LA Fitness International review: total disregard for my fiance 5

8/11/08

Dear Sir or Madam:

Unfortunately, I have found it necessary to contact your office to inform you of a business that apparently has very little regard for its customers, along with the fact that they have broken the law.

On May 27th, 2008, I was participating in a water aerobics class sponsored by L.A. Fitness, located at 10180 West Forest Hill Blvd., Wellington, FL, when an instructor by the name of Creation Robinson, threw a volleyball-type ball at me. The ball struck me in the face, breaking my glasses into 2 pieces, scratching both lenses, and left a cut on the bridge of my nose. (Please see attached photo and documentation provided by Lenscrafters)

The glasses could not be repaired and were a total loss.

The incident happened at approximately 9:30am on the 27th, and Ms. Robinson apologized and quickly responded by telling me she would pay for the glasses.

I reported the incident to Rich Force, the general manager at the time.
Luckily, I had purchased the glasses at Lenscrafters located directly across the street in the Mall at Wellington Green. I should mention though, that the management at L.A. Fitness was quite indifferent about my predicament that of being visually impaired thus making driving quite difficult. In fact, they offered NO assistance whatsoever in getting me to a doctor or back home.

I managed, on my own, to get to Lenscrafters and luckily they had my original frame and lenses in stock and after an hour or so wait, they were able to fit me with a new pair of glasses identical to the ones that were destroyed, at a cost of $281.69. (Please see the attached copy of the receipt)

That afternoon, I returned to L.A. Fitness to fill out an incident report with Jason Morris, the “Operations Manager”. I asked for a copy of the report to which Mr. Morris replied “No”. He added, “This was an accident and accidents happen. You are not going to get your money back!”

Upon hearing this, I immediately cancelled my membership to L.A. Fitness and expressed my great dissatisfaction with the entire management at their total lack of concern for my well being, not to mention a good, loyal, customer who always paid on time.

At that point I left the establishment and later that day, called L.A. Fitness and asked to speak with Ms. Robinson regarding her offer to pay for my glasses. She was unavailable at the time but did in fact return my call a few days later. She asked that I come in and discuss the situation with her and the manager.

On Tuesday, June 3rd, I and my fiancé, Stuart Harvey, went to L.A. Fitness to settle the matter. To my dismay, Rich, the manager, was nowhere to be found but Ms. Robinson handed me 2 post-dated checks. One was for $150.00 dated 6/6/08 and the other was for $139 dated 6/22/08, totaling $289.00. (Please see the attached copies of the checks)

Although I was concerned that the General Manager was not present to help resolve the matter, I was somewhat pleased at the thought of being compensated for the full amount of the cost of my glasses.

Ms. Robinson had left the “pay to the order” section of each check blank. I waited until 6/17/08, a full 11 days past the date entered on the first check, before going to her bank, only to discover that there were not enough funds in the account to be able to cash it!

My fiancé, Stuart, tried on several other occasions after that to try to cash the first check but to no avail. In fact, after a rather lengthy discussion with bank personnel, we discovered that she had never had a balance high enough to cover either check!

I could only assume that she had in fact never intended to make good on her offer to repay me for the destroyed pair of glasses.

My fiancé has made several attempts to call Ms. Robinson by phone, with no response. However, Stuart did manage to speak with Ms. Robinson at L.A. Fitness whereby she told him that she had stopped payment on the checks and that the matter would have to be resolved through the manager, Mr. Force. When Stuart spoke with Mr. Force he told him that “the matter in no way concerned him and that it would need to be resolved with Ms. Robinson”.

I am now left with the trouble of lodging a formal complaint against L.A. Fitness.

Copies of this letter have also been sent to the Better Business Bureau of Central Florida, and the Florida State Attorney General’s Office – Check Diversion Program to be resolved.

I am only asking for Ms. Robinson to make good on her promise to reimburse me for the replacement cost of the glasses. A more vindictive person could have easily asked for much more based on the time and trouble we had to go through thus far.

As for Mr. Force, the General Manager, I am appalled that he and the rest of the management staff felt no obligation whatsoever in the matter and their total disregard for my well being.

If this were my business and I found out one of my customers was treated this way, they would all be immediately terminated!

If you require any additional information regarding this issue, please feel free to write or call me at the number listed below.

Sincerely,

Leann M. Elges
7250 Golf Colony Court
Unit # 101
Lake Worth, FL
[protected]
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