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Employment seekers beware!
Let me paint you the beautiful picture(s) that my husband and I were as "managers/owners" from our so called "friend" Owner of Fitness 19. For one, this company claims you are an "owner". .no money down but you get to OWN your own gym... NOT SO. you take a percentage of the net profit of the gym after the PYRIMID people are paid (which are the other "owners" who got in before you). Regardless of your age and experience in the industry, you are NOT allowed to buy into this company at all. I was never given any information about the OWNER of the Corporation. All I was ever told was his first name. There is no way to contact him about anything, as an employee or as a member.
In all reality. . you are a slave working 80 or more hours a week and not guaranteed your so called "split" which is 30% of the NET profit after your "higher up" is paid HIS 20% and even higher up is pd HIS 17%. And, it is the MALE that is pd the split... not the woman. You are guaranteed nothing, even after working your rear off. I was sick w/a kidney infection and forced to work more hours than are humane to anybody (let alone someone who is pregnant). They tell you you are owners and then you have not ONE say in any of the decision making processes of your so-called club.
Our pre-sales started with NO signs & our advertising was over a week late, so that affected our paycheck and it is up to those upper "owners' to get it all rolling for you.
After working your 11 hour day, you get to go HOME and do more work (where they force you to keep the computer system so you can enter all the new memberships and daily business as well as projections).
My husband and I were led to believe and told "we'd be taken care of and not have to worry" . Instead, we were pd. less than we were as managers and did not even get our "split" and we were made to blame for how poor sales were even though we had no control over the advertising or signage (or lack thereof). We were actually told "for the next 90 days, God and family DO NOT matter". All that matters is getting the membership sales to ____ & the personal training sales to _____. The club has not even started construction and they are trying to make us lie to people on the "open date". We are a christian family and I think it is only fair to give others a small piece of a warning before someone else is a victim of working over 280 hrs in a mo. and now not able to afford to have a Christmas.
It sounds like you guys just had a bad operator/ friend who spun you off from his club. i'm an owner myself and our presale experience and salaries are the exact opposite of what you describe here. the company was very supportive and helpful during presale and myself and my fiance' get paid two separate salaries that far exceed what we earned as managers. also the split numbers you talked about are incorrect. it depends on what kind of deal you work out with the company as to what your percentages are, and it sounds like you just took what they offered you. maybe you're just not very business saavy and this could be a lesson for the future. don't put all the blame on the company, sounds like it was mostly bad decision making on your part.
bullcrap amberbr! you must still be new and brainwashed! look at their track record, they cant keep any managers! their turnover rate is so amazingly high! operators are constantly walking away from their clubs just because of the high stress on making quotas and working long hours/days for pennies when its broken down into hourly...no job is worth it. they constanly brainwash you into this glorified fantasy that you will someday own a percentage of a gym and if you send you managers out to run a club you get a percentage...in the 3 yrs...no pts no manager spinout and no raise - but, now that the economy is thrashing the industry - they're cutting other employee hrs and make the operators work more...for the same pay. they want you to carry the stress load and take the business on like it's "yours" they convince you into believing that so you will work long hours to produce more profit for the owners at the end of the day. for instance 4 people take a split at the end of the month which are bigger than may paycheck and i do all the work for them. of and "club enhancment fees!" what a joke - they tell their consumers that every year we require an extra $19 for annual upgrades and enhancements of the club. we have around 4000 members and we will bill out $76k in club enhancment fees - the owners will collect their percentange, which is thousands...in 3 years...we've done zero enhancments to the club - that just shows you! its a failing system and joke!
It is the operators choice to make enhancements to the club through their split, sounds like you just decided to pocket the money instead. I have also been working for this company for a while now and am about to go through presale and everything is just as 235amber said. I have worked in over 3 presales with this company and guess what, no complaints to any of these operators. You could easily work your 40 hour weeks and make 10s of thousands less than you do here. Or you can work your 50, sometimes 60 hour weeks (which for me are exhilarating and fun, doesnt seem like work at all) and make 10s of thousands more. It is all based on how you handle stress. If you freak out very easily, this really isnt something that you should be doing because at the end of the day you will hate yourself, this business, write silly complaints online and have horrible numbers. Its all what you make of it. Good luck in the future and always remember to have fun ... youll live alot longer and trust me, your gym will start to raise is success.
I agree I worked for the company when we received an e-mail saying destroy all old contracts asap and print new ones excluding the part about the yearly fee going towards the upkeep of the gym. They replaced it with "any purpose". Shortly after i broke my back and one of the managers gave me pain meds and told me to man up. I have been on WC for a while. Now I tried to return to work and they say there is no spot for me. I looked on line at jobs. They are hiring at many locations. I could go on for days. this is only the tip of the iceburg. However I don't even want to spend my time talking about these crooks (my opinion) unless i thought it would change something!
Actually, see an attorney. There are laws to keep corp's from having their cake and eating it too. Many corp's do this so they can "yellow tape" the laws that protect the employees and to save $ with taxes, well, there are many reasons. If you tried to call an attorney and he said you have no case, try another and another until you find the right one, but the best thing you can do is contact your Attorney General's office. Me and my wife went this route and were far beyond pleased then we could ever imagine, and once the Att. Gen. office finds even 1 thing not kosher, any law office will jump on you to get your case...specially if you have other so-called owners ready to talk, i smell a class action suit BIG TIME if they broke any employment or federal laws...you see, if you are pregnant you are allowed time off with pay...A LAW...but if you are owner you are not...BUT ARE YOU TRULY AN OWNER? If you are NOT legally considered an owner by your state laws or federal laws (regardless of what Fitness 19 calls you in contract or not) they will be lioable up the butt, specially if your doc said the srtress from working so hard may have had an effect on your pregnancy...Once again, many companies manipulate the system, and it opens doors for investigations...Kick Their Butts!
ATTENTION STOCK HOLDERS (if stocks are avail) : IF SHE GOT A CASE (and she truly might, id bet on it) I'D SELL EVERY SHARE OF STOCK YOU HAVE WITH THIS COMPANY, NOW!
Seek help w/ you Att. Gen Office, dont be anything to them less then helpful. When they speak to you, do not interupt, listen. If they request info from you (contracts, a bio of the situation, etc...) send it to them, and be surre its factual, correct dates if you have them, and do this fast.
We kicked ### on Denny Hecker's corp just 1 1/2 years before he "went down" and we were re-embursed so well, even my ins. company couldnt believe how well...i even think it might of had the "tax" investigation against him starterd because of it, because they were acting like jerks to us and the Attn Gen office, thats why we got the most by law we can get for it...and believe me, and this is true, one of the very high ups L:AUGHED AT ME, truly laughed, saying there is nothing we can do...HE WAS SO RUDE...I hope he didnt find a job anywhere else when Denny and his DOZENS of stores and companies closed.
ATTORNEY GENERAL's really do care...at least in MN they do!
I have a serious problem with 19 Hour fitness. I never signed a contract with that company and I am being billed for a membership with them. Ten years ago I received a gym membership from Lady of America Fitness. They went out of business, and I was still being billed. After mush research I found out that I was being billed by 19 Hour Fitness. I requested to cancel the membership, and thought that I had. Last month I found out that they are still billing me and it caused my bank account to go to negative balance. I never signed a contract with 19 hour fitness. I went to the 19 hour fitness to cancel my account and the manager refused to close it. The woman I talked to was extremely rude and she did not want to help me. I she is going to continue to bill me and said that if I do not continue to pay she will send me to collections.