Long Island Conservatory, LISMA, L.I.C, Liconservatory reviews and complaints
Academic - private math lesson
This place is a crap! They have missed to pick up my 9 yr old son from school, and I got a call after 30 mins of school's dismissal. I had to call the institute and find out that LISMA driver did not arrive!
When I called the institute, the owner just screamed at me, saying that' Lady I don't need any lecture from you.'
They don't know they are dealing with a 9 year old minor here! I work full time 20 miles away from school, and I depend on LISMA to pick up my son from school.
I always had trouble with them. The owner is just horrible. They have ridiculous price. They even changed my son's schedule from Thursday to Sat day without taking my permission and charging my credit card the full amount. When I had asked for the refund, then they again put him back to the Thursday class with 6th and 7th grader!
The attitude is horrible, specially the owner's behavior! She thinks that she does business with a product not children! They were not sorry at all, for not picking up my child. Instead they were cursing me!
I think this institute should have been closed, specially the Academic section.
Country of complaint: United States
Address: Albertson New YorkAlbertson
ZIP: 11507
Website: licm.edu
No refund?!
This place doesn't issue refunds. It doesnt issue refunds for students who never took the lesson, it doesnt give refund before the lessons even start 3 weeks before hand, there is no tuition refund for after school, ESL school, College, music lessons, art lessons. in the ESL brochures, it specifically states that refunds are given to students before the lessons start. In the application forms or their website, it states that refund policy is refunds are given before classes start. They will not issue refunds! They say that they'll give credits but I dont want to deal with the school's psychotic owner kim. She yells at me and other parents with her broken english, and walk past us like we're all beneathe her because she has more money then the rest of us. The science and math teachers can not speak english either. And the turnover rate at this school is unbelievable! my child's teacher changes every 2 weeks!
When signing up for summer school, the owner or 'president' kim herself told me that there was an 8 student capacity per class. When the summer classes started, there were 17 students per tiny classrooms, with out a window or ventilation. It's so expensive but the teaching level is that of babysitting level. I paid for lunch services but my kid always came home hungry, and i later found out that she orders 2 regualr sized meals at nearby chinese restaurant and give a pinch of it to each kid. She charged me $7 per meal! She will never hear your complaints, but she will yell at you once you ask for a refund, literally scream and shout at you in front of students and teachers, and tell you to take you kid out of the summer school because she knows that its too late to enroll my kid in other summer camps. She uses old books all the time, she is so unprofessional. I can't stand her broken korean english.
Company Business Name: Long Island Conservatory, LISMA, L.I.C, Liconserva
Country of complaint: United States
Address: 1125 willis ave. , Albertson, New York
Phone: 516 625 3455
Website: liconservatory.net
I have a feeling that Math Geek is Mrs. Kim's Son and Lorette is Mrs. Kim's daughter. LOL, either that or they are the same person judging by the post dates, it's like..immediate replies to each other. Get a grip. That place is a nut house.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
This school is a fraud. Mrs. Kim is a monster. I taught there so I know. I think it is an enterprise designed to get "students" into the US.
One other thing. We have college professors and experienced designers for our new upper division program. We are completely renewing the program. I do not feel so much encouraged reading the threads here but I am always open to discuss past complaints with our faculty. If there is an issue, we can change? This is very discouraging and especially for our new students and faculty members, if anyone gets to encounter this negative message, please do not get discouraged. We care. We care about the students and we care about the teachers, too. At least, Art department does. Thank you for reading my message. And Lori, hope you find your dream job as a fashion teacher!
Lori, I wish you the best blessings, though. It was your choice. You don't have to complain about the program if you haven't had any real teaching experiences with us. I suggested a rate based on your qualifications (I did not force you to take the position?) and if you didn't want it, they you could just say no. I acknowledge this complaint board but we still try. I do not care much about their past. You'll see. All of our faculty members (art program) are experienced in their fields and they do care about the students. Thank you, all. And, Lori, hope you find a good teaching job as I remember you wanted to teach a fashion class.
Hello, Lori
This is their Art Director. As I told you, we were in the process of planning new upper division art program with professionals - I mean, professors and professionals. After school art program is our Junior Program. And I felt that you had good experiences and a nice lady so I considered to organize a couple classes with you for the kids. Then, one day I've got a phone call and my feeling was that you were not trying to listen to me? I respect that you changed your mind so didn't want to start with us. But on my end, I did not feel comfortable either to hire you as our Junior Program teacher because I also felt the same way that I couldn't really communicate with you well (over a rushed phone call). I do not know much about the school's history but for sure we, our new art program, all of our faculty members are dedicated and we've been through many faculty meetings to set up a good program possible. We care about the students. Thank you.
The conservatory president, Minsun Kim, is a delusional entitled woman from a very powerful Korean family. Her behavior full of tantrums is similar to another entitled Korean, Cho Hyun-ah, described by the New York Times in the article below: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/13/world/asia/korean-airs-chairman-removes-daughter-from-executive-posts-after-nut-incident.html
The semantics NYT uses, "imperious behavior, treating employees like feudal subjects" perfectly apply to Minsun as well. Punchline is when Hyun-ah's father apologizes in front of the media and saying he "failed to raise her properly."
I was due to begin teaching after school art at this school.
Thank goodness I've changed my mind...thay are the most unorganized and non communative place I've ever come accross. The director of the art program can just about speak English, she can not answer any of my questions about possible class situation or amount of time they run each art class...and I was only to get paid anything halfway decent if I got 10 kids per class..no regular compensation...paid a percentage per child! WTF. NO WONDER THEY CAN NOT KEEP ANY TEACHERS!
Unprofessional administration and horrific working conditions. Close it down
The owner employs people with difficult immigration status that have no other options other than to teach there. She takes advantage of every single employee. They're required to work extra without any pay, donate for her fundraisers (between $70-300 mandatory minimum), and be available on short notice for her concerts. Of course, without pay. There are meetings that faculty has to attend, again, without pay. Those who don't do even one of these items, loose the "privilege" to teach there ie. - don't get any new students, or classes to teach. She acts more like a North Korean dictator with Bipolar disorder. She is really cheap, and has absolutely no class. She even argues with the phone company for $5 off the phone bill. Of course she drives the latest Mercedes, wears $ 10, 000 shoes and is in cahoots with the Nassau County executive, Ed Mangano.
Musicians are poor people, and life is especially hard for immigrant musicians. I've seen some talented people she recruited being mercilessly abused. Somehow, these people dedicate themselves to teaching and give everything they can to students. If she would be taken out of the picture, that would be actually a great school. But I've seen some of the same people bursting into tears after being insulted (in front of their students, sometimes even only 5 years olds) in the lowest fashion possible by minsun kim, this crazy freak. She should be in a mental hospital, not running a school and terrorizing people.
My advice to parents - if you can shield your kids from the screams and fits of this North Korean Bipolar freak, you can get an awesome music education from talented faculty. My advice to faculty - I know life is hard, but you can make better money waiting tables.
I've been once to one of her fundraisers. The evening would have been a really successful one, food was good, the show was great. Two things darkened the atmosphere: her bad English speech (for crying out loud, take some speech pathology lessons, you have the money!), and the stressed out, gloomy faces of her faculty. Besides working for the event without pay, they were forced to donate money, or had them taken out of their paycheck. I'm sure that a bonus for working the event ($ 300 for each) would have had them sprinkling with enthusiasm. Instead, $ 300 was taken from them. How long will the abuse last for?
One last note - about this board. It used to be one of the top google results when anyone searched the conservatory. Too bad that her employees found ways to hide this. If you have an honest business, you're not afraid of transparency!
LIC is hell. I used to teach there. The place is really bad joke. No one can speak English very well. Mrs. Kim is a rude sadistic tyrant. For God's sake, stay away from LIC. I suspect it is a scam to circumvent immigration laws. My students could not speak or write English and had no discernible interest in learning anything. Mrs. Kim treats her staff like trash. I heard she got her start working the military bases in Korea. Someone suggested she is a drug addict. That's the level of class we're talking about.
Thank you so much for your post. I saw those advertisements on the doors and in the hallways of LISMA and your accomplishments encouraged me to place my daughter with LIC. I didn't know about the other programs so am grateful for your post. Please also let me know the names of the SATs and college process you used. Also, if you know of any other good music places for voice lessons. My daughter has been with LIC for a year and I am also disappointed. The place is disorganized and the owner disinterested but have kept my daughter b/c I don't know of other options. Thanks again for your voicing your concerns. You definitely have helped me and I will pass along the good information to existing parents who are equally frustrated with the program but stay due to lack of other options.