Life Time Athletic Life Time Fitness LifeTime Fitness False, Inaccurate, and Misleading Information, Overpriced Summerlin, Nevada Nationwide

It’s understandable that Life Time Athletic is all about cost-effectiveness. After all, they’re a publicly traded (LTM) and responsible to their stockholders. Nonetheless, the question that begs to answer is; where do responsibility to shareholders end and accountability to the consumer begin, and vice versa? The way I see it, the clientele that pays the electric bill deserves at least, if not more, attention as do the stockholders.

To be fair, Life Time has a right to charge 3-4 times value for things like; bottled water, massage, personal training, hair styling, protein powder, or a cup of yogurt at Life Time Café. If people are willing to pay exorbitant prices for such things, all the more power to Life Time Athletic, and the stockholders.

What aggravates me as a paying ($229.00 monthly) customer is discourteous, and unprofessional staff that never learned, or weren’t trained, to effectually communicate. I for one, expect the people that run the place to appreciate the customer and to treat them with a modicum of respect. When this doesn't occur, I draw the line and pack my gym bag and move to the next sandbox. I saw this happening every day at Life Time Athletic, Summerlin, Nevada. To make matters worse, for months I listened while a revolving door of underpaid and underappreciated staff came and went. A publicly traded company should be cognizant of the deleterious effect on patrons watching a never-ending procession of employees come and go.

 A brief synapses: We had previously brought our daughter as a guest four times within the past few weeks. Nine months earlier the salesman told me we could use our 12 guest passes when and with whomever we wanted. Having never been questioned by staff, how could we know that within the Life Time website they disallowed anyone from bringing in the same guest more than once in a 60-day period. This particular provision is not in the signed contract, as Kevin Siegel, Regional West Coast Manager admitted to my daughter and her friend before he brusquely asked them to leave the premises. When I sat with Mr. Siegel, he informed me with a snide, and condescending manner that “we” could make up the rules as “we” see fit, whenever or however “we” choose. Furthermore, I could leave the club anytime I desired, so long as I abided by the contract and gave my thirty-day written notice, which, actually amounted to a 55-day notice on that day. Kevin Siegel then informed me that he had a battery of corporate attorney's, so he "wasn't concerned with how I interpreted" his understanding of the contract.

Here’s my take on Mr. Siegel’s rude and obnoxious behavior. When a customer pays the monthly dues that Life Time Athletic charges and the Company hides behind fine print, condones sales people lying to customers, and does it in a disdainful and unprofessional manner such as the way Kevin Siegel did, this is when the public must be made aware. Life Time Athletic doesn't have the right to reinterpret rules after you have signed a contract and paid your dues. A person like Kevin Siegel should know that his acerbic and pompous attitude does not fly with people that can afford to pony-up excessive monthly dues.

To make matters worse, when I tried to contact the corporate office I was met with rude and abrasive representatives who told me I could not speak to anyone higher than Kevin Siegel. Imagine, a foul-mouthed, ill-mannered 35ish-year-old is as high as I could go? I was able to reach a customer service regional manager named Bab McLagan who promised a call back that never transpired. There’s a theme starting to run through the company at this point, don’t you think? Following up five days later, I left a message for Bab McLagan’s co-worker, Bridget. Later that day I received a call from Laura Messerli, (West Coast Senior Vice President) Kevin Siegel’s direct superior. After a cordial conversation with Ms. Messerli, I was surprised to be told that she would discuss the matter and see “if” it was acceptable for my wife and me to have our membership reinstated. I was now being made to feel as if my wife and I were the ones at fault?

Here's my takeaway: the corporate people in charge, e. i., Manager (Christopher Mitchell), Regional District Manager (Kevin Siegel), and Regional Vice President (Laura Messerli), should be professional enough to deal with the situation and not pass the responsibility amongst each other. The final straw was to have Kevin Siegel tell me; “Life Time Athletic usual practice is to suspend the customer to allow them to cool down.” Are we all back in grammar school and I should be grateful Life Time gave me a time-out instead of an expulsion for what was they're doing?

I would strenuously suggest before you sign up with any Life Time Athletic, you read the fine print and never rely on what the salesperson says, and be prepared to be treated impertinently should you question Life Time Athletic services and regulations. My recommendation, don’t join Life Time.