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After years of belonging to a major low-cost chain-operated gym, I decided to look into an upscale local health club with a few locations. I went into the one closest to me. The marketing director reeked of phoniness and I didn't like her. The price structure was the same at all clubs, so it was sort of moot. I told her I would NOT join on the spot because I would be out of town on a business/pleasure trip that would bring me back into gym, and into town, on Friday.
In the intervening time, this is what happened:
1) she's too stupid to realize there's a 3-hour time difference and that a person may be tired, so she calls me on the morning I'm flying home while I'm in transit
2) she said she could do a month free back then, says it's now 2 weeks, but I got her to do a month
3) she said she was going home on Friday, but she heard I couldn't come in until 4 pm, so she stuck around...desperate
4) she canvassed me for names of friends who might join and their phone numbers, thus getting me a monthly discount for referrals...I said they are all happy at 24-Hour Fitness or Gold's and gave her no numbers...this is not acceptable at any club costing $80 or more a month
5) lastly, she is a very attractive lady in her late 30s; however, her whole approach is condescending and patronizing...I'm sure she's this way to the professionals, and/or those older than her, who want to join. (I wondered if she is this defensive and forward as a tactic to deal with all these educated folks with higher incomes than hers)
Ok, I'm interested in staying at this health club; however, I can:
1) cancel the membership within the preprinted short time window and rejoin at another time,
2) cancel a few months into the month-to-month contract and rejoin after the summer, and going to Europe, so someone else gets the commission,
3) report the incident to the main office running this chain so that someone talks to her.
I know these are tough times, but it is inexcusable that, at a better health club, this takes place. Your thoughts?
Last edited by robertpolyglot; 02-21-2009 at 04:07 PM..
Its really up to you.There are plenty of others;so look else where.No big deal.
I already joined. It's month to month and the initiation fee was small. My question was more to see if she's off base and management at the main office for this small chain needs to hear about it. I could also cancel within a few days.
If bad customer service gets your business, they you have compromised your values, and proven to the business that they can treat customers however they want.
Everyone has their own style. She used the hard sell approach and you bought it. If you didn't like her pressuring you, you shouldn't have joined. This might be more of a lesson for you than for the sales person.
Why did you join at all. Was it because it was upscale?? What was wrong with your last gym? Yo must have been really desperate to join this upscale place? The girl did her job and got you to join so why on earth would they do anything about her?
I once were going to join a gym with my husband and the lady trying to sell to us were more interested in waving to her friends at the club, then concentrate on us so we just walked out and joined another health club just down the street. Easy as 123.
Did you get pushed around and beat up in grade school?
No.
It was a chain I wanted to join. (24Hr Fitness has become detestable and there are not many other chain options. I walked away from a pushy sales pitch at Bally's). Chain wise, there's 24, Bally's, Gold's and this one with about 6 or 7 locations. Even as I was signing, I knew I would contact the main office, to complain. As a minimum, I have 5 days to cancel the membership.
Everyone has their own style. She used the hard sell approach and you bought it. If you didn't like her pressuring you, you shouldn't have joined. This might be more of a lesson for you than for the sales person.
It was $50 to join (preferred employer), slightly less than $100 a month for the all-club membership, and I knew that (1) I could/would file a complaint, (2) I had a window to cancel. If I joined at another club in this small chain, it did NOT change the price and the terms. It just routed the commission to a potentially more courteous and less patronizing person. This particular club was the one closest to where I live.
I just spoke to the main office about doing both. They told me how to rescind and how to register the complaint. I told them I would rejoin later, so she couldn't get any commission.
I took it in stride, since it's not a lot of money. It was a buyer's situation each time I've bought houses and cars. That's what counts. Not parting with $74 ($98 now - $24 previously) to go from a tacky gym to a nice one.
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