United Studios of Self Defense - Foster City, California

Aaron S. N.

My girlfriend and I started taking the adult classes here as a fun fitness activity we could share together. We absolutely love it and have progressed together in belt rank twice over last five months. Our instructors pay close to attention to our progress and don’t pull any punches (pun intended) when it comes to holding us to a high standard of technique and the application of meaningful force. The cardio workouts are also no joke! I’ve lost almost twenty pounds since we started training here and can definitely feel a meaningful difference in both the speed and strength of my kicks and strikes. We highly recommend this dojo, and especially appreciate the generous attention and flexible scheduling you receive from the different instructors, each of whom bring their own specialized strengths, backgrounds, and expertise to the floor. There’s a warm and welcoming sense of real community here that we’ve grown to love, but there’s no substitute for checking it out yourself!

Google U.

This is a review for USSD Foster City.

Sensei is not aware of what each kid is capable of. When I joined the program for my kid, I asked what is the general guideline that kids move from white to yellow belt and I was told by Pinpin that it takes 4 weeks. Kids need to know only 8 blocks to move to yellow belt. My child knew those perfectly well in less than 4 weeks but Pinpin did not take test until 4 months were complete. That clearly means she does not know what kid is capable of because there is no attention paid.

Lessons never start on time. Whatever they call private lessons are actually semiprivate because there are often 4 kids. Also those are continuous one after other and start 5-10 minutes late. So don't think that your kid is getting 30 minutes of one on one attention which is what I was told when I joined the program.

Sparring Kit is not at all required unless you are sending your kid for competition but they enforce that every kid needs to buy it because they teach sparring on Saturday, which they don't need to do unless kid is going for competition. So if you are not attending Saturday lesson and not sending kid for competition you will never use that sparring kit. Many studios don't mandate sparring unless kids and their parents are interested. Also lots of studios has different programs out of which you can choose one as compared to what USSD Foster city has.

You can get better service at other places for the price you are paying here.

Deepesh C.

This business use to be located at shell Blvd@foster city. We had a very very bad experience and it was more about being a genuine business. When we enrolled for the class they promised if for any reason we want to cancel the class they will refund. Guess what, when we cancelled the class they kept pushing us for days and eventually they did not returned our money.
This is just another SHOP not a self-defense school!!.
----------------In response to Jason's reply-----------
- Note: Why would Mr. Chaudhary post this incident from ten years ago and insinuate that the school stole his money, when nothing could be farther from the truth? Why is this the only review he has ever posted? How is it re-posted to appear it was ten weeks ago?------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jason, Appreciate your follow up and effort to dump it all back on the customer.
My story: I had only written one review on Google (so far) as this was truly the worst experience we had, and in '13 wrote about it. Only about a few months ago(Fed '21), stumbled upon this review, almost on the fence about deleting it, as it had typos, was written in frustration and thinking maybe that it was just an isolated event, why bother now. ( Above all I don't even remember what exactly happened, but you made me recall!, I guess nothing changed) I ended up fixing the review and that's why you see the updated timeline, you can check yelp for the original review and timeline. If it happened in '11, why did I write in '13? I kept seeing USSDFC advertising during Foster City carnivals about how community friendly they are, their discounts and hassle free cancellations, so decided to share my story in '13! It is going well so far!

Let's go back to the transaction:
In '11 my son would have been around ~ 3 years of age,  we saw your ads offering a discount, so we registered but since we had travel plans, we asked if we can enroll to get a discount but start once we are back, which was agreed/approved. We came back and started the class, all good till now. Few classes 2-3, one day when we got to pick our son early, kid wanted to come to mommy, which the instructor did not like and held the kid back firmly(with frustration), the kid started to cry and that was the day we thought that the kid is not ready and decided to cancel the class. Of course our cancellation process did not go well.

Rena K.

Three of my grandchildren went here and did wonderfully. One moved away but found an MMA program, Kuk Sool Won, and after 4 months participated in a Northern Calif. tournament. For his age group he won 3rd for sparring, 2nd for technique and 1st for form. His time at United helped prepare him for his progress at his new gym. For all my grandchildren they were careful to be sure they knew each move at each level before progressing to another belt.

The other thing I appreciated was the option to sign up month-by-month rather than be tied to an annual non-refundable contract. If the kids didn't want to continue they would have had to forfeit the remaining annual fee. (Or transfer it to another family member. Don't think that would have been an option for any of them.)

Lori A.

I have been studying at USSD Foster City for several years and the instructors are wonderful. I have known Master Pin Pin for over 20 years and she is very patient, caring instructor.

ruslan R.

I have been studying at this location for 15 years. Love the teachers and all the other students. This is really a place where everyone looks out for each other and pushes one another to succeed and strive to better themselves

Amit T.

My daughter loves it. Great sense of community and discipline.

Ignacio D.

I love this place. Great instruction as well as kind and respectful management. Best in the area!