1/4/11
To whom it my concern
I have been a client of Planet Fitness (PF) for quite a while and use the facility on regular basis. One of the premier things I like about the facility is its cleanliness and up keep of the equipment, the employees do a great job there. The overall attitude in the fitness center is very good; the judgment free thing is a good concept. I, as a client, like the fact that there is proper clothing worn by patrons and staff. Now there are a few things that have changed recently and they have not gone unnoticed. First thing is not being able to keep a gym bag with me in the gym while working out, that has gym equipment in it. I could understand if it was a big garment bag, those need to be in the locker room. Second I have noticed that the presence of professional trainers is no longer readily available. I understand that professional trainers are not part of your organization but their advice on training and nutritional questions can no longer be answered without leaving your facility and going to their offices next door in the strip mall. The arrangement and presence of the trainers was a bonus (free to Planet Fitness), one of the reasons why I chose to train in your facility (I see this as a loss for all). Third, this has got to be one of the lamest excuses I have ever heard. Removing the Olympic style flat bench and incline bench because they make too much noise! We were told this by an employee that appears to have been moved into a supervisor roll. COME ON! This has left three smith machines and three bench machines to handle all your customers. This probably won’t affect members during non-peak hours but during peak hours, you have cut the customer’s chest training capabilities by 1/3 and have affected a multitude of other training used on the smith machines. I did some home work First I called Broken Arrow since it’s the closest. I was told they never put those types of benches in because they are not promoting body building and it was a corporate decision. (now that sounds a little better). Since the things I have pointed out are less than believable, I picked at random from the PF website and called Austin, TX. And Anaheim, CA. Neither of these two PF’s have heard anything about removing the benches and have them in use. I also took the time to read the reviews on the internet. WOW less than flattering! With this latest change you are going to have a few problems. You’re going to lose customers, a very few but they are customers and they also carry a lot of word of mouth to non members who are considering joining a fitness club. That does go along way!!! I suspect this will be tossed to the curb like the other 150 plus complaints that are posted on the internet. But there is something I learned after 20 years in the Air Force. When there is enough documentation good or bad things will change. Now I have added mine to the list. 1/12/11
Update since my first letter. I have not heard a single word from any one at Planet Fitness concerning my complaint. Now let me say that my significant other sent a complaint the same day as I and got a reply (I have furnished both her complaint and Planet Fitness Corporate response):
Is emailer a current member of Planet Fitness: Yes
Location: Tulsa, OK
Comments and Questions: I have been a member of Planet Fitness for a long time and have been quite pleased. Until this weekend, when I discovered that the weight benches had been removed. I was told that they created "too much noise". If you're going to sound the alarm when someone drops weights, why not the alarm sound if they’re too loud on the benches. Or are the free weights going to be the next to go? This is ludicrous. Now I will never be able to get on the smith machines. Or were you going to add more smith machines? I was going to recommend Planet Fitness to about 5 people but probably won't now. I have gotten several people to join in the past year and feel like you are doing a disservice to everyone by removing the weight benches. I would hate to go to another club but will. Please reconsider. Sincerely,
Planet Fitness response
Ms.
Thank you for your comments. After a thorough review of the equipment inventory at the location, we concluded that certain pieces of equipment and exercises related to those pieces of equipment do not fit into our model at Planet Fitness. As part of our model, we do not cater to bodybuilders, dropping weights, or grunting. We want our members to feel comfortable in a non-intimidating atmosphere. We are about general fitness, and most of our members are in fact first time users of a gym. Thus barbell presses - flat and incline were removed.
To replace what was removed, the franchise owners are bringing in brand-new equipment: a bent-bar and straight bar barbell tree.
Please feel free to contact us again.
Regards,
Ashley Bickford
Member Relations
Planet Fitness Corporate Ok, now you have read both and you can make your own conclusions. My personal feeling is they would rather deal with a woman that they feel doesn’t know any better. That is Planet Fitness’s mistake! This lady has been training longer than the kids that work there have been alive and sports the physic to prove it. We both are thoroughly disappointed with this subject and to add to the disappointment I have been targeted by the staff. I’m guessing I fit the lunk category. The staff sent a young lady (two other male employees standing at the counter) to tell me not to drop the dumbbells I was using for curls. That they could hear me dropping the weights from the counter. I kindly told her they were full of S%^& and continued my work out. Since then they make an effort to stay close to the area I’m working out in (not even an offer to spot me, then again they probably don’t know how). Now I’m just guessing but they are probably monitoring my noise level (this might be a good time to add extra egg whites to my diet). Now I did some more research on Planet Fitness and typed in Planet Fitness good comments in google and hit enter. Well, not nearly what I expected. Site after site and blog after blog the same thing, complaint after complaint. Try it yourself type in Planet Fitness good comments and read for yourself. Until this situation arose I would have given them a good review just on the basic components that are offered for the money. But after our complaints and how they were answered and lack of an answer (mine), we are in the market for a new place to work out. Sure planet Fitness will think oh well two lunks are gone, but the sad thing is the number of people we come into contact with and discuss fitness and where we train. We have brought new members to Planet Fitness in the past but recommendations from us, spend a little more and get A LOT more elsewhere.
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