Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/26/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  My 10 year old daughter was enrolled in the "preprofessional" level of dance at Ballet 5:8, which comes with a year long commitment. I had every intention of completing the year. However, during the December production of "Beyond The Nutcracker" my daughter had an extremely negative interaction with a Ballet 5:8 staff member, *************************, while backstage, to the extent that she did not want to continue going to dance there. ******************* saw fit to rip out my daughter's bun with another student's bun to "fix" it. I don't know if anyone reading this will be familiar with how much hairspray is involved with "recital hair", but let me tell you, it is A LOT. The point, of course, is to have the hair last through 2 performances without moving. NOBODY runs a brush through *********, because brushing it IS EXTREMELY PAINFUL. I found it inexcusable that a staff member was not only so rude as to TELL my daughter she was going to redo her hair, not ask permission, as well as use another student's brush. Furthermore, there is literally no chance it needed do be redone. There were 5 dress rehearsals before the performance, my daughter's hair made it through all of them completely fine. ******************* took out the bun form and made it into a "rolled bun" which I still find unreasonable, as again, there were 5 opportunities to ask me to change it. The most ridiculous thing here is that my daughter's costume had a head wrap that covered ALL of her hair anyway. In the event little flyaways happened, she had her own hairspray. I voiced this complaint, and the complaint that the same staff member was just generally rude to my daughter while she sought to visit family between shows (which she was on the list for, but denied the permission) at the midyear review. ******************* showed absolutely no remorse whatsoever. I feel that staff thinking it is ok to cause my child physical pain violates the trust I should be able to have in the studio and nullifies any tuition contract obligation.

  Business Response

  Date: 03/06/2024

  Dear BBB,
  
  Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We deeply value ****************** and have been grateful to have her as a part of our school. In response to *********************** complaint we want to share with you our perspective. During our December 16th Beyond the Nutcracker performances ******************, a long-time staff member and program director, did assist ****************** in redoing her ballet bun in keeping with our performance hair standards. The child's hair had come loose after the first performance, and ****************** assisted her during the break in redoing her hair. This interaction was witnessed by Ms. ******* and she confirms that they were not aware that ****************** was in any pain. The child's mannerisms and facial expressions were neutral, and she did not express any concern in the moment. ****************** danced in Beyond the Nutcracker again on December 17th, and no complaints were shared with our staff team either in person or via email. No concerns regarding this incident were brought up to any member of our staff team until after the semester restarted two weeks later. The ********** Ms. ******* and ****************** meet on January 9th at 10:20a for a routine midyear meeting that we require from all families in the program. At this point they shared their concern over the hair incident. ****************** apologized for any ways in which her action caused them discomfort. We are so sorry that the *******'s experience was not up to their expectations and wish them all the best in the future.
  
  The Renardos owe tuition for November, December and January, as well as their withdrawal fee for mid-year program withdrawal.
  
  Please find attached screenshots of our withdrawal policy, Renardo account balance and dress code policy. We're happy to share any further information needed to process this dispute, please call ************ to speak to one of our Studio Managers.