Rant Frustrated with Expensive and Inadequate Dance Classes for My Daughters

[Jennie4PC]

Sorry I just have to rant here since I cant do it on FB. My DD's are in dance class and I really love their teacher. But I feel so taken advantage right now. !st of all I pay 64 a month for my dd's to do dance, in April we didnt have class due to spring break ok fine, but she decided to go to San Fransico so she cancelled our Mon, when you add it all up I paid for 8 months of class and got about 6.5 months of classes. Then she sells tickets to the dance recital expected fine but she has 2 seperate recitals. 1 for the older kids and 1 for the younger kids so now I have to go to 2 recitals and at 10 dollars a piece I have to pay 60 for the tickets. (DH, Me, And DS). Then the costumes are 50 dollars. You think ok you expect to pay for all that. I do and I understand that costumes cost money, but for 50 dollars I could have gotten a much better costume then I did. DD 1's costume is purple dance pants with a white TEE SHIRT with jewels glued onto it in the shape of a dragon fly with a pill box hat (dont have yet). DD 2's costume is a little better it is a white leotard (bought way to big) with a floresent green tutu with jewels glued on to it.
I just have to rant and get this off my chest thanks for reading if you got this far

 

[chefheidi2003]

WOW..that is a lot..I would be mad if I was expected to pay for all of that and then she cancelled for 1.5 months..I think that that is what would get me the most.

 

[gailz2]

It is frustrating, I'm sure. Perhaps you can do your own PC fundraiser to help pay for costumes each year ($4/square, 50 per sheet--winner gets $100 in PC, you get $100 toward expenses). I think a lot of people would buy at least one square for $4. Each of the kids in the dance class could do the same thing, and you win with your commission!

 

[babywings76]

I'm sorry, that really stinks! Our studio will hold make up classes if for some reason classes got cancelled due to weather or something. They have a yearly charge, but then break it down into monthly payments for people who want to pay monthly. (They give a 5%? discount if we prepay for the whole year.) When we paid monthly, it felt weird paying for May when classes are done the first week and the recital is the second. But when I asked about it, they said it was basically a year's tuition broken down into monthly installments. So maybe that's what your place is doing? But if she cancelled classes, then you should be reimbursed.Costumes are always pretty ridiculous, I know. We've always lucked out with nice ones that seemed to be good quality and worth the cost. Of course it always seems ridiculous to pay that much for something they only wear once. (Well, three times: picture day, dress rehearsal, recital)

 

[chefsteph07]

Are you getting a credit for the month you paid but she closed the studio? If you figure that you overpaid on classes, it seems that she should compensate something whether that be extra months of class or something. I know it's hard esp at this time of year with recitals! (AND esp if you have multi kids!)

 

[Jennie4PC]

mine wear it twice. Last yr we paid 40 for the costumes and they were made by a lady from our ward she did a great job, (if you are my friend on FB you can see them) Well this yr she decided not to make them cause she was charging the owner of the studio 25 to make them (fabric and labor) Of course her girls danced free. And she turned around and charged us 40. I so wish she made our costumes this yr. I didnt even get #1's costumes till picture day yesterday.

 

[Jennie4PC]

we go with the school system so we were out for 2 weeks at christmas. 1 day in Nov for Thanksgiving. 1 week she was sick and then 2 weeks for spring break. I dont mind paying for costumes as long as they look like the money went into them. ANd she didnt do any makeup classes. We will probably be looking into a different dance class next yr for youngest DD. oldest DD wants to play soccer and baseball. So I think we will try that

 

[etteluap70PC]

{{{Opinion alert!}}}

This is a big reason I do not have my daughter in dance. We do scouts and other activities that we feel is a good "bang for the buck" and she has fun at. I think the costs for these things are crazy

 

[Jennie4PC]

she will be doing baseball and soccer next yr. Wich will save me a bit of money =)

 

[chefsteph07]

we go with the school system so we were out for 2 weeks at christmas. 1 day in Nov for Thanksgiving. 1 week she was sick and then 2 weeks for spring break. I dont mind paying for costumes as long as they look like the money went into them. ANd she didnt do any makeup classes. We will probably be looking into a different dance class next yr for youngest DD. oldest DD wants to play soccer and baseball. So I think we will try that

If the studio was closed due to holiday and you are paying for sessions, then you have a right to make up that time, You pay for 4 weeks (or whenever the next billing cycle is, etc), you get 4 weeks of classes, or else the studio should pro rate you the weeks that were missed. Now of course, that is not the case for illness. I don't know for me if the real issue would be the costume, for me the real issue would be paying for sessions that you are not getting. I'd bring it up with the owner/manager.

 

[esavvymom]

You may wan tto approach it as a "just wondering about the billing cycles", since maybe as someone else mentioned, they've just divided the total cost into equal monthly payments...so maybe you aren't really paying for those 6 weeks you missed, but it just seems that way since it's divided.? Does that make sense??? Maybe it was actually $20 a week and you had 26 weeks of actual classes- so that's $520 total. Divided into 8 months- that's about $65 a month. But if it was only supposed to be $15 a week or $10 a week, then yes- you paid alot more than that. So to me, it would seem you really need to find out what the tuition cost really is and how it's calculated. Maybe ask what the cost of the classes are per week or something.It would be irritating- and I can see why you wouldn't be too happy for the $50 T-shirt. I wonder if part of that cost went to paying for the T-shirts/outfits to be made by someone, in addition to the cost of the clothes/material.