Dexter Tenison is a fitness consultant and personal trainer who trains women in fitness and nutrition. When I first met Dexter, I liked him. I was impressed by his personal story of weighloss and I thought he could probably help me as well. His fees were higher than my budget so initially I could not participate. However, through his email blog, he offered a special that I could afford and decided to take advantage of. The program, I enjoyed and felt that while I also got injured and honestly experienced a lot of pain, was also beneficial. I did lose inches if not pounds. I write this to be clear. My problem is not with Dexter as a trainer. I have no problem with his training program. My problem is with Dexter as a business person.
While I was actively participating in the initial month-long program, Dexter invited me to participate in an invitation only program that would last for six months, that some of his other clients were participating in. The total cost of this program was $299. On May 3, about two weeks before I would end the current program and be able to start, I decide to participate and gave Dexter the full payment.in the interim, however, several things changed in my business and personal life that made me rethink my decision. So, on May 12, the day before I planned to start the $299 program, I emailed Dexter to tell him that I had a new job and along w/some other factors, I would be unable to do the program at this time. I hoped to start it later, but for now, I could not do it. I assumed that since I contacted him before starting and I also had signed no contracts nor been told anything about not being able to get a refund... I assumed I would get a refund. But not with Dexter. A week passed and I received no refund. When I contacted Dexter about it, he simply said this program he would not refund, but I could do the program later. I don't want to do any program later with Dexter. This program REQUIRES you to try and send Dexter monthly referrals, because it is discounted.in good conscience, I could not recommend Dexter now because of what I perceive to be unfair business practices that take advantage of people.
The reason I say Dexter has unfair business practices:
I did not rely only on my own instincts with this assessment. I spoke with several reputable local business and business people who also happen to be in the fitness, personal training and nutrition business, and have been for 10 plus years.in each case, when I explained this scenario to them, they would have refunded my money if I no longer chose to participate in the program and cancelled PRIOR to beginning the program.in most cases, they have agreements with up to 30 day cancellation policies. For this program, Dexter has NOTHING WRITTEN ANYWHERE concerning a cancellation policy. Mind you, he DOES have a paragraph written about a cancellation policy on his website that states if you cancel prior to starting, you can get a refund. However, when I inquired about this, he told me that that statement does not apply to the program I was joining. Of course! The fact that that isn't written anywhere shouldn't mean anything. Everyone should just be able to figure that out on their own when dealing with Dexter. The business people that I consulted also told me that even without a written policy, it would simply be the RIGHT THING TO DO to refund the client's money. Lastly, what savvy, sensible and reputable business person would risk ruining their business image and degrading any integrity they had to have such a dissatisfied client??? Had Dexter handled this matter differently, I probably would have returned to train with him later when things changed in my life circumstances. He seems to be very short-sighted and very money hungry to have handled this situation this way. I admonish anyone using Dexter to be sure to discuss his cancellation and all other policies that he may have (that may not be in written form) with him PRIOR to paying him anything, or LET THE BUYER BEWARE!
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