So last week Braden, Jenna and I went to take an ostensibly short tour of the Bally Fitness gym that's about 15 minutes from our place. We went solely because I wanted to have a place to swim, because it's low-impact, feels good on my big, luggy body and I can't start anything new exercise-wise (especially if it's strenuous) this late in pregnancy. But just going to do some light swimming or kicking would be beneficial, and I loved being in the pool the few times I got to go during our recent vacation in North Carolina. Anyway, I had called a couple of days prior to find out if they had a pool and what kind of prices they had for adult plans. The girl said that yes, they did have a pool and that the plans ranged from $22-26/mo plus $5/mo for unlimited childcare. I thought, well, that's not too bad, since another place I'd looked at was asking $51/mo and you still had to pay for childcare. So I thought I'd check it out, and we headed over. We got there at around 4:15pm and explained to the "manager" that Braden had to be across town for an appointment at 5. The guy, Caleb, I believe, looked at the clock and said, "Ok, so we've got 45 minutes." Well, no, Caleb. No, we don't. If teleportation were possible, then yes, yes we do. But Braden can't magically appear at his appointment. Anyway, so that garnered the first raised eyebrow of many more to come.
Then he proceeds to ask why we were there, and I explained, I thought rather clearly, how I was going to have a baby in 2 months, and I really just wanted to swim. He then asks Braden (keep in mind we hadn't even talked about this for Braden, so this was really just for me, which I didn't spell out, but any idiot could have understood that from what I had told him) about why he's there, and then proceeds to not-so-subtly berate Braden for not making the time to work out, because "we're all busy, and we just need to make the time, and we get the time back by feeling more refreshed, blah blah..." I loved this classic quote: "So, you're a nurse...you've heard of REM sleep, right?" Le DUH. He just wasn't endearing himself to us from the get-go. Then he turns back to me and wants to know what my fitness goals are. I repeat what I said previously and say a little bit more, but not much. It's obvious to me that we're not communicating, because I realize that he's looking for me to say something else, but I don't know what it is, and I say as much to him. He then says, "Well, you want to use the pool, okay, but what about using the weights?", and I say, "well, sure, to get back into shape after I have the baby." His response to this is to sigh loudly (with an obviously frustrated look on his face), shake his head at me and say, "Well, let's just go take the tour." [Kerry's note: I explained what I wanted to do!!! I can't have an elaborate fitness plan in mind, because I don't know how the birth will go and what kind of a postpartum recovery I'll have!!) As we head out of the office, Braden and I exchange a "what the crap" look. But no, the fun is just beginning, my friends.
Keep in mind that I'm all about the pool, and I've said as much several times to this guy. The weights and machines are right outside the "manager's" office, so it does make sense to start there. However, given what he knows about us, it most definitely does not make sense to go from machine to machine and methodically explain them step by step. I think he went to 6 or 7 different machines and demonstrated each one. Less effective, my lowly managerial BFN. Also keep in mind that we have the entire gym to go through, and not a lot of time to do it, and you can see how frustrated we were getting. Like I'm going to remember or care how the lateral press exercises this muscle just so when all I'll be doing is swimming for a few months. He was a "weights" guy, and it was just so obvious that he had no idea how to tailor his sales pitch to the individual customer.
So he finally stops doing that, and we go throughout the rest of the gym, which was fine, and he was actually a lot less annoying during this, EXCEPT that he was really taking a long time. Once we got to some machines again, he started asking a lot of questions about what I'd be using. I just said the elliptical machine, but I was getting frustrated that he just didn't get the whole pregnancy thing, and that HELLO I'm not going to be running on the treadmill in my third trimester (he seemed to think that I'd be doing whole long workouts on these machines, despite what I'd already explained to him). At this point, whenever he'd ask a question, Braden would just be like, "Yes", in hopes of getting him to shut up and hurry up. I follow his lead, and we get to the pool last (of course).
The pool was okay, but not overly impressive, truth be told. From there, we head back to the office, and he proceeds to lay out some monthly prices, which are from $9-20 more per month than what I'd been told. When I tell him this, and that the phone conversation was only two days ago, he magically pulls up a lower price on his "computer" (we don't think he even did anything on the computer), but one that is still higher than what I was told. We also are told that we have to purchase from 2-6 personal trainer sessions in addition to the monthly price, and when I ask if we HAVE to (because we have zero interest in that), he says that FOR TWO DAYS ONLY they can give us a discounted price on the sessions (still over a hundred dollars for the lowest), and then THEY HAVE TO GO TO THE NEW PRICE PLAN!!! Uh huh. I've heard that one before. It doesn't faze me. Anyway, I take a closer look at the price sheet, along with the gibberish that he's writing out and not explaining to us, and I ask about another $150+ fee that I see along with the monthly and personal trainer fee. He replies in a "you're an idiot" tone that that's of course the one time up front fee to join. He had never pointed this out or explained it, but apparently I'm an idiot for asking about it?? Anyway, at this point, he goes in all out sales mode and wants to know which plan we're looking at. We tell him the most basic (Braden said he rolled his eyes at this, but I missed it), but we begin explaining that we are going to go home and discuss it with each other before committing to anything. His response is to get even more animated and explain over and over how this price is only good for the next two days (then a day and a half, then a day)....lather, rinse, repeat about 4 or 5 times. From his second refusal on, I start to think loudly in my mind, "SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!!" It was so insulting, like he thought we just weren't "getting it." In the meantime, we are running super late, and finally, I bluntly tell him, "LOOK, we just wanted to check out the facilities, see what you guys had, and make a decision later." He finally takes no for an answer very frustratedly (again shaking his head), but not before one more, "it's only two days" under his breath, and then he says all right and basically kicks us out of his office more or less. He never says goodbye or thanks for coming, but as we stand up, Jenna says "Buh-bye!" and waves, and he can't help but smile and say goodbye to her because it's so cute when she does that. He does not walk us out or say anything to us after his last ditch effort. We walk ourselves to the door and out into the parking lot, where I say loudly, "WOW. WOW." To top it all off, Braden missed his appointment because the guy kept us so long, despite repeated reminders that we were running out of time. Thanks, dude, sure 'ppreciate ya.
I have never been so appalled at a salesman before, and he was so horrible at it!! It's a self-fulfilling prophecy! He made up his mind that we weren't going to come back and buy a membership, so he decided that we weren't worth his time or worth common courtesy, he let his emotions and true colors show, and that's exactly how it happened--we didn't go back. I will never go back to that gym and let him get his commission off of me. In fact, I'll never join a Bally's...but that's mostly because of
this and
this, information that I found out after taking the tour. Sure sounds like a scam operation to me, and I can't believe they're still in business if that's how they run their company.
I was so upset when we left the gym that I started crying (pregnancy hormones, peeps) and saying, "I just want to use a pool!! That's all I want!" And it is. I don't want to pay for all this other stuff that I won't use for at least 6 months. However, I can't find anywhere that will let me just use the pool.
The YMCA is sounding more and more appealing to me. We took a tour there a few months ago, and never once did I feel pressured into buying a membership. They were nice, friendly and answered all of our questions without trying to put one over on us. And that is how you get people to join your gym.
