Reviews of World Karate FIT Centre The

As with any membership agreement you should always read the fine print, and every fitness club uses this term in place of a contract now, please be aware. It's considered a "soft-sell" commitment. Like any good sales person, the tactic used is to take advantage of your interest, build on it, make you think it was your idea, then CLOSE, and on to the next one. There are most certainly hidden fees. Anything outside of a normal training night is extra, this includes movie nights, belt gradings (fee increases every time you "rank up"), etc. .. and pressure tactics to push you into the leadership programs by threatening a halt in rank progression, by saying things like "you owe this to yourself. ..don't you want to be the best you, and succeed", if further action to "save" a member is required, a one-on-one meeting is scheduled with the Kyoshi himself, where he then proceeds to interview the child/adult, and exploit self-doubt, and remind the individual that they have made a commitment, not only to them, but on the dotted line as well :) . Did I mention all of these hidden costs, including belt gradings are accepted in the form of cash only**. Someone just may be trying to sweep additional revenues under the tax-man's rug. Aside from all of this, my experience working their was degrading, he, John Leroux actually said "I can't teach you how to think", accused me of having an eating disorder, to lose weight, and him and his wife bullied me daily, and made me to feel very unwelcome, even early on. I understand that the philosophy of Karate is that you have to break down an individual before you can build them up, but I refuse to believe insulting intelligence, and rambling off possible disorders, is the way to do it. Having said all of this they are very skilled themselves in the art of Karate and martial arts, but I believe you can get quality instruction with a transparent pricing structure elsewhere. Please continue to read reviews and the fine print!

John Leroux cares about cash. He wants yours. You will have a very, very difficult time getting out of your contract, no matter the situation. For someone who teaches the strengths of inner-balance he sure likes to throws tantrums! He'll scream, curse, throws things and trash his office, right before teaching. Oh, and he rarely trains himself. He also doesn't believe in giving his employees any discounts on anything.

The pressure techniques used to get you into an overpriced 3 year "leadership" contract exceed the rudeness of the worst car dealers. You have to pay even if you quit.

There are A LOT of other hidden fees.

It took 4 years for my son to get to the green belt while in other centers he would have been at brown belt.

He kicked parents out of his office because they had the courage to confront him.

AVOID

Signed my son up for this place. It was one of the students who signed him up for the "6 month membership." They rotate themes monthly so in the 6 months, the kids get a wide variety of experience. SO, sure sounds nice UNTIL...you call to cancel the "membership." Oh wait, now, it's a CONTRACT! Never once was the term contract used, nor was it pointed out to me that I was signing into a contract. Called to cancel because of sudden financial hardship and John Leroux had the nerve to say to me "If you have the money, I suggest you put it on your credit card and pay." He added "The good part about that is that it will be considered a payment on your credit card..." as if I wasn't competent enough to know how my credit card works. Rude and arrogant little son of a B. I've pulled my son out, of course the money thirsty place it is, is still taking the money off my credit card. They have ZERO understanding. DO NOT GO HERE. You've been warned.

My teenage son attended for nearly two years... John Leroux himself rarely teaches class. He instead uses senior dojo members to teach the classes which they do for no pay by the way. Think of that scam... you do nothing and you get your senior clients to teach the junior clients and you don't have to pay them a cent.

Anyway, back on track... the Karate being taught is not that great. Students are moved along through the belt grading system, whether they are skilled or not, with applicable belt graduation fees $$$ of course. What a scam!

Finally, when we fell on very hard financial time, I asked if he could forgo the contract and let us leave. Absolute not, we had to continue to over $200 a month for another five months.

His whole business is geared toward scamming people. Please don't patronise this business.

Employee