eric b.

My name is Eric Bauman and I signed my two children up for spring tuition for the Amiko Learning Center earlier this year. In their agreement it states that the program was designed to "cultivate a rich community of positive relationship with frequent social contact and collaboration amongst all participants" over a period of fourteen weeks. In person learning and social interaction is critical to my children who are five and eight years old. My children received only three of the fourteen weeks of in person instruction promised by Amiko and I was charged the entire tuition on my account.

After just three weeks of receiving instruction as agreed upon in the agreement, Amiko suddenly shut down due to Covid-19. Amiko offered no alternative instruction for an entire month. Thereafter, Amiko notified me that the program would proceed with remote learning. I explained that remote learning is not an adequate alternative for my young children and sought a refund for tuition for the remainder of the semester. Rather than work with me, Amiko delayed, provided excuses, and ultimately refused to provide any kind of refund, instead placing its own interests ahead of the families who pay significant sums of money for their children to enroll in the program who are also struggling during this difficult time.

Remote learning is simply not an adequate alternative to the in person courses my children were enrolled in. For example, my young children were enrolled in a 3-D printing course. It is hard to imagine how children under age six, can remotely learn about 3-D printing without access to a 3-D printer. Further, my children were also enrolled in an all day forest course in which the class took place outdoors on a weekly basis to immerse the children in nature and learn survival skills. There is simply no way to teach such skills in an online setting via youtube, nor is that what I paid for. In addition, my children were also enrolled in a daycare program that we did not get for 11 weeks as my children were home and a refund is necessary.

It is important to state that there is government aid available to assist with rent, wage, and operating expenses that Amiko Learning should have applied for and received. This burden shouldn't fall 100% on the families of your learning center. Amiko operated in bad faith and has unethical business practices. We are now forced to take legal action.