Okay, Im about to spill the beans. I worked for LA fitness for five years as a General Manager and Sales Manager and I know how rotten they are first hand. You see, I have always been at battle with the leadership of this company that bases their success on pure #'s. Early on I struggled with the ethics of some of the things we were doing to get people to join. If you thought you were just going in to "check it out" then you have another thing coming. If you made the mistake of bringing your wallet, which they require ID before entering, then you are going to most likely get slammed into one of the most fierce sales presentations "prezos" you have ever encountered. There is nothing you can say that will make you feel smart if choose to not join. I was basically trained to make you feel like a complete idiot for not taking such a "great opportunity" when it was sitting right in your face. Every sharp angle close, take away close, and rebuttal to objections are used by the more skilled salespeople at this company, myself included at the time. If you thought you made a connection on a real level with some of these salespeople you are wrong! As soon as you are out of ear shot they are saying how they hard closed the shit out of you and celebrating the commission they just made. They may act like the genuinely care about people on the surface but the company culture which is reflected from the top down (District VP's) is purely monetarily driven. Think about it, did people just start at this company and become this way? No, they were modeled this behavior by the VP's. Bobby Mickis is the VP of San Diego and he is a ruthless boss that only cares about himself and his money. If you aren't hitting your numbers you would be screamed and sworn at. Threatened "that if you cant get it done, I will find someone who will". They motivate by pure threats and fear although ironically enough the company doctrine says that this is one of the "13 Fatal Errors" managers make. They need to take their own advice.
The real reason I am posting this in addition to letting you know that they really dont care about the members is that they are scamming people across the nation on a daily basis. They say when you sign up you get a free session or "orientation" from a personal trainer. It is really a sales pitch to sell you personal training, and no matter how good of shape you are in, kill you in a workout to the point you feel inadequate and hence need to work with a trainer. What they fail to mention is that the actual Fitness Directors in most cases (90%) are not even certified as personal trainers. You do not need to be a certified personal trainer to have this position with LA Fitness. It is considered a sales position. So, in most cases you are getting put through a workout by a guy that learned a sales presentation and a few exercises and is now wearing a trainers shirt. If that is not misrepresentation than I dont know what is.in addition to them running this scam they have alot of shady activities running around every club I have been in. I have run half of the locations in San Diego and have seen numerous wrong doings by staff to the tune of forgery, unauthorized transactions on accounts, and lie after lie.
I had to leave after my VP was talking about taking Xanax in a meeting which completely demotivated me. For a couple years I wanted to be just like him, rich and powerful, but after being there long enough I am glad to have parted ways. I recommend that everyone separate themselves from this shady organization that I can truly say makes people miserable on many levels and is only after one thing and one thing only, your hard earned dollars.
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