A couple of weeks ago I wrote on why businesses need to care more about people and less about numbers. When it comes to horrible stories of businesses treating their customers more like dollar signs, and objects rather than human beings I tend to be very passionate on the subject. Here’s a perfect example…..
The Setup
A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine and her sister joined a local Premier Ladies Fitness. They spoke with a sales rep and expressed their interest in signing a twelve month membership agreement. The rep noticed they were a little hesitant to sign a year long contract and assured them if they called within three days they’d be able to cancel their contract. A day goes by, both decided they’d made a mistake and made the call in order to cancel. A Premier Ladies Fitness employee answered the phone, took their request and told them not to worry they’ll take care of the rest. Sounds pretty standard, doesn’t it?
After a month or two they both noticed Premier Ladies Fitness had been taking money out of their bank accounts. When they called to inquire why they still were being billed after the contract had been canceled they were informed their contract hadn’t actually been canceled. In fact, there was never the ability to cancel over the phone as told by the sales rep. Not only that, the one year contract they supposedly signed was actually a three year concrete deal.
When they got a hold of their manager a month and a half later he made it very clear he had no control over the matter and the situation was completely out of his hands. When they informed him the company’s billing service had said if they were to find the employee they’d spoken with, and who assured them their contract had been canceled they could drop the fees and wipe the financial slate clean. He insisted it would be impossible for that to happen because once a contract has been signed it falls completely out of his hands. He also refused to acknowledge even the slightest possibility that one of his employees could have misled them. Great way to treat your customers!
How can this be fixed?
If I were to start as the CEO of Premier Ladies Fitness tomorrow here’s what I’d change effective immediately:
1. Properly inform potential customers on contract details.
2. Fix our sales commission system so it doesn’t interfere with providing quality customer experiences.
3. Mandatory read through of all contracts, aloud.
4. Empower managers. Is there anything more frustrating than a “manager” with no power? What’s the point of having managers if they are unable to make decisions or solve customer problems directly.
5. For contracts of two or more years create an opt-out contract clause. A member must give the gym 30 days notice of their membership cancellation.
6. Make a customer service hotline more accessible. I’ve been looking for 20 minutes and I still can’t find a number.
7. Transition our company philosophy from sales oriented to people oriented. Worry less about dollar signs and more about building customer relationships.
8. Create multiple online social avenues for customers to voice their opinions and feedback. Customers don’t expect businesses to be perfect, but they do expect them to care and listen.
The Bottom Line
The bottom line is this, do a general search for any Premier Fitness locations and you’ll quickly realize taking care and listening to their customers isn’t their top priority. If you’re reading this article and getting ready to comment “they should have read the contract before they signed it”, please save your ink and your breath. Consumers shouldn’t have to live in constant fear of businesses looking to exploit them for a quick buck. What companies like Premier Ladies Fitness fail to understand as our world becomes increasingly more social, they’ll be the ones exploited. As I’ve stated before, If we take the time to make someone matter, they will take the time to make us matter to others.
Currently both my friend and her sister owe $850 for a misrepresented three year contract and apparently there’s absolutely nothing anyone at that company can do about it. Good business? How would you fix these poor business practices?
links to some of their online customer reviews http://ow.ly/1VM33 + http://ow.ly/1VM3M + http://ow.ly/1VM4w
DISCLOSURE: This article does not reflect the thoughts and/or opinions of the SocialBlade Team.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
I also have been having problems with Premier Fitness. I was told when I signed the contract that I was in a 24 month contract and the sales rep. would not go over the contract completely with me. He kept telling me to trust him and that he was just giving me the basics of what I needed to know about the contract. After getting home I discovered that it is in fact a 36 month cotract. When I tried to talk to the same sales rep. about this he kept telling me that we would get to it and he would fix it. Of course that still has yet to happen and it has been 5 months. Also, I was charged a “yearly maintenance fee” a couple days ago which put my back account in the negative. I have only been a member of this gym for 5 months and I am getting charged a “yearly maintenance fee”???? I tried to call several different numbers and they all told me that same thing, “it is in your contract”. I am so fed up with this facility. I have made 4 complaints to the manager and owner on how dirty the place is, especially the daycare, and that there are several machines in the gym that do not work that should be fixed. I have not recieved and response back yet but I am going to keep on until I do. My bank has been notified not to allow this businnes to charge my account anymore. Why should I hold up my end of the contract when they are not doing the same !!??!!