My major hiccup with them came when I decided it was time to start working with a personal trainer. I have rather specific goals, and a complicated medical history. After researching the various personal trainers available at Core, I didn't feel like they had the experience I was looking for, and so turned my eyes to other options. I found someone I wanted to work with. After looking over my membership agreement and and all the information I had been provided with, my plan was to pay for a guest pass for this trainer to come into Core and work with me. Still, trying to touch all bases, I tried for a week to contact their offices about my plans, with no success in reaching anyone. I discussed what I wanted to do with three separate staff members when I went in, and they didn't have any issues. So I began working with the personal trainer I had selected/as planned. This continued for about two and a half months, when I received an e-mail from an Adrienne Staton, who identified herself as "the new personal training manager at Core Fitness". Copied directly from her e-mail message: "this is not something that we allow at Core whether you pay for him to come into the gym or not. We would like for you to utilize our staff of highly qualified personal trainers or use the facility that your trainer works for.
If you are interested I have a trainer in mind that I believe would be very well suited to assist you with your fitness goals."
To be plain, my issue is how this was handled, not necessarily the restriction.
- if this were a long standing "rule", the rest of their staff would have known about it and taken action to stop it before more than two months had passed. I was not keeping it a secret that I was bringing in a personal trainer as my "guest" to work with.
- Adrienne at no point asked me what qualifications I was looking for, what my goals were, or anything about my concerns prior to determining who would be "well suited to assist" with my "fitness goals". In fact, we never spoke face to face or had even laid eyes on each other until I went in to cancel my membership.
- there is nothing put out in literature/signs or the membership agreement that states you have to use Core trainers. Terms of Service and Codes of Conduct are usually not difficult to obtain. This is the point of membership agreements and written policies, so everyone involved knows what's expected.
Still, since this is not addressed one way or another in the membership agreement, I decided it was best to part ways with Core since they were making themselves an impediment to my health/fitness goals. When I went in to cancel, there was a dark haired young woman behind the desk, and another who turned out to be Adrienne. Upon identifying me she attempted to engage me on the subject, despite me stating I wanted to cancel my membership. The dark haired young woman was obviously hesitant to step in and assist me while Adrienne was involved. Adrienne continued to press me to use Core trainers, despite my concerns that they didn't have the qualifications I was looking for, and only stopped talking when I told her "I was never going to work with you" because again, I was being very specific in where I put my money. At this point, the other woman started to help me, and Adrienne began arguing with me again. I had to ask her three times to stop talking to me so I could cancel before she finally walked away. Through all of this she never attempted to inquire about/address my concerns/goals. Upon canceling, I was told I would be paying fees for the month of September since I had not terminated membership 20 days before billing. I expected this, as it's in the membership agreement. What I WASN'T expecting was additional "annual maintenance fees", as my membership agreement clearly states those are assessed in March. I was told I would have to speak to their bookkeeping people to resolve any questions. The next day, I get a phone call from the owner, stating that Adrienne told him I wanted to speak to him. I had not. I even told him I wasn't looking to talk further because this subject wasn't covered in the membership agreement and thus Core probably had broad discretion in how to handle it. Eventually we got to a point in "discussion" where I told him I had canceled already, and was glad I had because at this point I was starting to feel harassed since I had not told Adrienne I wanted any contact and that "she wasn't helping him" by how she had handled the situation.I informed him my only remaining concern was the annual maintenance fees since my agreement states those are billed in March. I was told those fees, and the September membership fees would be waived, which I do appreciate - if they are actually waived. We will see what my bank statement says in a few days. read more
