On October 6 Nataki joins B-Risqu Fitness and pays 400.00 (advance and in full) for an annual membership as part of her fitness and weight loss plan. Throughout the month she takes several different classes. Most were only attended one time after Nataki saw that several of the instructors were not knowledgeable about fitness and/or related dance genres to be integrated into the workout routines.
Nataki learns on October 29 that some B-risque instructors were duplicating routines from commercially reproduced workout DVD's. It is illegal to duplicate products and/or services protected by copyright laws and charge them to unwitting consumers.
3 of 6 instructors were unprepared for class, admitted they had never taught the type of classes before and apologized to the class for their inadequacies. The studio failed to live up to its obligations and failed to provide the classes that met the descriptions they advertised.
On November 1 Nataki meets with "Lee" (who says she's an owner) to discuss a full refund. However, Lee also asks Nataki, to give B-risque Fitness one more month to redeem itself before honoring the request/offer Lee offers Nataki a good faith refund in the mean time of the first month membership fee plus $10.00. Nataki responds with an email on November 2nd stating that she did not see it likely that her experiences would change. Lee/B-Risque Fitness never respond to Nataki's emails. After many unreturned calls Nataki goes to B-Risque twice on November 30th. She sees Lee on the second visit upon which Nataki attempts to accept her full refund Lee that she would like her full refund as they had discussed on Nov. 1st. Lee then states that she is not the owner, just a manager, and she would have to speak with the owners regarding full refunds. She states that all she could do is hold to their policy of $250.00 cancellation fee (which is in their contract.) Lee states the owners had a lunch meeting the next day and that Nataki would hear from her after lunch. Nataki returns the next day at 1:00 to find the facility locked and empty. Nataki was promised a full refund since November 2 and has just been informed in January they are not going to honor it.
I lieu of a refund they offered Nataki 3 months free (of a subpar service), invited Nataki to become and instructor and invited her to become a "Secret Shopper" and give them feedback on how to improve their business practices.
0 comments