Buyer Beware

[Disclaimer: First I apologize for going off the radar. I've had some funny things pop up in my life I've been wanting to blog about, but there's also an unfunny situation happening that is making me see red and is dominating my brain waves right now. That's what this post is about - that situation. I should be back to my bubbly self soon]

If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you know I used to take Tae Kwon Do. You can read all about it here. After 3 years, I was burned out and decided to move on to other activities. My husband was the one who got me into taking TKD. He started taking in 1998 and it became such a part of his soul. He started taking at this school in 1999 or 2000 and he's been loyal to that school. He rarely misses classes, he even taught classes for about a year.

Now, the longer we were involved with the school, the more we started realizing that the owner/lead instructor of the school (I'll call him Master A) wasn't the best person morally. But, we were able to overlook those morals because they didn't affect us or Jason's training. Jason's classes were usually taught by a different instructor in the school (I'll call him Master B).

In late February, rumors started flying around the school that Master B, along with another instructor and the office manager, would be leaving the school at the end of March and starting their own school. These rumors were circulating among a small handful of students. Well, the end of March came and went and nothing happened. Those 3 guys didn't leave.

Fast forward to April, the rumors started up again and then proof starting popping up. A comment was made on Facebook from the office manager and a link to the new school's website was posted... Although that comment and link were quickly deleted. Word on the street was that the new school was going to be opening on May 1st.

This time it was obvious that this was happening. But, no announcements were made at our school. None. Due to all the sneakiness that was happening Jason sat down with Master A and Master B to discuss being let go from his contract. He told them that he needed to clear his head from the lack of communication and the way things were being handled and just step away from TKD and our school before he ended up hating it all. Both masters said they understood and said it wouldn't be a problem. They both also said that their doors would always be opened for Jason to come back and pick up his training again. That was that.

Or so we thought.

Jason got an email from our school saying usually when a contract is cut, you do owe the remaining balance. But, since Jason has been so loyal, they would only charge him 30% of the remaining balance. That equals over $800. I do understand about the contract breaking fee, but only if you are just saying "I came to TKD and I just don't want to do this anymore" not, "I'm breaking my contract because you fucktards are causing me to do this with your morals and sneakiness."

It is a known fact that our school has broken other contracts for folks with no penalties due to extenuating circumstances. We thought Master A would understand that this sneaking around bullshit was definitely extenuating circumstances. We thought that loyalty to this school for over a decade would count for something.

We forgot that Master A is a greedy son-of-a-bitch who only cares about money and has no morals. Martial Arts is all about discipline and making yourself a better person. Not about seeing how big of a dick you can be. I could go on and on about how many bridges Master A has burned over the years - and some of those bridges were with people he was really close to - by lying or stabbing people in the back. But, I'll save that for another day.

I just wanted to vent about the asshole that is this man and the shit that Jason and I are going through.