Can I get a refund?

[Bruno@MT]

The only issue I can see with that is that the ones who do go to class every week have to pay more to get the club to break even.

Many clubs are non-profit, and they have to book the dojo for the entire year. Since the membership money is meant solely for infrastructure, insurance, administration, etc... this would mean varying the membership fees per month, based on who decided to show up.

By using year long contracts, there is just one fee. Everything has to be provided so that you can train. If you then decide not to... that should be noones problem but yours. Of course if money is really an issue you could try to ask the sensei to pay per half year or semester or something like that, and I don't think it would be an issue.

 

[BrandonLucas]

There are people out there who want something for nothing. That's why contracts are in place.

My take on it:

Student: Look, I was only able to attend once this whole month, but I was honestly swamped at work and at home. I want to continue training, but I don't want to pay for services I wasn't able to use.

Instructor: I understand your situation. Sometimes, life just gets in the way. I'll waive your monthly fee this time, but understand that I can't do this again. If you need to stop your training now, that's fine, and we can discuss other options for when you can come back.

3 months and 3 classes later...

Student: I seriously need to get the money back that I paid you for the last 3 months. I've only been able to attend 1 class per month...wouldn't it be fair to just charge me for the 1 class per month?

Instructor: We had this discussion previously. I told you that I would waive the fee only once, and then from there, you would need to let me know your situation so we could discuss other options. You have not let me know anything, so I've been waiting on you to come to class, sometimes keeping my school open late in hopes that you would show up. Now, can you give me my time back that I spent waiting on you to come to class?

 

[Guardian]

Overheard at a local fast-food restaurant this weekend, in reference a local MA school (not mine, fortunately).

"I was only able to make it to MA classes a couple times last month, due to work requirements. Can I get a partial refund?"

"No, sorry."

"Why not? That doesn't seem fair."

"If your milk goes bad in the fridge before you can drink it, do you take it back to the store?"

"Yeah, actually. Why not? I didn't get to drink it, they owe me a refund."

Sigh....

I refer to people like this as "The dumbing down of America".

 

[Aiki Lee]

My teacher had a guy come in a sign up his two sons. The first son was charged full price, and the second son was given a discount. The second son wanted to quit so my teacher thought he'd be nice and transfer the cheaper rate over to the other boy. Then the second son wanted to come back and his dad wanted another discount! My teacher said no, as his other son has the discount, but the guy wouldn't stop nagging about it until finally my teacher put his foot down and sternly said he was not open to charging this man's family less than what everyone else paid.

Those two sons are still in the dojo. They are horrible students in every imaginable way. But my teacher's gotta eat, so as long as they pay they stick around until they violate the dojo rules.