As a former employee of the above mentioned disgrace of a company, I have seen with my own eyes, how far these people will go to take your money and then do anything to never give it back. I worked directly for Head Office and travelled to multiple clubs during my employment which lasted from October 2005 - December 2006. Let me tell you, the attitude of these people is across the board awful!!!
I can not even count the number of times I had to assist members who had cancelled their memeberships months, sometimes even years previous and were still being billed. I found it hard to believe people didn't notice these charges but many were very wealthy individuals who were unaware until their accountants started questioning these debits. These members had proof of cancellation however the paperwork on Premier's end just conveniently disappeared. I know 100% this is due to Managers of clubs not wanting to get in trouble so once the member would leave after cancelling, the request to cancel was just thrown away.
On many other occasions I had to help because members were being double billed and having an impossible time getting their money back. I actually spoke to one manager who told me that John Cardillo himself will tell his staff to "Double bill every client and if only 50% notice, well we just made $3 million dollars." This absolutely disgusted me and I found it very hard to believe until being there only about 3 months and seeing all these "cancelled" people coming in and freaking out. If you're lucky enough to get them to agree to refund the money, it's a whole other story of when and if ever you'll receive it. I know many cases where people just gave up because the hundreds or sometimes even thousands of dollars they were out was not worth the hassle of getting it back.
And when it came to payroll... don't even go there. As a head office employee, I only got paid once a month and I'm sure you could see how that is a little difficult to budget and work around. Well John Cardillo would just not sign people's cheques and then go out of the country or just out of town for a few days. I didn't understand why until another manager said "Look how much interest he makes by just keeping it in a few extra days, were talking thousands of dollars! " So you went from waiting a month to get paid to maybe 5 or 6 weeks!!!
These people have no consience, I don't even think they have souls. I told my husband I had to get out of there before I was condemned to hell! Please take it from an honest, hard working, young mother. DO NOT join PREMIER FITNESS!!! Do anything else, try another gym although I know the whole industry is riddled with these low lives. Try doing it on your own, honestly there's a lot less pressure and you won't have some pimply faced high school kid trying to sell you boxing and telling your how fat and unhealthy you are. Trust me, I saw that too!
I hope I have helped even one person on their journey to health and well being. It should not be so difficult to be happy and healthy especially when you're spending upwards of $50/month. Good Luck! And if you run across John Cardillo, tell him he's going to h*ll!
Madison Patrick
Whitby, Ontario
Canada
0 comments