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Report: #311366

Complaint Review: Private Workout - Plano Texas

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  • Reported By: Plano Texas
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  • Private Workout 2412 Preston Road Suite 140 Plano, Texas U.S.A.

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Like many middle aged, out of shape folks, I made the life changing decision to start a fitness program. And - like many others, I did not want to join one of those popular fitness clubs that advertise extensively in the print and broadcast media. I wanted something more private and geared toward my physical condition. I had recently given up smoking (a 20+ year habit) and began a simple walking program around my neighborhood. That's how I learned about Private Workout. It was it in a strip shopping center along my chosen walking path. So far so good. Or so I thought.

My initial consultation was with Sharon, one of the "trainers" and a success story featured on their web site. That's pretty compelling advertising for any fitness program, especially one that claims to be Cooper Institute certified. She was pleasant enough, but obviously well rehearsed on how to execute their binding contract. The "dialog" was a mechanical recitation designed to evoke affirmative responses from its numerous questions. That should have been my first warning sign that the company was "lawyered up" and more interested in taking my money than helping me attain reasonable fitness goals.

But I forged ahead and signed the contract because I was determined to take on the challenge (pride wouldn't allow me to say "no" to any of those questions - as it would with anyone who has any) and make it work. Given its reasonable monthly fee, I assumed I could hang on for 100 workouts, or sacrifice the $199 if I failed to do so. I also purchased the supplemental protein shakes, despite my growing skepticism from their hard sell to do so. Although it was not one of the questions asked, I told Sharon about my diminished lung capacity from years of smoking.

I quickly learned that the program was not for me. The "circuit" training was, quite simply, brutal and unsanitary. Not only was I required to learn how to operate the numerous machines "properly" (a bold print warning in the contract makes it clear the company isn't liable for injuries resulting from failure to do so) but I had to make adjustments to the equipment just to begin the exercises. On top of that, all participants had to carry around a small clipboard containing their personal settings for each machine, as well as space to record the number of repetitions completed. All of this had to be done in less than a minute for each exercise, and each piece of equipment was in an isolated room with no staff oversight.

You were given two assisted "circuits", and were then left on your own, unsupervised. Although not required, you needed to carry a towel with you to wipe down the machines. On more than one occasion the person in front of me did not, which further delayed the amount of time I actually exercised.

Once again, I re-iterate that this program is not for people who are out of shape. Not only was I unable to complete the number of prescribed repetitions in time (they say it's do-able once you get "used to the routine"), but I was shaking so bad from fatigue that I couldn't write down the number of completed reps. Two weeks later I received a mass mailed letter from them stating that the weights for everyone were set too low to achieve the desired fitness goals. I had already strained my lower back and ended my routine with them the week before. The letter was further proof to me that this company was highly unethical, and I felt stupid for ignoring my skepticism and signing the contract.

While they can rest on the verbiage of the contract to defend themselves, it's evident that their claim of being Cooper Institute certified is misleading. In my conversation with another trainer, Thomas (another success stories on their web site) - I asked him if he was Cooper Institute Certified, and he said no. However, he did say he had trained there.

As is the case with most unethical businesses I've dealt with over the years, the terms and conditions of the contract were understandably one-sided in favor of Private Workout. In light of that, I strongly discourage a physically unfit beginner from doing business with them. This is a scam company, and I would be shocked if their one-size-fits-all circuit training program received any kind of approval from the Cooper Institute.

James
Plano, Texas
U.S.A.

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 02/23/2008 12:13 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/private-workout/plano-texas-75093/private-workout-caveat-emptor-a-highly-deceptive-poorly-designed-fitness-program-for-ou-311366. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

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Updates & Rebuttals

REBUTTALS & REPLIES:
1Author
3Consumer
0Employee/Owner

#4

Mr. White provides further damning evidence

AUTHOR: JB - (USA)

POSTED: Tuesday, August 25, 2009









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Countering Mr. White's unverified claim of 99.42% customer
satisfaction is the simple fact that Private Workout has chosen not to join the
Better Business Bureau and most likely never will.   That's because their current "F" rating (based on
numerous filed complaints over the past 36 months) would require a considerable
effort on their part to run the business ethically.   But dont take my word for it.   Heres the link to the BBB report ( http://www.bbb.org/dallas/business-reviews/services-general/private-workout-in-plano-tx-90017112#ratingdetails ).

 

I'm amused by Mr. White's ridiculous attempt to disprove my
claims of unethical and misleading business practices with an unverified
claim.   At least I have
evidence.   All Mr. White offers is
more sales pitch fluff.   We have a
motto in the accounting profession: "In God we trust; all else we
audit."   Given Private
Workout's shoddy record keeping system - a system lacking proper internal
controls and completely dependent on customer "honesty" - it's no
wonder Mr. White would rather regurgitate his empty sales pitch than own up to
the fact that his company's business practices are highly unethical, not to
mention unprofessional.

 

To further this point, Mr. White claims that I signed a
"punishment" contract.  
My copy of the contract says nothing of the sort, nor was there any
mention of a contract term of 48 months.  
But because their record keeping is so crude and unethical, his
assertions couldn't pass the muster of a CPA's scrutiny, much less make it to a
courtroom.   I have no reason to lie
about the document in my possession.  
I tried to make good on a contract I was embarrassed to have been a
party to.   Secondly, I have no
reason to lie about the unsanitary conditions I encountered.   Like everything else about this
fly-by-night outfit, the company depended on the "customer" to keep
the circuit rooms sanitary.   There
was no active monitoring of the equipment or the rooms.   Dangerous.   Unsanitary.   I
have no doubt Dr. Cooper would never approve of this program, which was inferred by displaying Cooper Institute training certificates in the lobby.  And no CPA worth his/her salt would
approve of their record keeping system.

 

Finally,
if anyone has any doubt that Mr. White is a liar, please note that he claims
that my last name is "Bonney".  
True or not, I never gave my last name when I filed the report...yet Mr.
White somehow failed to provide the last names of those who endorsed his
company.   That should tell you all
you need to know about the man and his "business".  And, for the record, I called the Cooper Institute and complained about the display of those certificates several months ago.  Oddly enough, I didn't see them there today.
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#3 UPDATE Employee

COMPANY WITH 99.42% CUSTOMER SATISFACTION RATING REFUTES UNSUBSTATIATED CLAIMS

AUTHOR: Gene, Head Trainer, Private Workout - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Tuesday, May 26, 2009

COMPANY WITH 99.42% CUSTOMER SATISFACTION RATING REFUTES UNSUBSTATIATED CLAIMS

Since its inception through 2008, Private Workout, Inc. has sold 6,785 memberships. We have never had a complaint regarding our being open for business, nor about our equipment not working properly. In fact, our customer satisfaction rating is 99.42%.

Private Workout is a gym designed and owned by personal trainers rather than membership salesmen. Like all health clubs, we offer memberships that grant customers Access to the facility. Health clubs have the duty to be open for the posted days each week, and have the majority of its equipment in good working order. We have done that without fail since opening in 2003. Customers that purchase an access membership have the duty to pay the agreed membership fees and dues, so long as the health club is doing its part, being open for business, until they cancel their plan by email.

Private Workout, Inc. offers six types of memberships. First, we offer personal training makeovers of 3, 6 , or 12 months. Then we offer five plans that involve some personal training, and then the customer continues the workout on their own. The Premier Plan for $399 offers 10 personal training sessions to start, then one per month for up to 36 months, with monthly dues of $33. The Executive Plan is $499 down and $11 per month. The Month-to-Month Plan is $66 down and $66 per month. The Reward Plan is $199 down and $33 per month, and the Punishment Plan is $199 down and $33 per month, where we offer to Loan the $199 initiation fee until the member cancels.

Studies show that 97% of gym members stop working out within 13 weeks of enrolling, even though they keep paying, and less than 1% workout for a full year, yet they are committed to 1-4 year agreements. We don't require term agreements like that because we feel a 1 to 4 year commitment has nothing to do with fitness, so all of our memberships can be cancelled with a 30 to 90 day notice, depending on the plan chosen. Unlike any other health club in the world, we even offer to waive the $199 initiation fee if a member achieves the fitness goal they choose, stated in terms of body fat, or even if they don't achieve it, we will still waive the fee if the member simply completes 100 to 300 workouts as instructed, depending on the plan they choose, or if they are an active member for 48 months. As personal trainers, our goal is to incentivize our customers to work out until they reach the goal they choose, which is why they came here in the first place. Our members often choose this plan in order to set up a "PUNISHMENT" for themselves so they won't quit before reaching their goals. Those who do not reach the goals have agreed to repay the membership fee when they cancel with at least a 30 day advance notice. It forces customers to ask themselves if it is really worth paying the $199 fee in order to NOT get in shape! It a great incentive to reach your goal, is it not?

We are obligated to be open the hours posted, and we have. We have had NO COMPLAINTS from members who paid their membership fee when they enrolled, all complaints have come from those who still owe the fee, or somehow feel that they should have it waived, even though they did not earn it by reaching their goal or by simply completing the required number of workouts. Please visit our website at www.privateworkout.com to hear more. . .

On 1-30-2007, James Bonney purchased a PUNISHMENT PROGRAM with Private Workout. After paying regularly for over a year, he sent us a cancellation notice on 2/18/2009. Since our goal as personal trainers is to keep people working out so they stay in shape and so they don't give up, we then offered him some options such as to freeze his membership, and we even offered to give him another 6 personal training sessions should he still decide to cancel but return later. No mention was made by him of ANY complaint about the gym in his cancellation notice.

When Mr. Bonney read the various options, he realized that he still owed the $199 enrollment fee due on the PUNISHMENT PROGRAM. As you recall, our customers choose this plan so that they have to ask themselves the ridiculous question of do I really want to not be in shape so badly that I am willing to pay $199 to order to get out of shape? Mr. Bonney decided that he wanted to cancel but refused to pay the enrollment fee, stating that he had been injured a year before and that he had paid us enough money. He had, in fact, only paid 13 months of his 48 months agreement.

We informed him that we could make some allowances if he had been injured at our facility, and we asked him to have his doctor fill out a medical report, even though the news of this injury was just coming to us over a year after he started with us, and only after he realized he was obligated to repay the $199 enrollment fee. He refused saying that he would not waste my doctor's time with that and saying that he had never had the injury looked at by his doctor at the time over a year ago in the past.

He then went on to say that he had been working out at another gym (so his injury apparently did not limit him from workouts). He later threatened to sue the company in an attempt that we could only read as him trying to intimidate us into letting him out of his agreement. Our agreement states that he is obligated for 48 months, but may cancel if he pays the fee. Since he refused to pay it, we continued to charge him as he had instructed us to do in writing when he joined. In February of this year he wrote us another threatening email telling us that he wanted to settle the account for fees paid. Even though he still refused to pay the $199 fee he had agreed to, and therefore owed an additional 2 years of payments, we agreed and has was cancelled in February of 2009.

As for his unsubstantiated claims: he said in this report that our system was brutal. He never said that to us in any correspondence. Our system uses a weight circuit similar to every gym in the world, so our system is no more or less brutal than any other gym. We have even had an 85 year old woman complete our circuit and she loved it! He claimed our store was unsanitary, none of his correspondence with us mentioned that, and we recently received an A+ rating by the Texas Dept of Health. He claimed we sent him a mass mailed letter saying the weights had been too low. We have never sent any member such a letter. He claims that we claim to be approved by the Cooper Institute. In fact, our trainers are educated by the Cooper Institute, but we do not, nor have we ever claimed to be approved by them, nor has the Cooper Institute ever contested anything we have used their name on.

We are all about fitness. We are one of the few gyms that actually WANT you to work out here. Most gyms are so crowded that you have to compete with other customers for equipment, not so with us. On their busiest days, only 10% of the total members of large gyms show up. Can you imagine what they would be like if all showed up one day? One has to ask themselves if those gyms really want you to show up. We are personal trainers, we do want you to show up. Try us out with our GUT BUSTER BOOT CAMP, up to 8 weeks for just $66. www.privateworkout.com

Here is what a recent customer says: "After 6 years of inactivity and reaching the age of 50, I wanted change. I started the Gut Buster Boot Camp Program on 3/30/2009 and worked out 2 to 3 times per week consistently, tired or not, rain or shine. I weighed 184.8 at the start, after 11 workouts with only the circuit, I lost 16.8 lbs and gained amazing strength & energy, with the help and encouragement of their wonderful & friendly staff.

Carolyn S. 5/2009

GENE WHITE, HEAD TRAINER
214-708-7330

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#2 Author of original report

Guess what? It's gone from bad to worse.

AUTHOR: Jb - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Wednesday, February 18, 2009

I almost feel sorry for their office manager, Edith, whose rebuttals on this site would be comical, if they weren't so sadly self damning.

Edith is trying her best to deflect the well deserved criticisms of this company, and their clearly unethical and disorganized business practices. But she is ill equipped to handle questions of legality, which she demonstrated recently in her clearly canned response to me. Yes. If you haven't guessed by now, Private Workout is continuing to charge my account 12 months after I gave them my written notice of cancellation. And, yes, in keeping with her highly unprofessional manner, Edith berated me for trying to settle my dispute with them in a way that would have been to their benefit. All of this is on record, in writing, and shortly in the hands of my attorney. If I can accomplish only one goal in this endeavor, I hope to get a legal injunction to stop them from using the Cooper Institute in their advertisements.

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#1 Consumer Comment

Private Workout WATCH OUT FOR THIS COMPANY!!! Plano Texas

AUTHOR: Tina - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Friday, February 13, 2009

Private Workout WATCH OUT FOR THIS COMPANY!!! Plano Texas



I totally agree with James, I have had a membership with this company for several years, and their goals are NOT realistic at all. In order to cancel your membership, you have to call someone's cell phone (how professional is that?!?!), not the actual store. They have debited my checking accout FOUR times in the last month, to the tune of $169.98!!! Potential buyers, B-E-W-A-R-E !!!



Tina

Plano, Texas

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