BFIT: the complaint list is getting longer, faster! Check February 98:
compupix.com
And a sample:
Please allow me (actually my sister and girlfriend) to share a Bally's experience with you. I would appreciate if you could add the attached letter from my sister.
February 17, 1998
Mr. John Wildman
Vice President of Marketing
Bally Total Fitness Corporation
8700 West Bryn Mawr Avenue
Chicago, IL 60631
Dear Mr. Wildman,
Please allow me to introduce myself as a premier member of Bally's for the past three years. Until this past weekend, I was happy with the club and the service I received when I came in to work out. I wanted to negotiate for a long-term membership when my current membership is up in August, and was looking into purchasing stock at Bally's.
I want to make you aware of a dangerous situation at your Voorhees, New Jersey club. I brought a guest to the club on Saturday, February 15, using a 2-week guest pass provided to me by a sales representative at your Walnut Drexel location. My guest went along with the introductory tour and orientation. Fred Elliott, who wore a nametag, which said "General Manager", brought her into his office to talk. After a ten minute sales pitch, he confiscated her guest pass, telling her he was not sure that she could use the pass.
Clearly shaken, my friend decided to just enjoy her workout, which she did. She wanted to join. As we were leaving, I asked Fred Elliott why he would not allow my friend to use her guest pass. He told me he had record she used a one-day pass within the past 90-days, and that I should have known I couldn't have brought her in as a guest. He mentioned that as a guest, he could ask her to leave or charge her for her time there if he felt she did not want to work out. Is this how you relate to all your potential members? Clearly taken aback, I made of point of mentioning that she wanted to join. He called both of us into his office, and what happened next is lawsuit material. He told us, and I quote his exact words:
"Since I want you to leave with a clear conscience, I will make you an offer, even though your friend is clearly not interested in working out here, let alone a membership."
When my friend replied, "I was interested, but not any more", Fred Elliot told her:
"Stop bitching at me and sit down. We're not finished here."
He stood up and made an aggressive and threatening advance toward her.
I must mention that as a Manager at a Publishing Company, who has friends who are lawyers, this is lawsuit material. Fred Elliott needs serious customer service training. He apparently believes he can judge whom and who isn't Bally's material, just on his own merits. This extremely small-minded, naive man feels entitled to try to intimidate women so he can feel more powerful. What if I was a shareholder? Could I demand Fred Elliot be terminated as a Bally's employee? When I told him I was writing a letter about his behavior, he replied:
"Just because you're a member doesn't mean you can come in here on a power trip."
When I asked him for the name of his Regional Manager, he was evasive and refused to answer my question. Most people realize that when you have nothing to hide, you are willing to disclose information about upper management at your company without worrying. I had to call another club to find out that Jay Pierce is your Regional Manager for that area. When I called Jay Pierce to see if he could help me, asking him for the address of the corporate offices, he told me they were located in Talson, Maryland. Do you have offices in Maryland? Jay Pierce has been caught outright lying to a member. Doesn't he realize that information about any corporation is available at public libraries and on the Internet?
Is Bally's Corporation doing so incredibly well that they can afford to turn away potential new members, and spurn away existing good members? In today's competitive market, many other local and national health clubs are offering considerate, personalized service and good rates.
You have a verbally-abuse manager at your Voorhees location who is more interested in power struggles than bringing in money for your company. How can any manager talk to a customer in the way Fred Elliott talked to us? After working my way through graduate school as an assistant manager at Strawbridge's, I learned a valuable lesson. Mrs. Strawbridge, wife of one of the founding members of this Philadelphia based department store, used to come in to the store dressed like a bag lady and shop the sale racks. This taught me that you must treat everyone with respect, because you never know who you're dealing with. What if I was a shareholder at Bally's? Could I then demand that Fred Elliott be terminated as a Bally's employee.
My friend and I are well-educated, fit, ambitious, young professionals with an interest in staying fit and trim, who enjoy the social aspects of fitness clubs, and have the money to invest in such ventures. It would seem to me that this is the type of individual you want to attract at Bally's Total Fitness. I use the club two to three times weekly, and attend your aerobics classes. The tragedy here is that my friend was prepared to join Bally's. Her membership to Living Well Lady is up the end of March. She was thrilled with the idea of having a friend to drive up with every Saturday.
Fred Elliott ruined my positive experience with your company. I was really looking forward to coming to the gym with my friend every week. After years of sales / marketing experience, I can attest to the fact that word of mouth is the best advertisement any business can hope for. The health club industry is a service-oriented business, which needs to earn the business of new and existing members.
I would truly look forward to a response to my letter, just to know I've been heard. I've been made to feel that as a paying member, I have no opinion, leverage, or concern from management with my experience at the club. Nothing would make me happier than to see Fred Elliott out of Bally's. Thank you for this opportunity to express my grievance about a very unpleasant, uncomfortable experience, and I truly hope I can continue to (somehow!) to enjoy Bally's Total Fitness for years to come.
Best Wishes,
Kim I.
New Jersey
Kim I. <applejax@jersey.net>
New Jersey USA - 19 Feb 1998 |
