All-Star What Are You Responsible For When You Leave?

[afterdark]

If you are writing up guidelines, I am comfortable with: if the service is rendered, I should pay for it and if we had to quit, a 30 day cancelation notice would be required. On competition fees, I am comfortable with there being a date where they are no longer refundable...for example October. In general, I am used to all comp fees being collected b Oct. or Nov. I would not sign a contract that required payment of tuition for the entire year, even if we had to quit. I would never join a gym intending to quit, but things like injuries, job losses or other unexpected events would make me wary of signing a commitment with no 30 day out.

The gyms I have seen that use those contracts offer settlements for reasonable situations and even complete dismisall when moving or lay-offs, gyms don't want to end up in court.

 

[Mom Jeans]

There was a court case on Judge Judy about a gym in Northrn Calif, It was long time ago and I dont remember who was suing who, but the family left the gym. One of the things Judge Judy stated was that you can't charge for services that haven't already been rendered, like tuition. They went into other stuff like clothes, but I can't remember the details. The family won the case.

 

[tucknduck]

What Are You Responsible For When You Leave?

Taking out the garbage:cheering:

 

[cheerflyerz2]

For us we do put that in our contract that it is a commitment and we state all the fees up front so they already know what they have to pay and when. If they leave they will have to pay simply for the fact that we have to replace that person with someone else. Its not like we just pocket their money but we put it into the scholarship fund for talented athletes who get invited to replace someone who has left. This allows those athletes who cant afford allstars but come to the gym for tumbling or school team practice or possibly cheered 1 year but couldnt do it another year. We dont usually have people up and leave us mid season but it has happened and we have won our case. One time we actually had a girl get hurt and was unable to finish the season and we were going to work something out with them but they told us they understood she would have to be replaced and offered to pay a whole season for her replacement. Very loyal family to us. But really what I am saying is if they sign the contract then they dont have a problem and need to bite their tongue and finish the season. Parents seriously kill me these days letting their child quit something because their child had a bad practice. I am a firm believer in starting what you finish. If you start with a gym then finish. We even have kids wanting to come to us from other gyms mid season and we dont tell them just to up and leave we encourage them to finish the year. It is just the right thing to do.

 

[drewpate]

We have a quit fee that depends upon the time of the year, idk exactly how it is structured but until the last month or so it is still cheaper to quit than it is to cheer, but its a sizeable enough amount ot make you think twice about quitting.

 

[FierceinTeal]

LMAO! No, never heard of this.. i wonder who would do something like this!

I thought it was pretty crazy too. They are a new gym that just opened and when I asked the reasoning they said it was because "They are a small gym, so when someone quits they have to bring in someone from outside they gym to fill the spot and the person would need all of these things"

 

[TwistersPride]

I thought it was pretty crazy too. They are a new gym that just opened and when I asked the reasoning they said it was because "They are a small gym, so when someone quits they have to bring in someone from outside they gym to fill the spot and the person would need all of these things"

so my first thought reading this- what are the chances that the girl who quit and the new person they are pulling in are the same size? ;)

 

[gymncheercoach]

The reason I ask is I've recently seen a gym's contract which states that all fees for the entire season are owed if you leave at any point.

Most of the gyms in our area have this type of contract. Their reasoning is that they have to find a replacement and they can't expect a replacement to be able to come up with the fees for the remainder of the season so quickly when they are doing them a favor by filling in. Problem is- they have been known to still charge the replacement the fees in full even though they hold the previous family financially responsible for the season. They have taken families to court and they lost. The judge stated they did not owe for services they didn't receive (as in competitions they didn't attend, classes they did not attend, etc.)

 

[NJ Coach]

My question is if someone quits now....yes they signed a contract, but the season is literally a few weeks old, they're still responsible for tuition for the entire season? It's June, how can I be held responsible for March?

 

[cheergirlbrey]

As a mom who enforces finish what you start I feel that once choreography starts that is the "official" season and monies from that point on are due to the team. Teams often get their numbers for the season by the number of athletes. You have made a commitment to other families and cheer fees are broken down per cheerleader. If one leaves then the other parent numbers could change....would you want to cover the difference. Its not a replacements fault someone left and they shouldn't pay the difference either. As for tuition...isn't that what actually pays the gyms bills? If 10 kids leave and have no tuition recourse wouldn't that effect your overhead?

S/n hope that all makes sense, im exhausted lol

 

[cheergirlbrey]

However I do feel that in the instance of military or far job transfer with proper proof exceptions could be made as really that is not usually a choice and don't happen often.

 

[Keep_Believing]

At our gym if you quit and decide you want to come back next year then you have to pay all unpaid fees (comp. fees you didn't finish paying) and you have to pay all new fees for the new season upfront (comp., music, choreography camp, etc.). I understand why they do this. But, it is definitely an exppensive mistake to make.

 

[emmabug95]

I know of a program that expects you to pay everything you committed to regardless of when you leave. They make you sign a contract and they have SUED people before. Talk about driving away business :eek:

That's a little ridiculous. Say an athlete has to quit for financial reasons, and they can't afford cheer anymore.. then what?

 

[Underestimated]

I thought it was pretty crazy too. They are a new gym that just opened and when I asked the reasoning they said it was because "They are a small gym, so when someone quits they have to bring in someone from outside they gym to fill the spot and the person would need all of these things"

sounds like the wont be open for to long

 

[cupieqt]

At tryouts, each athlete pays a $50 family registration fee. It's an annual fee so even returners pay it. It's non-refundable unless you don't make a team (and then we push them into rec classes so it's still not really refunded). It weeds out the riff-raff straight away--you know, the kid that absolutely cannot afford it but spent the night with their cousin and her cousin's friend said "I have tryouts you should try out too", so they came along just to see what it's about and her mom has no idea she's even there.....
After tryouts, we hold a parent meeting during the first practice and outline all of the expenses and what they'll be responsible for during the year. We do have penalties for quitting. In a nutshell, all payments are still due AND you'll owe a $200 quit fee to cover the work needed for finding a replacement or re-working the routine. This is done for several reasons. One, we budget our season and calculate our payments based on the amount of athletes in the program. Two, we usually get 2 or 3 people that don't realize the costs until the meeting and they know then that there is no way they can comfortably assume that responsibility and bow out before signing up. This is a blessing people! If they know that they can't afford to pay for it at all if their fundraisers can't, they should NOT say they can/will and sign up--that's just idiotic. If you can't meet the terms of any contract you sign, you risk being sued.
There is very little cushion in our budget, in order to keep everyone's expenses down, but if you accept a spot on our team and sign the contract (which details the costs and states you are aware of your financial commitment) then you have to pay what you agreed to pay. Now, if the athlete has to quit at any time due to a season ending injury or relocation, all fees are waived and any money we've collected but haven't paid out is refunded. ALSO, I will make exceptions for early quitters with hardship cases (like a sibling/family member being ill or a house burning down) that occur unexpectedly and I will waive fees, and even give refunds, up until choreography camp. After that you're locked in to paying because at that point all of the money is being spent quickly and you may owe us beyond what you've paid in already--ex: we've paid for 3 comps and you quit 2 days before the first...you won't be refunded any of that money b/c we won't be refunded by the EP's. We DO give back comp fees that we haven't paid out and you don't attend, but everything else has already been allotted to pay for something. And anything you pay for, you keep. Apparel, a copy of the music, etc.
The fact is, this is a business and we have bills to pay and the way we do that is with the money you promised to pay when you signed our contract. We are strict on collection at my gym--"No Pay, No Play"--and we are a solid business that is thriving because of it. We're 12 years old so we have come to this contract by many years of trial and error, countless workshops and yearly tweaks and adjustments.

On a side note, we have sued and won a couple of cases but we don't like having to do it. It only makes people mad if they are the ones being sued so I don't see how that would drive away business--it would be bad business to sue our paying customers so I agree to an extent. I don't mind driving away freeloaders though, so if that's the risk I have to take to make sure everyone get's paid, then I guess I'll just have to chance it. At least we will go out of business debt free....