24 Hour Failure
Written: Sep 08 '02
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: they're all over the place
Cons: pushy, inexperienced salespeople, false advertising, phantom billing
The Bottom Line: For an ineffective, ignorant and misleading fitness experience, try 24 Hour Fitness. But expect to pay for it long after you leave.
|
|
|
| drum4tiger's Full Review: 24 Hour Fitness |
I joined 24 Hour Fitness with, I'll admit, trepidations. The pushy salespeople and "Now or never!" sales pitch turned me off right away, but I hoped to take advantage of the new super club that opened near my house and just use the facility. The whole experience turned into a nightmare and I'll list all my reasons here:
1) the overhead PA continually advertises "member specials" and "diet discounts". This means that the disco-tech music is interrupted every few minutes with blaring ads about products the club is selling, like meal replacement bars and jogging bras. It's disruptive and distracting as well as obnoxious.
2) the "fitness experts" at 24 Hour Fitness appear to have done a weekend course in fitness--sure they look great, they're 18! At 30 years old, I require guidance that is INFORMED and safe. I continually felt that the advice I was getting from my various "personal trainers" was random quoting from an employee handbook--don't ask a tricky question because they can't answer them.
3) When my Supergym finally was open for business and I could switch from the suburban smaller club, I was dismayed to discover half the place still under construction. The shower room lacked hooks or anywhere clean and dry to leave a towel, and the locker room was too far away to comfortably leave it. When I addressed this issue after 2 weeks of the club being open, I received more "canned" responses and no sympathy. Everything at 24 Hour Fitness has to be referred to somebody else, who happens, coincidentally, not to be around.
4) I have a lot of experience taking yoga both in and out of health clubs, so I was excited to take the class offered at 24 Hour Fitness. From the start I was dismayed by the lack of integrity and awareness of the instructor. She didn't know anything about yoga! She was like a high school cheerleader bunny, making it up as she went along: "Okay, ummm now do this! Okay ummmm let's do that other one again!" I wanted to walk out but I pushed on, leaving angry instead of relaxed. That's when I decided to cut my losses and quit the club.
5) After MUCH explanation and discussion and finally a threat to report them to the Better Business Bureau, my start-up fees and monthly dues were reimbursed to me. For a while the monthly fees showed up again on my credit card, but it was "all taken care of", or so I thought.
6) nearly one year later (!!) a new $200 charge appeared on my credit card. I have called 24 Hour Fitness several times to have them remove the charge, but they tell me they don't have a record of it. Well, my bank sure does, clear as day, and now I'm back in the struggle of removing 24 Hour Fitness like a cancer from my life.
Recommended:
No
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
drum4tiger
|
|
Reviews written: 2
Trusted by: 0 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.