Three Tigers Martial Arts

A good thing gone BAD!
Joining this school started out to be a very positive experience for my child. A few years ago the staff was incredibly good and Master Pitassi had more of a hands on approach to running things. When all of the good instructors began bailing out, we should have known something was up.
With the recent move to new facilities came new instructors and staff. Most of the structure quickly changed and the school went from being about instruction to being about income. Rapid expansion meant larger class sizes and it was easy for young children not in the vaunted «black belt club» or the «Elite» programs to get lost in the shuffle. If you express reservations about this, they encourage you to join those other programs. It’s sold as being slightly more expensive but «worth every penny! After all you are not just enrolling in programs you are making a commitment to your child’s development».
As things got progressively worse, we expressed our dissatisfaction with several issues. We also asked to switch to one of the less crowded facilities (Belleville) that was closer to our house. We were encouraged not to move, and then eventually told that we couldn’t unless we had permission from one of the head instructors. Everything associated to this place went from being a pleasure, to an extreme hassle. It went from talking directly to the owner prior to enrollment, to never being allowed to speak to anyone other than the business manager.
A word to the wise… read EVERYTHING that they give you to sign VERY CAREFULLY. You are signing a CONTRACT that they WILL NOT negotiate to let you out of. There is no opt out, buy out, or way out. You will pay unless you can prove disability/​Injury or a household move of more than 25 miles.
Shortly after our problems began, we contacted the management and explained a drastic change to our household income that made it so we could no longer afford to participate. It DIDN’T MATTER! So much for being sympathetic to the struggles of today’s economy and sympathetic to military families despite being «veteran owned and operated».
Look at who they associate themselves with:
The billing agency that they use (ASF International) gets an F from the Better Business Bureau and has 255 complaints filed against them in multiple states. Please – PLEASE – do your homework. Don’t be like us and have to fight this after the fact.
I am committed to doing all that I can to pass the word about this place and their terrible business practices. Word of mouth goes a long way and from what I have learned in the last month, I’m not the only one that has less than stellar things to say about 3 Tigers.
Don’t believe me or want more information. Contact me.

My son was a student at THIS school, (Swansea, IL) for approximately 4 years until we moved. (The link the prior poster listed is for the Belleville school.) He received wonderful instruction and loved attending. Penny, the owner, strived to ensure her students were trained to meet life’s obstacles, from self-​control issues to bullying. The only reason I gave 4 stars instead of 5 is that some of the junior instructors needed to continue to work on their children skills. I saw improvement in every junior instructor. Working with young children takes time and not everyone is a natural. Their lead instructor was FANTASTIC!