Rod Trevino
October 20, 2017 11:38
Two years ago, my family and I joined the UFC gym at Southpark Meadows. The staff was very friendly, and I respect the individuals that worked there at the time, but in the end, it was a very disjointed experience. While I was fine with the classes, my wife felt they were too advanced and left her wanting a different experience. My son was not terribly impressed because the workouts, while challenging, were geared to the specific interests of the instructor at the time. Again, we tried something and found it was not a good fit. We should have been more judicious in our investment, but the promise of what it could be versus what it ended up being got the better of us. We signed up for the two year plan...3k. Yes, we are lucky we can spend that much on something like a gym membership.
Fast forward to this last month. We assumed that we would get a notice telling us our two year period would soon expire. We had to go in to cancel the membership. Fine. Go in and cancel. My wife had conversed with an employee when she originally called and explained her displeasure with the experience. She was notified that they had new staff, new instructors, and new management. This, to me, is a tacit acknowledgement that there were problems (regardless of how nice I thought the previous crew was). So, we cancelled. You would think that after collecting 3k in money from us, they would say sorry for the bad experience and we wish you well. However, they are using the customer service argument that we should be billed an extra $150 dollars because it is good service to lock customers into rates, despite having clear data that we did not use the membership and my wife stating we did not use it.
After talking to Greg, the manager, my wife was even more frustrated. Apparently, the owners have the ability to waive the fee, but according to Greg (who stated he knows them), they will not do so. Translation - they could care less about the customer. We are not asking for our money back when they were in disarray or despite the fact that there were problems, but adding insult to injury and asking us for another $150 dollars is the icing on the cake. This place could care less about customer service. They could care less about doing right by the people that they took money from....most likely since they cannot keep taking money from us.
So, I will tell you to be careful. I will warn you to watch your yourself if you decide to join the gym. I will tell you that in the time that I did go there, they have limited equipment other than a multitude of punching bags, which is fine if all you want to do is a bag workout. They have some weights, but it is a very one note experience. Considering that they have limitations in space due to their location and that they have increased competition from the new LA Fitness opening down the road, you would think they would promote better customer service and want better word of mouth. Instead, they want to collect that last cent and the owners, according to Greg, will not waive anything. They got us...good for them. $150 bucks is not a big deal to us....we got it covered. But, if you are concerned about money, or just care about how you are treated on the back end of the deal...then be warned and take your business elsewhere. There are many places where you can train in a crossfit or combat style that are more local and not some corporate franchise. And, if corporate franchise is what you want....drive down Slaughter and look to your right at Manchaca. Good luck to you all...happy new year.