I took my son to Murray Callan's for over 6 months and ultimately parted ways in a rather ugly manner. Originally, I wrote a scathing review of the school while I was still quite upset. In retrospect, I think it would be better off if I just give advice on how I think you can get the most out of the school and work with them amicably. Ultimately, my approach ended in frustration and a bitter exit from the school and my son is the one that suffers in the end.
My primary gripe with the school was their approach to customer service, particularly as it relates to missed classes. You purchase 8 classes at a time from the school. Those classes run twice a week at a fixed time over the course of four weeks. If you miss one or more classes during that time, you can make up only one of those classes on a friday or saturday. There aren't many makeup slots available and once you schedule one, you cannot reschedule. I think this policy was put in place to try and provide some type of makeup program without it becoming too costly for Murray Callan, but throughout our time there the policy caused a lot of friction. In the end, when my son had to miss classes because of a laceration that required stitches, the interactions I had with the staff and management resulted in us just leaving the school entirely. Angry, I wrote a number of blogs that denigrated the school, which quickly got the managements attention. To their credit, they tried to explain their policies to me, but we continued to disagree and we decided to leave. Also to their credit, they refunded two full sessions worth of tuition, which I did not expect.
My advice is this, do not get caught up in the makeup policy. Go in thinking that you're paying for 4 weeks of classes and to reserve that slot 4 weeks at a time. I got too caught up in what I still feel are self-serving policies on their behalf. Based on my experience, those policies are not going to change. But you can be happy at the school if you just accept that you are going to have a lot of missed classes you will never makeup. You can do classes ahead of time, but once again the onus is on you to do it. If you are someone that needs to feel you are getting every minute you've paid for, you are going to be frustrated at times. I just recommend letting it go.
Also, engage the teachers and ask about the instruction and your child's progress. The teachers never really filled me on what and why they were doing things, but I think if I had asked, they would have been happy to answer.
more