Gold's Gym Nightmare Continues

Most recent correspondence from Gold’s Gym

Hi Andy,

I did take this to a corp. meeting and they stated that I would need the cancellation form and if you do not have the cancellation form you will have to pay the Past Due Balance amount to GO MORE FINANCIAL @ 1-888-466-6730 and the membership has already been terminated.

April
Gold's Gym Member Services

My email flame back to Gold’s Gym – I’m getting angry

April,
I do not owe you any money. I have been a loyal customer since you launched this gym. I've been nice and understanding while you guys figured out what was going on with your merger.

I am no longer feeling nice and understanding. I do not like wasting my time on this...but I like even less the way you think you can invade my life and call me for collections that I do not owe you.

I've been into the Gold's gym that I signed up for at least 3 times with my contract and paperwork and discussed with management ....all in an effort to try and get this resolved.  Enough. No more.

Let me tell you what I am going to do:
i) I'm going to ask that you reconsider your decision and talk with Lauren about the details of this situation to see if your desire to collect 190$ is right and worth it.

ii) In the meantime, I've posted about this on my blog and will continue to do so.

iii) I own a company called Judy's Book which has a readership of over 30K people in Seattle alone and is a site designed for customer reviews of small businesses. I obviously will post the result of our discussion to them. Check it out....www.judysbook.com

iv) I hate to say it but if necessary I may be forced to consider more aggressive forms of PR around this story -- the story being company signing consumer up for subscription service and then harassing them even though they tried to correctly cancel their service.  Did you hear about the AOL cancel service -- this was a big story. I hate to see your desire to collect 190$ incorrectly blow out of proportion on you ...but your treatment of me is simply wrong. I could send a press release to the

seattle

times, the

seattle

weekly, etc. I could be more guerrilla too -- I'll just print up our story and post this at the different gold's gyms in Seattle so people know how you treat your "valued" customers.

v) If all the above doesn't works, I may consider small claims court....I've never been and this could be a fun learning experience. And by the way -- if all that doesn't work, I still won't pay because you're just wrong. 

Why hasn't anyone called to actually understand the situation from my perspective?

Are you sure your firm wants to escalate this more?

I'm tired...and frustrated and annoyed.  Can't you we resolve this in some way please...before I actually start to take pleasure in fighting back for my rights? 

Thanks for doing the right thing here.....

Let me know what you'd like to do. If I don't hear back from you within by Aug 3rd, I'll assume, you think the value of collecting 190$ is more valueable than the relationship and reputation you with customers in Seattle, online, etc.  You know what they say about a negative word of mouth don't you? People are 10X more likely to talk about and blast it out.

It's up to you.

Andy

 

 

Gold's Gym: a fine example of crappy customer service

It's not cancelling AOL but I've been trying to tell Gold's Gym for over 6 months that I don't owe them any money. I have all the paper work to prove it and they can't seem to get their act together to tell the collections company they've hired that I don't owe them anything. 

The story:

I signed up as a Gold's Gym member when they opened the capitol hill, seattle store. I was a very early member and got a great price for being one of the first 200 members. 25$ per month. At that time, Gold's was owned by the same owner of Pro Robics in Laurelhurst.  I had access to both gyms.

Fast forward to 2005. Gold's Corporate bought the capitol hill gym.  They lost my consumer contract at that time. I then moved to Laurelhurst and I went to Gold's Gym Capitol Hill and told them that I wanted to make sure that my membership was good at Pro-robics. They told me about the sale fo the club and that I should have billing transferred to Pro-robics because things were a bit confusing at Gold's HQ. I made the transfer -- pro-robics was great. No problem. At this point, I wasn't even trying to retain rights to use the Gold's in Capitol hill.

I started receiving calls from a collection agency in Dec of 2005. I called the collections company and explained to them that this was all a mess up and that Gold's HQ should get there act together. When I explained the situation, they backed off and told me I should tell the company my situation directly. I didn't....out of site, out of mind. Then another collections company started calling me. Apparently Gold's HQ fired the first one (because they weren't good enough). The amount they claimed I owed went increased from 50$ to 190$.  I finally was fed up enough that I went into the Gold's Gym in Capital Hill with my original paperwork to prove that I didn't owe any money. The woman their was very nice -- Lauren. Well, below is the email exchange I've been having with them and their corporate HQ. I know I'm being too nice....but the story sort of speaks for itself....and remember -- I was one of the first supporters.

First Email (July 3,2006) from Laura (Employee at Gold’s Gym) to April (Corporate Headquarters)

On 7/3/06, lak@u.washington.edu  wrote:

April,
Andy Sack has been has been a member here at Gold's Broadway since we opened.  After the split between us and ProRobics, he continued to pay the same amount to ProRobics and stopped paying his dues to Gold's.  He followed all instructions from Gold's Managment during this time as to assure there would be no conflicts or billing issues.  Now he is recieving past due notices in the mail for the amount $190.00.  He has never missed a payment at ProRobics, nor was his billing information changed during this process.  Can you please rectify these late payments and make sure he is no longer charged by Gold's.  I have a copy of his original contract, as well as a record of his payments to ProRobics.  Thanks!

Lauren
Gold's Broadway
Second Email (July 19) from me (following up on not hearing anything) to Laura and April

From: Andy

Sent: Wednesday, July 19, 2006 8:10 PM

Subject: Re: Member #200xxx5x

April,

Is there any word on this? I have not heard anything from you?

Third Email (July 25) finally a response from April 3+ weeks later

On 7/25/06, April <ap@xxxxxxxx.com> wrote:

Hi Andy,

I just wanted to let you know that I did not forget about you I am taking this to a corp. meeting on Friday and I will get back to you then.

April
Gold's Gym Member Services

Fourth Email: (July 25) My response to April at Gold’s HQ

Glad to hear that. Not sure what there is to meet about ....but ok. I don't understand why this is taking so long to resolve. 
Keep me posted.
Andy

What's the worst that could happen to us?

I really like seth's post about a new business philosophy that emphasizes trial and failure over careful analysis.  It's amazing to me how hard it is to get people to try stuff that might work -- and also might not but in the end doesn't cost too much....and the time wasted argueing about whether to do it or not is much better put toward just doing it.

Shopping for a digital camera online sucks

I've been shopping for a digital camera online and have to say that the online shopping experience still sucks.  I'm not an expert photographer nor do I aspire to be ...but I can't figure out which camera to buy and the amount of time it takes to sort through the cameras, the reviews, the stores to buy, and the discounts....it's enough to write a term paper about.

Can someone out there help me? I want a small camera to fit in my pocket that takes quality pictures and doesn't have a long delay (you know the delay from click to picture)...what should I buy and where?

Paying editors at Judy's Book

The city editors at Judy's Book do a great job. They really seem to be aligned behind making the site, and thus, the company successful. They're part of the secret sauce at JB. We do our best to acknowldege them and thank them for their time, effort and care -- we have a whole program designed to support our city editors and staff designated to that program. We don't take their efforts for granted as it appears many of the other (more successful at this point) community sites do like myspace, youtube, and digg.

Nick Carr's blog post today points out that web 2.0 companies  but users in charge of everything except profits. Definately worthwhile reading if you're interested in the topic.

Jason Calacanis' move to pay editors 1K per month for at least 150 submission at netscape raises the stakes and the profile in the debate around paying for user generated content. I tend to agree directionally with Jason's move. These users  are valuable and should be treated as such.  He correctly points out that there isn't yet a market for such high value users...so he's establishing one.  Very smart. We'll see how it works. At this point, we've decided not to be so direct. Our compensation system has tended toward indirect compensation -- gift certificates and in-kind payments and it's likely to continue in that manner. That said, it is compensation. We'll be watching Netscape and the debate of user generated compensation carefully ....and I'll be thinking about how best to place our own bets on user generated compensation going forward.

Annual retreat

Just got back from the Judy's Book second annual company retreat to the San Juans. This is something we started last year -- to provide people an opportunity to talk about the business and to relax around each other out of the office.  This year's trip was a raging success -- it was better than last years.  I think people had an excellent time together -- it was really a culture building experience. I've found that in early stage companies you really need to take the time create the personal bounds so that people feel connected.  This helps everyone work together upon return to the office. That's the theory at least -- and this year I think it was the reality.  The only downside to the event was that people were a bit hung over the next day....

Exit interviews are super valuable

It's always awkward when an employee decides to move on or when you decide it's time for an employee to move on. In either case, there's discomfort.  And often in the discomfort, managers and employees retreat into their shells. Yet, it's exactly at this transitional point in time when it's an excellent opportunity to reach out and to learn, to be personable and professional, and to conduct a thoughtful and complete exit interview.

These exit interviews can be enormously helpful to both employee and company. I've had the pleasure of having great exit interviews and learned a lot about what I need to be doing to make my company even more successful. 

Just want to encourage all those employees and managers to get out of their shell and take the opportunity to ask questions when you get the truth -- when you can really learn about yourself and your company.  It's only at the end of an employment relationship that people have little to lose and lots to gain.

Dear Crazy-As-Bat-Shit-Lady: The fridge doesn't come with a pedigree!

A craigslist post....too funny!

Date: 2006-06-25,  8:44AM PDT

Dear Crazy-As-Bat-Shit-Lady:

I am honored that you chose my ad for a mini fridge out of all the ads you could have chosen. It makes me feel good that my mini fridge will be supplying you with the ice cold beverages you've obviously become accustomed to.

Next time you answer one of my ads, please note the following:

1. I am not Home Depot. If you travel thirty minutes to pick up a bulky 40-pound object, please come prepared with the necessary items you'll need to secure it to your vehicle. Yes, I have rope. I have a lot of rope. I have many different colors and sizes of rope. No, you can not have my rope. The ad said I was selling a fridge, not a fridge with rope. Nor was I selling a fridge with padding so that the pleather seats on your piece of crap car don't get marked up.

2. What part of 'buyer must pick up' in the ad was confusing to you? Yes, I have a vehicle. No, I don't want to haul your fridge all the way to East BumbleFuck on the hottest day of the year. No, I'm really really sure I don't want to do that. No, really. I'm sure.

3. Please call me only once with ALL your questions. I left for the day, and had 5 messages on my answering machine, the last one was at 10:30 pm. Frankly lady, you were sounding a bit too crazy by the end of the day. It's a fridge. A small metal box that keeps shit cold. I don't have the fridge's family tree. For all I know the fridge's was conceived by a slutty young Maytag that graced some hillbilly's side porch. I don't know the exact age of the fridge. I bought it a few months ago, I used it for a couple of days, ok, I lied, I used it a whole week. The fact is, you're not buying a race horse, you're buying a used fridge.

4. No, I will not knock $10 bucks off the price of the fridge because your anal retentive eyes picked up the ittiest, bittiest hairline scratch from across my driveway. I'm not making judgements on you, but I'm pretty damn sure Donald Trump didn't send you across the country to pick up a used fridge for Trump Towers. Though I'd wager the whole concept of the mini-fridge bar is a familar one to you.

5. Yes, you can unplug a fridge without any harm to the fridge. Believe me, the fridge is fine. The manufacturers have figured out a way to extend the life of a fridge that has been unplugged. Yes, I'm absolutely sure of that. No, you did not have to leave 2 messages about your concerns with the fridge being unplugged, and frankly it was a little embarrassing having the same conversation with you in my driveway where my neighbors could hear.

6. No, I don't have the operating instructions. I can write them down for you though: Plug fridge in. Open door. Put crap inside. Take crap out when it's cold. Eat or drink crap.

7. I am not a fridge pimp. I don't have any more fridges at that price. No, I don't know where you can get another fridge at that price. Yes, I know it's in great condition for the price, and I'm sure you'd like your other crazy-as-bat-shit-mini-fridge-buying-friends to have one just like it, but this is all I have. Here's a thought, there's this online classified ads website. Yeah, you may have heard of it, it's called CRAIGSLIST. I dunno, maybe, just maybe, in this great land of ours, there's another mini-fridge being advertised there.

8. Please remove my phone number from your address book. I think our relationship is over. Oh, and if you've added me to your AIM Buddy List, please delete me. Please. I beg you.

Yours truly,

The mini-fridge seller

Remodel Hell

is there anyone out there with a positive remodel story?

Whenever I tell someone that I'm in the midst of a remodel, their response is "oh....I'm sorry to hear that".

Unfortunately, based on the way things have been going with our remodel, I have a feeling I may say the same thing to the next person who tells me they're doing a remodel.

I'll try and take some pictures of the house-- it's actually coming out cool -- despite the painful process.

The green survivor -- A new Reality TV program

This post was originally titled Environmental despair or not.... but when I came up with the idea for a reality tv show on solving the environmental crisis for the globe I figured it I'd change the name of the program.

I was reading Ryan McInteries blog post about the movie an Inconvenient Truth. and it raised the question for me -- which is a bit descartean in nature -- to have despair about the environmental situation or not. Ryan's post is good. He talks about the little actions that one can take to help the situation. Like him, I'm a card carrying progressive lefty. I own a Toyota Camry Hybrid which I love. I seriously am thinking about buying solar power for my remodelled house. But I feel like I am sitting on a serious fence of despair about this topic.  If I'm not careful -- or even if I am -- I feel quite pessimistic about this topic because of posts like Fred Wilson's dad on the topic.  I'm curious about when we're going to have a reality TV show about really solving the environment issues in this country.  Wouldn't it be cool if there was a million dollars given to the person who comes up wit hthe simple consumer idea that gets us to cut greenhouse gases and this was broadcast by Simon Cowell or MTV?

Alternate endings to soccer games

I've found myself more interested in the world cup than I would have expected. My only complaint is the way games end when there's a tie. I think penalty shots is a lousy way to end a tie game in soccer (and hockey for that matter).

It seems like an arbitrary way of determining the best team.

I think they should come up with an alternate ending like:

  1. Reducing the number of players on the field by 2 players every minutes of OT play. First goal wins.
  2. Take all regular players off the field and requre alternates only to play. Limit numbers on the field to 6.
  3. Put a larger goal in for OT so people can shoot from further out. First goal wins.

I'm not sure any of these are practical solutions but the problem of how to effectively end a soccer match seems like one that people should be talking about as much if not more than how to effectively ref a soccer match (which seems to be getting lots of talk).

How much to listen to customers?

One item I've been perplexed with strategically lately is not whether to listen to current customers but rather how much to listen to current customers.   The reasons to listen to current cusomers are obvious. It's business 101. But the reasons to temper the amount one listens to current customes are:

  1. There may be business rationale (i.e. market size, competition, margin etc) for going in a direction that conflicts with what customers would say
  2. What customers say and do are often different things. Customers don't put their answers to survey questions into context for you....and vice versa.  Customer feedback typically comes in the form of interviews and surveys....and that's helpful, but isn't that useful in answering fundamental strategic questions.

Reading blogs

As part of my return to writing my blog, I've stepped up the time I use to reading blogs.    I'm really impressed with what people are putting into their publications.   

This morning I read the NYT and then read about 6 bloggers last 3 posts via feed....I gotta say that the posts from the bloggers are more relevant to my life and thoughts than the NYT by far. It makes total sense (narrow casting) but nonetheless, today, I'm a bit in awe of the phenomena.

Stuff I learned about today on the blogosphere:
i) Market timing of start ups - Niel Robertson's blog
ii) How to package a board presentation -- Brad Feld's blog
iii) Dissaggregated media -- Fred Wilson's blog
iv) Agenda setting -- Seth Godin's blog
v) The suit between googla and kinderstart -- John Battelle's blog
vi) Email conversion rate tips -- Chris Baggot's blog

Senator Edwards at Gnomedex

Was at the seattle blog event on Friday and part of Saturday. Overall, enjoyed the event.  Senator Edwards was the key note speaker. I thought it was pretty smart of him to make an appearance. Show's someone on his staff is paying attention and thinking about influence in the future.  There were three noteable parts to his speech:

  1. Someone asked him if he could tell himself whether or not he was giving an honest answer and being a "human" being versus a plastic politicican talking in soundbites. Senator Edwards said he could tell the difference. But noted that it was hard not to fall into the land of automaton when reporters are coming at you with cameras rolling and they're asking questions and you know that if you aren't careful you'll be misquoted etc.  I thought it was an interesting glimpse into the life of the politician in 2006.
  2. Someone asked him why the democrats don't have any balls.  The senator then positioned himself as one of those democrats that isn't wish washy, miely mouthed.  Good positioning.
  3. Someone suggested that Edwards grant 1 democrat and 1 republican blogger complete access to his campaign bus. Good idea!

BTW, Edwards is better looking in person than on tv....
.

Customer feedback makes my day

Came into the office this AM and saw this post about us and one of our competitors. It made my day.

The post (below) is a direct quote from one of our members:
I was a member of Insider Pages before coming over here to Judy's Book. I'll admit that I totally LOVE it here, and rarely visit Insider Pages any longer. I have always had great luck getting my rewards from them, but it's not a "community" like it is here.

Anyways, I was looking there earlier today, to see if there are any promotions going on (there isn't) and I noticed that I am ranked #1 at Insider Pages. If you are a member, what is your rank?!

It's all about winning customers over one at a time.