My wife and I have found out the hard way that they don't live up to their word. Since this post is so long I'll leave a little summary here. We signed up for personal training and my wife hurt her knee in an unrelated accident. Lifestyles Family Fitness' contract states that a refund will be provided, if a letter is signed by a licensed physician. The letter was sent but turned down, and then a more extensive form was filled out, but then lost by Lifestyles Family Fitness. If you are considering the Personal Training program at Lifestyles Family Fitness I would ask you to research Lifestyles Family Fitness at length and read the details of what we've gone through so far, before you sign on the dotted line.
September of last year my company came out with the announcement that they were going to partner with Lifestyles Family Fitness and offer a substantial discount on enrollment as part of their Wellness program. The wife and I decided that it was time to get in shape so we signed up. We also decided to sign my wife up for some Personal Training sessions. They were kind of pricey, but since she really hadn't worked out before we thought the PT sessions would be a great way to get her into the swing of things.
She really liked the sessions and was doing well in them, but about half-way through she hurt her knee. The knee injury was due to a slip on the stairs at home so we didn't fault LFF at all, but after seeing the doctor three times it was determined that she shouldn't continue with PT. Here comes the sticky part.
When we initially signed up we read the PT contract very carefully and noted that if there was an injury a refund would be provided if LFF was given a letter from a licensed physician. We got the letter signed by the person who had treated my wife for the knee, a nurse practitioner, and sent it to LFF. A week goes by and no response so we call and were informed that LFF was reviewing the case.
Another week goes by and nothing. We call and are told the PT manager would call us back. No call back was received so after another week goes by I find out another three calls that it takes 30 days to review a refund claim. Uh-oh. Another week goes by and another two calls reveals that the corporate office didn't receive the letter until two days earlier. So it took a month for LFF just to get the letter from their Tyrone (south St. Pete) gym to their corporate office (north St. Pete). Not only that, but it would take another 30 days to process the refund.
The next day after some anger management coaching from wife I called again and demanded (calmly but sternly) that the refund request be expedited. The corporate PT manager explained that she would do what she could and get back to us no matter what happened by the end of the week. The end of the week (week #5 for those of you keeping score) rolls around and guess what? That's right no call. I call that Friday and get the standard, "Our business hours are blah blah blah, please leave a message" bull so I hang up. Another four calls and another week later (week #6) results in finally getting a definitive answer to the refund question. Denied.
Why was it denied? LFF said that the letter from the nurse practitioner wasn't sufficient because it wasn't from an actual doctor. Even though nurse practitioners are licensed to practice medicine in the State of Florida, and even though she consulted directly with our M.D. That still wasn't good enough for LFF. They proposed that if we had their medical forms filled out (four pages by the way) and signed by the M.D. They would reconsider the refund.
We were extremely unhappy at this point, but decided to carry on and try to get our refund. We took the new form back to the doctor's office and explain what happened. Come to find out that four people in the doctor's office, including the nurse practitioner have had similar problems with LFF. They agree to get the form filled out and faxed to the LFF number provided. They do this the next day and also without charging (they've seen us 3 times without charging during this incident) so there are good people out there after all. We wait a couple of days and at the end of the week (#7 by the way) are told that LFF can't find the fax. When I ask for an explanation I'm told that the fax is used by over a hundred people and, silly them, some people don't have good office manners, so Sorry proclaims the CSR. I inform Mr. Sorry pants that answer isn't good enough and also inform him that I too work in a place where a lot of people have access to the same fax machine. But unlike those rascals at the LFF office I don't lose my customer's faxes. He goes on to explain that people make mistakes and gives me two numbers to call if I want to complain further at which point he hangs up. Luckily I've built up a tolerance to LFF's behavior and avoid having a coronary due to this latest slight.
So once again I had to take my precious time to retrieve the fax confirmation page from my doctor's office, recopy everything, and send the whole package to LFF by certified, signature receipt requested, mail. And that brings us to where we are now. Waiting on LFF to pull their head out of you know where, and give us our refund.
I fully expect them to one, drag their feet, and two, deny the refund again.in preparation for that I've drafted dispute letters to the Florida Department of Consumer Services and the Pinellas County board of Consumer Protection, written letters to the National Federation of Personal Trainers specifically complaining about the PT manager and PT associate at our home club, as well as the Pinellas County Better Business Bureau and the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce.
I've also consulted with a lawyer friend of ours and have researched how to proceed with a small claims court complaint.in addition to that, since this is a corporate account I've complained to my HR department, provided them with numerous other complaints about LFF, and requested that they sever their relationship with LFF.
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