Business ProfileforTranscendental Meditation (TM) (West LA - Santa Monica)

TM advertises that it is accessible to all regardless of financial situation and that their service prices are handled by an honor system. I paid $860.00 for the "lifetime TM membership" on 7/26/19 and later realized when reconciling my accounts in October 2021 that I had overpaid a higher bracket based on my income at the time of payment in 2019. Since it's a "lifetime membership that never expires" and TM advertises the accessibility and honor system, I thought it would be straightforward to notify the local TM center of my overpayment and have the partial refund issued. I went to the center in Santa Monica in person and offered to stay however long to complete any paperwork, calls, or other verification they might need. The staff wrote down my credit card info and said there was no need for me to stay or return in person, they would get approval and issue the partial refund to my card later that day. The refund was never issued and every time I followed up I was given a different reply, such as their suggesting that instead of getting refunded I should visit the center to adjust my "technique." So what I thought would be a straightforward partial refund of an overpayment turned into a strange, stressful series of exchanges where TM staff constantly changed their story, refused to issue refund or give a clear answer as to why they were refusing to do so, and voiced accusatory assumptions about my request and financial situation. Their final reply was to insist that I travel back to their location to meet with a supervisor in person, but they refused to give the basic contact info of that supervisor or what say exactly would happen at the in person meeting that hadn't already been addressed by the info I had provided - Suspiciously this supervisor was unwilling to put any communication in writing. At first I sought only partial refund of the overpayment but TM staff's disturbing treatment of my request has tainted the practice so I now seek a full refund.