Defined Fitness Sandia Club — Attraction in Albuquerque

If you have a billing issue with DF, Tony Barrett, Club Operations Manager, is not going to be nice. To cut to the chase, I finally filed a complaint with The NM Attorney General's Office Consumer Protection Division, that sent Mr. Barrett a letter, but he didn't even bother to respond. Here is what I filed (I thought about taking him to Small Claims Court, but for $75+tax, it's not worth my time and energy):

For the record, I am 70 years old. Some months ago, I signed up for three sessions with a trainer at Defined Fitness (DF). The amount was for $75.00+tax. Shortly after that, I hurt my lower back so severely that I was (and am) on a walker. I also came down with pneumonia and bronchitis and kept relapsing for seven full weeks. On January 24, 2019, I telephoned DF and spoke with Tony Barrett, Club Operations Manager, and requested a refund. I explained to him the circumstances of my health, and he told me someone (from DF) would call me back that day regarding the refund. No one called me. On January 29, 2019, I telephoned DF and spoke with Tony Barrett regarding the refund. I told him that no one from DF had contacted me since I had last spoke with him. He told me someone (from DF) would call me back that day regarding the refund. No one called me. On January 31, 2019, I telephoned DF and spoke with Tony Barrett regarding the refund. I told him that no one from DF had contacted me since I had last spoke with him. He told me someone (from DF) would call me back that day regarding the refund. I said no, that it had been a week since I had first spoken with him, no one had called me back, and unless I spoke with someone now, I was going to file a formal consumer complaint with the The New Mexico Office of The Attorney General. The last part got his attention. At that point, Mr. Barrett told me immediately that DF doesn't give refunds (how could he not have known this a week before when I first contacted him). I told him that the refund policy wasn't posted anywhere, that no one had told me that when I signed up for the sessions, and that I hadn't even received a receipt but I assumed the no refund policy wasn't on the receipt either. At that point, Mr. Barrett immediately, although very reluctantly, agreed to refund my money. He requested my credit card number. I gave it to him, and he made a big deal out of not getting the credit card numbers down correctly. However, at the end of the call, he read back the numbers to me, and he had the correct sequence of numbers. Along with the expiration date and the three numbers specific to my credit card. Two weeks later, I phoned Mr. Barrett again, because the refund had not showed up on my credit card. The receptionist asked for my name, which she never asked for before when I had called (I was just put right through to him); however, he was "in a meeting". The last time I called the receptionist hung up on me. It is now four weeks since I first contacted Mr. Barrett (January 24th). Still no refund. Mr. Barrett is going to tell you that I hung up on him the last time we talked, and I suppose I should apologize but, good grief, I was SO tired of being jerked around, especially when...

The gym is nice. However, the day care is not. First of all, when I went to drop off my daughter, the girl with short brown hair and green eyes (who also has a 17 month old) didn't seem very polite and instantly asked if my daughter has a cold. Which she does not and she wasn't even coughing when we came in, just bluntly "Is she sick?" without any indication that she was. Then, her son proceeded to attempt to take my daughters stuffed animal and sippy cup. She attempted to tell him to stop but didn't put in much effort. While I was taking my daughter's coat of and mine, he then took my i-pod and stuck the ear buds in his mouth. I tried to take them out as nicely as a person can when you aren't dealing with your own kid. She said, oh he's mine, it's ok. No, it's not okay, your kid is sucking on someones ear bud. She was in fact distracted by "how awkward" it was that some male co-worker came into work and her and the other girl proceeded to talk about how awkward it was. Not very professional. Of course, when mommy leaves the little one will be upset. I ran to the locker room and came out to hear her still crying and saw the two girls just chatting it up at the table. No effort to console her until they saw me looking. After seeing that, I decided to workout where I could see into the window. The girl with the short brown hair seemed more interested in staring at the guys working out than actually attempting to engage the kids. She came out to the floor to find me and said my daughter wouldn't stop crying and she had croup. Croup sounds like a seal barking, my daughter was crying and usually when you cry hard there may be some coughing involved. So, to accuse me of bringing in a child with croup is bull. I didn't know these 20 year old girls could diagnose croup so quickly. Next time I need a check up I'll bring her to the Defined Fitness Kid's Club. Also, while we were leaving, one of the care takers started coughing! So, it's not okay for my daughter to cry and cough but your employes can be there with symptoms of a cold??? This alone is enough to make me switch to Sports & Wellness. Defined Fitness should really consider who they hire for the kids club and if a mom can be impartial to her child while watching other kids. From my own experience at day cares, you're not usually allowed to watch your child or have them with you. Also, are these people certified in CPR or anything like that? Or does Defined Fitness just hire any girl who has a kid to work in...

I gave the Defined Fitness Gym a second chance at a simple task: I am a new member and I needed someone to briefly show me how to use a handful of machines. That’s it.

When I first started going there, I made an appointment for the “free” hour of assessment/orientation. I got a one hour, sitting down pressure sale of a $1000 dollar personal training program. I did not ask for it, I did not want it and I certainly did not want to spend an hour of my busy day hearing about one.

This time I made sure that (at a different location) I explained exactly what I needed. I did not want any confusion. Apparently, it did not matter. I showed up for my appointment and the person I had arranged the meeting with did not even know about it. He quickly dismissed the visit saying that “an hour was not enough” and that he wanted to make another appointment for a later date. Noticing my displeasure, he proceeded to point at a couple of machines and stated that they don’t want to get sued if I get hurt, so that an hour is insufficient time. This makes no sense because at the same time he is refusing to teach me the basics regarding the use of the very machines that can hurt me, and the “free hour” is their idea, not mine. The irony is that it is not even required and I inquired about it trying to preempt problems. He then sat in a couple of machines with me watching and told me (I already knew) that they need to be adjusted. He pointed at one lady across the aisle and said she was using her machine right. Ok. That was it. Lame.

We walked back to the counter and he made another appointment for two weeks down the road. If you think I am willing to go through that again…well, you can forget it.

On top of that, he asked a fellow employee to enter the visit as completed so “that I could get paid and buy you a Starbucks” (to the girl entering info in the computer for him). It was supposed to be an hour appointment. I got there a couple of minutes after 9:00 am and made it back to my car by 9:21 am. That was less than 20 minutes (including the time it took to look me up and make the second appointment).

The whole thing was disgraceful and unprofessional. I’ll cut to the chase and look things up on a reputable fitness website. However, it is discouraging to have such unsupportive staff when you are trying to start an exercise regime with very little knowledge of what to do to...