My experience with Carlson Gracie Team MMA in Chicago

**doofaloofa** · Posted On: 10/24/2012 1:29pm

Originally Posted by Omega Supreme

You're my wife?

This does not bode well for Team Vorpal

**lionp** · Posted On: 10/24/2012 3:51pm

Look up Carlson Gracie on the Better Business Bureau. Lots of people had the same experience as me.

Originally Posted by Omega Supreme

Want to bet that you signed up and you decided that you're too much of a ***** to join so you decided to join this website to bad mouth these guys? Seriously, which is more believable? You gave them your credit card information and deliberately charged you while misleading you or you actually signed up but then you got buyer's remorse?

**lionp** · Posted On: 10/24/2012 3:53pm

Yes, I thought it was strange, but didn't think Carlson Gracie Jr would scam me. I was naive and punished for it. The sales rep said this is just how they do things and promised I wouldn't be charged unless I joined.

Not sure how a CC statement that shows a charge would corroborate my claim, since every legitimate member would have the same charges on their statement.

Look them up on the Better Business Bureau, and you'll see many similar complaints from different people.

Originally Posted by jnp

So they asked for a credit card even though the class was free? That seems very strange. Stranger still that you gave it to them. That would be a red flag for me.

Do you have a CC statement that corroborates your claim? You could post it with all the personal information redacted. If so, then I might be inclined to move this thread to our investigative forum.

**Mr. Machette** · Posted On: 10/24/2012 4:06pm

Originally Posted by lionp

Not sure how a CC statement that shows a charge would corroborate my claim, since every legitimate member would have the same charges on their statement.

IT would lend an iota of credibility to your anectdote.

Originally Posted by lionp

Look them up on the Better Business Bureau, and you'll see many similar complaints from different people.

Why don't you save us the trouble and post a link? You made the accusation, the burden of proof is all yours.

**Southpaw** · Posted On: 10/24/2012 4:45pm

So what's the big issue? Charge it back and move on with your life.

**It is Fake** · Posted On: 10/24/2012 4:54pm

Shhhhhh..... That's too hard.

***Omega Supreme*** · Posted On: 10/24/2012 5:13pm

Originally Posted by lionp

Yes, I thought it was strange, but didn't think Carlson Gracie Jr would scam me. I was naive and punished for it. The sales rep said this is just how they do things and promised I wouldn't be charged unless I joined.

Not sure how a CC statement that shows a charge would corroborate my claim, since every legitimate member would have the same charges on their statement.

Look them up on the Better Business Bureau, and you'll see many similar complaints from different people.

Similar people who don't read contracts or understand the things they are signing? I had some asshole bad mouth me on the internet because "I didn't write him a refund check."

The asshole never came and picked it up.

Sorry dude, this still doesn't convince me. I want to see the contract and know why you gave them your credit card, if you were simply doing a free trial.

**dflanmod** · Posted On: 10/24/2012 5:32pm

First of all this guy is spamming this **** all over the interwebz. Us, sherdog jiu jitsu forums, yelp yahoo. You name it and this guy is there posting his **** up.

BBB does seem to have 7 complaints listed over the last 3 years but I did not see specifics.

A quick read of some of the other complaints seems to be that they are signing you up for a 3 day trial or something and failing cancelation you become a member and your card gets charged. At least that was the claim on an older complaint.

Given the anger here I'd say that this guy did not read what he signed and is angry because he got duped and they probably told him, "hey you signed the contract".

**lionp** · Posted On: 10/25/2012 9:12am

I found the Carlson Gracie Team MMA school in downtown Chicago to engage in deceptive business practices. Be very careful about giving them your credit card number. Many people have had billing problems with them.

Also, their sales representatives pitched me on a lot of things that are simply untrue. I was told that Carlson Gracie Jr teaches there many times a week, which is untrue.

Originally Posted by stel27

I'm soliciting opinions about Carlson Gracie Sr and his school in Chicago. I'm don't really give a **** about the internecine fights between the Gracies - I'm just a simple Polish man in the big city looking for quality B/GJJ instruction. After all these years, I'm finally succumbing to what seems inevitable: tightening and refining the 6 years of Judo I took from 1st to 6th grade. I'm a freaking martial arts mutt - Judo as a kid, Isshinryu as a teenager, Muay Thai and Daito Ryu Jujitsu (which seems closer to the the variant of HwarangDo I train in now than to B/GJJ)in and after college; Bando and HwarangDo on and off these past 10 years.

I think because I learned to fall and roll, crank other people's necks and joints slightly after I was learning how to walk, I've always been a natural grappler. In any real confrontation I've been in I ALWAYS have gone back to the Judo I learned under Sensei Wickham. I trained at Chicago's Shidokan dojo for a couple of years and would roll regularly with a Gracie Barra trained Purple belt. He never submitted me but the guy was a mountain gorilla and had great technique and certainly earned my respect. A couple of times a year, invariably after too many beers and smacktalking I end up rolling with some friends in Michigan who were collegiate wrestlers turned BJJ'ers. Again, I've never got submitted by them, but never really kick their asses exactly, either. Anyway, I don't think B/GJJ is a perfect art, nothing is. The overall record of the Gracie's in MMA, in my mind, really speaks for itself.

Im looking for solid instruction to refine all that Judo goodness that has repeatedly saved my ass over these years. I train in a pretty old school TMA that has internal and external elements, great forms, solid standup, great combative throws, but very little actual grappling. Hell, I like getting thrown and cranking people's limbs. I miss it. I need the cross training to shore up my ground game.

So what's the good word about about Carlson's school here in The Big Onion? All I know of him is from a few interviews posted on the web, and some stories from seminars. Anyone out there actually train there? What are the instructors like? What is the structure of a typical class? Given my brief background above would they take well to a humble cross-trainer, not a "disciple" of B/GJJ? Are there better B/GJJ schools in Chicago? I know of Bob Schirmer and his Combat-do school in Cicero - one of his fighters Shoney Carter used to teach part time at the Shidokan. The school's excellent, but sadly inconvenient. The Gracie Barra school in Chicago (at least at it's last location) folded a couple of years ago.

Any info about Carlson and this school would be much appreciated.

**It is Fake** · Posted On: 10/25/2012 11:19am

A moderator told you what you needed to do and you refused. Now, you tried bumping a nearly 10 year old thread to avoid following the advice. Read the rules of this subforum before posting.

A few of which involve posting proof, linking websites and articles to support your claims and other things contained in the rules section.

Culled:
http://www.bullshido.net/forums/showthread.php?t=3879