Family seeking a refund

| 26 Jan 2018 | 11:36

    My name is Domenic Valente and I live in White Plains New York. I'm a father of three children. The youngest is seventeen and set to go to college in September. I have a full time and a part time job to support my family. I took my son Domenic Jr to a Juventus Soccer Academy in Italy for three years, 2013, 2014 and 2016 He had a very nice experience there. Last year we heard that a Juventus Academy opened up in Sparta, New Jersey, the first of its kind. We enrolled my son on a one day session which cost us twenty dollars, After the session was over the people running it were very nice, but they pressured us to sign up that day for a full program. They said if we did not sign that day we would not get the price they were offering. I paid $944.50 through my Visa card on July 30, 2017 but the academy would not start until the first week of September. Realizing that the journey was too far and that my son's high school soccer would be interfering with the academy, my wife and I spoke to a woman named Raquel da Silva and explained the situation. She said she understood and would refund the registration fee of $150, but that we should at least try to bring our son to the training sessions. We tried going to a session. We got stuck in traffic, got to the academy at 7:45 pm. The session ended at 9 p.m.. We didn't get home until 12:30 am, and i had to be at work at 7 am. It just wasn't going to work.
    I then spoke to a man named Ariel Levit and he said I needed to speak with Mariano Bernstein, the company CEO. I was finally able to speak to Mr. Bernstein. I told him we could not make this journey from White Plains to Sparta and wanted our money back. He said he would see what he could do.
    I did not hear from Bernstein. I emailed Da Silva and Levit. Levit repearted that I must speak to Mr. Bernstein. I tried for two months to reach Bernstein. When i finally did, he had changed his story and said there was nothing he could do for me. He suggested I give the membership to someone else. I told him I just want my money back. He said there was nothing he could do and he stopped responding to me. I gave him until the end of January.
    Domenic Valente
    White Plains, N.Y.