My son spent close to a year at Tiger Rock. During that time it became very apparent that the instructor was unable to handle parents who demand rank advancement when it is not warranted. It was very difficult watching the children of the parents who literally yelled at the instructor about advancement get promoted ahead of those who played by the rules.
There is also the problem with fees. Because the contract spelled out the fees Tiger Rock could not increase their fees, so they instead invented additional belt ranks which both slowed down the students progress, but also doubled the amount of testing fees charged.
When we signed up there was rank testing every 60 days which carried a fee of $60. They have now changed the system so that a student will take 4-6 months to make the same rank advancement paying the monthly fees all along. Under the old scenario it would take two months of dues and a $60 fee to advance one level in rank. Now under the new plan it would take 4-6 months of dues and $120 in testing fees.
A clever way to raise prices on everyone regardless of the contract.instead of charging more, they are slowing everyone down to make it more costly to move through the system.
A couple of other things to be aware of.
1. Accessories are mandatory and ridiculously overpriced. What they don't tell you when you sign up is that they will constantly have mandatory purchases. For example: A very cheaply made student manual. Black & white, spiral bound, $40. Uniform patches, $10-$20 per. Sparring Gear, $230.
2. The academy routinely closes for close to a week at a time for various testings, and road trips for competitions. Yet they charge you the full month. This seems especially strange in the event of testing, where they close the academy for 3-4 days to allow for testing and processing the results, while charging extra. So testing weeks you pay more than usual and have less access.
Bottom line is that you need to be prepared to spend constantly on extras, and have to keep on them about rank advancement, or else you will fall behind the students who have parents that "advocate" for them.
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