This is far, far short of the list of companies that I would consider "bad" or undesirable for whatever reason, but I felt that I wanted to publish what I could, given what I've experienced. Hopefully it'll provide you with some useful information, so that you can make some informed decisions.
PLEASE feel free to contact me if you have any information about the topics below, and I'll update them as need be.
PLEASE feel free to contact me if you have any information about the topics below, and I'll update them as need be.
List of Troublesome Companies
I've listed what I can here based on personal experiences. None of this information has been proven out or advanced in court (unless otherwise noted); it's just for your edification. Some of this can be remedied by a quick visit to the Prepare page to purchase products from local or alternate distributors.
Planet Fitness
UPDATE: I have been told that Planet Fitness WILL actually refund the part of the membership that I will not be using. This is FANTASTIC form on the part of the business, and I appreciate the Regional Manager's effort. I will leave this post here, however, as the incident did actually occur, and for people to be aware of it, should it happen again.
THIS is why we stand, intelligently but firmly.
THIS is why we stand, intelligently but firmly.
I've recently had an experience with Planet Fitness (PF) that left me disgusted and disappointed, to say the least.
In May 2023 I joined PF to finally get into some decent shape, and opted to prepay for the year. I went regularly for a month and noticed that there was an abundance of teenagers, and found out that PF was running a special: teenagers could visit the gym entirely for free- all summer. This would be fine, except when they group up, loiter, and sit on machines while texting. I witnessed one kid who would do a few reps on a machine, then grab his phone to text (or whatever) for a few minutes, which went on for the entire 35 minutes of my own workout (and perhaps beyond). Additionally, there is a "Crowd Meter" on the smartphone app which is supposed to indicate how full the gym is, so that you can plan your visit. I can't prove this, but I'm pretty sure that the teens weren't checking in, because the gym was far more full than the one or two bars on the meter would imply, and I've heard the attendant say "You're good" when a teen would enter the gym.
So essentially I'm supporting a daycare. All. Summer.
I emailed the main site, which deferred me to the local gym's manager. Below is what I wrote:
In May 2023 I joined PF to finally get into some decent shape, and opted to prepay for the year. I went regularly for a month and noticed that there was an abundance of teenagers, and found out that PF was running a special: teenagers could visit the gym entirely for free- all summer. This would be fine, except when they group up, loiter, and sit on machines while texting. I witnessed one kid who would do a few reps on a machine, then grab his phone to text (or whatever) for a few minutes, which went on for the entire 35 minutes of my own workout (and perhaps beyond). Additionally, there is a "Crowd Meter" on the smartphone app which is supposed to indicate how full the gym is, so that you can plan your visit. I can't prove this, but I'm pretty sure that the teens weren't checking in, because the gym was far more full than the one or two bars on the meter would imply, and I've heard the attendant say "You're good" when a teen would enter the gym.
So essentially I'm supporting a daycare. All. Summer.
I emailed the main site, which deferred me to the local gym's manager. Below is what I wrote:
I joined PF recently, and had no idea that you would be sponsoring free membership to teenagers all summer. This causes some excessive traffic, and machines can be occupied by kids who do a set, text for some time, then do another set; I've seen one kid sitting at a rowing station for the entire 35 minutes of my workout, doing just that.
Belchertown's gym is small, and the influx of kids there causes some needless clutter, so to speak. I don't believe that the kids are documented as they enter, either, because I've heard "you're good" when they walk in, and the number of bars on the Crowd Meter is highly questionable. Given this, I would like a partial refund on my prepaid membership; I believe that I was charged for a service that you're not delivering, and had I known I'd be sponsoring daycare, I'd have never signed up. |
The local manager forwarded my email to a Regional Manager, who actually did contact me and confirmed my suspicion about the Crowd Meter. He did, however, never offer the refund that I requested; he said that he "can't do that" to which I replied that I'm certain that he could but would not.
Something that was particularly entertaining about the whole thing was that the manager suggested that perhaps I could have three months added to my membership, which I later told the RM was unacceptable; why would I want this company's poor decision to be masked by simply bumping out my membership, when a loss of my membership income was much more effective?
Another fun idea was to have my membership transferred to another gym. So in essence, I'll be subsidizing a summer daycare AND get to travel out of my way- obviously consuming extra fuel and time- to visit another one of my subsidized establishments.
Yea- that's going to happen.
So since a refund was absolutely out of the question, we wrapped up the conversation with a "thank you for the call" and "good luck with whatever effort you're going to make to get your money back" and such. It seems unlikely that I'll see this money, because the small print of the membership agreement includes a clause that prohibits me from taking class action.
Think about that for a minute: the company, without disclosing what they'll potentially do in the future, forces a promise that the customer will not retaliate for any reason. Well played, Satan.
I've just received an email from the RM requesting one more call, with another option for me. I'm not necessarily optimistic because I've already been denied a refund, but I'll keep you posted. In the meantime- beware.
Something that was particularly entertaining about the whole thing was that the manager suggested that perhaps I could have three months added to my membership, which I later told the RM was unacceptable; why would I want this company's poor decision to be masked by simply bumping out my membership, when a loss of my membership income was much more effective?
Another fun idea was to have my membership transferred to another gym. So in essence, I'll be subsidizing a summer daycare AND get to travel out of my way- obviously consuming extra fuel and time- to visit another one of my subsidized establishments.
Yea- that's going to happen.
So since a refund was absolutely out of the question, we wrapped up the conversation with a "thank you for the call" and "good luck with whatever effort you're going to make to get your money back" and such. It seems unlikely that I'll see this money, because the small print of the membership agreement includes a clause that prohibits me from taking class action.
Think about that for a minute: the company, without disclosing what they'll potentially do in the future, forces a promise that the customer will not retaliate for any reason. Well played, Satan.
I've just received an email from the RM requesting one more call, with another option for me. I'm not necessarily optimistic because I've already been denied a refund, but I'll keep you posted. In the meantime- beware.