24 Hour Fitness USA

This is a letter I sent to the manager to the Pearl Distric location in Portland. He met with me but didn't follow up on whether he disciplined the worker and I didn't feel comfortable leaving my kid with this woman after complaining, so I decided to stop going there.

"I am a new mom who has been going to your club for about 5 years now
and am enrolled specifically for your noon yoga classes.. Up until
recently I've been happy with my membership and was excited to enroll
my child in Kids Club when my he turned 6 months old. Since then I
feel like I've been treated as a second class citizen. When he was
very little, I was told by your staff member, Katie that I needed to
cut my workout down to a half hour because she thought he cried too
much.

The whole point of going to yoga classes is to get a good workout, get
a break and de-stress which I sorely need as a single mom. Stepping
out of my class early is not conducive to the spirit of yoga. The
relaxation, savasana stage is very important. Regardless, I cut my
workout to 30 minutes out of concern for my son's well-being.

As he matured I started leaving him at Kid's Club for the full hour
but was told I needed to leave my class 5 minutes early so that I
could get him out by 1pm when they close. I found out later that they
need to give me till 5 minutes after 1pm but Katie gave me a written
"Warning" because I was 2 minutes past 1pm. She said next time I'd
have to pay extra for each additional minute.

She also complained about how my child was crying because she had 2
twins that were crying and they set him off. She seemed exasperated
and unable to deal with the situation. I complained to the front desk
only about the "warning" and they set her straight about the 5 minute
leeway.

Then when I came in again, Katie said that there wasn't a 5 minute
leeway *again* and I asked the front desk to set her straight a second
time.

This time I was able to stay through the entire class but I still have
to rush down to get my child. After all of this, imagine my chagrin
when another staff member told me I couldn't take my child to the
locker room so I could go to the bathroom because of safety issues.
They said I had to use the Kid's Club bathroom which, after dealing
with Katie's lack of patience and wanting to rush me out, I didn't
want to inconvenience her further by asking. Besides, the toilet in
there is not for adults. It's one of those short ones made for kids.

So, I can't even use the locker facilities because of this clubs time
limits do not provide enough time for mothers to do so. In a perfect
situation, I'd love to leave my child at kids club while I go in the
sauna after class, shower off, and dress. As it is, I have to wear my
gym clothes to the gym, rush out of my class, deal with a rude daycare
person and wait to get home to pee.

As you can understand, I am very exasperated with all of this and if I
didn't love my teacher, Marchond so much I would just go to the
Hollywood location. They are much nicer to my child and even say he is
one of their favorites. I never get hassles there.

So, my suggestion is that you change the kids club hours to be later,
change the weight floor so there is a safe way to get to the locker
room and hire employees who have more experience and work ethic."

THANK YOU!

Yesterday at the Victorville location I had only gotten 10 minutes into my work out when an attendant came to find me. She informed me that my son was in the bathroom and needed my help. I began walking with her to the Kids Club area and when I got there she led me to the restroom that she then proceeded to unlock WITH A KEY... I said why the hell is my son locked in the bathroom. Once the door opened I could hear my son screaming I then rushed into the restroom where my son was standing with his pants off crying. I told them that my son wears a diaper, , , see it on the floor. Why in the world would leave a child unattended in a restroom. Do you know how dangerous that is? The manager told me that it was my opinion... You bet it is. He isn't potty trained... You idiots. I would never leave my son in the restroom alone.

They told me they had a policy that the child care attendants were not allowed to assist children using the restroom... But you are allowed to lock them behind doors?

I had a horrible experience as well, at the Tustin location in Orange County, CA. As I was signing my kids out of the kids club, clipboard in hand, the staff member decided to let my 17 month old son out of the room. She opened the door for him and he ran out. I dropped the clipboard and ran after him. I asked, "which way did he go"? and a staff member said, "out that way" pointing to the front door of the gym, which leads out to the parking lot. My heart was racing and I ran outside and grabbed my toddler as he was making his way out into the middle of the busy parking lot. I ran inside, grabbed my daughter and left. I was too scared to be angry right away, but the more I thought about it the madder I got. Had my son been hit by a car, 24 Hour Fitness would have been solely responsible for the accident. I called and spoke with the manager, who did not even offer an apology but told me she was sure that my son wasn't let out on purpose. I told her that was not the point. The point is that the staff member let my son out and because their front door was propped open, he was able to make it out into the parking lot. With 4-5 staff members standing around in the office, not one person ran after my son. The manager asked me, "What would you like to have happen from this phone call?" as if she was reading a script. I told her I wanted my money back from the kids club service that day, and she agreed to refund my money. But it wasn't enough. I wanted other parents to be aware of how careless these people were and to know who you're leaving your children with when you trust babysitters who work for the kids club service at the gym. I have already contacted consumer affairs and am going to pursue local news media as well. I have also written to Parents Magazine. The attitude of the staff at 24 Hour Fitness has really disappointed me, because children are precious and if they are going to run a babysitting service then EVERYONE needs to be aware of the safety procedures and policies that the company is supposed to follow.

Let me tell you a bit about working for the company. First of all if you are not a kiss ### dont even bother applying. I was one of the best employess, being told by many members on a daily basis. Then one day ANOTHER new manager comes in. Gets all buddy buddy with the staff, except me because I tell it like it is. I try to explain my mistrust with mangers because of my past treatment (almost a year) She kept cutting me off and telling me how thats not her problem and how great she is. Basically she called me lazy, always late, and refused to follow the policies. Then requested my resignation. Little does she know I see a lot of the members at my kids school and I will be informing them about this manager. The worst part (besides losing my job) is when I asked about my pre paid training, her response was "use it or eat it, " talk about quality managment! So if you like verbal abuse, constant stress, being belittled in front of members and just being treated like ###, this is the company for you! Oh and by the way the YMCA is no better! Core values my *ss!