New Karate School

[shrunner]

Has anyone joined the new karate school in town called Karate America? I went in and spoke with a guy named Master Perez about signing up my 2 kids and I got a very bad vibe sbout the place. He wouldn't admit to being the owner but I found out later that he is. It's one of those deals where they bait you into signing a contract and have you on the hook for a year or more without any written commitment about the quality of services they provide, not even the schedule. I also remember a school named Karate America in Green Brook. I googled the name and found various references to that name in Green Brook and one site that had a picture of the same logo so it must be the same owner. I then discovered that it went out of business a year or two ago and has since re-opened under a new name and owner. I hate to jump the gun, but something's not right here.

[Kim]

I, along with many others from Bernardsville and Peapack-Gladstone, have joined the new Karate America located in Bernardsville. Mike Perez does own another Karate America, but it is located in Hillsborough, not Green Brook. He is a great guy, it is a great school, and your intuition is WAY off. The school opened in February, they have a schedule, a contract, and were offering a FABULOUS deal to join - Free Karate Outfit and $99 dollars a month. I'm sure the offer has expired, but you should visit again - I'm sure you would change your mind.

[John]

The place is great, my kids love it.. very flexible with hours, classes, levels.. and price is much more affordable then master kwon's

[barbtwonit]

Be aware. This man closed a school in Edison 10 years ago without notice and walked away with everyone's tuition. He did own the school near Perkins in Green Brook and did a good business until people caught on about his compulsive lies and dirty business practices. I had it out with him years ago and pulled my children out of the school because he had teens who were not even brown belts teaching the classes and he stopped showing up except to lock up when classes were over. When parents starting complaining, he had the glass doors and windows covered so you couldn't see in and people quickly stopped renewing their contracts. He was forced to sell it shortly after opening a school in Hillsborough which will probably be the next one to shut down. He's a master alright, a master of deception and physical threats. Ask to see his black belt credentials as well as the credentials of his other instructors. Ask him about his assault conviction in Bridgewater last year. He had a dispute with a parent over a contract then followed the man home and beat him up outside his house in broad daylight and fled when a neighbor called the police. You draw your own conclusions, but I sure wouldn’t want a man with a violent criminal record anywhere near my children.

[Kim]

Because I happen to like Mike Perez and the other teacher at the school in Bernardsville, I decided to look up the conviction you refer to. Went to www.c-n.com and searched the public records for Michael Perez or Mike Perez and to my relief, he was NOT convicted of any crime last year; assault or otherwise. Maybe you guys should get your information straight.

[barbtwonit]

Unfortunately, not all crimes are reported in the police blotter or in the newspapers and because this was a municipal court issue, you will not find it on the internet so you'd need to go down to the Bridgewater courts to get the record of the offense. I don't have the specific dates and other details, but will provide them once I get a chance to go down there. Trust me that this is a fact and I'll prove it. It's common knowledge within the local martial arts community.

[Joe H]

Michael Perez, Jr, guilty of assault, attempting to purposely & knowling cause bodily injury to another. The attack was in May, the hearing on November 18, 2008 in Bridgewater Municipal court and the case# is SC2008010601. He was fined and ordered to pay $1500 in restitution because he pounded in the guy's car with his fist. This is public information available to anyone by visiting the Bridgewater Court and requesting a disposition statement. This is the same Michael Perez from Karate America in Hillsborough and Bernardsville. He sometimes uses Jr as you can see on some somerset county public records of his home on sheephill rd in peapack-gladstone, all are available online at the somerset county clerk's online record search. Also, if you look up karate america in green brook at the better business bureau, bbb.org , it lists him as the owner at 299 route 22 east. He was forced to leave that location because too many students heard about the attack and started dropping out. Why else would he close a school in a very busy area?

[Dana]

I had BOTH my boys in the Hillsborough school and had no problems with him at the time. We ended up pulling them out for personal reasons. Our contract was due to end in August. To be safe, I called my bank and put a stop payment in just in case. To my surprise TODAY we spot that he has managed to use a DIFFERENT merchant number and deduct the money from our account. He is not answering our calls (cell phone) and the office phone is disconnected. I am going to actually have to close down my account and open a new one, including resetting all of my automatic bill pays, etc because of this jerk. He had me fooled. I hope he goes out of business for good.

[test]

test

[O my gd]

What do u have to do the cancel???????

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Both sides of this discussion are credible. He DOES have a school in Greenbrook as well as Hillsborough. He seems like the sweetest, friendliest guy you'd ever want to talk to.

However, I don't know if he walked away with people's money or got burned by someone else's credit card. That is the reason alledgedly that he requires direct deduct from checking instead of credit card. I'll give the benefit of the doubt, however at the same time, I can't get thru on the phone, the web site is defunct and the emails bounce back. This is baffling.

Dana, what did you need to do to close your contract? I mean before things went south. Did you have to submit something in writing?

[Louise]

It's amazing the malicious trash that follows this guy. My kid has been at the Hillsborough school for 5 years now. I have found Michael to be incredibly generous, and frankly, not smart enough to be dishonest. When we first signed up, I did an internet search, and found nearly the same exact posting about the Hillsborough school as posted by by shRunner. It has since been posted so many times, that I do not believe it.

It is correct that he did own the Greenbrook School and I understand that school was sold to the woman who used to handle the business end for him. She was a very unpleasant woman, and I refused to deal with her. A couple of years ago, I heard that she sued him for rights to the Karate America name, which he obviously won. Around the same time, many of us at the Hillsborough school received emails spreading the story that Perez assaulted someone. Since whoever sent the emails would have had to have access to the the parent's email list, I have always suspected her of sending the mail in an attempt to ruin him. No one I know at either school had ever heard the story before, so I don't believe this story either.

Ever since I signed the first contract, I have had absolutely no problem talking him down to a shorter term, setting my own payment terms, and even setting my own price. I have his private cell phone number, and he always answers promptly. I wouldn't recommend him as a great karate instructor. As my kid gets higher belts, I wish Michael would get more serious. He likes to play a little too much, but he clearly enjoys the kids, and they love him.