Let me walk you through my story:
I moved to Cary in sept for work, I was looking for gyms around the area, to work out, I zeroed on lifetime and O2 but later decided Lifetime offers better facilities and customer service and also from the persistence of the person who spoke to me at lifetime made me join it. On top of that, I had some corporate discount with my company which offered free joining (no processing fee), free health assessment and 200LT bucks and this is where all the nonsense starts. I don't understand the deal but the trainers and others at lifetime are crazy about these LT bucks and want me to spend it everywhere, nobody cares if I'm interested!
The person who made me join asks me what my goals are, I said I need to lose weight and get fit, he sets me up with a trainer and the trainer asks the same things, takes my weight pulls out some sheet on workouts and asks me to join group workouts or personal trainer workouts. I don't like the sales pitch. I go back to the person who made me join and I say I don't like the trainer, he's just asking me to join some workout programs.
He apologizes and he tells me, he'll send me to another trainer and he'll give a tour of the gym equipment and help me do a 30 min workout. This other trainer seems nice and he delivers whatever is promised but here we go again. After the workout he sits with me, again asks me the same things, goals, aim other things. Tells me he charges 120 or something dollars for a one-hour session or he can refer other good trainers for 30 min sessions and tells me I have my LT bucks and he can get me a good deal. He asks about my work schedules and sets up sometime like 2 days a week. Fills out paperwork and he asks me to sign and I said I'm interested but I'll think about it and I'll come tomorrow to sign it. He says ok. I get home and in the night I see a 600$ charge on my credit card.
I got shocked and I call the trainer, he tells me, he thought we both were on the same page that's why he charged my card and my LT bucks were gone too. I say no I said I'll think about it. And he apologizes and tells me he can talk to his manager to refund the LT bucks but it'll take a long time and asks me why I wasn't interested in the training program now. I said I'm paying 99$ a month for the lifetime to use its facilities and I have to pay 250$ more on top of that which I can't afford. He tells me a deal where we can just work with my LT bucks instead of me paying a monthly fee. I say no to that, he tells me he'll refund my LT bucks.
Meanwhile, I have to go back to the person who made me join to take my health assessment (I had to remind him, that I have that included, not the other way round). I had my test taken and hear this out, the person who took my test is another trainer, who tells me the same stuff, goals, strength building and asks me to join a boot camp( I don't know if this was included in the health assessment, he asked to do pushups and pull ups and took those numbers on a sheet and tells me I could improve that number if I took his boot camp, Mind you I haven't eaten anything from the previous night or drank any water, those are instructions I got, to get the proper test results) or he could train me in person and he was telling me how much he charges. I'm done with trainers at this point.
I had to call twice to get my money refunded on my credit card and my LT bucks were refunded but only to 150LT bucks ( I had to ask for this too), I don't know how that's possible, they were deducted as 200, so they should be refunded as 200 right. I go to the person who made me join he tells me it's a technical glitch (are you kidding me man?) They can manually add those later if I'm interested in some program. So I have to come to you to add those bucks to join a program against sitting at my home and selecting what I want? What's the point of online interface? I need to have the freedom to choose how I use my bucks not have those bucks in your hand and come to you every time, to ask you something.
I couldn't come to lifetime after that, I was afraid, I lost my confidence, the trainers and managers there intimidate me, every time I step in, I always have the thought who's coming next to sell me some workout plan. Lifetime has just become a marketing place to sell the best workout program.
I come to lifetime to work out not to deal with my refunds or lifetime bucks and new plans, it's a gym for god's sake, not some investment firm or maybe I'm wrong but the one and half months I spent at lifetime has just been that. I lost my respect for lifetime. It took me three months to finally come to terms and quit it.
I guess you don't have to worry, I lost my LT bucks in the process (another promise made was, I can use the LT bucks anytime, which is not the case I learned). I paid for three months even though I haven't attended the club in those three months, that's 300$. I feel lifetime stole that money from me. I'm happy I quit read more