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| 'Charlie' is the stuff that Pablo Escobar sold. Get it? Sheeddddz some people are clueless! Market St is where all the fun is at ;) He sells nice product and gives a good workout too. |
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| Geez, why is it that almost everyone who supports FF are semi literate? There is definitely a pattern happening here. And WTF is "charlie" for cripes sakes ??!! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stop your crying you Westies! I get great service from FF, and my mate who goes to Market St gets the best charlie and pills from one of the PTs there! Great price too! Kisses, Jessie |
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| I received a fee increase letter too and this is my second one within a year!! I wrote to ACCC too last time FF increase its fee, they wrote back to say they have put it in file and will keep monitoring. I am going to quote the same case number and send in a complaint again. Even though they can't do anything right now, it will keep the industry under monitor and if we all write in, it will at least show ACCC how serious the consumers take this. I made official complaint to FF head office too. They threw it back to my club manager and said after the contract expired, they can increase as much n as many times as they like!! No need to explain to members why or justified the 50% increase. Very unethical!! They replaced my favourite experienced group fitness class teacher with this "dont know what she is doing" so-call teacher and never have any staff on floor to assist members! That's how they claim general costs increase!! I wish there is a good local gym around my area too but there is none. |
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| Hi All, Want to let the CEO of Fitness First know how you feel. Let Tony De Leede know how much you love him tonydeleede@fitnessfirst. com.au If you cant get him on this exact address try a few variations as by the time you send him an email a few hundred others might have already beat you to it and he might have already changed it. Happy Times Tony |
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| Good luck with the ACCC but I think you will find that, because the contract states that they reserve the right to increase your fee whenever they wish, the ACCC will take no action whatsoever. And it will only get worse as FF becomes more and more of a monopoly. They have over 80 sites in Australia - that's huge, no one else comes close. You mentioned Virgin Active but where are they?! Where will they open their sites? All of the good locations are already taken by Fitness First and Goodlife. As I have previously stated, all we can do is quit FF and join the local suburban outfit. But for me, I like the steam room and also travel around a bit so have a passport membership - things the local gyms can't offer me. Let's face it - everything is going up in price - groceries, fuel, rent, interest rates etc. Why wouldn't FF jump on the band wagon and increase their fees across the board? But wouldn't it also be great if they operated their business in a fair and ethical manner? Too much to ask it would seem .... |
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| Has anybody received the scam like letter from Fitness first that has in enlarged Bold writing Free personal training and 2 free week membership for a friend. Yet somewhere in the letter they advise your new (hush hush increased) rate is eg, $19 per week? I think this is an absolute scam as most members know how much they are paying per fortnight as that is how the memberships are originally sold. I see it being easy to mistake this as a letter to advise you are getting a decreased rate. I have been a member for 2 years and noticed that they will try to do anything to milk anything out of the members. So will be forwarding their letter to the ACCC and fair trading as they are trying to sneek these increases under the radar of most comsumers. I am not in any way advsing they have broken the law, however their business practices are well below standard and common etiquitte. Perfect example of this is; I live in Southport, the new gym that opening there is in the same complex I live in. So i went into the sales office to find out some info on when it would be opening. I was asked if i was a member to which I said yes and just handed a sheet of paper. Dont worry everyone, I hear Virgin will be opening more gym chains soon and hopefully they will do a better job that FF. Oh yeah by the way my name is Peter Mccarthy, just in case FF are reading these threads. |
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| Regarding cancelling your membership, as previously stated the whole setup is designed to make it a hassle and/or gouge you for an extra fee payment before your membership is offically cancelled. What are they going to say during the "appointment" that would convince you to stay with them? Do they offer to reduce the fee or offer free personal training sessions? I would be interested in what readers of this forum have to say on this topic. FF terms and conditions published on the web site state that cancellation must be in writing - they are legally entitled in this regard.. There are two safe ways to do this - 1. Send a registered letter so that you will receive confirmation from the post office that they have picked it up and signed for it. 2. Hand deliver a letter but I would strongly suggest that you have them sign a copy of your letter for your records. Add two places at the bottom - one for them to print their name and the other for the signature as well as the date. If you don't get a receipt there is no proof that you provided the required documentation as stated in the terms and conditions. As for the staffs' skills or lack there of, none of the roles really require any. Remember, personal trainers are not FF employees so they are excluded. Everyone apart from the manager and customer care person are reception staff - so all they have to do is swipe cards, process membership applications, restock the fridges etc, and be polite to the members. God knows why they have the customer care person - what a waste of resources although they are handy when it comes to filling in on the front desk when the reception staff take their breaks. As for the manager - they are simply sales people that managed to stay on budget long enough to be noticed by head office. And what is with the suit??!! It's a gym for cripes sake - there are no professional services on offer!! |
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| natpvc....you are a moron. OK by your reasoning it takes a highly trained person to assist in a person cancelling there FF membership. So next time I want to sign a piece of paper that says please cancel my membership...should we all call you !!! If so please provide your phone no as we all would love to have a chat. Or hang on should we make an appointment as apparently all doctors, lawyers, dentists etc require one… All of us out there appreciate how you make the comparison from a FF club manager to a doctor, lawyer etc…humm when was the last time a FF Manager went to Uni for 6 years. Let me see a doctor etc charges more in an hour than a FF club manager would make in a week. I would expect to wait for a doctor or a lawyer as they are doing something extremely important and there time I think is a little more valuable than yours. People if you do want to cancel your membership and they advise you to make an appointment with the manager, do not back down. This is illegal. You have the right to cancel your membership at any time. It may be best to do it person as FF as are instructed to make it difficult to cancel memberships. Lastly natpvc can we please ask that you immediately stop comparing yourself to someone who is of any use to society. Funny I cant remember the last time a FF Manager won a Nobel Peace prize for there contributions to society… |
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| and yes i realized i posted pretty much the same thing twice... great start to proving we are not all idiots i know. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| hi Roxy, my name in Amanda (using my brothers account)and i work for Fitness First, in the reception, have so for almost 2 years now. what exactly would you like to know?? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| hi Roxy, i work for Fitness First, in the reception department which by the looks of this forum everyone here hates. what exactly do u want to know?? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hahahaha yeah - susancampbell71 hasn't posted since I gave her a good serve directly following her last rant. It is somewhat pertinent to note that the only people defending FF are those that work there. If they were any good they would get a better job - there are a few good ones but they are difficult to spot. My current issue is their recent round of fee increases. They claim that running costs have "significantly increased" yet I know for a fact thay have have reduced the maintenance budget. But, as I have said before, all we can do is vote with our feet and join another gym. FF won't change - they would rather pay peanuts to fresh faced teen aged sales people to bring in new waves of suckers to replace the ones that leave. It's a high turnover business in terms of both staff and members. |
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| Oh my god I just read susancampbell71's post. Dear I would not pay you to clean my toilet as it looks as though you can not even speak the English Language. You expect people to take notice of you, learn how to spell darling. As for your job at Fitness First, if you cant handle the customers you should go back to cleaning toilets. Ooops that right you probably wouldnt be able to understand the instructions on the back of the Jif. Can someone stick this girl on the Darwin Awards.... |
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| Hi All, How over the years I have hated this fitness chain, but unfortunately they are close to home. Well now it is time for you to speak your mind, email and generally be a pain in the butt to them. Here is the Operations Coordinator email address and if you really want to annoy them here is her phone no as well. RebeccaDavies@fitnessfirs t.com.au Direct line: 02 81172278 Fax: 02 93894411 Enjoy ........ |
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| You mention your fitness club not requiring 4 weeks to cancel. Which one is that? I ask because my previous club Bodyshape Eastwood had a clause in there that requires 1 month motice as well except I wasn't told. So now I have ended playing for 3 months of fees which i was not aware of. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No all clubs dont require 4 weeks notice to cancel. Mine doesnt! FF is a money making scam, both good and bad service can be had. Though the bigger you are the harder the quality control and they certainly have a problem with that. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| It is sad to read how FF is failing. I joined it in England 10 years ago when I worked there and I can honestly say I miss it terribly. Staff and social life was fantastic. When I came back to Perth I used the Gym there (international passport thing) and although it had good equipment, it certainly lacked the staff commitment and interaction with customers. it is sometimes the lttle things that go a long way. Maybe it is just a money making business now as opposed to a vocation. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| BEWARE - FF is your worst nightmare, don't join!! 1) Started as a member of Living Well (good club) then FF bought them out. FF bought everyone out & now have monopoly. Membership expired, I cancelled it to have baby. 2) After baby, I went to rejoin. FF would't give me fees over phone, & demanded I come in for a "look around" the club. I said I'd been a member before & didn't need to, they said they'd email me the fees, never did. I complained to head office about their sleazy sales tactics, was never responded to! 3) Finally went in to re-join, was told this deal was "only for today". They always have "only for today" deals, how convenient, don't buy it! I signed myself & my spouse up (had no choice, only gym located near my work). Sales guy told me as a condition of this "special deal" I had to give 20 names of family & friends for them to harass to join. My spouse then came in to sign his paperwork & asked why he had to give 20 names, the guy said it was so we could get the free bags. I told him he was full of s**t & I know for a fact that the bags were included in the joining fee. He back peddled & said we could stop at 10 names. 4) FF is all about $$$. Sales sales sales!! They have clubs that are falling apart. Every lunch time, they're signing up more suckers by the droves, meanwhile they can't provide a decent service to the clients they already have. 4 out of 10 treadmills are out of order, yet theres 20 of these stupid stepper machines no one uses. Its the same across the whole gym, broken equipment everywhere! You complain to the reception staff & nothing happens. Someone needs to report them to CMC, the ombudsman and fair trading. Start a boycott too... do something!! You aren't getting what you pay top dollar for. Its a SHAM! 5) Attitude of staff is appalling; their "ametaur" personal trainers have about as much personality & motivation as a tortoise on sleeping tablets. I wouldn't get a FF trainer if they were paying ME!!! |
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| Yeah - it's really pathetic the way they insist on collecting small debts like the $36.95 in brenco7's case. I reiterate what I have said in previous posts - that they put SO much energy into sales, marketing, and debt collecting that there is nothing left when it comes to good old customer service. I believe that laziness and the fact that most of the staffs fully hate their jobs are also significant factors contributing to the overall lack lustre situation. Fitness First gyms are generally well designed and fitted out with good quality equipment but it is such a pity that the staffs' attitudes and the almost non existent maintenance budget motivate the members to, once they have signed up, turn to forums like this one to vent their spleens. Futhermore, if they really cared about what the paying customers really wanted they would post regular surveys on the FF web site. brenco7's call for a boycott is justified but not easliy achieved given the general lack of good quality gyms with amenities like pools and saunas. I call upon all FF members to bombard the web site with complaints (where justified) and also demand that surveys be posted and the feedback published accordingly. There would seem to be no other practical way to get the message through to FF head office that their product is on the nose. |
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| Fitness First is a SCAMO, they do not care one iota about your fitness. It should be called FITNESS LAST. BEWARE!!!!! of their hitler style contracts that lock you in and THREATEN of Debt Collecting consequences that would effect your credit rating when trying to buy a house. They don't care if it is $2 or $36.95 cents in my case. whats even MORE CRAZY is my membership was expired so I offered to rejoin at the end of the year when i move back to a location in Brisbane where there is an actual fitness first. They have them everywhere but the sunshine coast??? They still did not care about any future Goodwill in which I was actually planning to re-join. Hows THAT for *** py customer service that is supposed to care about your fitness. This is not a fitness focused gym you want to be apart of. All they care about is profiting from their ability to lock you into a Contract that is not flexible or customer focused in anyway. PLEASE BOYCOTT FITNESS FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! there are plenty of Gyms around that are very friendly and care about your fitness. If you want a fancy club for the sake of being seen, and you don't care about fitness sure join, but if you want a gym that looks after you and has flexible and reasonable terms with their memberships then LOOK around, they are out there. Dear Fitness First, you lost my lifetime membership over a lowsy $36.95. Thanks Damian from Fitness First Head Office. |
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| It is plain to see that the common theme on this forum is that most contributors are extremely unhappy with the way Fitness First operates. To those who are considering joining a gym, have a good look at your local independently owned establishment if there is one in your area. If you are already a FF member and are not happy with anything, collar the manager and remind him/her that they are working for you, the paying customer. Just because someone wears a tie doesn't mean that they are important - FF managers are really just minions who only THINK that they are important. Don't be intimidated by them. Forget about trying to get through to the reception staff or the useless customer care manager - your grievances will not be treated seriously. Demand to see the manager and pressure him/her to sort out the problems ASAP - get commitments and hard and fast time frames. Mention the Office of Fair Trading often and that FF has legal obligations to provide the complete service that you signed up for. Don't give up - keep hounding them until they clean up their act. |
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| Do you have a 10 or 14 day cooling off period?? Check the contract. These gyms suck you in suck you in suck you in but once the papers are signed, it's all hunky-dory for about a week and then you don't even exist. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| If i had the bloody money, i would open a gym for all you ppl. God, i know how you guys feel, believe me Fernwood aint that crash hot either and Curves...it's a room with a few equipment in a circle and u use each equipment for 3min for 30mins and youre done!!! Was told they don't even correct you when youre doing something wrong. There should be no contracts when it comes to health. I reckon, have use of the gym when you want, 2hour limit for $5, u want a trainer, then book them in advance with payment for the trainer upfront, u don't turn up, then deal with the fact that u have wasted their time and your money will burn. Trainer doesn't turn up, then money should be refunded. I reckon that's fair for all. |
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| Hey all, Just wondering if anyone has worked for Fitness First? How the staff went about signing up members? were they too friendly? and how they were to you after you already joined? ohh umm i have an assignment to do on Fitness First and it would be anonymous...its about the re customer service. so please if you wouldnt mind replying that would be great. |
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