Walen School - Complaint

[Genericnic]

I too was added as a friend for no apparent reason. I haven't been able to determine if TV has a way to remove me as a friend of someone.

David

Go to his profile and click unfriend under his picture.

I wasnt too keen on it either.

The girls are very pretty and very funny and you seem to have a successful operation but the used car salesman "gimmicks" dont seem neccessary and certainly put off more people

PlanetX, thanks for the info.

David

[Okertes]

I am currently a Wallen student so I can tell you the young lovely teachers are amusing gentle and professional each in her own way the school facilities are very good and the Thai leguage is hard to learn.

[vont]

I have been a previous 'disgruntled' student, something now in retrospect was a very minor issue, and yet at the time Mac Walen resolved it with the utmost speed and politeness in a very professional manner. I have never met such a straight shooter here in Thailand. I suggest that if you have issue with him or staff, a word directly to him would be better than the usual backbiting that tends to go on. Oz

it would be worth lots more, if you could be more specific about whatever that you were disgruntled or dissatisfied with in reference to the resolving of problems.

otherwise, you would appear to be just another supporter.... compensated one way or another....

so wanna share with us.... what was it that disgruntled you.... pls? thx

[Chiangmai Foxy]

Walen School now = Laughing stock.....What a pathetic publicity stunt gone wrong...and quite rightly they have ridiculed you.Why post a letter,deal with it it private...if it exists!!

[Chiangmai Foxy]

What was the complaint. ?

Basically that the teachers were a little bit too funny. They are all young females so there is certainly a lot of joy at the Walen school in Chiangmai. Some jokes could unintentionally offend someone. The situation is corrected now so we will not have this problem anymore.

Mac the more I read over your OP and your subsequent replies, it is clearly evident that this is nothing more than a failed attempt for you to market Walen by a misleading post.

When asked, "What was the complaint" you replied, "Basically that the teachers were a little bit too funny. They are all young females so there is certainly a lot of joy at the Walen school in Chiangmai. Some jokes could unintentionally offend someone. The situation is corrected now so we will not have this problem anymore".

There is nothing in the OP that even comes remotely close to what you are inferring. In fact most people would describe that as a 'glowing' testimonial. Mac do you honestly expect people to believe that that email amounts to a complaint worthy of you posting it on TV.

I would be interested in your thoughts.

here here...

Self advertising gone horrifically wrong.Why post this,who cares,it makes you look desperate and unsuccessful,the majority will not believe this period,even if your teachers are ,young and gentle pmsl

[MacWalen]

Walen School now = Laughing stock.....What a pathetic publicity stunt gone wrong...and quite rightly they have ridiculed you.Why post a letter,deal with it it private...if it exists!!

Really? What went wrong? I think it is going extremely well. One day 935 views from readers. Negative mind sees things in negative light. The idea was to know what people think, I know what you think now for example, that is the idea. If you knew me just a little bit you would know that a comment like yours will certainly not discourage me to continue the good work. Just the opposite. In any case, Chiangmai Foxy, thanks for contributing.

[MacWalen]

What was the complaint. ?

Basically that the teachers were a little bit too funny. They are all young females so there is certainly a lot of joy at the Walen school in Chiangmai. Some jokes could unintentionally offend someone. The situation is corrected now so we will not have this problem anymore.

Mac the more I read over your OP and your subsequent replies, it is clearly evident that this is nothing more than a failed attempt for you to market Walen by a misleading post.

When asked, "What was the complaint" you replied, "Basically that the teachers were a little bit too funny. They are all young females so there is certainly a lot of joy at the Walen school in Chiangmai. Some jokes could unintentionally offend someone. The situation is corrected now so we will not have this problem anymore".

There is nothing in the OP that even comes remotely close to what you are inferring. In fact most people would describe that as a 'glowing' testimonial. Mac do you honestly expect people to believe that that email amounts to a complaint worthy of you posting it on TV.

I would be interested in your thoughts.

here here...

Self advertising gone horrifically wrong.Why post this,who cares,it makes you look desperate and unsuccessful,the majority will not believe this period,even if your teachers are ,young and gentle pmsl

Obviously you pretend to be yet another marketing expert but know quite little about our school. Still good to know what you think, thanks for contributing.

[mccw]

Bit of an odd post mac walen and your comments only making things worse for yourself.

But to be honest your teachers and school sounds good which is the main thing; so I guess no matter how strange your post and replies, your point of promoting the school has worked. I would certainly consider some classes if my circumstances were different.

Ps if I was going to try a marketing ploy like this I wouldn't of posted a letter in reference to complaints; why not just make it a letter of appreciation? or is this the first/ only such flattering letter? Personally I'd of indulged in a spot of editing at the very least. I'm not a marketing expert but u can see by the responses it's raised alot of interest in what might b wrong rather than what's said to b right.

[skybluestu]

Can nobody see what the OP's objectives are with this post? Surely you've heard 'There's no such thing as bad publicity' before. He used the word complaint instead of compliment as that would get more people to read it and looks like it has worked. I'd never heard of Walen before...but I have now.

Cal me cynical but I imagine the whole point about starting this thread was to get more publicity, which he's done, for his school.

[bifftastic]

What a strange post by the OP...and with a misleading title.

Not impressed.

Why a misleading title, can you elaborate a little more?

The title is misleading because it says 'Walen School-complaint' then there's a vague reference to a complaint followed by a post containing glowing praise for the school.

Which is pretty much the opposite of what it says in the title, hence, misleading!

[richard10365]

I think I might have mentioned it once before but I will mention it again. Chiang Mai is a very unique market and how you market your programs here is a lot different than how you would market them in Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket.

[kalbo123]

Walen School now = Laughing stock.....What a pathetic publicity stunt gone wrong...and quite rightly they have ridiculed you.Why post a letter,deal with it it private...if it exists!!

agreed, think business is not going that well in their VISA SHOP!!!!

[alexpoker]

You guys are doing exactly what macwalen wants. bumping this thread.

well played macwalen .

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Here is some Marketing advice (in all seriousness) : As the topic starter and a sponsor, request to have this topic closed; they will oblige.

Anyone getting to it now will skip the first page, start with the latest page (2, or 3 soon) and only see bickering and arguing, so the only thing that registers is that there's something amiss with Walen, as per the topic title and as evidenced by the arguing.

(Not saying that I'm either a fan or a hater, but you know the above is the best thing to do. 'Controversy' is good if you're a rock band. If you're a school or a bank or a hospital, t's not.)

[kalbo123]

Here is some Marketing advice (in all seriousness) : As the topic starter and a sponsor, request to have this topic closed; they will oblige.

Anyone getting to it now will skip the first page, start with the latest page (2, or 3 soon) and only see bickering and arguing, so the only thing that registers is that there's something amiss with Walen, as per the topic title and as evidenced by the arguing.

(Not saying that I'm either a fan or a hater, but you know the above is the best thing to do. 'Controversy' is good if you're a rock band. If you're a school or a bank or a hospital, t's not.)

Why? He started it himself...

Wonder how many "students" Walen would have if they would not give out those ED visa's.....

[Drew Aitch]

Here's what appears to be a little known fact in some quarters.

There can be NO success without some failure. It doesn't matter who you are, what you do, what you say, or didn't say as the case may be, and so on and so forth. The point is, everyone makes mistakes in life from the 10 Baht Noodle stalls to Steve Jobs product launches and marketing methods. We (being humans), can never stop learning and improving in whatever we do, and for that we need to cock-up from time to time, wouldn't you agree?

Heck, if experienced presidents and prime ministers of entire nations can produce written and verbal gaffs, and make awful decisions on policy, then I'm sure the rest of us are perfectly capable of doing so!

My dear old grandmother used to say, "Son, just you because you did a stupid thing, it doesn’t make you a stupid person. It simply means you made a mistake at the time from which you can learn from."

So maybe the publication of this letter or appraisal was a bit of a blunder here in the CM forum, and yes, it might have been better off on the schools official website in a section for testimonials. But putting all that aside, the posting of this positive evaluation does not mean the proprietor's an idiot, the schools a sham, or the teachers are lame, it just means it wasn't the good idea that MacWalen thought it might have been.

Any fool can complain, flame, and criticise others, and most fools do, but whenever a criticism has a constructive tone to it, then person doing the complaining is, in my opinion, the more respected individual and most likely to have his, or her, grievance listened to more seriously.

Aitch

[outofoz]

I was going to use Walen as my choice of school....

Why? Because they appeared as a sponsor here on TV.. the rates looked reasonable, they have a few locations and times of choice. I also have no other recommendation and i could find no diabolical negatives re the school.

Why not support the sponsors that keep the site going? If the sponsor was overly dodgy the site managers would be most likely to remove the sponsor to protect their own reputation...

Hardly a bulletproof theory on my part, but seems as good any other method.

So the guy promotes himself with a 'thankyou' letter and posts it as a 'complaint' letter to get attention... More power to him I say. The guy wants to promote his business, keep it strong... also says he is quite likely to want to provide a decent service to keep building his business.

Sure, i was suckered in to reading the post...and im not sure if i find the letter genuine, but it is a minor infraction to my sensibilities..

As for the 'added as friend' misdemeanours... change your settings!

[alexpoker]

First of all, I think Walen might be a good place to learn thai but really learning a language depends on your own attitude.

Walen might have great teachers, but we are talking about learnign a new language. Its not rocket science people. Doesnt really matter what kinda course you take. If you put in the work you will learn.

A course that costs half as much as Walen will always be better value anyways if you put in the work to learn. If you are a lazy ass idiot that needs a babysitter to make sure you learn your Thai ABC, than yea maybe you should check out Walen.

I just think Macwalen starting this thread is utterly hilarious. Either business must be going bad or he has no sense of professionalism. Some things I found hilarious about the Macwalen poster:

- Adding everyone in the thread to his friends list. lol

- Posting a letter of compliment to his school. Good businesses get letters like these all the time. He woulda been better off asking some friend to post a positive experience with Walen.

- Ending all his posts in another thread with stuff like. Walen - where we have good success rate. Walen - where you get the most for your money. etc

To be honest. I know friends who go to Walen and I was thinking about starting their myself, but this thread really put me off and I probably wont be going.

Who wants to give money to a douchebag?

[wales01]

Can nobody see what the OP's objectives are with this post? Surely you've heard 'There's no such thing as bad publicity' before. He used the word complaint instead of compliment as that would get more people to read it and looks like it has worked. I'd never heard of Walen before...but I have now.

Cal me cynical but I imagine the whole point about starting this thread was to get more publicity, which he's done, for his school.

You are 100% correct, everyone has fallen into the trap.....not very clever!!!!!!!!

[Thailand]

Brings to mind the old adage-

When you are in a hole stop digging!

But that's just me .

โชคดี

[vont]

I was going to use Walen as my choice of school....

Why? Because they appeared as a sponsor here on TV.. the rates looked reasonable, they have a few locations and times of choice. I also have no other recommendation and i could find no diabolical negatives re the school.

Why not support the sponsors that keep the site going? If the sponsor was overly dodgy the site managers would be most likely to remove the sponsor to protect their own reputation...

Hardly a bulletproof theory on my part, but seems as good any other method.

So the guy promotes himself with a 'thankyou' letter and posts it as a 'complaint' letter to get attention... More power to him I say. The guy wants to promote his business, keep it strong... also says he is quite likely to want to provide a decent service to keep building his business.

Sure, i was suckered in to reading the post...and im not sure if i find the letter genuine, but it is a minor infraction to my sensibilities..

As for the 'added as friend' misdemeanours... change your settings!

a school is just as good and as clean as the head master/mistress....

do you want to be educated by someone who is less than honest, who is misleading in order to gain something personal....?

a dishonesty in something small....?

but then who are we to say to you to or not to do something.... let your personal preference be your guiding angel.... when you are the absolute master of your own ship....

if it were me.... i would publicly apologize and own up to my deviation fairly and squarely.... perhaps, i would even hire a page from the nation and bangkok post also.... to publicly apologize....

it surely will bring in even more attention.... won't you say....

[THAIPHUKET]

It seems that no one has come up with a negative view of substance on the teaching itself. Shouldn't that matter most?

The rest= how about a touch of humor,

this is Public relations work = branding

Goal achieved= Walen is cemented in the heads.

[diseq]

Sorry to stay on topic you guys, I'm sure you'll have fun with all the "I wish to complain about your complaint" for another 34 pages, so don't mind me...:jap:

Mac, you asked for complaints, I will try to put a review instead.

Based on the initial research online, I was ready to sign up for a one year course, but after talking to current and past students and attending the demo course with intermediate level students + briefly reviewing the 3 books, I decided against it.

Pros:

1. The ed visa handling is clear and efficient. Employees are aware of the options ( unlike another major school where they had no idea of the existence of a multiple entry ed visa).

2. The owner can be contacted directly and is readily available ( such as this thread and others suggest). That's a major difference compared to other schools where complaints and issues are dealt with by incompetent staff, with no access to the management.

3. The building is clean, well organized and in a very convenient location across Kad Suan Kaew.

Cons:

1.The teachers seem to be chosen based on their looks rather than teaching skills. They are unable to deviate from the rigid course material and seem phased by students asking for practical examples of using the new words, or comparisons with English usage. This might be due to inexperience as well.

2.The study books costs another 400 baht per course, thus 1200 baht for the 3 courses(beginner->advanced). That's a hidden cost and not the case with other schools which include the teaching materials in their fee.

3.There is little difference in the approach from the beginner course to the advanced course, only extra vocabulary. The focus is on reading practice, not speaking.

The intermediate students are able to read Thai, but are unable to put together even simple phrases in the marketplace, with the landlord, meeting thai people, small banter etc.

The students are aware of this as well, but feel that they invested too much time and money already to try another school or approach.

4.The dropout rate is high, boredom sets in after 2-3 months and there is nothing done to prevent it.

5. When asked if they would be willing to conduct a few classes in a practical situation( like at a marketplace, ordering food together) the teachers were reluctant saying they have to stick to the lesson plan.

Thus, I decided to choose another school based on the teachers' skills and flexibility of both the method and the relationship with the students. Even though the front desk staff for this other school were blissfully incompetent.

At the end of the course, I want to speak fluent thai in everyday situations. That was not the case with the majority of the Walen students, even the ones who studied a lot on their own.

Looking forward to read your opinion.

[MacWalen]

It is a long post khun diseq and not sure this is the right place to address all the points but I would like to mention our teachers in your cons no:1

Before you write that teachers are chosen based on looks and not teaching ability please check it first, otherwise it is an insult. Come and observe a few lessons. They teach great. I train them myself. The issue was with one student not enjoying some of the jokes so much but certainly not with teaching. The are the finest bunch of teachers in Chiangmai.

Also teachers don't have to be old or ugly to be able to teach Thai well. Teachers can be young and beautiful and still be excellent at what they do.

Regarding some of the other statements. We are the most popular and busiest school in CM, nobody has more students than Walen. After one year of learning at the other school come to us and compare yourself with our students in a lesson and you will see that it is not as you say. Nobody teaches Thai faster than Walen, about every minute we teach a new word.

Also if you knew our teachers you would not make such assumptions. You speak of things you don't know about. That is not fair.

Walen School - excellent teachers

[vont]

It is a long post khun diseq and not sure this is the right place to address all the points but I would like to mention our teachers in your cons no:1

Before you write that teachers are chosen based on looks and not teaching ability please check it first, otherwise it is an insult. Come and observe a few lessons. They teach great. I train them myself. The issue was with one student not enjoying some of the jokes so much but certainly not with teaching. The are the finest bunch of teachers in Chiangmai.

Also teachers don't have to be old or ugly to be able to teach Thai well. Teachers can be young and beautiful and still be excellent at what they do.

Regarding some of the other statements. We are the most popular and busiest school in CM, nobody has more students than Walen. After one year of learning at the other school come to us and compare yourself with our students in a lesson and you will see that it is not as you say. Nobody teaches Thai faster than Walen, about every minute we teach a new word.

Also if you knew our teachers you would not make such assumptions. You speak of things you don't know about. That is not fair.

Walen School - excellent teachers

it amazes me to no end....

do you understand this thai saying regarding you, yours and your entity.....?

หมา ขี้ ยก หาง เอง doggy raises its own tail....

in all honesty, i always appreciate everyone who comes to thailand to contribute something to improve the life style of the locals....

in that respect, i salute you and your attempt and interest.... May the Almighty God bless you and yours multiply many times over....

- Hide quoted text -

[uptheos]

If no-one on TV ever clicked the banner or heard of Walen before......they sure have now.

[outofoz]

I was going to use Walen as my choice of school....

Why? Because they appeared as a sponsor here on TV.. the rates looked reasonable, they have a few locations and times of choice. I also have no other recommendation and i could find no diabolical negatives re the school.

Why not support the sponsors that keep the site going? If the sponsor was overly dodgy the site managers would be most likely to remove the sponsor to protect their own reputation...

Hardly a bulletproof theory on my part, but seems as good any other method.

So the guy promotes himself with a 'thankyou' letter and posts it as a 'complaint' letter to get attention... More power to him I say. The guy wants to promote his business, keep it strong... also says he is quite likely to want to provide a decent service to keep building his business.

Sure, i was suckered in to reading the post...and im not sure if i find the letter genuine, but it is a minor infraction to my sensibilities..

As for the 'added as friend' misdemeanours... change your settings!

a school is just as good and as clean as the head master/mistress....

do you want to be educated by someone who is less than honest, who is misleading in order to gain something personal....?

a dishonesty in something small....?

but then who are we to say to you to or not to do something.... let your personal preference be your guiding angel.... when you are the absolute master of your own ship....

if it were me.... i would publicly apologize and own up to my deviation fairly and squarely.... perhaps, i would even hire a page from the nation and bangkok post also.... to publicly apologize....

it surely will bring in even more attention.... won't you say....

I just want to learn Thai.. I don't care about the personal moral fibre of the business owner..only that he/she provides a good business service to me at a good price... Who am i? The moral arbiter of degrees of honesty vs self promotion?

Do you check the personal honesty of staff and management and directors of Tesco to make sure they are all morally scrupulous before you shop there? or do you just go for a good price?

The guy wants to self promote... no problem with that..

[slapout]

I know several advertisers/members of TV who will promote their business when the opportunity arises. Others promote new product and or special prices now and again. They also contribute to various topics without a mention of their business. Some are astute enough to recognize that if someone has a interest in their establishment, they will review the advert and contact them personally, if they need additional info. Others do not seem to follow this fine example, of business sense.

I also did not understand " added as friend" timing at all, but I have my suspicions.

[uptheos]

Hey, isn't Chiang Mai great, it's so easy to become someone's friend.

[Contractor]

[quote name='MacWalen' timestamp='1309588166' post='4527539']

....not sure this is the right place to address all the points

/quote]

Now I am confused.

I thought this thread was titled "Walen School - Complaint - Let us know what you think".

Obviuosly not everything is up for discussion.