(Not sure why this is omitted from the BBB complaint # 94145268. Since then two emails and a voicemail have been ignored so I'm left assuming no one is going to say. I was trying to be a business too and The Sanctuary School, though closed, had at least already been a business. Anyway, this is what the complaint responses looked like at one point. I used documentation prepared for the credit card dispute because it was applicable, though obviously it didn't all fit.)
"COMPLAINT ACTIVITY REPORT Case # 94145268 BBB of Chicago & Northern Illinois
Consumer Info: Colvin, Catherine S. Business Info: The Sanctuary School of Therapeutic Massage and En
7928 Woodlyn, Apt. 107 799 Roosevelt Road Building 4, Suite 001
Woodridge, IL 60517 Glen Ellyn, IL 60137
630 808-9317 630 808-9317 630 790-3542
Location Involved: (Same as above)
Consumer's Original Complaint :
Supporting documentation is available upon request.
Rick and Connie Vrenios
The Sanctuary School and Reiki Council
799 Roosevelt Road , Building 4, Suite 001
Glen Ellyn , IL 60137
Attn: Rick Vrenios and Connie Vrenios of the Sanctuary School and Reiki Council
This is a second formal demand for the full and immediate refund of my $2000 down payment, being sent to you directly because:
1) of no response from you and attorney information remains unavailable
2) there is no enrollment agreement signed by me in your possession
3) on September 13th 2007 it was confirmed your school was issued a Cease and Desist letter from the ISBE in May 2007, yet in June 2007 my $2000 down payment was accepted and a loan application was prepared by Rick then signed by me to be submitted by Rick with TFC for a $7500 loan to pay the remainder of a $5500 massage program and additional classes. There was no other agreement. ISBE approved schools are listed here: http://www.isbe.state.il.us/pbvs
4) aside from my $2000 down payment, no receipt for anything was provided
5) certification by you is as worthless as part of a program not completed because you failed to submit a loan that would have allowed me to complete the 660-hour massage program
6) considering this incident, I already paid more than I should to be a platinum member of the Reiki Council's Inspired Living Community only to have my trust and commitment to you obliterated by you through misrepresentation of yourselves and your schools
7) Rick's email makes and cites false accusations, agreements and circumstances.
Allow me to present the issue as I understand it: Without an enrollment agreement or ISBE approved curriculum, you - Rick Vrenios and Connie Vrenios - accepted my $2000 down payment in June to submit a loan, referenced by both of you, then used my $2000 down payment without submitting the loan, and finally in Rick's August 2007 email refused to submit a loan you agreed to submit in June 2007. The $2000 down payment needs to be returned immediately.
Respectfully,
Catherine S. Colvin
cc: emailed and copy hand delivered to Connie at The Sanctuary School and Reiki Council
Consumer's Desired Resolution:
A full refund of a $2000 down payment provided for Rick to submit a loan with TFC to pay for a 660-hour massage therapy program and additional bodywork classes. Other than a very distorted email response on 08 03 07, Rick and Connie made no attempt to address this. An incomplete anatomy class holds not purpose for me, and though I've been told it shouldn't matter, I would be ashamed to inform the public I hold a Reiki certification provided by Rick Vrenios or Connie Vrenios.
BBB Processing
10/04/2007 web BBB Complaint Received by BBB
10/04/2007 dhh BBB Complaint Validated by BBB Operator
10/04/2007 otto EMAIL Send Acknowledgement to Consumer
10/04/2007 otto MAIL Inform Business of Complaint
10/16/2007 otto BBB No response to first notice to business
10/16/2007 otto MAIL Second Notice to Business
10/29/2007 otto BBB No Response received from Business on 2nd Notice
10/29/2007 otto EMAIL Consumer - Have You Heard From the Company
11/09/2007 WEB BBB INFORM CONSUMER NO RESPONSE FROM BUSINESS : The consumer indicated he/she was NOT directly contacted by the business
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Cardmember Service
Post Office Box 15298
Wilmington, DE 19850-5298
1-800-475-3366 ext 67596
Re: Response to Connie and RickVrenios’ response to this dispute
Attn: Tavia Laster, Financial Service Advisor
A specifically detailed response to Connie and Rick Vrenios’ documentation is as follows:
1) The AMTA Find A Therapist result is outdated.
2) Connie’s handwritten note does not indicate licensure and as a continuing education provider she has to be aware of that. To the best of my knowledge, Connie had no difficulty verifying my licensure status before I began taking classes. Connie’s note is an attempt to deceive those investigating this dispute by implying I am licensed when it’s easily confirmed I am not. If Connie is implying I am practicing without a license, then that is a separate issue to be addressed by licensing authorities and I will follow up accordingly.
3) Class times provided by Connie are inaccurate and include optional/non-class workshops that I was told were free and included with the Inspired Living Community membership which I paid for separately. I still have a receipt for that membership. None of the class attendance can be confirmed because there was no sign-in record. It could easily be said I was there when I was not or the opposite, just as tutoring is being claimed when it did not occur. There was no tutoring of any kind, not even for body mechanics which we all knew I needed desperately. Body mechanics for Class 6 was taught before I joined the class. Connie said I would “get it in the next class� though The Sanctuary School appears to have closed on October 26 2007 according to their website. Sent with this letter is a screenshot of that page. (Attachment 1) Note: It may be pertinent for those reading this response to know body mechanics teaches how to prevent self-injury and injury to clients. Though I’ve been told what it is, I did not have the body mechanics class at either massage therapy school (including the one that gave me the 600-hour certificate). Every massage therapist I’ve spoken with believes proper body mechanics is vital to health and longevity in the profession and correct treatment of clients.
4) There is no enrollment agreement.
5) Rick and Connie should not have accepted my $2000 down payment nor allowed me to take their program because they knew their curriculum was not ISBE approved and they knew they were closing their school before I would be able to take the “next class� Connie often referred to.
Rick and Connie received a letter from the ISBE to Cease and Desist in May 2007 because they had not renewed with the ISBE. Current ISBE approved schools are listed here http://www.isbe.state.il.us/pbvs/pdf/closed_schools.pdf . The curriculums at both schools were not approved when I began classes and both remain absent from the ISBE approved school curriculum list. It appears Connie and Rick believe my $2000 down payment and I could be abused simply because I had a 600-hour certification from another school. Though that should not have been a consideration for obvious reasons, I had also explained to them in our first discussions about the ethical concerns I had with the first school simply giving me my certification, more specifically I had not finished that first school’s massage program.
6) Prior documentation includes the unused loan application prepared by Rick which would have paid Connie and Rick in full while allowing me to complete the full 660-hour massage therapy program and additional advanced classes I believed I was paying for via the loan. Connie and Rick both represented to me that they were a legitimate school offering me a complete 660-hour massage program plus advanced classes and that all of it would be paid for by the loan that Rick or Connie chose not to submit. Rick and Connie’s actions and choices made the service they promised to provide through their instruction incomplete. At no time did they inform me my $2000 down payment would not be applied to the $7500 loan. If they had, I would have told them immediately that I would be unable to continue classes because the cash I had offered initially was no longer available.
7) It may also be a consideration that in May I offered to pay Rick and Connie for the $7500 program in full with cash before I began. Connie said that wasn’t a good idea but didn’t say why. In June, Connie and Rick said I could apply for a loan. Rick prepared the loan application, then in August 2007 refused to submit it after I asked to put things on hold because I still didn’t have the loan information.
8) Among other discrepancies in Connie and Rick’s documentation, there is an errant charge for a student clinic massage for $40. During a discussion Connie asked if I had had a full body massage and I said no. Connie then said all students were supposed to have a free student massage in the student clinic so we knew how a good massage should feel and have a good idea of how skilled we might also be once prepared to work in the student clinic. I also gave Connie a tip for that student that was not returned. Incidentally, this is the student who hurt my right hip but, according to Connie, was compelled to continue working on it after I said it hurt because she was psychic. I wrote it off because Connie had previously said this student was a close friend. A similar discussion about patients experiencing pain with TMJ during a facial massage had already occurred and was handled confrontationally by Connie. I didn’t think it would do any good to remind Connie of contrary statements she’d made in class about not repeating something that hurt someone.
What has become clear is Rick and Connie knew they were closing The Sanctuary School in October and there would be no “next class� though Connie kept referring to one. Closing their school may explain why Connie was putting me in every class possible and trying to use up my $2000 down payment without providing the full massage therapy program as originally agreed. I didn’t even have time to read through the enormous amount of materials they recommended before moving on to the next class. I still have books they suggested I buy and did with my own money separate from everything else.
Without an enrollment agreement perhaps Rick and Connie did not feel it is necessary to keep their obligation to me as a student; however, without an enrollment agreement their refund and other policies do not apply. The only agreement ever made between us was for the complete 660-hour massage program plus additional advanced classes. There was no agreement or any discussion about me taking only the classes that remained from ongoing class 6 (which had been 2.5 months in progress) or a partial program, now or ever.
Since Rick and Connie are unwilling, or possibly unable, to keep their agreement, it follows I should be equally relieved of responsibility to them. If we walk away from the matter at this point, I have only lost time, some money invested in a profession I’ve become completely jaded on after two substandard schools in a row and learned hard lessons about trusting people. I have nothing that belongs to Rick and Connie, so they lose nothing but the same time they provided to other students and a few single classes Connie said I had to take in order to “catch up� though that didn’t happen as she said it would.
I wanted so much to be part of their Inspired Living Community that I made myself available every time Connie asked for help with anything. I was careful not to take up their time unnecessarily or to be a burden or nuisance in any way possible. I helped them move things, clean the classroom and kitchen and for that brief time supported everything they did wholeheartedly.
Though I did think they were putting me at risk because of the loan not being submitted, I really believed that was going to work out and that Rick and Connie just needed a nudge to get organized and do things that would help keep their students. I say this because Connie complained about how expensive it was having such a small number of students. I thought they were just badly disorganized. I believed in them 100% until Rick’s email on August 3 2007. It was like petting a sweet, innocent bunny and finding out it was really a snake that had already bit you. Nothing left to do but deal pragmatically with the poison.
No school should be allowed to steal money or time from students as they did me. Rick and Connie's tossed salad of a curriculum not approved by the ISBE is about as functional as a hodge podge of vehicle parts in place of a new and complete vehicle. Rick and Connie seem to believe there’s no harm done just because I already had a 600-hour certificate, which only allows someone to obtain a license. But it shouldn’t matter how many c"
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