Seattle Tae Kwon Do

I wanted to update, after receiving multiple messages from Unilocal users who are experiencing the same thing I did with Brandon Richards. Here’s what ended up happening: I filed a claim with BBB, which Brandon Richards never responded to. He’s smart enough not to actually be accredited with BBB so he doesn’t have to be held to any standard or consequences. However, I did receive a letter from Richards claiming that if I would remove my negative reviews of Seattle Tae Kwon Do from Unilocal and Yahoo that he would «forgive my debt» (he refused to acknowledge my certified letter of cancellation and continued to charge me, which I didn’t pay). I wanted to make sure that you know, if he (or anyone) EVER bribes /​pays/​threatens/​extorts you to remove a bad review that it is NOT LEGAL and you need to contact Unilocal support immediately. (
). Bottom line: DON’T GIVE IN to intimidation and threats from Richards. He is the shadiest business man I’ve ever encountered and I would recommend getting legal help or even police involved.

And NOW a good friend is going through financial hardship and moving out of state and he won’t let her out of her contract even though the contract says specifically if you move 25 miles away you can break it. This guy is just out to ruin his own business…

I hope this will help someone not to join this school and find somewhere else. please do yourself a favor and stay away.
just like many other reviews. this place shouldn’t be allowed to operate. shame because the teachers are good with kids but the owner has no idea how to run a business and doesn’t care at all if you end hated his school and never came back as long as he can charge you.
finally, karma is eventually going to catch up with him.

Yep, just came here to add another 1 star rating. The guy that runs this place is a shark. The fine print in the contract is worded perfectly to get you stuck into it. I had to get a lawyer to get out of it.
There’s a reason he’s driving a hummer around.

Very bad experience, no customer service what so ever, I had one accident when the owner didn’t allow my 7 years old son to go to class, becuase we were late trying to figure out the time of the practice, when I called the owner, he put me on hold for 8 minutes and the then hang up on me without an answer. I decided to go to go to the center to check out the class, I droped my son, then he went back crying becuase of the way he was treated and was about to cross the street by him self to get to the car, OMG, it was one of the horrifying experience of my life. No parking spaces avialabe, small waiting room for perents, expensive compareing to other centers. Not recomemded!

I was working out upstairs at Fitness 19 and one of the employees of Seattle Tae Kwon Do came to the front of the gym and started recording people exercising. There are men women and minors working out in here and he made everyone feel very uncomfortable, this has happened twice that I have witnessed. One of the employees asked him to stop and he became confrontational but did leave after a couple words were exchanged. Im certain parents would want their kids to exercise without having to worry about someone recording them through a window especially not knowing what will be done with the recording.

They’re around the corner from Fitness 19.
I tried out their 3 months special that was available on Amazon Local. I must say, their Thai kickboxing classes were fun and energizing. It gave me a good excuse to get off my bum (whether office chair or couch at home) and enjoy being active once again!
Parking may get pretty packed, I would advise to come early. That will also give you time to do more stretching before the class starts. Everyone from Beginners to Intermediate worked together, I have never gone to any martial arts class before and as a first timer — my experience was great!

Despite a cease and desist order from atty, this business is charging for services not provided every month. Thankfully my bank is onto this business and is tracking accordingly.

I’m a big Unilocal user, but never felt the need to sign up and write a review until I experienced the poor and unethical business practices of this company. We had a positive experience with the initial training and classes (good instructors), but with school, homework, and other activities, this was simply too much for our young daughter, and she was too tired to make all the classes, and I wasn’t going to force it. Because she didn’t attend the required number of classes within the initial time period, they wouldn’t let us out of the contract. I would have been glad to pay for the classes she didn’t attend, but they demanded payment for a full year — despite our only going to a few classes over the course of one month.
Our attorney wrote them a letter regarding the contract not being legal in terms of requiring a child to participate in an activity, which they ignored. I didn’t want to go to court, though we could. We put a block on their charges through our bank, but the charges kept coming and needing to be reversed, as according to our bank, STKD changes to a different credit card terminal and/​or merchant name to get around the stop-​pay. Even Chase bank has commented on the clever trickery of this company. Someone not as determined or aware of their finances could really be taken to the cleaners. It’s really so unfortunate, as I might have considered going back when our daughter got older due to the good instruction, but would never recommend the business.

Rude owner, poor billing practices, shady sales tactics, zero integrity. Your child is better off enrolling in fitness 19 around the corner and working with a trainer or taking the classes. Maybe even Brazilian jiu-​jitsu its a style that teaches integrity and doesn’t have wierd titles like «MASTER». At least whomever is the instructor will be in shape and someone with integrity you wouldn’t mind having around your child.

Terrible business man, high pressure sales, contracts that automatically renew even if you nerer attend. You cannot get out of contract, martial arts is about respect and dignity not self service and lies and threats. Terrible BBB rating and lots of law suits. Fancy hummer or not. He is not a kind business man. Wolf in sheeps clothing!

Unfortunately, I agree 100% with all the others above, it’s very sad as the instructors are great. We felt 0 respect from Master Richards, and I thought that was part of what Taekwondo teaches. Cancelled our contract the correct way and paid 30 days extra and still he sends us a collection notice! BBB will help us though! And if anyone has any suggestions, let me know. Thanks!

Ouch. A few months into our contract our job hours changed now making it really hard to get our child to class. Because that doesn’t fall into the few reasons for getting out of a contract, we’re stuck. Do not sign a contract with them unless you know exactly how your life might change. After asking for an exception the only response we got was a copy of our agreement in the mail. No discussion could be made, no options for ways we could work out a compromise. We now have to pay for services we’re not getting all because our jobs changed. So, my goal is to now to warn others of this place. Oh, and this is a secondary written request to not automatically renew our contract.

Run away. Do not join this organization. They will have you sign a lengthy contract that «automatically» renews without your knowledge and they try to keep you locked in for another year. If you try to get out, the owner says you are defaulted and you will have a collection agency contact you. There are laws that protect consumers against small businesses writing lengthy contracts and then deceiving the consumer. Please feel free to contact me if you experience the same situation.

The behavior of the owner of this business totally changed when the contract was up for renewal. Mr. Richards became rude, abusive, and obnoxious when all I was trying to do was explain that I didn’t have the time or money to commit to another long term contract during these difficult economic times. The experience went from positive (the instructors) to terribly negative in two minutes. I would give 0 stars if I could!
STAY AWAY!

We had a very frustrating experience with this place. We bought the living social deal, 2 months unlimited for $ 50. Checked out their website, no mention of price except a summer offer of 3 months for $ 99. We called and mentioned we had bought the living social deal and wanted to register, made an appointment and headed in. Once there, they make you answer this questionnaire. On the questionnaire they ask if you can pay $ 150 a month for martial arts, to which I replied I would have to go back over our budget and see, wasn’t sure, that would be a lot of money a month for us… they told me they wouldn’t redeem my deal unless I answered yes. This was not in the fine print of the living social deal! This does not seem forthcoming to me at all. We left offended. Livingsocial was great about it, refunded my money and have forwarded on the issue to their merchant services team.

I only wished I’d read the reviews BEFORE trying them out. Quit months ago and guess what? Still charging my account now that the 8 month contract is up.

My Son has gone to Seattle Tae Kwon Do for almost two years now. They teach respect, self confidence, commitment and hard work. The instructors are all fabulous. You can tell they love the kids. I’ve seen tremedous growth in my son’s approach to life and the skills he learns at Seattle Tae Kwon Do are a huge part of that!

My stepdaughter’s experience was identical to Patrick K’s description. My wife ended out of a big chunk of money due to similar high pressure manipulative practices.

Don’t enter into any type of contract. Any school /​training worth attending will give you two months for free and not try the hard sell nor push the uniform.
Experience with this gentleman has been dodgy through and through. Even when working to get out of the first 8 month agreement in writing and now he says the paperwork hadn’t been received although it was provided to a representative in person at their location.
Now the 8 month agreement rolls into a new 12 month agreement at $ 1500.