I have been a member at Devonshire Mall Goodlife Fitness for over five years and have had a personal Trainer for over four years. During that time, I have broken seven National Records and a World Record in Powerlifting. I also recovered from chronic knee and lower back pain due to the education that my Personal Trainer had obtained in the past two years.
The Problem began June 7th, 2018, when I arrived at the Gym and waited for over twenty minutes before asking if anyone had seen my Personal Trainer. This was when I was told that he no longer worked for Goodlife Fitness and that no one had contacted me because my contact information was out of date. Which was a lie (First of many) because not only has my contact information not changed in over eight years, but in a later meeting, The Clubs Fitness Manager pulled up my file and there were three separate and up to date means of contacting me on file.
The Fitness Manager knew that I was up for renewal for Personal Training sessions. She knew that the Trainer I was with was the only trainer Goodlife has that offered the Therapy I was getting. Finally, She knew that she was going to be firing my Trainer in the next twelve days. At no point in time, did anyone contact me before I had purchased more sessions, or during the ten day window that I could cancel without being penalized, to let me know that I would have to switch trainers.
If I was given that information, I would not have purchased new sessions. The contract for Personal Training says that if you do not cancel within the first ten days of purchasing the sessions, then you are subject to a 10% buyout fee of the original price paid. This is because when a Trainer signs a client, Goodlife gives the Trainer a 10% commission of the sale. So if you as the client can't commit to the sessions, then you have to reimburse Goodlife the Commission. (Regardless of if the Commission is higher than the value of the unused Sessions).
My Trainer had been fired on day twelve (June 5th 2018). I asked if the buyout fee could be waived and was told that the only way that Goodlife waives the fee is if the client dies. After pointing out that the only reason I was canceling was because Goodlife didn't have another trainer who offered the therapy I was paying for and need to achieve my goal of living a pain free life (it was the only thing that has worked in the ten years I've been in pain). I was told that the contract says Personal Training, not Therapy. Since Goodlife has other Personal Trainers, I could easily change my goal and switch over to one of them.
The fact that I had also canceled my Goodlife membership over this incident was also brought up and used as a means of justifying why Goodlife should keep the $306 buyout fee they charged me.
This whole situation took place over three weeks. I was constantly calling and leaving messages that were never returned and I was lied to repeatedly. I have never been treated with such complete disrespect and utter unprofessionalism.
All I can say is if you decide to hire one of their Personal Trainers, you have best have the most generic goal that any Trainer can help you with, or you must be willing to give up your goal and change it without any notice. Because clearly Goodlife doesn't care about helping you with your goal, all they care about is your money. After being a loyal customer for over five years, I will NEVER give Goodlife another penny.
