Thank you for all the interesting sharing and reviews. Definitely some great takeaways and what to watch out for. We all have experiences ranging from great to horrible. This is just one perspective - mine. Buyer beware. Know the pros and cons of what your getting into and exit when it has no value exchange for you.
1) It worked for a time for me, they're pricey.
2) Customer retention none existent. They were rude at times to certain customers who didn't fit their definition of 'ideal'
3) unfair wages. This really bothers me- they charge a lot per hour($120+) on private lesson and don't pay the staff a fair amount. At $120/hour I'll find a pro. I don't have all the facts but an instructor tells me it's minimum wage. Time to report them to labor law.
Most of us don't mind paying that amount if the instructor is fairly paid. AT $120+ per private lesson, I would have thought the instructor would make at least $25/hour + bonus for having X# of private lessons. I think the $70-80/hour is more reasonable. I shopped around and found other better value deals.
4) Also, not all instructors are made the same way - some are better than others no matter their weight or looks. Some instructors will burn your time with small talk so make sure you keep them on task to your goals, your paying them to teach dance not chit chat. I had to keep a franchise owner and dance instructor on point to what I wanted to achieve for the class. I was very specific on what we needed to work on in an hour (or less)I made sure he worked hard for his money with me. I want to do 4 things - that's 15 min for each goal.
5) I didn't care for the extra fees for themed dance events in their studio, which should have been discounted and have ability to invite friends and family to promote their business. To this point, they didn't really work hard on their business on new membership promos. This would have been one way to achieve this goal.
6)Value deal illusion. There was no way to just do group lessons, it was package deal or nothing. I would have to pay $1000+ for 10 private lessons to get the group classes for free (diminishing return here as you progress in your dancing). If you sign up as a couple you might get better value deal,but not for single and they were not helpful in pairing us up - we pay same amount for single as for couple, so they'd loose money on the deal if they paired the singles. Somewhere else at $75/hour, I'd get 10 lessons for $750 pp or per couple, not $1000+, with a partner thats $350 ea. Even with unlimited group class at AM which has diminishing return.
7) I originally got in since I could go to other AM in different states. I had a travelling job at the time which changed later. Life happens, I had other more pressing financial obligations and I couldn't dish out $1000+ for dancing.
I found plenty other dance events in the area to practice my dancing for a small fee ~$10 per event. Joining 3+ dance clubs was less than $100/year and I get discounts to many local dance events. Like many of you mentioned here in the threads - dance co-ops and your own social can be a better deal. Anyway, local dance events and other dance clubs was good enough for me, the goal was to continue at a more reasonable fee based on my availability and schedule not on AM's package, offer and schedule.
After awhile, I re-thought my dancing strategy and it clearly we were not on same page, so I stopped going and didn't renew.I flattened in their dance classes and it no longer offered the value exchange benefits for me. The variety of group lessons worked for awhile, until I found them too limiting and restricting to their studio. It was not enough for me but they would entice or tease the students just enough and pitching the 'you need to work on your private lessons for more '.
Some dances I am happy with group lessons for social club dancing and that's about it. AM do not offer consistency in weekly group classes which would have offered