North County Academy of Music Performance

I have never written a bad review on Unilocal — ever. I just left ncamp with my son. I will never be going back. He was supposed to start beginner guitar lessons today and he was really excited about starting to learn to play. Not only were we told to «get out» and «shut the door behind us» by some random, disrespectful kid, but our instructor was never even there to meet us. So we stood around on the back patio for a few minutes waiting and then wound up leaving. I had really high hopes today and was so incredibly disappointed with what happened. In my opinion, ncamp is a very unorganized, unprofessional music studio. Take your kids somewhere else. Please.

We started at NCAMP many years ago when my sons didn’t want to do band, but wanted to play music. We started with some drum and bass lessons, and it all grew from there. The staff is down to earth, and it seems the instructors can pick up just about any instrument and play it. I found that impressive! My boys learned to play and participated in programs such as the ensembles, after school rock, teen band and they challenged me to join the adult rock band program. We played together and separately and had a blast meeting new people and staying off TV and video games. I found my sons learning music theory without feeling pressured, and I even took a few lessons. I was a consistent member at the adult program, and found my stress levels going down and skill going up. This is a great place to learn and relax doing it! Just try it and see if it is for you. I get enough of «uptight and regimented» at work, come let your hair down… and just play.

I LOVE LOVE this place! The instructors are amazing and the kids rock! Everyone is super friendly and it is like a home away from home for my son. Ted Best is my sons drum teacher and is the bomb. He understands my son and teaches him in a way that he expands and progresses on a weekly basis. Thank you so much!!!

Being a frustrated musician trying to find like minded folks to play with on craigs list and the like, I decided to try, on a whim, NCAMP’s adult rock band program. Not only did I make some lasting friendships and have a ball doing it I also was able to find some musicians like minded enough to put together a pretty successful band who now plays in and around San Diego County on a regular basis.
The staff has always been friendly and accommodating. Ted and Mike are great people dedicated to helping no matter what level you are playing. I have recommended other adults and their kids as well an never have I heard a negative comment in return.
Without NCAMP our band, Strange Affliction would not exist. Not sure what happened to the one person, with the negative review but I’m sure it was either and extremely isolated incident or they were just customers hard to please no matter what you do. I have a feeling it was the latter rather than the former. I can’t even imagine Ted getting so upset he threw someone out unless they were just completely out of line and way off base.
SIDE NOTE: John Pramus is one of the greatest instructors for guitar and an equally nice person. My step son had lessons from him years ago and I was so thrilled I recently (well, several months ago) recommended my friends son have lessons from John and he’s loving it.

My kid started taking guitar lessons here from John. Can’t say enough nice things about him as a teacher and motivator. He pushes just enough and makes it enjoyable for my daughter. This place is safe and clean. My daughter has made a ton of friends in music now and has networked thru Ncamp. So nice to have a place where she feels comfortable and the environment promotes musical education.
If you’re looking for lessons, this place has everything you need from a qualified staff.

I already wrote a review and Unilocal took it off well I will try again my 2 daughter’s kendra and alinna went to the last after school rock camp and just started again to the new after school rock camp I have never had any problems with no one the girls love going they cant wait for Tuesday and Thursday always talking about how they love the camp

Really wanted to like this place because they have classes that put rock and jazz bands together for adults. But they are a hassle to deal with. Mike the tech guy doesn’t have any idea what he is doing (took him over an hour to hook up one microphone!) and he’s kinda creepy. John the instructor doesn’t do what he says he’s going to do — i.e. after the 1^st class of 6 he promised to email the music so we could practice, well, it never happened. They don’t respond to phone or email messages. I’m afraid to think what would happen if you needed a refund. Unlikely I’ll ever go back especially since Mira Costa College offers something similar which is led by professional instructors. And they don’t tolerate disorganization or incompetence.
Update (9÷25÷2013):
ARGH! NCAMP is run by silly, vindictive people. NCAMP had a chance to do the right thing, fix the problems and provide respectful customer service, but instead they made things MUCH WORSE. The owner Ted THREW ME OUT OF THE BUILDING OVER THE ABOVE Unilocal REVIEW. And he threw my husband out too! (And my hubby didn’t write anything.)
And why was I back in at this music school? Well, I thought I would give the experience a 2^nd chance, and perhaps get to rewrite my Unilocal review. NCAMP owner Ted had called a couple of times promising things would be better. He seemed sincere and truly apologetic. (Still never got the promised music from instructor John despite more calls and emails, but I found them online myself.) So tonight, my husband and I went back for the 3^rd of the 6 classes and after setting up our gear, Ted pulled us aside and told us «you aren’t welcome here because of what you wrote in social media. You need to leave…» along with some other stuff I won’t repeat. But you can imagine, it wasn’t pleasant.
One of the wonderful things about Unilocal is that business owners get to learn both what is good and bad about their customer experience. They can choose to ignore problems, or fix them. The owner of NCAMP choose the wrong option.
I am sure NCAMP has some happy customers. But my husband and I are not among them.