@!*#$@**!!!The following letter is part of a public discussion initiated by Uriel's letter of Dec. 9, 2005 objecting to management abuses at his Toronto squash club (which is part of the Bally Total Fitness Holding Corp. empire). See index for list of letters in the discussion.
From: Byron Uriel, I agree with everything you've said here. The management at Northridge could give a rat's ass about any concern that a member has. They also do not care to make any effort to keep their membership. Here is my (somewhat more brief) story of events as they unfolded for me last week... Last week I was informed at work that I would be leaving to Welland for a 10 month contract, during which i would only really be in TO for the weekends. So I decided to find out if I could take leave on my membership or something like that. I spoke to a member consultant. I was told that no, they only suspend memberships for 6 months, but that I would be welcome to re-join at the conclusion of my work contract. I asked if there were fees associated with this... but of course there are! A full month's fees as a re-initiation - sounds like a welcome back fuck you to me. I said that well maybe I would just need to find another club, and the consultant said that they'd be sorry to see me go...to me this is way beyond bad customer relations and more than a little insulting, considering i've been a silver member at SC for 5+ years... I also mentioned in passing that i was unhappy with the treatment of a former employee, to which they replied that that was a very complicated topic, and that any fallout (i.e. - a certain member's leaving...) from it was welcome - i was aghast that they would say they were generally happy with the way things turned out. As for your other complaints - i also agree...the management has consistently shrugged their shoulders regarding the state of their club, and it has generally gone from bad (shitty lockers falling off the hinges) to worse (grime in the steamroom, bad lighting in most courts, not just court 2) to unacceptable (the pool at valleywood has been closed since the flood with no plans to fix it - i originally joined for the pool...when i spoke to the manager their she just said "Oh well...") So, after all this, I will be finding another club come november next year...fuck these clowns. Why do we pay a lot of money to get insulted, abused and pissed off? A health club should be for just that - one's health...it should not be a place to get stressed out about. Byron
Note: Byron later indicated to me that the "member consultant" he was speaking with was Northridge salesperson Darron Hill. —Uriel
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