Dealing with the Malibu Parks and Rec Department is more like dealing with a bureaucratic dictatorship than with a free thinking democracy.
What started out as a fun experience turned into a bureaucratic nightmare. I paid more than $100 and signed up for a beginning guitar class. After only a few lessons, I broke my ankle and could not get to class. I asked the instructor, James Swing, if I could make up the classes I missed in the next session. He said to run it by Parks and Rec, as he had no authority to decide, but it would be okay with him.
As soon as I saw the new listing, I called Parks and Rec. I was given the runaround for two weeks and talked to three different people who could not say, “Yes.” I was told I would have to pay in full again. They would not allow me to “make up the classes” as that would be a form of “credit,” which they would not do. Only after I took issue with their lack of problem solving skills, I was offered a slight discount. I refused to literally “pay to play” again!
As a senior citizen and Malibu resident since 1980, I was dismayed that no one could simply do the right thing by choosing the easiest solution to let me make up the classes. Healing my broken bones while in a cast and hobbling on crutches was far easier than breaking through the ridiculous bureaucratic wall at Parks and Rec. What a bunch of nincompoops!
I am out $100 and will take my money away from Malibu Parks and Rec to McCabe’s Guitar Shop for lessons.
Nanci Goyjer