Molly O
April 29, 2019 18:41
TCMM Fitness in Redmond, WA lies to the customer. They have a marketing scheme that they put out on Facebook to get new clients, telling them it's a "Free 42 Day Transformation," but it isn't free at all. I went in and met with their trainer, who told me that if I signed up, I could get the trial which includes workouts and meal plans, and that they do this because they care about the health of people, but then I was asked to pay. I was so confused. I asked them multiple times if it was a free trial like the ad said, and they told me, "Yes. We try to see who are the right people for that challenge. What we mean by the free trial is that it's a $799 challenge that we are offering to you free as a starting gift when you pay our discounted membership rate for the 6 weeks. So $59/week for the 6 weeks is $354!" That is a lot of money for a plan that I never got to see fully- they never showed me the meal plan side of it, despite telling me they would set me up with a nutritionist and a special meal plan. Their facility doesn't even have showers. And never once did they give me anything in writing or paperwork to actually explain this plan or the money being demanded of me. It all seemed very sneaky and questionable.
Once I explained to the trainer that this made no sense to me, and it is not what is advertised, she offered me one week free to try it out and see what I thought, along with the option for becoming an intern and possibly working as a trainer myself to save money. I tried it out for a week, and during that week I told them again that I was concerned with their methods of marketing, as it still did not make sense to me as it was being advertised on social media. I also spoke with some members and they confirmed to me that these practices were shady and "changing more recently." One member even told me to "hold my ground" and "demand to get what they had promised me," which was the 42 day free trial. In the end, I was honest with them and told them I did not know if I could market to customers the way they had done to me, which is false advertising. Unsurprisingly, they told me they did not want me to come anymore. So disappointing. Are there no companies out there anymore that truly care about their customer, instead of only their bottom line?