to charge you for ******s he hasnt had! Just pay after each few ******s as you come until he get into the Rock 101 program so, thats what we did. At the next ****** I asked if they keep card info on file for regular monthly payments, she again told me no we cant do that, we have to run the card each time in person. Again, I said ok, and handed over my debit card. I paid $212 for two ******s on the month of august. Literally a couple days later I woke up to my bank account being overdrawn, as it had been charged $275 by school of rock. I immediately called and emailed- and instead of anyone at the school or office manager calling me back, it was some guy from a different phone number claiming to be the out of state owner of school of rocks golden location. He said they did not know how that happened, promised it wouldnt happen again, refused to issue refund and wanted to give me cash. This happened three more times, no refunds.

  Business Response

  Date: 10/14/2024

   Response to Complaint ID ********
  Fianece ******** (the name she gave us) enrolled her child in our program following a free tour on August 8. The child attended ******s for the remainder of the month of August at which time she gave us a debit card to pay the prorated amount for August ($212.50).
  The young woman with red hair has processed many new clients and she always puts a card on file and informs them that they will be charged at the first of every month. Every client knows this and a rare few make other arrangements. Therefore, I do not know where Fianeces misunderstanding that the card would not (could not?) be put on file and charged might have originated.
  On September 1st, Fianeces debit card was automatically processed for September ******s at the same time as all of our customers. We received a voicemail from her during the holiday weekend stating that she was not expecting the charge and that her account was overdrawn and her weekend with her son was ruined. I immediately called her. I told her that I did not want her weekend ruined so we sent her a Zelle cash payment of $275 while I was on the phone with her so that she would receive it immediately and not have to wait the several days that card processing takes. I thought I was doing the right thing as well as doing her a favor. I stayed on the line as she directed us (my wife was assisting me) to the account of ******* ****** (a name previously unknown to us) but as it was a refund and not a charge, we followed her instructions. I presumed ******* ****** is a maiden name or family member as we previously had an enquiry in April 2023 from a Fianece Hunter asking about ******s for ******* ********. Perhaps she forgot that this was the account to which we sent the Zelle cash refund.
  The child continued ******s all of September.
  I told Fianece that I would look into it and I did. I discovered that the previously paid $212 was the pro-rated August payment and the $275 September bill remained unpaid since it had been refunded.
  On the 1st of October her card was again debited along with all other clients. It is the policy of our merchant card processing company to attempt a transaction 3 times before calling it uncollected and this is the procedure they followed with this client. It is possible that this is why it appeared to debit the card more than once.
  On October 1 we received a SMS from Fianece accusing our office girl of lying and scamming. I attempted to call her and she did not answer at which point I began an SMS conversation with her. I explained that we had not input a new charge but that this is the way our processing works and that most people prefer to use a credit card rather than a debit card. She then told me that the girl at the desk told her we could only run a card in person. This makes no sense as putting a card on file is the procedure we follow for every new client. She responded,
  
   Don't Contact me again unless it is about his drum ****** schedule. Again- if this happens again today or again at all, I am allowing **************** to treat it like the fraud and theft it is. I don't feel comfortable giving you guys any other card number
  As we are not in the habit of giving our services away without payment our clients pay in advance so that we can schedule our instructors who get paid even if a client no-shows. Out of concern that she might present such accusations in person, we determined to protect our employees by terminating our relationship with *******. We proceeded to refund and close out her current bill. I informed her of such and attached a refund receipt. She responded with an inflammatory email accusing us of lying, stealing and sending a fake receipt. I assume she did not understand that it takes a few days for merchant processing to show in her account as it does for any refund.
  She informed us that she would report us to BBB and was glad to be done with us as we are just another arm of the predatory music and child performance industry at which point we ceased responding to her.
  Attached please find images from bank statements, our internal processing receipts, and correspondence from our merchant processor.
  Charges for the September bill were refunded in Zelle cash $275 on September 1. Recorded on our system October 1. Charges for the October bill were refunded on her debit card $275 October 1.
  Her child received a total of 4 ******s plus 2 NO-SHOWS (or less than 24 hours notice) for which we do not give refunds as our instructors are there and waiting so must be paid. For this we have received and not refunded her initial pro-rata August payment of $212. All other charges were refunded.
  I hate that this situation has escalated to this level. I made every effort with this response to stick to the facts of the services and associated transactions. I made the decision to terminate the relationship because of the continuing onslaught of inflammatory and accusatory SMS messages. We love teaching music and hate to lose a student but we are a business and require payment for services.