lycaeum.co.uk Reviews 22

I strongly advise against choosing this company. My experience with them was extremely disappointing. I initially invested £260 and communicated with my instructor that I had attended three lessons, which cost £60. Unfortunately, I fell ill and had to step away for a while. Upon returning, I attempted to schedule more lessons, but nobody, including the manager Pedro, responded to my messages. Despite seeing my funds in their account, my emails to Pedro went unanswered. Even his secretary was surprised by the lack of response. Eventually, I was informed that £200 of my money had been taken, which felt entirely unjust. They seemed attentive when I deposited money, yet became unresponsive once issues arose. This experience has been incredibly frustrating, and I am pursuing a refund. It's disheartening that Pedro has even removed his Facebook page after several negative reviews.

Do not use this company — it’s a scam. They dissolved their old business “Lycaeum” and now operate under the name “MuseCool,” but the practices remain the same.

They present themselves as a legitimate tutoring company, but my experience has been nothing but unprofessional and misleading. To make matters worse, it appears that some of their own employees are leaving positive reviews online to make the company look reputable.

For example, Sumaia Pian, who supposedly “managed my son’s account” to find tutors, has also left feedback online pretending to be a parent — this is completely dishonest and misleading. DO NOT USE.

Important to Note that they have also used a different name to MUSECOOL to get new customers but they still use Lycaeum.

I took lessons with this school and, unfortunately, had a very disappointing experience during a time I was seriously ill with the flu. I informed my teacher over 24 hours in advance that I was unable to attend—I was bedridden and unable to speak and my mind was definitely not clear with 39degree celsius temperature. Despite my illness, I texted my teacher on WhatsApp. However, the lesson was marked as a late cancellation the next day. The teacher appeared to provide inconsistent information to both the school and to me, which created confusion and frustration.

I contacted the Head of Operations, Ullana, and provided a copy of my WhatsApp exchange with the teacher to clarify the situation. Despite this, I was told the cancellation was still considered late even I was very sick for and a refund was not offered. Wanting to settle things fairly, I initially agreed to pay one-third of the lesson fee. However, after realising the communication between the teacher and the school was not consistent, I requested a full refund of the lesson fee they took instead of a credit.

Following that request, all communication from the school stopped. My emails and phone calls went unanswered—there appears to be no live customer service, only automated systems. When I inquired about a formal complaints procedure, I could not find any clear process in place. In my view, this raises concerns about accountability and customer care.

This is simply my personal experience, but I would encourage others to exercise caution before committing to this service. I would not recommend it based on the handling of my situation.

Get your money back through Credit Card

Importantly, claimed they would issue me a refund, never did. After chasing up 4 or 5 emails over 1 month with no reply, I gave up and escalated to dispute with my credit card company who charged back a refund.

The first lesson - i never got. Teachers repeatedly cancelled for different reasons. Kept getting rescheduled and put back, which gave me zero confidence i was going to get any consistency with this school. Decided to cancel and ask for a refund since I never even got any lessons. The refund never got issued and they just started ignoring my email. Even though they were super responsive when trying to get me to pay and schedule a lesson.

Scam. Avoid at all cost.

I should have checked the reviews here before deciding to go ahead with paying for the piano lessons. The negative reviews here are absolutely true. If you pay for 4 sessions with the trial lesson to start with, you are guaranteed having no money back, no matter how much you try. My son did not like the trial session so I asked for the refund many times but received no response. They never answer the phone. They attract people by offering the free trial if you pay 4 sessions in advance. This is how they con you. They seem to have changed their business name to ' Musecool'. I guess the change had to be made due to the bad reviews so that they can carry on running their business. They will keep doing the same things though.

Whatever you do, do not work with this company - now called MuseCool. They are thieves. They owe me £370 and have been ignoring my calls and emails for months. I wish I'd read the reviews before booking...

If I could give 0 stars I would. Very similar experience to the people below. Both my husband and I are lawyers - I shall be suing them if I don’t get my money back in 2 working days. Total cowboys, no intention of honoring their contract, absolute sharks. And worst of all, my child is 5 years old and really enjoyed his trial lesson, but they messed me about so much I don’t have words for it. Furious. They should be shut down.

Stole my money! Paid for lessons. Got sent a violin that was very cheap quality. Returned it. Have had no contact since then. I’ve tried every means in communication with them and no response but they refuse to give me my money back and I have yet to have a lesson. Pure robbery. Totally unprofessional. I will never use them again!!!

Unprofessional experience and pathetic experience with Museschool (Lycaeum). 1 star is quite high given the way the company operates. Trustpilot does not allow 0 stars..

We paid for 10 bulk lessons for 1:1 violin lessons. Musechool (Lycaeum) offered me a discounted rate per session (eligible for bulk booking) only to find out a few months later that the rate charged was much higher than already agreed.

2-3 teachers started the lessons and then left abruptly. We are still awaiting the completion of lessons or refund of the outstanding amount. The company does not seem to either fulfil the service (offered online lessons instead of face to face – which I paid for) or refund me the money. They have excuses regarding refunding the money as well.

Most of the reviews reflect negative points regarding the issue with payments/teachers. Be careful before you make any prepayments since there is virtually no chance of getting the money back in case of any issues from the organisation!!! I was naïve enough to think some of the negative reviews will not impact me, unfortunately faced the same negative experience.

They steal your money! I signed up to four classes as you are informed you will get your money back if disatisifed. It is a lie. Five emails, numerous phone calls and no refund. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY

Petru insisted I pay for a lesson that his teacher cancelled. My son had the flu and we told the teacher and she didn’t want to come in case she got sick. The teacher cancelled but we were made to pay. They have terms and conditions that require more than 24 hours notice and no exemptions for illness (even COVID). They are forcing you to have lessons and endangering the health of their teachers with this policy. When this was pointed out to Petru, he agreed that only half of the lesson price was payable, which was paid. But when I said I no longer wanted to have lessons anymore, he said I cannot cancel the service. He reneged the part payment offer and is demanding the full price of the cancelled lesson and has been harassing me for payment with daily calls and emails and threatening usurious interest charges. Criminal behaviour - we paid and settled the matter but note you are not free to cancel using them ever. Avoid - their teachers are poor quality, unreliable (teachers did not come to lessons many times and we still were made to pay) and the company is run by someone who acts like a gangster. I will be reporting them to the police and their sponsor the Arts Council as public taxpayer money is being used to support this unscrupulous company.

DIDN'T GET A REFUND!!! I booked 4 lessons for my son. They don't answer my calls or emails! be aware of this fraud music school Thieves

Dreadful company. They don't seem to care about the students at all - just his much money they can get out of people. They are constantly cancelling lessons to the point where even my child is fed up. I still have money on account which they won't refund and nobody replies to your emails.

I would give t
0 stars if I could. All they are interested in was in making how much profit they can make. I cancelled my daughter's lesson well in advance due to a family emergency. They kept on sending me text messages and emailing me daily asking me to pay the cancellation fee. Even tough I gave well advance notice they told me if I don't pay they will take me to court. You can imagine their fees are RIDICULOUSLY expensive £54 for 45 minutes lesson. TO KEEP THEM QUITE I PAID £40 FOR THE CANCELLATION EVENTOUGH I CANCELLED THE LESSON WELL IN ADVANCE. I also cancelled all my future lessons with them and regreaing wasting my money for a company who does not have no intrest but to make profit.

DO NOT USE THEM AND WASTE YOUR MONEY. I HAVE NO RESPECT FOR A COMPANY WHO IS ONLY AFTER YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY. VERY VERY DISAPPOINTED.

Lycaeum of course need to make a profit. However my experience was of disorganisation and over-charging. The website is purposefully vague about the cost of lessons and I agreed a price with my tutor, only to be charged double by the company. I also pointed out that this was considerably more than advertised on the website. When I rang to cancel because of the crazy price they offered me significantly lower prices…suggesting they just pluck numbers out of the air and take their chances with people willing to overpay and then negotiate if necessary. My neighbour also uses them and is charged a lot less. It was most helpful that we could compare notes. We both have 5 year old girls having 30 minute lessons with the same teacher yet I was being charged significantly more (£10-15 / half extra). They then refused to reduce my bill. I have paid it but would advise potential customers to avoid the company. I must say the teacher we had was lovely and great with kids.

You should avoid working with Lycaeum at all cost:
1/ they do not respect their own t&c. I tried to cancel a lesson 48h before it happened. Their term claims its 24h. Then never responded, never warned the teacher and then claimed the money anyway
2/ they are HORRIBLE at communicating with. Most emails go unanswered or take 1 week to get answered. When you call their office, noone ever has a clue of whats going on. Multiple people contact you for the same thing. This company is a mess. Although beware: they are GREAT at sending you legal threats 4x per day without ever picking up your calls.
3/ they are screwing their teachers. To be fair the teacher i got through lycaeum was excellent but then i learned that lycaeum keeps almost 40% of the fee for themselves, for the privilege of making you do a ton of admin.

The founder is most likely more clueless than dishonest, but save yourself some time and help young musicians: find a teacher directly. You’ll have less work and the teachers will make more money.

My child has been taking harp lessons for the last 8 months and she progressed a lot! The tutor was super friendly, committed and highly experienced. They are also helping my child to prepare for ABRSM grades. Besides, they provide weekly online group lessons for free and my child absolutely enjoy this! I really recommend these guys.

The teachers are very friendly and encourage children to enjoy the music. My son really loves the lesson and wants to continue to learn from Lycaeum.

Absolutely disgraceful company. I had requested a vocal coach to get me ready for a performance. My style is R&B, contemporary/pop which I made very clear to them. The CV’s I received were good and I choose my teacher. Due to their incompetence they did not inform me that the teacher I choose would be away at the time I required help. At this point I were running out of time so I continued with my class and they stated they were sending me a suitable teacher. While this teacher was Lovely, she’s classically trained and had not heard of the genre of one of the songs I were singing. I requested a refund and was told I would not receive one, and have since been ignored by Petru Cortacea, the owner. I have send an email to the Arts Council for investigating of this school but I think they believe I may just be a disgruntled customer. However coming onto this platform I see others who are collectively being ignored and refused refunds. It’s how they make their money, their and independent school but get funded by councils. These councils should and will know what this disgraceful school is doing to paying students. They play in the fact that they do so much good work with and for children and had a write up in The Strand about their music bus and work for Ukraine, they are a fraud Avoid at all Costs.

My teacher was fine and the lessons went well- no complaints on that score. However, I accidentally overpaid by about £300 (I was paying by standing order weekly, and many lessons were cancelled).
I've been chasing them for months now, with no sign of any refund.
If you do sign up for lessons, never pay in advance! They just don't seem to believe in refunding overpaid money.