Planet Fitness — Attraction in McDonough

When I signed on, this was a promising deal. The local franchise followed national membership plan structure which is simple $10 plan with no contract but no frills, and a $20 "Black Card" which has a 1 year commitment but comes with some extra services. This year, I downgraded because I wasn't using the services. I learned of a $39 fee for changing plans which wasn't clear before. I learned that I was STILL on the hook a few weeks later for the $39 annual fee (yeah, the "$10 a month" is that PLUS $39 a year) and you get hit with BOTH if you downgrade. It's a financial disincentive to downgrading basically -- and if you read the company's SEC 10K filing, you find that this marketing-heavy not-very-customer-focused organization places emphasis on pushing the local franchises to sell as many upgrades as possible and retain the "black card" members at that level. The $10 level is the sales hook to get you in but they're after the conversion.

Three troubling developments: 1) My girlfriend also had a membership but wasn't using it much and opted to cancel, and was told that she needed to get in before Feb 1 as this was when the annual fee is billed. We did make it in at the end of January, but the fee billed anyway. I learned that the contract's lengthy fine print involves a need to cancel even earlier, a point never made clear and which I'm not a fan of burying in fine print as my belief is that key contract provisions need to be called out and not buried. Burying something important in fine print has always stricken me as being deceptive, because those writing the lengthy blocks of fine print know very well that no one reads through all of that, whether we SHOULD or not, most don't, and deliberately placing highly important bits in that is meant to be something to spring on the unwary. In this case, they wouldn't care about customer goodwill because this is a provision for the customer who is leaving anyway, so why not screw them one more time on the way out. Unethical as hell, but why not, right? In this case, I was staying and she was leaving, but now this nonsense has cost them my membership as well. 2) When I downgraded, I downgraded like one day after the billing for the next month, but guess what? They aren't going to pro-rate that. I'm stuck with another full month at the higher plan rate... yet by making the change then, they STILL swapped my black card for the regular and made the downgrade immediate even though I'd paid for a month of the black, so I didn't get the benefit of the black card. I realize the timing is critical here but there is no scenario where this doesn't work out slightly better for the club than for the customer. I'd have had to show up a full week ahead of the billing to downgrade so that I'm not billed for another month at black level, still having a one week disparity, and then the onus is on the customer to time it all so precisely to minimize the financial hit. Lack of prorated fees always works in their favor. 3) When I downgraded, now they have 3 levels -- the $10 one now has a 1 year commitment much like black, which also still has one, and $10 is still no frills. Just no frills plus you're on the hook for a year. Don't want to be on the hook for a year? Now you can buy up to the $15 plan which is identical in being no frills but you're just paying more to get the only option that doesn't have a one year commitment. The national website still shows only the two plans and still shows the $10 level as being contract free, but it also has an asterisk which says that some local franchises might deviate from this. Well, this one does.

From the conversation I had with the manager in trying to negotiate for their refunding my girlfriend's annual fee, as she will get zero benefit from the club for the $39 taken, I was prepared to cancel my membership as well and hoped several more years of revenue from me might be good leverage, but they made it clear that sticking to policy is a higher priority than customer...

I am new to the area and was looking for a gym that was convenient, professional, and not too costly. I choose Planet Fitness because your establishment seems to strive on the mission of "It’s our goal to provide a clean, safe, welcoming environment for anyone who walks through our door". At approximately 3:40pm I entered your Mcdonough location. Nicolas C. was helping a customer on the phone and Darion D. was assisting another customer. After approximately 10 minutes of waiting, Nicolas assured me he would be with me shortly which was fine, I decided to walk around the establishment to see if I'd be interested in joining.

Once I came back to the desk Nicolas was still on the phone and again assured me he'd be right with me. Darion, who was not at the desk, returned and stood in front of me with his hands in his pockets and said, "What's up, you good." in such an unprofessional intimidating tone that caught me off guard. While he was greeting me like I was one of his friends, he wasn't even looking at me, so initially I said to myself there was no way this young man was speaking to me as if I was one of his friends. Because I was so shocked, I simply told him, "I'm good, I'll wait for the other gentlemen. That was kind of unprofessional", and I stepped closer to where Nicolas was on the phone.

At this time Taimia J. came behind the desk and Darion turned to her and said, "these people" and whispered something to her. There was nobody else around except Nicolas, Darion, Taimia, and I and I just informed him that the way he approached me was unprofessional, so I definitely assumed he was talking about me. I then said to him was there a reason you're whispering and talking about me to this lady when you were the one that was unprofessional speaking to me as if you were in the streets. Darion then looked at Taimia and said, "you better get him, you know how I get, you better get him." While making these statements, Taimia had to hold him back because it appeared as if he wanted to come approach me in a physical manner. I then asked him, "how do you get?" Darion then repeated again, you better get him you know how I get.

Taimia, still having to hold Darion back, sent him to go clean machines and as he was walking away he steered me down. Unbeknownst to Darion, I am a Federal Law Enforcement Officer and I definitely took his behavior, since he had to be held back, as a threat. I could not believe what I was experiencing. This young man that Taimia, "knows how he gets" wanted to attack me all because he wants to conduct business as if he is talking to one of his friends on the street.

For an establishment that has historically been known for their professionalism I now question your mission statement and values because you have an employee, Darion, who thinks, being in professional environment, that he can speak to anyone as if they are his "friends" then threaten them inside your establishment. I am respectfully requesting an internal investigation of this complaint please and I would really appreciate an update. Unfortunately, because of how Darion "gets" I am no longer interested in obtaining a membership at your gym. Hopefully Planet Fitness Mcdonough gets back to treating customers with dignity...

I've always been very hesitant when it comes to gyms and memberships period. After attending for a while as a guest at another location.... I decided maybe it's not so bad and decided to get a membership of my own at this location since it's closer to my house. Big mistake, I haven't had this membership a month yet and I've already canceled this membership because of the staff rudeness and unfriendly, and unprofessional customer service recieved at this location. The first incident I kinda overlooked it as maybe the employee was just having a bad day and overlooked what was said even though theres no excuse for it. However, today was a totally different story and quite rude, unprofessional, and uncalled for period. Something that could have been cleared up very quickly but definitely wasn't because the employee and her approach. It became a big trigger for me and causing major anxiety with my condition especially in front of my minor child. When my child and I entered the facility I noticed that both employees were assisting other customers and one on the phone, so I proceeded to the restroom and then I was going to come out and scan my membership card, no biggie even though that's not normal check in but no harm, so I thought. The employee Taimai rushes in the restroom and starts questioning my child and well as myself about checking in and waited inside the restroom hovering over us and monitoring us to make sure we sign- in. It felt very weird and quite uncomfortable. After that things only got worse from there trying to sign my child in as guest to attend a workout session. Making their first gym visit, and experience an unpleasant one. I tried to make the best out of this very bad situation, and had I not invited another party/ person that came out of their way across town to join us at this location to workout I would have left immediately after my encounter with the employee Taimai. I didn't feel comfortable nor could I enjoy my workout after that. Taimai response as well as unapologetic in her actions even afterwards in the situation was very rude, and unfriendly. I would not recommend this location nor the Planet Fitness brand after this experience. I canceled my membership as of today and asked her were there an fee associated with canceling now or do I need to give an explanation of why I was canceling my membership she said no sign the keypad and asked for my email address to confirm the cancellation with no apology. #planetfitness #mcdonough...