Riveter — Local services in North Carolina

Whew, it really just takes one really bad experience to leave an irreplaceable bad taste in your mouth sometimes. Saddle up for a story below. I’ve been a yoga member here for a few months and my experiences have been good up until last week. (For this review please note I am 7 months pregnant, and of lesser note, I am also a certified yoga instructor) This past Thursday I took a yoga class with an instructor called Mack Wilkins that was supposed to be a warm class set at 85 degrees. It was listed in the schedule and I am very familiar with the Riveter and their policies. I brought my friend with me who wasn’t a member and immediately upon entering I noticed the thermostat said it was 98 degrees. I brought this to the instructor’s attention and he told me that it was ‘a little hot for a warm class’ and chuckled. I told him that it wasn’t okay-as pregnant women are advised to not be in rooms hotter than around 93 degrees, for it causes stillborns, birth defects, and pre-term labor. I said, ‘if you leave the door open and maybe change the thermostat the room could cool off quickly’. He informed me with a smile that had food jammed between his teeth that it ‘definitely wasn’t going to get any hotter’ and wafted one of the bolsters in the doorway for a couple seconds and then shut the door. He said ‘if you need to step out, we have cold towels’ and one of the other women behind me said , ‘you need to get this woman a cold towel.’ He proceeded to sit down and start the class with what I’m sure he thinks is a groundbreaking few minutes of silence while we all stared at his dirty feet. I was embarrassed for calling attention to myself so I sat down next to my friend and hoped that the room would be cooling down shortly, since I have attended ‘Warm’ classes after a ‘Hot’ class and having the room be a few degrees warmer than it should be is no big deal, and it can indeed cool down. However, after about fifteen minutes I had a feeling it was getting hotter, and I got up to find the thermostat was 101 degrees! I left the studio and went downstairs and told them that I was really upset, for anyone that has been a mother can understand, the consequences are very serious, and I was scared for my baby even for the short amount of time I was in there. I told them that I had to leave and to please refund my friend (as of this review they still haven’t) and that it was irresponsible to not be able to simply provide the warm class as scheduled but also an obvious giant waste of our time. The woman at the front desk informed me that ‘instructors don’t have the ability to change the thermostat.’ I went upstairs and announced to my friend and the instructor that ‘it is 101 degrees.’ And he lazily rolled his eyes and he says, ‘yeah, it is’, oddly in a happy sort of way, high I guess? Or maybe having five brain cells makes you blissfully unaware to other people’s embarrassment and worry. I announced, ‘it’s supposed to be 85 degrees, it is 101, I have to leave, no one in this class signed up for a hot class.’ What if someone else has a medical complication? Or is too shy to leave? What happened to this being safe place? I was so worried about my unborn baby’s health I had a phone call with my obstetrician right afterwards. Anyways, we leave, I tell my husband and eventually he gets on the phone with the founder Elizabeth Jackson. She apologizes for the situation yet laughs saying, that while she doesn’t really know Mack Wilkins very well, because the Riveter contracts out their yoga instructors, “he seems very relaxed…he has a big following.” Which is a ridiculous and unprofessional response to a serious complaint. She offered nothing during the call, although frankly, what could they give us anyways? My husband and I are cancelling our membership here over this incident. For me, what is the point, if every time I go now I am going to wonder if they are going to provide the class I signed up for? Or will I just be wasting my time and putting my health at risk? Sheesh. TLDR;...

Worst climbing gym experience in my 35 years of climbing indoors (and outdoors). Staff member doing belay test was so condescending we were in disbelief. We were told that we needed to use their belay technique (no problem) but were told that technically they could not show us their standard. WTH? You can’t demonstrate your standard belay technique so I can model the technique and perform it without flaw. It took over 1-1/2 hours to get my buddy checked out on lead … and for me to get checked out on top rope belay. Really?! At one point, staff member asked me if I had a license which I produced for him … he said, “I don’t need your license, but you have to follow the rules of the road to get and keep your license”. I have been driving and climbing longer than the staff member has been alive. (Former Camp Director, Ropes Course Director and Project Adventure and ACCT certified for over a dozen years). I asked him to show me the standard he would like us to model, and he said he couldn’t do that. He also told my friend that he would have to pay the staff if he wanted to be shown the belay technique.

I travelled two hours to meet my daughter who goes to the gym from time-to-time … spent half the time with this staff member who was on a total POWER TRIP and was completely CONSESCENDING. I am still in disbelief … he refunded our fees but that was probably only to save the Riveter from this Google Review. Everyone else at the gym was friendly and delightful by the way; but the damage was done. I will NEVER recommend your gym after this experience. Want more info, email me … I’d be delighted to share. 😡. I’d give y’all ‘0’...

Nice place. I had fun with my friends for about an hour on our mountain bikes until I decided to rent a dirt jumper. About 5 minutes after renting the bike I went down the gravel path that leads out to the trails. I completely wiped out on the path. Back tire just slide out from under me. I stood up bleeding. Guy from the rental shop came up to me and asked if I needed a band-aide or antibiotic. I was like "umm yeah..." then I followed him to the first aid kit. "we don't have band aides that big" he says. I'm thinking okay why the heck not? He then made a comment about that being the most dangerous part of the park.

Okay so if its a known problem, maybe warn people about it. I'm used to knobby tires, not slick ones. Alternatively turn that to a dirt path so that it doesn't happen to other people.

Secondly - the braided wire cables across the bridges are dangerous. Right after my accident I saw a guy crash really bad on the bridge. He was thrown from his bike and got tangled in the cables but he almost fell into the water below. He also got lacerations around his throat from the cables.

It would have been a 5 star review if it wasn't for the stupid fall that left me bloody and bruised. Maybe put some warning signs out there if you aren't going to...