Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/19/2025

  Type:Product 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 paid for a service and have been paying a monthly fee to be able to perform in a show on May 31st, 2025. On February 10th, an incident happened. I have everything in writing from the owner. My husband took my daughter to dance. He recorded 2 videos of performers dancing. That evening, I (the spouse) received an email from the owner, and she accused my husband of recording young girls inappropriately. No one said anything to him while he was there. I responded back and sent her the 2 videos that he recorded. Videos were fully zoomed OUT. I explained to the owner why he recorded and he event sent the videos to me and explained that my husband has a disability. They have NO SIGNS posted stating no recording. I told them that we would need to think about if we were going to come back and wanted to know if we could get the money that we had paid back if we did leave due to this. The owner (***** *******) responded back and said she would "eat" the cost if we decided this, and that she felt a simple apology would have sufficed, but it was our choice on whether to stay or leave. On 2/15, I emailed her back and said that this was not that simple, but I didn't feel it was right to penalize my child, so we were going to stay and finish the season that we had paid for monthly. I even told her that she wouldn't have to worry about my husband because he would not be back again. The owner responded to my email after sending 2 emails inviting us back and taking our monthly fee, that we were no longer allowed to come back. Again, no signs are posted and customers record all the time there. I have witnesses. My husband was singled out due to the way he looks. It is a performing studio. They even record the girls and put it on screens throughout the studio for everyone to watch. Since they are not allowing us back, they owe us a full refund for the entire season since the whole point is to take lessons for a show that we now are not allowed to attend. Total refund owed: *******.

  Business Response

  Date: 03/14/2025

  Thank you so much for the opportunity to explain our side of this story. I apologize I missed the previous email. Today I noticed this email in my junk folder for some reason. I would have immediately responded, had I seen the email sooner, my apologies. ********* ******* daughter has taken class with us since August 2024. She was a wonderful student and the mother had always been quite pleasant. We have never had an issue for the 6 months we had her at the studio. On the day in question her father brought her to the studio. Her class was being held in Room 2, but the father was observing Room 1 which was a different class. His daughter was not in this classroom. The dancers were running their routines for an upcoming competition. They range in age from 6-18. Mr. ***** was noticed recording the dancers for an extended period of time. It raised attention simply because his own daughter was not in the classroom so the teenage girls were curious why this man they have never seen before would be recording them, not for a few seconds, but for several minutes. I was conducting the rehearsal so I did not notice this at first (through the window), but my students did and that is when they asked me why he would be filming them. When I popped out to talk to him he was no longer there. He had actually entered the other classroom where his daughter was taking class. He entered the room and stayed there for several minutes and even though parents are not typically in the rooms during class, the teacher allowed it. The office manager noticed he was in the classroom so she went to the class to ask him if he knew where the monitors were where he could watch her class from the lobby. He followed her out of the class and returned to the lobby. He did not respond to my office manager, he quietly followed her out. After the class ended he left with his daughter. In her complaint she says that "no one said anything to him while he was there" yet in our emails you will notice that she also says "I am not his mom, you could have told him yourself which I believe you did". I wanted to touch base with Mrs. ****** as that is the email we have on file and the only way I have every contacted the family in the past. I simply followed up with her regarding the request to have him not enter the classrooms or record other people's children. Those emails are attached. You can see in the emails (that she attached to her complaint) that I reviewed our recording policy that she signed upon registration that clearly states recording other people's children without permission is prohibited. We do not have signs posted, but it is in our handbook that she signed. ********* seems confused about this policy and the communication of it, yet she is the one who attached it in her complaint. When the decision was made for her daughter to not continue we did refund her for February tuition and her costume deposits and balances for the two classes she was taking. After receiving her refund she requested an additional refund from her credit card to my merchant services account and that was denied after they noticed she did already receive her refund from us. She is requesting a refund through this complaint from a service she is not receiving. To refund her for tuition from August through ******* would not make sense simply because her daughter did receive services twice a week every week for dance class. A refund for March to May would not make sense since she is not here receiving dance education and did not pay for this in advance, so there is no refund to be made, as no services are being received. The decision to discontinue dance classes for her daughter did not come lightly, as we truly enjoyed her daughter in class. After speaking to my staff we felt it was in the best interest of our studio to part ways, as the interactions with Mrs. ***** had become very hostile and abrasive and it does not coincide with the family-friendly atmosphere we strive to provide our families. Not to mention, the parents of the teenage girls who were being recorded were very upset but this situation and planned to take legal action if this family were allowed to return to the studio. Thank you so much for your time and please let me know if there is anything I can do to help with this process.