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Dear Ms. Mullen;
With regard to Case #94145268, this has been a perfect example of “no good deed goes unpunished.” The last six months have been a sad and painful hurricane of false accusations and damaging lies against us. In fact, as late as November 14, we received additional information from our credit card processing company that clearly shows significant contradictions to her story on many points.
Ms. Colvin has engaged in what I believe to be collusion/conspiracy to cause damage, tortious interference with business activities, consumer fraud, and practicing without a license. She is attempting to use the good intentioned organizations, the internet, and word of mouth to receive the education we have provided in good faith at no cost by filing a flurry of false complaints with every agency she can think of in an attempt to force us to return the money we earned.
It is important to note that we are not the first massage therapy school that Ms. Colvin has attacked in this sort of campaign of personal destruction. Four years have passed since she graduated, and yet, instead of putting her energy into studying for the licensing exam with the multitude of available exam review books, she continues to maliciously attack the credibility of that school. Ms. Colvin is fully qualified to sit for the licensing exam any time she chooses.
Our History of Extraordinary Success
While anyone in our position would want to emphasize the good traits, we won’t attempt to portray ourselves as “perfect”. But, our verifiable statistics speak volumes. Where some local massage schools have student drop out rates of up to 52%, the Sanctuary School had a 93.75% graduation rate over the course of its entire life!
The state licensing exam for massage therapy in Illinois and many other states is also the National Certification Exam for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork, an advanced certification exam. The state average first-try pass rate is 66%, and the national average is 68%. The graduates of the Sanctuary School enjoy a 100% pass rate with only one graduate requiring a second attempt to pass. We were able to give quality education at a reasonable cost.
Connie and I have been teaching in this field for nearly 23 years without a single complaint filed against us until Ms. Colvin. Our reputation stretches internationally and people have sought our courses from every state and from 16 foreign countries. And we have been invited to teach or speak in Europe and Australia.
Fully Credentialed Education Providers
In late March, Connie and I decided to begin the process of closing the school to allow us to redirect our energies back to our first loves as authors, professional speakers, and therapists. Our certificate to operate issued by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) officially expired on July 1, 2007. Because we intended to close at the graduation of our last classes, the ISBE granted a “teach out”. We had four months beyond the expiration of our certificate to complete all of the courses for all our existing students. Because the last two classes had very low enrollment (3 and 4 students in a program designed for 18), both the students and the ISBE agreed that we would accelerate the program. Instead of graduating in December, they all successfully graduated on October 26th.
In addition, the Reiki Council is our primary organization, and it is fully credentialed as a continuing education provider by the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork. As a result of that status, our courses are accepted by the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation (ILDPR) as a continuing education provider for massage therapists toward licensing renewal. Our courses are accepted as continuing education for licensing renewal in many other states as well. The ILDPR help desk has consistently stated that continuing education providers do not need to be ISBE approved.
The Reiki Council is also a membership organization. Under state law, “in house education” (education presented for members, or educators hired by a company to teach staff) is not required to be under the jurisdiction of the ISBE. Ms. Colvin was a member and therefore fell under this category as well.
A Very Sick Woman
In the two months she was here working with us, Ms. Colvin stated that she either has or had at least thirteen major physical and mental health issues. As one student stated, “We went outside together on a break. By the time she had listed off the seventh or eighth major disease, I knew she was a nutcase.”
Whether these are real or the result of imagination stemming from her mental illness, she is, in our opinion, a very sick woman who needs serious help.
Not An Enrolled Student
Ms. Colvin was not enrolled as a student in the massage program. She confirms she did not sign an enrollment agreement. She was not issued a student ID card, and she was presented as a guest to students who allowed her to sit in on their classes for review. She was here for tutoring with the intention of attending our other courses for continuing education. To keep her costs down, we offered her the ability to sit in on classes so her review in both classroom and private tutoring would cost a very inexpensive $11.36 per hour versus our standard $75 per hour for private tutoring.
Ms. Colvin was very specific that she wanted her license in hand by October. On one of her blogs, she states:
October was my goal from the very first and all discussions. At no time was I led to believe being licensed by October was an unreasonable goal.
The licensure process includes applying for authorization to attempt the licensing exam. This can require several weeks just to be scheduled for the exam. Upon successful completion of the exam, she would need to be fingerprinted for a criminal background check, complete the licensure application, submit it, and wait for the license to be granted and issued. The entire process requires 6-12 weeks. That means that she would need to apply for the exam no later than August 15th to ensure any hope of having her license in hand by the beginning or early part of October. She was here from June 4th to July 22nd before voluntarily stopping her tutoring agreement in front of three student witnesses.
Her down payment was received on June 13, 2007. On June 19 and 21, 2007, she had already changed the plan we established. She decided to attend our licensing exam review class to see if she was ready to attempt the exam immediately. This class was presented for the students graduating on June 22, 2007. Clearly, she was here to pass the exam as quickly as possible, and not to be educated as a “new student” graduating on December 22, 2007 as she claims in writing in some versions of her story.
In her rebuttal to the credit card company dated November 8, 2007, she said she was “scammed” by us because she didn’t get her license in October. There is a vast difference between what is reasonable and actual performance. We would never guarantee anyone a license because it can be denied for many reasons outside our control. Bear in mind, Ms. Colvin had presented us with a transcript that stated she had completed a 600-hour massage therapy program with straight A’s. A 2-1/2 month review of anatomy, pathology, and massage techniques for someone having already completed a full training as a refresher to prepare for the exam was certainly not unreasonable.
I can fax the copy of her transcript from the first school if you wish to review it.
The “Loan” Was Not A Loan
This point is the crux of her entire issue. Unfortunately for her, it is a completely false allegation. The Sanctuary School does not offer student loans and it never has. We do not advertise, nor have we ever advertised, that we offer student loans.
We have a relationship with TFC Credit Corp. This company does offer student loan programs to some schools and with other schools such as ours, they offer structured payment plans. TFC contracted with us to provide structured payment plans, and in this agreement we receive no money as a “cash advance” on student contracts from TFC. TFC manages the student payments as an alternative to payments made directly to the school. We used TFC for only a few students whose payment agreement extended beyond the date of course completion, because TFC would provide the billing services and if necessary, they would provide collection services in the event the student failed to pay after receiving a diploma and transcript or in Ms. Colvin's case, certificates of completion for workshops from us.
As TFC confirms in their letter dated 11/19/07, “All down payments that are paid at the time of signing a note stay with the seller and come off the top of the principle amount on the note, before it is sent to TFC.” We did not “misappropriate funds” as she claims. The down payment represented the financial resources required to cover the costs of providing the services she hired us to perform.
To put this in context, Ms. Colvin wanted a 36 month payment plan because she wanted a package deal – tutoring and review to pass the exam and then proceeding with continuing education by attending all the unique classes we offer in our standard massage program. That means that we would receive $172.35 per month for teaching her. The cost of purchasing textbooks alone was $250. Then, the office rent, instructor salaries, utilities, administration salaries, insurance, and more far exceeds $172.35 per month. The down payment covers the initial costs.
She was presented with three options, $1000, $1500, and $2000 down payment. Within that, she was able to determine the number of months to extend the payments, 12, 24, or 36 months. The combination of down payment and number of months determined the interest rate assessed to cover the costs of TFC managing her account. I can fax you the exact documentation that she was shown. At any time, she could pay off the note without penalty to save the interest.
She claims in writing in a new version of the story that she originally offered to pay $7500 in full, up front. That never happened. We offer a significant discount for those who wish to prepay classes as an incentive for students with the resources to do so. We’ve had many people use this option, and, for us, it is the preferred payment method.
One glaring issue is that Ms. Colvin sent us a letter. I responded to the letter indicating that we understood that she was not continuing so it would be inappropriate to contract her to a payment plan for the future continuing education classes. Instead of saying that I understood incorrectly and she wanted to continue, she immediately affirmed that she would not continue. If this was a misunderstanding and she wanted to continue, she would have asked to continue.
Attended Classes and Confirms the Value Being Received
On July 17, 2007, Ms. Colvin had a “melt down” in class in front of Connie and three students who were enrolled in the massage program. After weeks of practicing Swedish Massage following a step-by-step protocol, Ms. Colvin (who had already completed a full massage training program and should have been reasonably comfortable with this) and the three students were asked to try giving a massage intuitively – no formal instructions. She became anxious, visibly disturbed, and began staggering as she tried to think of what to do. She had an emotional melt down, calling Connie a liar because Connie suggested starting somewhere else on the body. Ms. Colvin exploded emotionally and stormed out of the room in front of three student witnesses. The three students unanimously requested that Ms. Colvin not be allowed to return to their class.
On July 19th, Ms. Colvin left a typed letter (I can submit that by fax) that indicated that she was not sure if she was still welcome back, but that she definitely owes us for the classes she had been taking. With that letter, she acknowledges her understanding that her behavior and emotional outburst was unacceptable and was clear cause for dismissal.
After Dropping from Core Review Sessions, She Attends Continuing Ed Classes!
Because we were still willing to help her, we kept the doors open to future classes. I can fax you her transcript outlining her continuing education activities. She voluntarily dropped from her Anatomy & Physiology and Swedish Massage review, and she continued to attend continuing education courses on July 21-22 and was registered to attend another continuing education course on July 28-29, but on July 27, notified us she would post-pone her participation until another offering of the course because she was moving to a new home that weekend.
Inappropriate Behavior
While there are many other examples of inappropriate behavior aside from the episode listed above, Ms. Colvin treated her time in the classroom and in private tutoring sessions as a forum in which to discuss her needs, her issues, and her experiences. She did not respect the rights of others to have a differing opinion or to engage in the same sort of personal discussion about their own needs and issues. It was a constant challenge to keep her on course so that we could use our time productively.
A Clear Pattern of Deceit
Ms. Colvin reconfigures the facts to suit the current explanation of the situation. In the interests of being as concise as possible, I will not inundate you with pages and pages of examples, although I certainly can if you like.
As quoted above, she states in her blog that she was insistent that she have her license in October. In her August 6, 2007 letter to the three students in the class she was reviewing along side, she contradicts herself writing that she intended to attend the entire course from beginning to end.
This is important: She presented us with a transcript indicating that she had completed a 600-hour massage program with straight A’s. This information was the basis of our decision to accept her for tutoring. Had she been a new student, she would have been turned away per the agreement with the ISBE. Then, she informs her credit card company a new version of the story in which she now claims that she never completed the program at the first school and that she was not skilled to practice massage.
She wants us to believe in this new version of the story that the school just gave her a transcript with straight A’s stating she had passed the course without having completed the six-month program. The only reason I can imagine a school doing this is if she were such a liability in class, they threw her out for the safety of other students. Or, she was creating so much turmoil that it was a way of pacifying her anger. This version of the story means that Ms. Colvin knowingly misled the Sanctuary School and the American Massage Therapy Association by claiming that she was professionally qualified by completing a minimum 500-hour program when she had not done so.
She claims that she was ill-equipped to practice massage, but she is active on Indeed.com presenting herself as a professional therapist, describing her massage therapy experience in spa and outcall service work, and she is advising practitioners on wage issues, union issues, therapy styles, etc.
She then writes to her credit card company that she is not competent to practice; yet she is advertising illegally and has a private office. The advertisement has been removed by the AMTA after we reported the illegal ad to the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation, but I can fax you a copy of a fairly recent print out prior to its removal.
She writes in her credit card dispute rebuttal that the company should not be concerned about the illegal advertisement. We believe that indisputable evidence of Ms. Colvin actively engaging in consumer fraud and practicing without a license certainly should have bearing on her credibility in this related dispute.
She claims that we told her to post the advertisement on the American Massage Therapy Association’s web site, but that is a vicious lie attempting to wriggle out of the legal problems that she created for herself. Because we don’t agree with the politics of the AMTA, we steer all of our students to a different association, the ABMP. She was already a member of the AMTA. She submitted a copy of her 2004 AMTA Membership card when she began with us. Apparently, she's been a member for a long time.
We tell all of our students that they should practice on friends and family (homework) and that they can accept voluntary gratuities. But, we also tell them they are required to identify themselves as a student in every session, not misrepresent themselves as a professional, and that they can not charge a fee for the sessions. You need only look at the behavior of every other student from our school to see that we are clear about this. I can fax you a business card of one of our students. Ms. Colvin made no attempt in her advertisement to convey that she was a student. To the contrary, she indicated that customers can purchase gift certificates and that she does outcalls.
She writes on Indeed.com and she recommends that students join a massage association and list themselves on the Find A Therapist pages to get work. Not only is she advertising illegally, but she is advising others to engage in the same illegal activity!
She placed this illegal advertisement on the AMTA Find A Therapist pages, and then blames the AMTA for “allowing her to renew her membership.” She denies any responsibility in the matter.
As a school, we had 15 massage tables. At our fullest enrollment, only 7 were in use in our primary classroom. She claims one of our students asked to “borrow” her table. This is not true. The student asked to borrow one of our 8 tables in storage. Connie willingly agreed, this was a common practice, but Ms. Colvin insisted that the student use her table. Even though the table was returned earlier than agreed upon and it was sitting in the back of our primary classroom, she accused the student of trying to steal the table.
She wrote an e-mail to a third party (on file and I can fax it) in an attempt to engage that person in a conspiracy to damage (collusion) that she would never speak about this situation to others because of the advice of her attorney, and yet, she has several public blogs (I have included a list of her blogs at the end of this response for your review) detailing her distorted and contradictory view of events, and participates extensively in online forum discussions. She also left a venomous note to each of the students defaming us in hope they would quit the program.
She claims in one place that she can’t believe she was “required to pay $2000”, but in her letter to her credit card company, she said she offered us payment in full in cash and we turned it down, suggesting she pay $172.35 per month for 36 months instead.
These are just a few examples of her behavior. I can continue to list more if necessary. I can request affidavits from willing objective observers that will substantiate our extraordinary patience, tolerance, and generosity to Ms. Colvin and her bizarre behavior.
Just Cause to Dismiss Based in Written Policy
The Sanctuary School has a written policy regarding withdrawal from classes and workshops and our refund policy:
A student who is removed from the program due to disciplinary action or through no fault of the School or is not adhering to the scholastic and/or the attendance standards or ethical behavior as outlined in this catalog shall be removed without refund.
Ms. Colvin’s incessant inappropriate behavior during class times, her unethical behaviors by advertising as a professional massage therapist without a license, and her abusiveness toward classmates (false accusations of stealing, disrespecting the time of others, etc.) all represent justification to terminate our relationship with her.
To address her eight specific concerns:
1. Part A - No response from you
This statement is an absolute lie. There have been multiple contacts that she failed to report to you. I responded most recently to her 9/25/07 e-mail with a notification of an upcoming settlement offer, and she responded back that she had taken additional action that blocked my ability to provide her with that settlement. She has been in our office without appointment and of her own volition on numerous occasions and refused, in front of witnesses, our requests to discuss the situation.
Part B -- And attorney information remains unavailable.
I wrote to her saying, “If you feel the need to pursue this further, please have your attorney contact us.” You can read my response word for word on her blog: http://reikicouncil.blogspot.com/.
I did not tell her to contact my attorney! She misread my statement and blew it out of proportion. This is consistent with all of her behavior.
She told us she went to an attorney, and the advice she claimed to have received made it clear that she was not being truthful. She claims her lawyer told her that even though she had consumed 163 hours of tutoring from us, she should return the certificates of completion for the classes she had finished along with the now-used books. If she did, she claimed she was automatically entitled to a refund in full. If she did in fact have an attorney, I would have felt more comfortable discussing the situation with a rational person instead of Ms. Colvin.
2. There is no enrollment agreement signed by me in your possession.
This is true, because she was not enrolled in our school! Depending on which version of the story she presents, she didn’t want to “graduate” on December 22, 2007, she wanted a review to enable her to begin the licensure application process in mid-August. You can’t complete a 9-month program in 2 months. She was here for tutoring to prepare for the exam and then to proceed with continuing education.
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.
Again, Ms. Colvin was not enrolled in the school!
To clarify, our Cease & Desist letter is a standard letter issued when a school confirms that it is not planning to renew their certificate to operate for another year – a fact not mentioned by Ms. Colvin. Our renewal application was due April 1, 2007 and that triggered the letter. We were in active discussions with our ISBE rep about our options for closing the school.
We were granted a “teach out” by the ISBE, which enabled us to complete the existing classes beyond our certificate's July 1, 2007 expiration date as long as they graduated by the end of October, 2007. Our continuing education offerings are separate from the school. During the school’s operation, they were presented under a written co-presenter contract with the Reiki Council.
The ISBE came on November 6th (waiting until after our final graduation in October) to take custody of our student records so they can remain on file for the next 50 years. The ISBE rep thanked us for the care we put into maintaining the records. He also recommended a new, fast-growing location with almost no competition if we ever decided to re-open a school in the future.
Regardless, this has nothing to do with Ms. Colvin’s situation. She was not here to be enrolled in our school by her own admission and by the obvious facts. She was here for tutoring. We did in fact accept her $2,000 as a down payment and promptly applied it to organizing the education and purchasing the materials necessary for the tutoring and review and continuing education courses that she desired.
To help keep her costs down, we permitted her to sit in on existing classes of the massage program to gain the vast majority of her review rather than consuming expensive private tutoring hours. She also attended what are considered continuing education courses that offered tremendous value to her. If she had followed through on her goal, she would need 24 approved continuing education hours between Jan 1, 2007 and December 31, 2008 to gain a renewal of her license. All Illinois massage therapist licenses renew on December 31st of even numbered years regardless of when in that period the license was granted.
As stated before, our primary organization, the Reiki Council, is approved by the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork as a continuing education provider. This status provides automatic acceptance of our courses with the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation for state licensing renewal.
Contrary to her opinion, we are fully credentialed to teach continuing education by the State of Illinois and numerous others, and the ISBE has no role in that decision or governance over the operations of CE classes under the specific conditions we met.
Repeating myself, the “loan application” was not a loan application, but rather a structured payment plan with a collection agency to ensure payment in full when the payments extend beyond the date the certificate of completion is awarded. We made a conscious decision not to submit the application for this payment plan to TFC Credit Corp.
We are charged twice per month by TFC for managing each student account. We typically delay submitting the contract until after the first two-week period has passed. One week after Ms. Colvin signed the agreement she had already changed the original plan. She attended our licensing exam review and strategies class designed for someone intending to immediately apply for the exam. At that time, it was uncertain whether she would continue with the original tutoring plan or take only the classes needed for proficiency.
At one month into her tutoring and review, her behavior in and out of class was becoming a major concern and was testing our tolerance and willingness to help her through her review. For these reasons, we did not feel it appropriate to submit the payment plan agreement and lock her into a $5,500 package deal and payment plan for classes that her actions and choices demonstrated that it unlikely that she would attend. If she had wanted to pay us for individual classes directly, she would have been welcome to do that at the time.
4. Aside from my $2000 down payment, no receipt for anything was provided.
I honestly don’t understand what she means by this. She states she received a receipt for the amount paid. Since she didn’t pay for anything else, why would we give her a receipt? It is this kind of argument that makes it very difficult to deal with her directly.
If she is referencing an itemized statement of how the down payment was distributed, her claim is still not true. She described in an e-mail to a third party about the day she trespassed into our office, intentionally disrupted a class, left a venomous note to the three women in the class, and broke a massive trust in order to make yet another dramatic exit while retrieving her belongings. In that incident, she acknowledges that Connie tried to hand her an envelope and Ms. Colvin refused. It contained her transcripts and an itemized statement of all she had completed with hours consumed. I have the e-mail on file in which she acknowledges that she was told of the contents of the envelope and she refused to accept it.
Many of the courses she did complete are valuable as continuing education hours. While she now claims that she will not pursue a massage career, at the time she attended the courses she had every intention of a massage career. Therefore the classes did have significant value.
Again, Ms. Colvin complains that we didn’t provide something, when, in fact, she refused to accept this information!
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.
This is another example of her irrational thought processes. The method of payment has nothing to do with the value of completed courses. In addition, every class in which she received a certificate of completion qualifies for continuing education credit for her 2008 licensing renewal if she gets her license. She paid for all but $341 worth of the classes she completed, and only when she sent her refund demand did we make our first mention of the balance to remind her that she had consumed all of her initial payment, and to remind her that our generous refund policy is based on actual consumption.
She doesn’t need another diploma or certification, because she already has it from 1st Choice Academy of Massage Therapy. She didn’t receive any certifications from us, beyond certificates of completion that everyone receives when they finish a class or continuing education workshop. In fact, for the private one-on-one sessions (usually $75 per hour, but we were charging her only $11.36 per hour), she was not even being invoiced for the time. She had consumed the value for the entire down payment, but because she was unemployed, we were not pressing for additional payment. We wanted to verify that she did plan to pursue more training, but when she violated every trust by invading and intentionally disrupting a class, I had enough and would not permit her to continue.
Second, we did not ever discuss a loan with her! Our school has a company that organized structured payment plans, but we are paid only when the collection agency is paid. Ms. Colvin was obsessed with this loan, yet nowhere in our paperwork did we advertise that we offered “loans”.
By the way, if she was so concerned about being able to pay for classes, why didn’t she just pay for them? In one version of the story, she states that she wanted to pay in full and we refused her offer of $7500 cash!
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
We did not misrepresent ourselves. Ms. Colvin wanted a review to give herself the best chance of passing the licensing exam, and we provided that until she quit. We continued to tolerate her abuses far longer than appropriate because in many ways, Ms. Colvin was improving. We gave her 163 hours of our time, plus extras, and she is far better prepared to attempt the exam than she was in June.
We answered all of her questions openly and truthfully. The only omitted information was information we were specifically told not to discuss publicly by the Illinois State Board of Education. The ISBE told us not to announce that we were closing so as not to concern current students. Because she didn’t finish pre-requisite studies, she did not qualify for a review of Muscle Anatomy, Pathology, and Deep Tissue Therapy. Her decision to quit effectively terminated any future review. But, the class she was sitting in on did finish and the final graduating class all qualified for the honor roll. We had no obligation to teach the course again at her convenience, and she would have been charged again for the repeat.
She claims she “paid more than she should” to join the membership. She willingly joined with no pressure or expectation from us. She had the option of a $35, $75, and $120 membership level, and she paid $120 for an annual platinum membership. This is the same amount that all platinum members pay.
Immediately upon joining, she received $264.95 in books, audio CDs, newsletter subscriptions, retail items, free passes to monthly speaker events, and much more. With her $120 investment, she instantly received 221% in tangible value for her money.
Until she was banned from ever participating in any of our events because of her disruptive behavior in and out of classes, she was entitled to also receive an automatic 15%, no-limit discount on all workshops and events for the duration of her platinum membership.
7. Rick's email makes and cites false accusations, agreements and circumstances.
It’s one thing to say that I make false accusations, agreements, and circumstances, but I think it necessary that she be a little more specific for me to respond appropriately.
She is forgetting that much of her bizarre behavior, abusive behavior, and inappropriate behavior was in front of people other than Connie and me. These students and staff have agreed to write affidavits if necessary reporting their observations about the extraordinary patience, generosity, and tolerance that Connie extended to Ms. Colvin in spite of Ms. Colvin’s disruptive and sometimes frightening behavior.
She is forgetting that the people she thought were her allies are people who know our integrity and were looking out for our best interests by drawing out this information from Ms. Colvin. She attempted to drive a wedge between us and one of our staff members in hope that he would terminate his relationship with us and help her damage our reputation. To the contrary, he began passing along her e-mails to us.
8. 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.
No, her understanding is incorrect. Anyone can provide private tutoring. ISBE approval does not apply to that situation, although in June we were in fact still operating under ISBE approval. If she was here for the entire program, there was no way we could have allowed to enter the 9-month program 2 months after it started and allowed her to finish 4 months early. She wanted tutoring to enable her to attempt the licensing exam in 3 months or less (June to August), and attended the licensing exam review class a week after submitting her down payment. She had already graduated from a state board of education approved, 600 hour massage school with straight A’s and was fully qualified.
The “loan” was never a loan. She was so obsessive about getting a loan that we never promised her, that the finance company that manages the structured payment plans for us contacted us telling us to do something about Ms. Colvin because they were fed up with her harassment. Even after both we and TFC (the finance company) repeatedly told her “there is no loan program it is a payment plan”, she continued to harass TFC about getting “her loan”.
Until she was no longer welcome because of her behavior, she had every option of paying us directly for any additional services used. But she states that because she didn’t get her imaginary “loan”, the 163 hours of tutoring has no value. According to her, the elective classes that others paid $200 to attend has no value to her and she should not have to pay for it. Also, the $40 massage she received has no value, and finally, the $250 in books she received has no value in her opinion.
Our Attempt to Resolve
Ms. Colvin refused an offer for a full refund, instead demanding that it come only through a credit card chargeback. This further delayed our ability to pacify her with a settlement. We wonder how much this is like a massage school giving her a falsified (according to one version by Ms. Colvin) transcript?
A credit card chargeback was an unacceptable option for us, because we require a signed statement from Ms. Colvin and Mike Berg (he involved himself by signing a response letter) agreeing that the $2000 settlement resolves the dispute satisfactorily and she will immediately discontinue her accusations. In the process, she will:
• Notify all agencies, blogs, and forums in which she has made her accusations that the issue has been satisfactorily resolved with no discussion of the terms of the settlement, and with no future attacks, complaints, etc.
• Withdraw her chargeback and allow the settlement to be paid by check as a final sealing of the contract.
• She and all involved parties will terminate their accusations and discussions publicly and privately, and we will do the same. The issue is sealed.
• She and Mike Berg will make no attempt to contact Rick or Connie Vrenios, the Reiki Council, Ke Ala Kahiko, or any other endeavor Rick and Connie are directly involved in.
• She and Mike Berg will not attempt to intentionally loiter near, participate in, detract from, or interfere with any activities involving Rick or Connie Vrenios.
• Connie and I agree not to contact Mr. Berg or Ms. Colvin, or participate in, loiter near, detract from, or interfere with any activities directly involving Ms. Colvin or Mike Berg.
By refusing to allow us to communicate about our proposed settlement, she raises questions over the sincerity of her claim that she is only interested in resolving the issue. By her actions, we see her choices as being more interested in causing pain to us and our well-earned reputation for excellence.
Our attorney has already stated that she has no claim to a refund. Our credit card processing company is reviewing the contract and the critical issues to determine if we broke any rules. If it is found by this objective third party that we did not fulfill our obligation or we did not act appropriately, we will not dispute the chargeback and the processing company has been instructed about our desire to provide the refund if appropriate. Our processing company, however, believes that if our description of the contract is true, she has no claim to a refund.
Based on my understanding of events and her intentions, we provided everything she asked us to provide. Because she has such a dramatically different, although contradictory, view of events, we are willing to allow the credit card company to determine whether we earned the money or not.
We will learn the recommendation from the processing company shortly.
In closing, I’d like to summarize the critical points…
• In May of 2003, Ms. Colvin graduated (in most of the versions of her story) from an approved massage therapy school. This course of study exceeded the minimum education requirement by 100 hours. This transcript clearly indicates that she was deemed competent to seek licensing and then practice professionally. At any time, she is and has been capable of sitting for the licensing exam. She requires nothing further from us to do this!
• We are not the only massage therapy school she is defaming. She is aggressively and openly slandering (our opinion) her first school, 1st Choice Academy of Massage Therapy as well. She hasn’t had anything nice to say about her previous employers either.
• We were and still are credentialed to provide the type of education she needed.
• As a massage school, we have a 93.75% graduation rate and a 100% pass rate on the licensing exam.
• The cease & desist letter from the ISBE is a standard letter issued when a school is closing. It is designed to establish boundaries, and it is not a symptom of wrong-doing.
• She paid $2000 and received $2,341 in tutoring, personal services, and books. That represents 117% value for her money. If she does receive her license before the 2008 renewal period, most of the classes she attended qualify toward credit for the continuing education requirement.
• The “loan” was a structured payment plan, not a loan.
• The down payment always goes to the seller, not the payment plan company.
• She was here for tutoring and taking additional classes from June 4, 2007 to July 22, 2007. She completed 163 hours of tutoring, she attended an elective course, she received a massage, and she received $250 in books.
• She had a chronic injury that limited her ability to work as a massage therapist for four years. In a private tutoring session, the issue was resolved in less than ten minutes providing her with valuable relief, and valuable training in self-care and therapeutic work. (Notice her advertisement mentioned four points below.)
• She voluntarily terminated her tutoring arrangement in front of three objective eyewitnesses.
• After she voluntarily terminated her tutoring arrangement, she continued attending a continuing education class and was registered for a second CE course.
• Following her emotional outburst, she acknowledged in writing that she was receiving value in the classes and stated that she owes us for the classes.
• She was concurrently and actively advertising illegally as a professional massage therapist and therefore committing what I believe is considered consumer fraud. The Illinois Department of Professional Regulation is investigating. When confronted with the public revelation of this fact, she blamed the association for allowing her to renew her membership without verifying licensure status. While I agree that the AMTA should be held responsible for not upholding a law it lobbied and designed, Ms. Colvin knew she had to be licensed. Yet, she absolutely refuses to accept any fault or responsibility for her actions.
• Suddenly, and only after the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation was notified about her illegal advertisement, she responded to our rebuttal to the credit card company that she was no longer seeking a career in massage. Unethical and illegal activities such as those we uncovered and reported are just cause for the state to deny her request for a license.
• The payment plan contract indicates that the seller is free to substitute goods and services of equal or greater value. Regardless of which version of the story she is using at the moment, we are fully empowered to provide the same or better education value, and we provided everything she requested and more. All the classes happened, but she terminated the deal and chose not to show up. There was no obligation for us to ever offer them again.
• Regarding our ability to substitute for equal or greater value, value is based on the needs of the individual. A repeat of an entire course of training, as she claims in one version of her story has no actual value for her. This is like attending the College of DuPage and receiving an associate’s degree in liberal arts. Then, going to Harper College and pursuing an associate’s degree in liberal arts. However, because she already had her diploma, and because she would be required to complete continuing education requirements, receiving tutoring to review for the exam and completing the many unique courses as continuing education provides the real value for someone in her circumstances. Already, in the two months she was studying here, she has surpassed the required number of hours for the 2008 license renewal! That is where the value lies.
• She has acknowledged that she is ignoring the legal advice of her attorney to remain silent. She is actively recruiting uninvolved parties into the dispute, and likely crossing into criminal activities. She has four public blogs, she has written defaming e-mails to third parties which we have in our possession, and she has written direct letters to students of the school.
• She has shown that she is fully willing to change her story and the “facts” depending on the situation and her goals. Her extensive e-mails to third parties, blogging, and discussions all clearly demonstrate her inability to stick to one “truth”. We can easily provide another 20 pages of documentation to support our claims based in objective eyewitness statements, e-mails to third parties, etc.
At any time from May of 2003 when she received her certification and diploma, she was considered competent to sit for the National Certification and State Licensing Exam. Therapists earn $45-125 in private practice and $15-50 as an employee in this area. Had she not invested so much time blaming everyone around her for her problems and followed the plan we laid out for her, as I am sure the previous school did as well, she would be licensed to practice by now.
If you require any further information or further documentation, please let me know.
Sincerely,
Rick and Connie Vrenios
Owners, The Sanctuary School of Therapeutic Massage and Energy Medicine
799 Roosevelt Road, Suite #4-001
Glen Ellyn, IL 60137
