Hatten Holdings Aka Hatton Holdings Aka Core Concepts Aka Mountainside Fitness Physical Training - deceitful practices, pressure sales, hiding behind the law to refuse contract cancellation Tempe (corp), Mesa, Phoenix, Scottsdale, Gilbert Arizona

To add to the litany of crooked gyms/health clubs in the valley, I give you Mountainside Fitness/Core Concepts physical training. While nothing I will describe below is illegal, there are some very shady practices going on with this (these) company(ies). The ultimate problem, IMHO, is the lack of enforcement from the authorities on these practices (BBB, FTC, AG, etc.) here's my timeline:

Since the gym I was currently a member of was going down the drain, I decided to become a member of a new gym. A co-worker pointed me towards Mountainside Fitness (MF). They have several locations in the valley, and several good options for membership (multi-club, child care, tanning, etc.). The facilities are very clean and pleasing to the eye, and they have music playing thougout (satellite radio as I have heard profanity on the radio f**k, s**t, etc.). The equipment is kept up very nicely, and the staff always seem pleasant (for MF anyhow).

I initially signed for an 18 month memberhsip contract which would roll over to month-month for 40odd dollars a month. Not a bad price in my opinion. My 18 months has recently ended, and I'm now in month to month. I have had no complaints with billing at anytime. This began in September, 2006. Not long after I added a 2nd membership for my then GF at around 33 dollars a month; same plan 18 months to month-month. Again, no issues with billing on my end.

Early on I purchased a training contract of approximately 24 sessions. I had them take out the money on my AMEX card. This contract was fulfilled on both ends with no complaints from either side (with the exception that the person I bought them for was a flake, but that is neither here nor there). I paid in full for the contract. I think this was 4-5 months into my tenure there. This is also when I started noticing something amiss.

One time i called the front desk to ask for the training manager (RJ at the time - this is for Core Concepts (CC)) and the front desk told me "she's at her desk now, here's the phone number..." I asked if I could simply be transferred to her desk as I was in my car stuck in traffic and would not be able to write down the number. The front desk explained to me that CC was not affiliated in any way with MF, which I found rather odd since they were in the same building. Either way, I made a mental note and moved on.

I would again have no complaints what-so-ever with the gym or the training until August 2007. At that time I wanted to purchase more training so my current GF could learn the ropes of working out. RJ was still the CC training manager at the time, so we set up a deal with her. The original contract stipulated verbally (yes, one of my many mistakes in this ordeal) that we were going to pay for 144 sessions, 25/session, 300/month (12 sessions per month). We also asked her if we could each use 3 sessions a week, or 6 sessions a week, bringing it to 24 sessions a month. I made it clear that I was willing to pay the contract in full over the course of 12 months with the understanding that we would only have training for 6 months (3 times a week x 2 people). RJ agreed to this, saying "that won't be a problem. Today is my last day and I can do anything I want." I should have taken note of that, but I was just happy for the deal. Also, she gave up 6 months free membership for one of us (though I still had to pay the member ship dues for the other.) I had no problem with this, though she made it sound like we'd both be getting free dues since we both would be training.

Here is where everything goes south. RJ quit the next day. The new CC training manager was pleasant enough, and said that our contract would be valid as setup by RJ. Not a week later, while training the trainer, Rick, said to us that we only signed up for 3 sessions a week. When we brought this up to the new manager, he also said "you signed up for 3 sessions a week".

After some banter about RJ said this, RJ said that, we decided that the best thing to do would be to set up the contract so that I get two sessions a week, my GF gets two a week, and we still pay the full contract price. When the new training told us we couldn't do that (again with more RJ said banter) we got a second contract made up for 1 session a week for the same duration as the 3 sessions a week, bringin us to 4 sessions a week, 2 for me 2 for my GF.

On my GF's first attempt to take a session, her trainer (Rick) says, "Mike's name is on both contracts, so only he can have the training". The proverbial fecal matter hit the fan with me, and I asked the current CC training manager to cancel both contracts. He said "I can't do that, contact corporate." I did, via email, and spole with Amy Brown. She said she is unable to cancel the contract. Her position with the company(ies) is exective assistant, so I assumed she wasn't in a high enough position to affect the contracts. I asked her to kindly forward me to someone that could affect my contracts.

During this time, the training (Rick) and the CC training manager were both "let go" for reasons I am still unaware of. Enter the 3rd training manager for CC. When I called the gym to set up a meeting with him to cancel the contracts, I got the same "he's at his desk, would you like his number?" line, to which I asked to be transferred to him, to which I was told MF is not affiliated with CC. This is where it hits me like a ton of bricks that Amy Brown's email address did not end with either MF or CC. Also, she had intimate knowledge of both my MF membership, and CC contracts. Again, while nothing illegal, the shade was very noticeable.

Anyhow, I explain this all to my GF and we go to the gym to cancel our contract. The very first thing I as CC manager #3 is "are you affiliated in ANY WAY with MF". The answer was still "No." When I asked #3 if he could cancel our contracts, he said he could not, but he could work with us to get something more to out liking, with his solution being more sessions for more money a month. At this point I felt like I had been talking to a car salesman, I told him no (sternly but not rudely) and decided to take it to corporate after conculting a lawyer. The lawyer I consulted showed me some very intriguing things in a AZ statutes for contracts, and made it clear that the contract was very voidable. Not wanting to go to court, I decided to attempt to resolve the issue with MF/CC/Hatton/Hatten corp.

In the meantime, I received a letter from a collections company for the entire balance of the CC training contract. I had to this point received no correspondance from MF/CC/Hatton/Hatten on the matter, phone call, email, snail mail, or otherwise. I did however get a call from my GF who attempted to go to the gym to do some walking one night: our MF membership was on hold due to collections. Remember, as far as I knew, MF was not affiliated with CC, however this was the wool being lifted from my eyes.

I had a very long, drawn out conversation with Amy Brown, executive assistant at Hatten/Hatton Holdings, mother company for Moutainside Fitness, Core Concepts and some coffee company. The whole time she said they could not cancel the contract because they were willing and able to fulfill their end of the contract. While I acknowledge that that is a true statement, it is no where close to being valid reason for "not being able to cancel" a contract. Ms. Brown is very good at following a script as she would not relent from this position.

I booked a complaint with the AG. As expected they are "unable to procede forward with any claim against MF/CC/Hatten/Hatton Holdings." Along with this reply was a letter from a higher up at the company. I will update this posting with the full text of that letter, but suffice to say it was rather rude, and called MY ethics into questions. I will address that in my update as well.

In summary, this (group of) companies is very shady, however, this shouldn't be a surprise to me considering the atmosphere of things at other gyms in the valley.

Mike44njdevils
Mesa, Arizona
U.S.A.