Sunday, March 01, 2009

24 Hour Fitness just doesn't get it

This morning, my wife met her friend at 24 Hour Fitness to take some kind of cardio kickboxing class. Her friend was a member and had a free guest pass for Gina to use.

This 24 Hour Fitness facility is pretty new in north Boulder, having been open only a few months. As with any of these types of facilities, they have a fairly large, aggressive sales staff, since gyms make the most money off of sales to new members. (Of course, they hope these members don't use the facility so they can oversubscribe their asset base.)

When Gina showed her free guest pass, the salesman began giving his pitch. He asked if she was currently a health club member, to which she replied that she was and that she wasn't interested in joining 24 Hour Fitness. He then told her that she would have to leave!

He explained that they only give out those guest passes to those that are willing to go through the sales pitch. Gina pointed out that the pass said nothing about that, but that didn't seem to matter to him. Since she wanted to attend the class with her (now very embarrassed) friend, Gina agreed to listen to his pitch after the class, since it was about to begin. She ultimately just walked out after the class.

The whole thing just left a very bad taste in her mouth for 24 Hour Fitness. Do you think she's going to recommend that anyone else join that gym? Rather, she's probably going to go out of her way to tell potential members to avoid it.

Would it have been very difficult for the salesperson to say, "We normally provide those guest passes for those that may be interested in joining. However, please enjoy your visit today and make sure to tell your friends what you think?" The incremental cost of allowing her to visit was effectively zero. The incremental cost of trying to apply a rule that should not even have been in place (if you're going to have a rule, state it on the pass) was creating an annoyed, but well-networked, active health club member that knows a lot of other health club members. Seriously dumb.

How's this for a different approach? My friend David (his blog Bluerant is here) markets a kids' TV show called Big Green Rabbit. He saw that some fans posted a video from the show on their blog, so he sent them a little thank you package. Here is their response. What do you think that package cost BGR, maybe $20, including shipping? What do you think the value of that family's BGR evangelism is worth?

Businesses are built one delighted customer at a time. They can be torn down quickly by a handful of people with negative feelings.


8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tracy-
My name is Harry Reo and I am the Regional Vice President of 24 Hour Fitness serving your area club.
I agree with YOU based on your experience today!
Thank you for sharing your experience so that we may correct for the mistake.
Our policy in no way limits the use of passes to those only interested in membership- today's visit was not reflective of our operating practices and what you should have experienced. I apologize for the inconvenience.
I would like the opportunity to correct for our mistake and extend some free trail time for your friend- HASSLE FREE- I promise.
I can be reached at hreo@24hourfit.com and look forward to hearing from you so that we can better serve your needs.

Yours in fitness,
Harry

Tracy said...

Harry,

Thanks for the comment, and I appreciate you following up with me. I'll forward your contact info to Gina to respond as she deems appropriate.

(Coincidentally, Gina and I are right now watching the 24 Hour Fitness Show -- oops -- The Biggest Loser.)

Tracy

Unknown said...

The same thing happen to me. I was so emarrissed. I have personally brought over 6 members to the club that joined in the two years before this happen to me. I brought my boyfriend on a guest pass, and we only had an hour before I had to pick up my daughter, and only time to work out, however we told the sales guy that he was very interested in joining so we could regularly work out together. It was actually the manager (and this was almost 2yrs ago) and he would not honor the guest pass, unless he sat through the pitch. I had just switched my membership to a lifetime membership, and was given a few passes. He said the sales person that gave me the passes had no authourity to give them to me in the first place. My boyfriend was already going to join, just because I worked out there, but after that, he refuses to. I now do not refer anyone, to that club, and I use to point it out to all my clients moving to this area. Now if they ask me what I think of it, I have a very different story. The sales person who gave me the passes, called me up and appoligized, and said what a jerk her manager was, and he had a lot of complaints.

This was in Kent, WA.

~Shari

Rob Bryan said...

Harry, your problem is not that one salesperson doesn't understand customer service. The problem is the system that incentivized him to do it. You can't change our impressions of 24 Hour Fitness by giving one blogger a free pass.
It used to be that one unsatisfied customer told 9 friends, now they tell 9,000. I suggest reading "The Ultimate Question".

Anonymous said...

i recently had a bad experience with 24 hour fitness too - i have been a member since 1995 - almost 15 years, i've used the gym a lot and i've always paid on time with no issues. in 2004 i signed up for a special offer through my local 24 hour fitness. the special was pay for 3 years in advance (approxiamtely 900.00) and after the 3 year are up i would have free membership for life. i paid up front, i used the gym for three years and then in the summer of the 4th year i was stopped at the front desk and told that my membership had been terminated - i asked why and they told me that i had not paid my $24.00 annual fee. so, i paid the fee and was still stopped at the desk - i was told to bring in proof of my payment and brought in a copy of my visa statement which showed when i had paid. all was well until last week, about a year after this incident. i was told again that my membership was invalid. i talked to a manager who told me that i had missed another yearly payment! i told him i may not have received it as i didn't remember getting anything in the mail. he said that was possible but that they would not be letting me back in. ever. i was floored. 15 years of loyal membership meant nothing to them. there was no further discussion - i called and talked to a customer service rep when i got home and she told me "the system" would not allow her to reverse the problem. i feel so defeated - is there no one at 24 hour fitness who might consider my case? i feel they don't care because i am not worth anything to them anymore as i dont' make monthly payments. i wish someone would help me out here and maybe consider my years of membership and good credit standing. i am more than willing to pay a late charge for missing the deadline, but feel it's really bad business to let someone go over a $24.oo fee.
susan

Anonymous said...

I think I am going to experience the same response that Anonymous had. I signed up for a lifetime membership that I found out just today that was cancelled without notification!

Anonymous said...

I too just went to 24 hour nautilus today with 7 day guess pass. I printed it from their website. I came in very early to work out,so the person there let me work out and I was told the sales associate wont be in till 8am & I was told to have it activated at 8am or after I work out.

after my work out at 9am I talked to sales assoc. & he asked me if I have been a member of 24 hour nautilus before and I said yes. He then said in that case the guess pass is not valid and I was told I cannot use it since states it's only for customer who has never been a member. I told him It did not say on the pass & I told him it's not on their website either. He insisted "it is on their website if I really look for it, I would be able to see it". He looked very upset but did not raise his voice, so I just decided to shut up and he proceeded to have me sign a new membership contract. I told him I would have to come back when I have the money since I was required to pay right there and then.

Now I am not so sure I want to come to back to that branch/go to different branch or join at different company

History: *****I had been a member of 24 hour nautilus since 1993;however, I canceled my membership a year ago due to hardship******

Anonymous said...

This makes me laugh. Harry Reo is a joke at 24 hour fitness. He treats his employees like trash. The craziest part is that 24 Hour Fitness as a company will not listen to the people nor the employees. They continue to ignore concerns and Harry Reo covers up everything with a story. I will work out ANYWHERE but 24 Hour Fitness.