Zi Wei Lim
This is the first time I've had such an unpleasant experience that I feel the need to write a review and express my thoughts. My daughter wanted a change of environment, so she requested to go to a tuition center for group learning instead of home tutoring. We chose Tampines Confucius because it’s near our home. I went to the counter to check the availability of lessons and was told by the counter lady that most of the time slots were filled. My daughter was put on the waiting list with another student. They told me they would start the class once the third student registered. I clearly remember how confident the lady was, telling me “很快的，每次课程都满” (*don’t worry, the slots fill up really quick*). We were asked to pay for credits for 5 lessons, registration fees, and a $200 deposit, which we did. Two weeks later, I received a WhatsApp message stating that they would start the class. Since our lessons began in mid-February, I was told to credit one outstanding lesson fee for March, as we would be using 2 credits in February and 4 lessons in March. And so I did. On the first lesson, I was shocked to find that my daughter was the only person in the group class. Upon checking with another counter girl, I was told that no other students had signed up for that particular class. I felt upset because I changed my work schedule to send my daughter for that time slot and even cancelled the convenience of home tutoring for this group class. But we ended up with a one-on-one class again. All this hassle, for nothing. I was told by the young lady that we could change our time slot to a weekend morning class, as they still had available slots. And guess what? There were only two students in the morning class. The lady who served me the other day was obviously misleading me. I received a call from her the next day, and she said it was a miscommunication, as she meant other subjects were full, not the Confucius classes. Not wanting to debate, I just listened to her explanations and ended the call. After the second lesson, my daughter decided to change her "private" class to the weekend morning group. I informed the center right away, as I didn't want to cause any inconvenience. I was told again to pay one outstanding fee for the weekend class, as there are 5 weekends in March. However, this time, I didn't agree. My daughter had already taken her lesson in the last week of February, and the first weekend lesson started in March, which fell on the same week. I was told by the center that she would need to take two lessons that week. So my question is, if I had informed them after the first weekend class, my daughter wouldn't have needed to attend two lessons in a week, right? They insisted we had to do 2 lessons that week and repeatedly asked for the payment. As I'm not really comfortable with such services, I told them I just wanted to finish the remaining 4 credits and withdraw my daughter from the center. I also told them we would not be topping up for the 5th lesson, as we would only be attending 4 lessons in March. They insisted again that we had to pay for the extra lessons, as we needed to serve the 30-day notice. They pressed on and mentioned a 5% penalty fee if payment was not made on time. The whole experience is rather forceful, which explains the pathetic number of students in their group classes. It seems like a hit-and-run business. PS: The group class teacher wasn't informed about anything when my daughter joined their lesson. It shows a lot.
