Should I ask for a refund on dance lessons?

Question

My daughter had her dance recital last month. It was HORRIBLE. I mean, she was okay, but every single class that danced showed that ALL the students were woefully unprepared. It seems nobody learned much of anything after a whole year of lessons. Example: There were two classes for 3-5 yr old girls. One taught by assistant teacher, one taught by main teacher. Assistant teacher's class was okay, pretty cute. Main teacher's class only did plies and skipping and waving magic wands for their recital piece. After four quarters of lessons and $280! I guarantee all those girls already knew how to skip and wave wands before the class started.

My daughter will not be returning to that studio. I already found another one. But I want my $280 for lessons back. I wouldn't mind getting the $30 for recital tickets, the $30 for recital costume and the $15 for recital video, either.

What a colossal waste of cash! The only reason we went there was because my cousin was the assistant teacher.

Answer 1

were the older classes as bad as the younger ones? because if they were than moving ur child is the right decision because that is how she will be dancing in several years if she continues to dance there

Answer 2

you should get your money back but you probably wont but at my dance school the kids that young have whole dances but have the teachers on stage with them hope the next place is better

Answer 3

I do agree and sympathize with you. I had a few "not teaching quality" teachers in the past as I was growing up.

However, she did attend the classes, whether taught professionally or not.  The fee's already paid for the services of your daughter being present, even though it was not worth it, I agree.

Same if you ate dinner at a restaurant. If the dinner wasn't good, still had to pay if ate it.

You won't get that money back hun. Lawfully, it isn't worth the court cost or anything if you decided to take it further into legal action for a refund.

Just take it as a lesson to have a studio you can watch. I would never let my children go to a place I can not see or know what is going on. That scares the jabebus out of me if someone says I am not allowed to watch them instruct.

Have your child come home and show you what she learned that day in class. Get more involved so you don't get scamed of your money next time.

I do hope your daughter did enjoy some of it and didn't get upset feeling it was a waste of time. Dancing should be fun and exciting.

Answer 4

for 3-5 year old girls it is hard to teach them complicated steps. if you do, then they forget them or many have trouble with them. if the OLDER students were horrible, then get your child out of there because that will be what your daughter's dancing will be like after several years which would be a waste.

most 3-5 year old classes are those that teach about music and rhythm and prepare your little ones to become dancers. i'm sorry but i doubt that you will get your money back from anything but you could try if you want. just remember by taking that class your daughter has learned a routine and knows how to dance to music now (even if it was just skipping)

also before you move to a different dance studio make sure you watch the classes (younger girls AND older girls) and watch past performances if possible :]

Answer 5

You got a lot of answers here already but I will add my experiences for your thoughts.

My daughter took lessons just about everywhere as a child.

Ballet... no fun... gymnastics... no fun...

She went from this activity to that... Let's see, she skated and I spent a fortune on little outfits, skates... you have to buy each wheel ( $ 25 ea. back then), boots, boot covers and so on. Oh, and let's not forget the lessons too, I can't even remeber what they cost me. Then, she falls down and decides she doesn't like this anymore. Just about the same age as your daughter is now..

And then we moved on to bike riding.. what did this cost me? and then Private Piano lessons...Yes, I thought I had the next concert pianist... Instead, I have a 20 year old barely used Piano. She had a math tutor and still finds that her worst subject. Should I blame the tutor?  

Eventually she found what she liked and what she was good at. She is an adult black belt Kenpo Karate, she danced for the local NBA team for 5 years - took dance lessons forever,

swam on the high school swim team, won a few beauty pageants... and a few other extra curricular activitites in there also.

My point to you is even if the lessons were good it doesn't mean your kid will excel. Once she finds her connection then she will do well.

I don't think you paid the dance studio all this time, only for her to perform in a recital. The recital is simply the " cherry on top." Just because the recital was lousy doesn't mean she learned nothing at all. Where were you during these lessons you paid for? Not watching evidently. Didn't she talk about dance at home after? Didn't she do dances for you? Did she like the lessons? Did she like going there?

So, you trusted someone else to do this right for you and it didn't work. It happens that way sometimes. I trusted the piano teacher... today my daughter is 25 and probably doesn't remember how to even play Happy Birthday.

Try another studio but this time, monitor her lessons and don't be disappointed if she isn't a future hiphop dancer or ballet master. Find her thing and let her do it.

Answer 6

Maybe you should have asked more questions and observed a class before enrolling your daughter at that school.

You won't be refunded, because that's how the school works. That's what they teach. They expect you to make an educated decision, and it's not sounding like you did.

Sorry you found it such a waste, but your daughter probably had fun.

Answer 7

It's called Caveat Emptier and it means, let the buyer beware. The time to do your research was before you signed your daughter up for lessons. A visit to last year's recital (or a look at the recital video, which your cousin, as an assistant teacher, could probably have provided) would have given you a better insight as to the level of instruction and achievement.

It's unlikely you'll be able to get any refund because, regardless of the level of instruction, your daughter was given classes for the contracted length of time, and she was in the recital.