Balancing Act

Last week I learned a really important business lesson from, of all places….my gym. I should say that this is a lesson in how not to do business. You see, we got to feel the burn from Bally’s in two ways. We are getting in shape and feeling the muscular burn that we bargained for and we also got a little something else. We got burned! We did not quit the club. The Bally’s Total Fitness Club quit us.

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Recently Tracey and I decided to make some positive changes in our lives. We were finally ready to address something that we have both neglected for too long; our health. So in late April we joined the local Bally’s Total Fitness Gym. Not only did we become members but we also signed on to work with one of the club’s fitness trainers. Up to this point, we were very impressed with the club. Peter, the manager, is a very nice guy and seemed to really care about his club’s patrons. Our trainer, Jeff is very skilled and we were starting to see the impact from our twice-weekly sessions with him. We were getting lean and mean (relatively). We were sweating our fat away at least four times a week.

Yes, all seemed to be right with the world. This time we were sticking with it. We were doing the hard things we know are necessary to get into shape. Then on June 18th, we arrived at the club, bedecked in gym shorts and t-shirts, water bottles in hand, when we discovered the notice on the door. The sign indicated that Bally’s had lost its lease and was closing the Hamden location effective June 26.

Naturally our thoughts had turned to our new-found friends at the gym. Were Pete and Jeff losing their jobs? Thankfully no. They will be working out of other Bally’s clubs in the state. Our next thought was about our existing membership and the $1,200 personal training contract. Seeing the look of panic in our eyes, Peter reassured us that if we called the Bally’s customer service number that they would take care of everything.

After getting our final workout that night at Bally’s we went home and called the customer service number. The results were less than inspiring. A young man answered the phone and grunted and stammered through an answer that seemed less than useful. Essentially he told us to send a letter to Bally’s P.O. box. After thinking the guy on the other end of the phone might very well be stoned, we thought we would try again during the day. Maybe Bally’s A-team would be available to help their discarded members.

The woman who answered the phone the next day told us that we could not cancel our membership because we had failed to give Bally’s 10 days notice. I explained that we did not have 10 days notice that the club was closing. We were not quitting the club but Bally’s had in effect quit on us. Then there was the matter of the personal trainer. This was a pre-paid installment plan. Assuming we could get Bally’s to stop charging our account, we figured we were owed a refund of approximately $400 in unused fitness training. The woman informed us that Bally’s would not refund the money as there was an alternate gym within 25 miles of the gym that was closing. As busy business owners, we can’t afford to drive a half hour away to go to a gym. Talk about being impractical. The primary reason we joined Bally’s in the first place was its proximity to our work and home.

So there we are. No gym. No fitness training and we are out $400 for the privilege of being a Bally’s customer. Now we feel a different kind of burn. Maybe something closer to heartburn.

At this point I asked to talk to the supervisor. We left a message for him on the 19th. He returned my call on the 24th and told me that I could write to “Correspondence” at a different P.O. Box where Bally’s would consider my request. Rest assured we will send in that letter along with a copy to the state department of consumer affairs.

But there is a larger lesson in all of this. As a business that depends on happy customers and good word of mouth, Bally’s had an excellent opportunity to turn a difficult situation into a pleased customer. Bally’s could have used this opportunity to make me an offer I could not refuse or at very least be empathetic to the situation that we find ourselves in. Perhaps more importantly, Bally’s had to make a business decision to shutter their Hamden location. That is fair and I am sure it was a difficult decision to have to make. From the customer’s perspective, I believe Bally’s has a responsibility to treat the customer in good faith. I should not have bear the inconvenience of jumping through hoops to collect funds on services that were unused.

I trust that we will get this resolved eventually but it is certainly a lesson in how not to treat the customer. With customer service like that, is it any wonder that Bally’s is in bankruptcy?