[muscletrainerdh-NSCA CPT]

So I know I posted before about this awesome Brick Bodies gym
http://www.brickbodies.com/Clubs/BBRhome.html
that opened up in my home town. So I finally convinced my mom to join (She was a member of Curves), and she sent me this e-mail:

It's good to be working out again!
Did I tell you ....how they seem to discriminate somewhat....Some machines
(Nautilus) seem to be off limits... Some get towels...we don't.... Not too many
free helpful trainers!!
Sure I will get more assertive as time passes.... I just don't understand why we
don't get towels. ( I really don't even need one) but how are we less
important?...because we told advantage of their promotion and did not pay
registration fee??? and do not have a personal trainer??

I'm not a commercial gym owner or worker, but find it amusing and disturbing all at the same time.

What do you all think?!? (Besides the fact that my mom's a LOON!) LOL [/url]

[Christina]

Hey Dave! So what's the deal here? Did she sign up at a discounted rate?

Christina

[muscletrainerdh-NSCA CPT]

They Got two deals. The January Special (No Initiation fee) and they also qualify for Senior membership rates.

But I told my mom, that the staff doesn't know what member paid what, and it sounds like there is an over all customer service issue at that particular Brick Bodies. I understand that "Selling PErsonal Training" seems to be Profit Mission One at most commercial gyms, but I also feel that there needs to be adequate FREE STAFF to help people like my mom (or any beginner) without going into a sales pitch for Personal training. (I know I know, I'm a trainer and I'm saying this!!! Maybe if I was a gym owner I'd feel differently)

I told her just to grab a manager and ask the questions she asked me. I'm also pretty sure that this gym charges a monthly fee for towel usage. Which I believe is justified as the service is expensive and gym towels tend to "Disappear". So I told my mom just to bring them from home or I'd send her a few that I got as promo items at the last fitness conference I went too. LOL

It just shocked me at the level of service she got, but then again, I know my way around the gym and didn't have to ask many questions so that's probably why I didn't notice it when I worked out there over the holidays.

[pookie]

I recently joined a gym and was not given a hard sales pitch at all, which really surprised me. The salesperson I met with said to me, "You look like you're in good shape so you don't need personal training sessions" LOL! I ended up just paying for use of the gym and got the lowest priced package. But I think this shows they do tend to discriminate based on appearance. This is the first large gym I've ever joined so it is a different experience from the small, independent gyms I've belonged to in the past.

I also get a free orientation with a trainer which I'm going to be doing tonight. I don't plan to tell him I am working towards my WITS cert, at least not at first. I want to see if he tries to sell me personal training sessions. I'll let you all know what happens... I agree though that gyms should have staff on hand to answer questions. That only makes sense.