Western PA Boxing Commission has banned this gym from hosting Golden Gloves as Jeff Mucci (the owner) has burned bridges all over the city with his childish and egotistical behavior.
Related to my specific circumstances, I enrolled my son in his Pee-wee boxing program at the age of six years old. He regularly attended this program and very much enjoyed the coaching staff. My son requires physical therapy for a motor skill delay condition and rather than sending him to occupational therapy, his pediatrician agreed that boxing would help him improve his motor skills and coordination.
Thankfully, during the 3 years we attended (and never missed a payment spending $900 a year) we had very little interaction with the owner until recently. This past Sunday, apparently my card for my membership needed to be updated, but rather than notifying me in a professional manner, he texted me that he had canceled my son's membership at 6 PM on a Sunday evening because the card had declined. I did not respond. A few days later, he then texted me asking for updated payment information and referencing a past due balance. After attempting to understand the confusion in his communication, especially after he had already communicated the cancellation of the membership, which he charges prior to the start of the month, I could not understand why he was asking for a payment that I clearly did not owe. He went on a 5 paragraph rant about his membership program & ended it by making mention of another member who recently left the gym by stating "tell Rick I said hi!"
He was specifically referencing my son's uncle, which made me realize this was the reason for his retaliation. After making him aware that I would be sharing my experience with everyone I come in contact with he then threatened me by telling me his "wife is an attorney and he will not tolerate any statements that would be damaging to his brand". He also let me know that he would pursue legal action "to the fullest extent of the law."
We are clearly taking our business elsewhere, but I asked him to remove my son's images from his social media after all of this retaliation against a nine year-old boy due to his conflict with another adult, which once again, is completely unrelated to my son's membership. He has still not removed the 3 photos of my nine-year-old minor child on his publicly accessible, social media platforms which I clearly requested using the same cell phone # he was using to send his strange paragraphs from. My messages and requests have been ignored. I also commented directly on each photo stating clearly that he "does not have my permission to use my minor child's photos for any of his advertising purposes." Instead of removing the posts, he responded by blocking my accounts, removing my comments, and continues to use the photos my son is featured in for advertising purposes. He clearly has not brushed up on the laws protecting the privacy of minor children, but he will soon find out via legal consequences for this behavior. read more
