Lady of America – to Be Avoided at All Costs!!
I will tell you of my experiences at the Rockledge, Florida location. Anything pertaining to the specific location was part of my experience several years ago and is more than likely managed much better now. The new manager sent me a beautiful hand written note asking me to give her establishment another chance since she had taken over and changed many of my concerns. I respectfully declined due to the fact that the largest part of my unhappiness stemmed from the customer service company handling hers and every other Lady of America branch. I cannot recommend this fitness center to anyone at all based on my experience. They do offer great fitness for women and it seems like a grand idea, but until they learn how to treat women with respect and decency at their customer service call center, they will be worth nothing as a whole company. Please read of for my detailed account.
Several years ago, I decided to get myself to the gym and tone up my body. I am 5’2″ and 155 pounds. I didn’t feel that I was seriously overweight, but I did want to lose a few pounds, and mostly get myself healthy. I didn’t like being tired all the time. So, I started looking for a local gym.
In the past, I had been a member of a gym that was co-ed, and I felt a little uncomfortable because of my own insecurities. When I heard of an all female gym, I thought how wonderful that would be to have somewhere to go, to meet other women, and not have to feel awkward being in workout clothes and a little too heavy around a bunch of buff men who like to look at petite girls. I figured this would be the perfect place for me.
I have always lived in the same county, but I had recently moved to another town where I don’t know very many people. And since I was newly married, I had lost touch with most of my single friends. I was really excited about having a place to go work out and meet other people in my area.
When I went to look at the gym, the girl who signed me up was pretty nice, though she seemed preoccupied. She showed me the class area and the springform stage where they do aerobics. I thought that was a fantastic feature to have given that aerobics often gets to be fast paced and that impact can be tough on a body. The springform stage was centered in the facility so that all the machines were around it. I was surprised to not see it in another room for privacy of both class members and those working on machines.
We walked through the machines and they were all in very good condition. The area was clean and the machines did look like many of the machines I had used before only slightly built more women friendly. I got to see the tanning bed that was on site. There was only one, and they didn’t change the bulbs as often as they should, but I liked the fact that it was there and included in my membership (if I chose to join) There was a small area for children that looked colorful and fun but otherwise pretty boring. It was wide open in the middle which promotes running around in an unsafe environment and I found that is was only staffed at certain times of the day. I had no use for the child care area at the time so I wasn’t too concerned, though I wasn’t impressed with that part of my tour at all.
After seeing the facility, checking out the class schedule and asking all the questions I had, I decided to sign up. The policy is to sign a contract for a certain number of months and have the money directly withdrawn from your account accordingly. The bottom line is once you sign up, you have to send in a notice to cancel. They will not stop charging you after your contractual months are up. The contract only holds you responsible for the number of months signed up for. (If you cancel before your contract months are up, you have to pay the remaining months on the contract to be free of your agreement.) You still have to be proactive in canceling your membership after the contracted dates. You are automatically renewed unless you inform the customer service center in writing by a specific date. (This means that they will continue to remove money from your account even after the date specified in your contract until you inform, them in writing, of your decision to end your agreement.) I left there excited to be starting a new adventure. I was weary of the contract because my husband has always been weary of money being automatically withdrawn form our accounts, but I was feeling very good about my decision. It was the only day I left that facility feeling good about anything.
I went in the next day and began to walk on the treadmill and do the stepping machine. I was not allowed to use the weight machines yet because I had to go through an orientation on how to use them. Even though I had used the same machines somewhere else, it was policy. While I understand the policy, it was a disappointment to me. When I tried to schedule my orientation, the fitness coach wasn’t available for a month. Her schedule was booked with other appointments, school, and there were times that she had to work there, but had no one to cover the desk so she couldn’t show me the machines. I finally set up an appointment for about 45 days after my signup date. I used the treadmill until that time. I got very bored but tried to stay enthusiastic about my routine, knowing I was working toward a healthier me.
When my orientation day arrived I was early and extremely excited. The fitness coach, however, must have had other things to do as she did not arrive at all for our meeting. I luckily got it rescheduled in another 10 days. So for the first 2 months I had to only use the cardio machines. It got frustrating. And in that time, I had grown unhappy with the people there. Being an all women’s gym, I thought only girls could work there, but because they are franchised out, it is up to the discretion of the owner. At this particular location and during this particular time, there was a man on staff and he worked in the evenings. I think it was the owner’s husband, but it was still very uncomfortable because he worked at night and he was always the only guy in the place. It was just weird feeling. Also, because the springform floor for classes is in the middle of the gym, certain classes made it impossible to use the other machines. If a class was doing yoga they needed quiet so the rest of the gym got basically shut down for that hour in the middle of a workout. In order to plan your work out you had to not only schedule around your personal schedule, your husband’s schedule, the gyms open hours and a babysitter if you need one, but also any classes where the other members need quiet.
I found it difficult to pair up with a work out partner because everyone seemed to all ready have one. A lot of the women were flat out rude to me when I tried to make small talk so I ended up taking a book to read on the treadmill instead. I felt a members board could have been a very helpful tool in getting new members incorporated into the gym community. It would have been nice to post a note for a partner request and be able to reach out to member that may arrive at different times. I have seen many other gyms with similar boards but it was just not available here. It felt very limiting in what I was looking for socially at the gym. Anyhow, once I was trained on the machines, I went in faithfully and started working my program, but I felt bad about having to go because I had no one to talk to there, and part of the reason I went there was so that I didn’t have to feel awkward, but I didn’t anyway!!
Well, after only a month on the machines, we found out we were pregnant. We were both thrilled!! But when I went to put my membership on hold, they said they couldn’t do it. I was told that they could freeze my active status, while still paying monthly through my contract, and at the end of my pregnancy I could return for my unused months after my payment shad stopped (should I choose to cancel at that time.) I was very surprised that upon entering an inactive status the payment would still be withdrawn from my account. It could lead to many tracking problems later if I had chosen to renew my membership and cancelled years later, I would have still been owed several months at the end but would they have been able to keep track of that? It sounded more like a scam to me. A company handling so many locations should have provisions in place to stop payment on an account for medical reasons like illness and pregnancy. Going out of town for a few months is more understandable, but it was pretty ridiculous that they could not accommodate me on my pregnancy issues. I reluctantly went on inactive leave and was hoping to feel better about the gym once the baby was born. I figured with extra incentive to loose the baby weight I may be able to look past some of my concerns.
Within a month of learning I was pregnant we got news that there were some complications and I was told to restrict my physical activity. I asked the manager how to go about canceling my membership, not just putting a few months on hold, due to medical concerns. She told me that I had to call the customer service department that handles all of the chapters of Lady Of America. This is when my most difficult issues with this chain of fitness centers began.
The woman I spoke to said there was nothing she could do because no matter what trouble I was having with my pregnancy I could always come in and use the treadmill and if I was able to use one machine they could not cancel my membership. She told me she would freeze my active status and I could come after the baby was born. The attitude she had was very cold. She was not willing to work with me at all regarding the matter and she wanted nothing more than to get me off the phone once she read her standard answer to my problem off the computer screen. The thing here is that not everyone can use the treadmill while pregnant. I, in fact, could not. I wasn’t thrilled with having my account put on hold to attempt to get those months back at a later time because I felt the principle of the matter was being ignored. I declined her request and asked for her supervisor. She told me that she had to take my name and number and a supervisor would return my call. Apparently they don’t want you to believe that supervisors are present in the building they are in. I left my name and number and my call was never returned. I called back and did have them put me on inactive status. I may have to pay for it now, but I planned to get those months back in the end.
I had resigned myself to leaving well enough alone with the gym membership. I had more important things to worry about with facing a complicated pregnancy and all that comes with being a first time mother. Seven months later we delivered a beautiful little girl and after my six week check up, I was cleared to do light activity. I started back to the gym because I was determined to get my body back, with or without nice attitudes and a work out partner. I was only using it for the tanning bed at first to gain some “me” time and on one trip out the manager stopped me to remind me that it was almost time to renew. I had sent in my letter requesting that they do not automatically renew my account and when I told her that she became very rude. All of the sudden she had no time or consideration for me. I didn’t even care at that point. I did, however, take this opportunity to ask her about the months I had my status frozen to see if I could get those tacked onto the end of my membership. She told me she would look into it.
Her looking into it consisted of crediting me 2 months without even looking at how many I had missed. Again, I called customer service. Let me just say that this company has the WORST customer service department anywhere!! No one could ever give me a straight answer. They had very young adults answering the phones and they were constantly rude! When I asked for the manager, they said there wasn’t one available. I left 4 messages to the managers and not once did they call me back. In fact, the only time I got through to anyone was when I was rude right back at the representative. I don’t like to be nasty to someone who has nothing to do with my problem but I could not take it anymore. Of course, I still had to leave my name and number and someone did call back, with no real answers – more of a courtesy call to listen to me rant.
After 2 more months, I finally got a hold of someone who told me they could give my months back if I got my doctor to fill out a form for me; which he gladly did. I had to fax it in before my cancellation date that was right around the corner. They misfiled my form, never called back, and when I called to check on the status and see how many months I was credited, they made it sound like my fault. I re-faxed it and it was finally taken care of, but they only gave me 2 more months when I had paid for 7 that I didn’t use. So, after going round and round with them I got back my months, but I was so irritated that I never went back. All of this headache stemmed from the customer service company themselves. If Lady Of America could contract out their service department and get intelligent, respectable adults to handle their customers and have supervisors on site at call centers, this chain may be worth a whole lot more.
The facilities are wonderful. They were kept very clean and in excellent condition. However, the customer service department that handles all of the gyms was awful!! My husband and I now go to a gym together where they are nice and things are in just as good of condition and I can freeze my membership at any time for whatever reason we deem necessary.
