-----Original Message-----
FROM: Helga
SENT: Jan 27 2007 2:30PM
SUBJECT:Sports Club LA Westwood
Helga's Note:
I actually wrote this complaint several months ago but wanted to give the company opportunity to respond before making this public. They never so much as wrote me back to address my concerns but rather happily cancelled my membership. Best of luck to them.
The complaint:
Membership Director
Sports Club LA
1835 Sepulveda Blvd
Los Angeles CA, 90025
Dear Mr. *********,
As you know, I must regretfully turn in my 30-day notice for the cancellation of my membership privileges with The Sports Club LA.
At the request of Ms. *******, I have compiled a list of issues that have contributed to my decision.
- Insufficient weight room staff. Although the Club has plenty of trainers, it needs to invest in staff whose job it is to do nothing but walk around and clean up weights. At the end of the evening, one could spend more time looking for dumbells than actually lifting them. These staffers should also be available to spot members while training.
- Insufficient locker room staff. We have already discussed this verbally and to my delight, was briefly remedied but we seem to be falling into the wet towel abyss once more, even in the executive locker room.
- Insufficient Locker Space. I need a locker that can fit a suit without wrinkling it. I’m not sure how else a business person can exercise in the morning.
- Variable Equipment Quality. Although most equipment is (recently) top-of-the-line, some remains completely unacceptable. The older Smith Machine has too great a distance between safety settings. The lone seated calf-raise machine lacks an adjustment for anyone over 5’5” and most alarming is the seat instability of the incline barbell bench press where a slight bodily adjustment can lead to the entire structure tumbling to its lowest setting (with occupant and whatever he or she may be holding). Structures like these should be secured with spring-loaded bolts, not static friction and no one who has ever done a single workout on this machine would have ever signed off on its purchase.
Overall, I would be remiss to not mention that the club is improving. In my short tenure, the free weights, lockers and machines have seen tremendous improvement. But much remains to be done.
I take no comfort in management’s lack of urgency when things go wrong. When the lockers were replaced, I could never open my new one without assistance and it was not until the mechanism was replaced 2 days later that I felt comfortable leaving my belongings and hoping to see them again (unlike my antique hairbrush which vanished with the old lockers). The same pace applied when the showers went out…for 3 days. In Chicago, my club would have carted in water heaters on generators after the first hour. I know that LA is more laid-back but unfortunately, service delayed is little better than service denied and I simply cannot justify paying top dollar for a work-in progress.
Respectfully,
Helga Mohammed el-Salami