I am filing this report on behalf of myself as well as a dozen of my dear neighbors in my community.
First of all, my experience with La Fitness has been one of the worst experiences from a business that I can remember. Their used car sales pitch gets worse every time I hear it.
Missouri City TX is a very small tight knit community. I have run into their sales people 7 times at local businesses during the last year. I have been approcached by them at places such as Home Depot, Target, Walmart and our local supermarkets. After the last two cases, HEB and Target, I was approached by them while I was shopping. I spoke to the manager both times about the solicitations and they were extremely concerned and disturbed. They attempted to locate the La Fitness employee, but each time they evaded the managers.
I also, during their pre opening phase called up their to inquire about memberships and to this day about a year later am still receiving harrassing phone calls.
They boasted to be the the biggest (false), the most affordable (really false) with the best customer service around (the biggest joke of all).
After they opened in Jannuary, I went into their facility to see for myself. Despite all of their boasts and claims to fame, their facility was filthy, hot tub was not functioning and the service was worse than buying a used car from a bum. This was within the first two weeks of their opening.
Their rate scheme. They told me during their pre opening phase that their rates were $149.00 to enroll and $34.95 per month, I still have thier mail ad to this day. They told me that they offered all of these free servies and that when the facility opened that the prices would increase dramatically.
When their ads came out when they opened I notice that their ads went down to $99.00 down with $29.95 per month. Even worse, I personally know of 5 people who have paid $49.00 down and another 8 who have paid $79.00 down with various monthly dues. I have a really good friend of mine who paid $19.95 per month for her and the same for her husband, I saw the contract myself? There is no consistancy with their pricing.
I ran into one of thier salesmen and when I asked him of the price differences he told me that it was because they worked off of commission and they received 25% of the sale, as long as the monthly dues was consistant with what La Fitness wanted, they could charge or give away as much as they wanted.
So, I laughed at him and asked him if I were a beautiful young lady who flirted with him if I would get a cheaper memberhip then most others? He said it would depend on how he was doing for the month and how much of he wanted to make off of the deal.
The young lady that I mentioned above who paid $19.95 per month showed me a photo of her child after his visit to their child area. Apparently the La daycare attendants are children themselves, they left this ladies infant son on a table unattended where he rolled off and completely lacerated his face in several places. She contacted the management and was met with hostility, denyal and an overall sense of "accidents happen". She since has cancelled her membership and joined elsewhere.
When she spoke to their corp. Office there too she was met with hostitility. She also mentioned to me that when she joined by a man named seth, they said the daycare would be opened 7 days a week and it turned out to be open only 6. Further more she never paid extra for daycare with her $19.95, but 6 of my other friends pay up to $10.00 per month for the exact same service as she receives, but hers cost nothing.
I have a cousin that used to work for this company, and he said that it was the most bogus and corrupt company that he has ever been a part of, it took only two weeks for him to leave the company due to hostile environment. All they care about he mentioned are the sales numbers and they are instructed to do what ever it takes to secure a deal, whether it is to imbelish on the terms or conditions of the membership or by not giving out rate information over the phone to entice an actual visit to the faciltiy by the prospect.
Another of my friends had her car broken into there while she was working out there. She had her purse in her trunk, her lock was unlatched with a device, trunk opened and only here credit cards, ID and checks were removed from her purse. She notice the next morning when she attempted to make a purchase. When she spoke to the manager he was in her own words "worthless" while she was pleading for aide, he abruptly ended the conversation to tend to a potential new member and he told her to call him back, she since had left La Fit.
Now their personal training dept, Body of Change, that is an entirely different issue. A friend of my sons who is in highschool came over yesterday to boast about how he went to pick up his friend from La Fitness and was approached by the training manager and offered a job as a personal trainer??? This boy works out because of highschool but has no training degrees, experience or recognized credentials. He specifically stated that he was solicated by the head trainer by being complimented with his physique and the way that he carried himself. This child said that he had no certifications and was specifically told that he would receive training for the first weekend while on the job and would be certified by them. Are you kidding me.
This is what finally prompted these statements from me. How are you going to tell me that this child who does not even have a High School diploma is going to aide me or anybody else who might have diabetes, bi-pass or some other type of medical issue? Can you say liability waiting to happen.
That leads me to my next topic which are the contracts that these personal trainers hold members too. I have two friends that are under 1 year contracts for personal training. This story will amaze you, my friend joined up over a year ago and sighned up for a year of personal training (30 minute sessions), when he joined up he was promised 35 free sessions if he did the year contract, so he did. He has been passed to 7 different trainers since then, all of which are terrible in his own words.
He went in last month to speak to the training manager that sold him his training and my friend was told that he was fired recently. When he asked about his free sessions that were in writing on his contract, he was met with hostitility and confrontation. He was told that he didn't have to honor anything since he wasnt there when it was sold and furthermore the original trainer was no longer there and he was not going to be held accountable for deals that past employees did...
Sounds like La Fitness is a ripoff to me, I will continue to search for a fitness center that is credible unlike the commercial La's and Bally's in the community. Like I said, I know a lot of people personally that joined up that facility and to this day which is about 6 months after they opened, not one of them are still members there. Do not fall for their pricing tricks or their boasts of service. It seems like once they take your money, things go down hill.
Bryan
missouri city, Texas
U.S.A.
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