A few years ago I got duped into taking martial arts "lessons" at my local United Studios of Self Defense. I was fromt he beginning Shocked by their prices, which, at the time I believe were $180.00/month. Yes, it is a Lot of money, but, they are certainly sales people there, and pretty soon, I was being presented with a contract. Yes, a contract. They wanted the contract signed for 6 months, to which I refused, saying I would sign no more than a 3 month contract, and still upset at that. Yet, to my everlasting regret, I signed it. Stupid me, I know.
Well, after my three months of un-satisfactory lessons, and being charged out of house and home by their repeated "fees" ($75 testing fees, $120 uniforms, etc), my three months was over, and I wanted out.
I wrote my resignation letter, and my instructor said that he would fax it to them for me... My Second big mistake...
He never sent the letter.
So, after 4 more months of not going to class, I received a bill, from collections, for 720 dollars. I called the billing company, explained my situation, and he, being very nice, said that if I could get the instructor on the phone, to tell him that I hadn't been going, and had given him a letter of resignation, that he would, indeed, take of the charges.
Very nice of him, I must give a hand to ABC, their billing company, for they were always very nice.
SO, I drove while talking to this gentleman, all the way to the studio, and told my instructor what was going on. To which he replied, "Oh, I don't remember you doing that..." and then he got on the phone, with the very nice gentleman, and said, "Well, she said that she gave me the letter... Blah blah blah".. SO, not having been given the information he needed, the billing gentleman told me that I could call him back when I got it all figured out...
This instructor looked me right in the eyes, and lied to the man on the phone, and there was nothing (at that time) that I could do about it. So, I, in turn, looked Him right in the eye, and said, "You need to take care of this, or this is going to get a lot bigger than you want it to." I, usually am NOT a threatening person, but, I come from a long line of attorneys in my family, and there is a lovely gentleman by the name of Gephardt, that is a local news investigator of scams here in Utah. Having said that, he settled in to "let's make a deal" mode, and basically bribed me by saying that if I would pay him 30 days of class, that he would tell the company what they needed to hear to stop payment.
Yes, I know that it was wrong to accept that, but, I did not want to call my uncle the attorney, or Gephardt, so, I accepted. Besides, it was better than $720, and a long line of he said, she said, right? Now I know I should Not have paid him that payoff, but, I was younger then.
So, I paid him, 180 dollars, wrote up a letter of resignation, made him sign and date it, made 3 copies, one for him, one for me, and one for the company, and I watched him fax it. Then, I called the company to see if they had received it before I left his office.
After that, I learned that a past classmate of mine, who was a recently released felon of armed robbery, and only a blue belt, had become an instructor of his own dojo.
All in all, USSD has shown themselves to be less than reputable, and more than dishonest. I know for a fact that another acquaintance of mine has had similar troubles, and I will be more than happy to give them a 'heads up' about this website so they can tell you as well.
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