Complaint Review: Aveda Institute of Dallas - Dallas Texas

If you are seeking a valuable education in the Cosmetology Industry, DO NOT attend this school! The school promises a first rate education, but has unlicensed and unsupervised instructors conducting courses. For the first two months of my attendance, I was trained by a female who did not have a teaching license and was not supervised by someone who did.  Needless to say, we opened our text book only once and the information we received was not in accordance to the Texas Department of License and Regulations. 

When I began to complain about spending $20,000 and not learning what was required to pass the State exam, the student instructor miraculously got transferred to another school and the Instructors, Director and Vice President of the school began to retaliate against me. 

After all my complaining and letter writing, the school eventually decided to incorporate a “State board” elective. 

You heard me correctly.  The school established an “elective” for what they should automatically be teaching.

The atmosphere and leadership at this school is so bad, an entire class walked out in protest of not receiving a proper education.

To add insult to injury another class was held back for NOT selling enough Aveda products.  We are supposed to be in school to learn, not push their products on clients; however, they felt it necessary to hold an entire class back for this reason.

During my tenure at Aveda I witnessed and/or experienced the following:

1. Training from an unsupervised, unlicensed student instructor
2. An instructor snorting cocaine while on their lunch break
3. An Instructor and Director physically grabbing students by our arm and pulling or pushing us
4. Instructors fraternizing with students by engaging in sexual activity
5. Instructors and the Director inappropriately getting in the face of students
6. Instructors calling students out of their name
7. An instructor posting a provocative photo on social media, soliciting a three-way sexual encounter while wearing an Aveda badge
8. Students using illegal substances in the restroom and passing out
9. A student kicking a mannequin across the classroom hitting a student in her head
10. A student having an emotional breakdown on the floor because they felt they were not being property trained
11. The head educator getting her hair done on the clock when we have been told we are not allowed to do this
12. An entire classroom of students vacating the premises in protest of not learning anything
13. Racial inequality by allowing clients to refuse service from a black male student
14. 11 hour workdays with no lunch breaks
15. The school forcing a pregnant student to remain on her feet for 11 hours to perform services
16. Students being forced to service clients past  9-10:00pm
17. Financial bribery to voluntarily withdraw from the program

The school eventually expelled me after the Director; Jennifer Hacck placed her hands on me and pushed me.  I called the police on her and in her anger; she kicked me out of the program, claiming I was hostile.  When in fact, I was extremely disappointed because I, along with other students felt we were not learning anything.

After being expelled, I appealed the decision and was offered $1001.00 to quietly go away.  Why would they offer me money if they did not feel they did anything wrong?

They said the $1001.00 was a balance I owed and they were willing to wipe it clean if I just went away; but I had Federal Student Loans, so how would I have a balance at all?

The school is a complete disaster and is a waste of time, money and energy.  They make a lot of promises, but at the end of day, they are not a training institution, they are a modern day sweat shop, working students for 10 and 11 hour days without a lunch-break.

So if you are seeking a valuable education in the Cosmetology Industry, look elsewhere, because you will be greatly disappointed with what you find at the Aveda Institute of Dallas.