A contract for a martial art school? that was very unwise. I’m black belt myself and I can tell you that reputable schools don’t try to take you hostage for a whole year.

Stop paying and quit and put a formal complain in the BBB. If your contract were to the original franchise then your contract is void. If they try to threat with leagal acction sue them in small claim court for breach of contract and false advertisement and ask for the money you already lost pluss cancelation of contract.

I love questions like this…

You can do anything you want to do… If you want to stop paying, then stop. It’ll be up to them to try to enforce the contract. It’s not illegal to not pay something. You don’t go to jail.

The longer you pay, the stronger HIS case is. Stop paying immediately.

If what you say is even close to true, they won’t lift a finger to pursue this fraudulent debt. It’s possible that out of spite they could put this on your credit report, but if they are as unorganized as you claim, I doubt he’ll be able to get his crap together to do it.

Time to make a phone call the the
Better Business Bureau BBB
?
And make up a letter send it by special delievery be signed upon receipt
.
noting all your complaints and that with the new school not as the one you had the original contract with makes the first contract nall and void
.
And that you will notify your bank to stop all payments to them an if necessary you will take them to court to stop any and all harassment’s to pay on an old contract to a school that does not exist any longer
.

Stop paying immediately. Send them a letter saying you are canceling your contract on your attorney’s advice, and that they will never get another dime from you, and for them to stop contacting you. In the letter detail all the incidents you have listed here.

If even half of what you are saying here is true, there is no way they are going to sue you for the balance. They don’t want these things coming out in court.

Stop paying, get the letter out, and forget about this.