The 24 hour gym closes at 9PM on Fridays. I have moved out of the state and tried to cancel my membership over the phone. I was passing through town tonight and figured I would get one last workout and cancel my membership on the way out. At 855 I ended my workout and made my way to the front desk. Apparently the 3 workers were too busy herding other members out and could not be bothered with my request. The assistant manager working (Joe Petrow) explained to me the computer system would not allow him to precess the request after the gym closes. Am I supposed to believe the system locks out at 9:01? I called him out on this lie and he tried to have me call in my cancellation or come back when they are open. OPEN?!?!?!? I am standing in front of him and 2 other workers. How are you not open? I explained that I live out of state and they will not accept the cancellation over the phone. I politely asked him again to do us a favor and just help us out. He said that he had explained this to us and we can send a certified letter to cancel. By this time he could have keyed in our request and we would be done, right? At this point I asked for his name, and he refused to provide his full name. I asked for the owners name, and again I was denied access to this valuable info. I explained to him it is important he passes this off to a superior before he further alienates a customer. At this point he started to raise his voice and accused me of trespassing and threatened to call the police on me if I do not leave. I stayed calm and explained that this is hte first time I have ever been talked to in this manner in a place of business. We went back and forth. I stayed calm and he had a serious roid rage episode. I am just chuckling inside thinking of the experience. If this was a sitcom nobody would believe the premise. I did shoot him some barbs such as asking if this was his first job, asking if they have a policy to yell at people trying to quit the gym, if he was capable of taking a step back and realizing when he is wrong. I think the comment that really set him off was when I explained that the internet exists and it is easy to document this exchange of wits. I did actually write down some quotes and asked him if he wants to give me further rope to hang him with. Long story shot, he called the police on us. We offered to leave if he gives us his name and the owners name. He preferred the route of waiting an extra 15 mins for hte police to show up. Do you realize you could have taken care of this 20 times by now? I am sure I am leaving a ton out, but hopefully you get the point. Stay away, and if you do join make sure you talk to anyone but Joe Petrow when you need any type of customer support. As a business owner myself I would suggest Cardio Express to reprimand Joe Petrow, and give all employees additional training...or they could hire an assistant manager with an ounce of common sense.
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