It started with an ad in a newspaper, I took my daughter to the hotel the auditions were being held at, it all boils down to 1. She was told to call a specific number at a specific time, and she would be told whether or not she made the call back list. I called on time, I was told the competition was tight, it was between four people in my daughter's age group, after they interviewed everyone I would be told whether or not JRP wanted to work with her. She was so excited, so I drove over an hour to get to the interview.
When we walked into the office, it was rather plain, but I thought ok, they are just keeping it simple, mind you this is an upscale area, but as we walked into the office we realize no one else was there. I thought, where are the other teens my daughter is competing against? But I just listened to what was being told to me. A woman name Becky took her to another room and said she was going to do various tests with her, but to my surprise it only took less than 10 minutes.
As I sat in this office I looked at this black desk made of particle wood, all scratched up, with nothing on it, and no pictures on the walls. I started to ask myself, why does this office look like this, with so much money coming into this company this office along with the others should look way more professional than this.
But the reason why I am writing this is mainly because as I read all of these comments, I realize that no one from the JRP Company responds correctly. I need for someone to tell me, why when I asked for just one more day to make my decision about paying $10,000 up front for three years of school I was told no, because her slot would be given away, but in the same breath told since they interviewed her and decided they wanted to work with her, they were not going to interview anyone else.
I told them I understand this is a school and that fees have to be paid, but why all at once and up front? I was told " because we have to pay our instructors, we have to pay to fly different people in for her to audition for instead of her flying different places", I told Becky I felt uneasy and have been told that when something sounds to good to be true it usually is, she just asked "well, what questions do you have?" but I was asking questions, just not getting the answers I needed. I was told "your decision has to be made tonight, because we are going to start marketing her tomorrow, and she has to start her class this Saturday to get her ready for an audition on June 16th. With hesitation I did write a check for a one year program only to be told oh, by the way books are $150 extra (total $6050), sorry I forgot to mention that. Then after they got the check, I was told oh, "there is no class this Saturday because of the Memorial Holiday". But how can you market someone with no professional pictures?
If this company has been around all these years and is a legit company, why not accept installments for the tuition instead of paying all this money up front for classes that only last for one hour a week? And since my daughter was not going to be taking any classes this week why couldn't I wait to pay? Real companies don't pressure people. I am hopeful for those who have had good experiences but sad for those who haven't.
Lucky for me I know how to call the bank and explain the situation and place a stop payment, so I am not waiting for a refund, I followed everyhting to the book, but I hope this company do right by people in the future.
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