Sofive Soccer Centers Mt. Laurel (XL Sports World) — Local services in Mount Laurel Township

TERRIBLE! I would give ZERO stars if I could. There is NO CUSTOMER SERVICE here. Don't bring your kids here, they don't give two hoots about anything but the $. On the first day of picking up my children from camp, the emergency contacts were down only for pick-up (not the parents). I happily showed my ID and was told I wasn't on the list to pick my children up. Astonished, I said but you're charging my bank account, sending the emails to my email, etc. Why would I not be their mother? I am the person who signed them up. Wayne the director said disgustingly "Doesn't matter". I will have to call the emergency contacts to ask if you're their mother. At this point, I was insulted and irate because instead of trying to look up the account to see names/addresses matching, etc. He told me I would have to prove they were my children. What in the world? My ID has the same address as my children's and my husband sent in his work ID to get the 10% discount. You can look into the system, see my husband's ID badge for work, and put 2+2 together that those people authorized to pick up are emergency contacts and not parents. If Wayne just said "Hey, hold on let me look up what we have" Instead of being condescending and careless the situation would have gone entirely different. Wayne at that moment chose to talk down to me, asking if I read the registration correctly. Then stating "well it is your fault if you didn't put the parent's names down on the pick-up list." Excuse me, maybe it was assumed that as the parents and people signing them up, living in the same house, the same address that they could pick up unless otherwise noted. (I have a Master's degree in Reading and Literacy and a Doctorate in Education). Now these are two degrees I am sure Wayne doesn't have because he barely has people skills. I flipped out admittedly because my sick daughter was in the car and I had to get her to a specialist appointment, it is well-known that people wait months to see a specialist. Now Wayne instead of being solutions-oriented on his end was holding me up to this appointment by unnecessarily placing blame, making me prove my maternity to my children, instead of solving and looking to see what was in the system. I feel as though that would have been the smartest option before insulting a parent.

Maybe Wayne has an axe to grind or a Napoleon complex. However, for the sake of the business, put him away from the customers. This is a paid service and if you care about your customers, you would treat them as if you do not?

I certainly hope he is not the owner because we spent two summers at XL Sports in Cherry Hill and had ZERO issues. Paul, the director at Cherry Hill is fabulous beyond fabulous. He is a hard worker and tries to solve all problems expeditiously. Wayne in Mt Laurel, on the other hand, is a fire starter because he comes to the issue trying to "fight", deflect, and place blame, by showing his little care or concern for you or your child's happiness. As a person in leadership and dealing with the public, it is imperative to approach every issue and concern with a solution mindset. (Even if the parent is dead wrong). Mistakes happen right? Why be so rude? Are you trying to solve the problem or make someone feel terrible and incompetent?

The attitude should be "Yeah we can figure this out, let me look, or let's see what we can do." Instead, his way of intervening with an issue is to exacerbate the conflict by throwing gasoline on a fire. Then a week later, there was another issue. Again, instead of Wayne stepping in and trying to assist and get to a win/win situation. In typical Wayne, fashion was careless, rude, and again showing attributes unbecoming of a Director. I can assure XL Sports, that for every person I meet who asks me about camp for my kids, I will tell them how awful this experience and the leadership at this establishment is. I will tell them to go anywhere but here.

I am dismayed and disillusioned.

The public needs to know how poorly they treat their customers and how inept...

Extremely rude manager type person who contradicted what previous (much nicer) employees stated. Tried to refuse trial voucher terms, blamed others instead of holding accountability. As a former member who was trying out facility again after numerous owner changes, felt insulted as he was rude to friend I had purchased gift temp voucher for. Not only tried to not honor terms but treated us like inferior people for having voucher. As a member of the community who was bombarded with unsolicited marketing emails from them with their new ownership name all summer, I had called and visited numerous times to confim vouchers (2 purchased from Groupon, one as recently as July 14th AFTER CONFIRMING THE PREVIOUS OWNERSHIP NAME & VOUCHER WOULD BE HONORED,) what terms were, what the use of rooms/ equipment/ classes were, I decided to try gym again because of their changes ...and AFTER avoiding gyms due to covid for 1.5 yrs. As a former daily gyms attendee (even while traveling all over the US for work and around the world personally), this manager was the rudest and most uninviting I have ever encountered. As a former personal trainer with AAFA for over a decade and also an affiliate of sport nutrition and club industry programs, it was shocking to see that this type of management would assume to be the type to expect continuing membership from the public in the future and to be treated like this in my own community. He used every excuse to blame others to control without actually kicking us out of the facility. In addition, I had purchased the second trial membership gift for friend AFTER confirming use of an empty classroom with mirrors as both of us had always used mirrors to check form and posture while doing controlled target cardio moves AND because that room is the only one with boxing bags (which in previous membership I used very often). There were NO SIGNS ON DOOR indicating that membership of any kind was not allowed in room except during classes if the key card allowed members access. Our key cards allowed access (and besides, I had called & in person, asked 3 different times IF room use when empty, and if it did not bother or intrude other members, was still allowed, to which I had been told YES... PRIOR TO TESTING THE TRIAL MEMBERSHIP). We were politely & casually using the room without any additional equipment and both sharing different movement techniques (my friend was a former professional world class ballerina in her youth, and I have been involved in fitness or sports of various types at intensive levels for all of my life, as well as medical type training in my younger years), and not only did he accuse me of training a class but said they did not allow use of rooms except in their classes (then his associate interrupted him to mention some limited use of bags were ok, at which point he ALSO disdainfully stated... they "especially don't allow this to non-members such as us types"). My friend felt unwelcomed and like we were labeled or listed as subclass citizens. (He claimed it was due to covid but note, the room is more than large enough to comply to recommended health official dimensions for holding group classes as well as have ample ventilation, plus it was empty AND we did not even use lights or any other items.) It did in fact feel very prejudiced because of his condescending tone and the entire series of interactions. Most gyms have always been welcoming to me but not this one. Glitzy shiny equipment and fancy toys will never make up for human indecency. Plus as a former trainer I have many techniques from basic body weight form through borrowed from dance, martial arts, free weights, and invitations to plenty of other gym trials and associates with many more options that are more inviting and allows for focus. Regardless of fitness level, positive environments reinforce attendance and commitments to workouts for myself and others. This was definitely an exclusionary type of treatment and not welcome in any type of business or...

We arrive at summer camp at 9:04. ONE singular person is checking in from now. The line is now out the door. By the time we get to the front. It is 9:12 and I am told my son can't go on the swim trip I paid for because it is after 9 am. Now this same thing happened to two other parents in the line and one vocally said she did not see that arrive by 9 am rule and she was on the website. I was aware the trips left at 10 am, but to stand in the line that long and be turned away from a trip you paid for, is utterly ridiculous. I asked politely if there could be a 10-15 min grace period given the fact the line is and was still out the door waiting for people to check-in. Rude and Carless Wayne strikes again, without hesitation he says no because then everything would need a grace period. I wanted to say yeah of course everything does have a grace period (bills, appointments, deadlines, registrations) that is how things work... Every entity with a schedule to follow typically has a grace period. A hard and fast grace period is fine, or the people at least standing in the line to check in should be excused and given grace because it is not as if they arrived at 9:30 am begging for mercy. I am aware there are schedules to keep but you cannot tell me that if I didn't stand in the long line with one person checking in my kid would have made it. Their poor operations cost my child a trip, a trip I already paid for. Wayne, the shining example that customer service and kindness are dead "Director" did not care. Of course, he didn't care because XL Sports already got their money for the trip. He didn't apologize for me waiting in line, he didn't see "what he can do", he didn't even seem apologetic even with the no. There wasn't a "No, I am sorry but.." His response was NOTHING BUT RUDE and AGGRESSIVE with an "Oh Well" "I could not care less" smug attitude. My son sat there ready to cry with tears welling up. There was no "Let me see where we are at, Buddy". NOTHING!! There wasn't a check-in with anyone on the floor there with the group, just a hard no followed up with no grace period, and the expectation to just leave out of there.

This is not the type of place I want to willingly give my money up to when the Director himself has no idea how to treat the people who are the reason he has a job. Big changes, training, and professional development need to be implemented because everyone from Camden County- Cherry Hill to Burlington County -Mount Laurel will know this place, and not for good reasons. Word of Mouth referrals They want the $$, not the kids, and that is exactly how you will feel. Like another number.... not a person that matters.

Word-of-mouth marketing and referrals are a powerful tool in sustaining a business, 92% of consumers trust WOM referrals and marketing above all other forms of advertising. Up to 50% use referrals as the primary decision-maker to do business with or make purchases from a business. I think this is important to note, especially in this economy people are not going to throw their money to a place that shows a clear lack of skill in conflict resolution and absolutely no customer service. People may forget what you said, and what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel. You can't make your customers feel as though they do not matter and expect that as a business this should be tolerated...