As a recent employee of Goodlife Fitness I must tell all of you out there to beware. Money and greed, sales goals and suspicious business practices fuel this company. When you start at a new job or position it is hard to realise these facts until youve gained more experience with the company and the way they work. After working over forty hour weeks for almost two consecutive years at this company it was my time to move on to a higher level of education and better my own practices, also to better the environment for my clients too. Goodlfe took this as an attack on them that I would even think of leaving my "valuable" position to move towards a new prospective goal in my life. After giving my two weeks notice in a professional manner I was asked to leave two days later as the management would feel more "comfortable" if I just left. Even thouh it was with pay in lieu of, they denied me a letter of recommendation and went as far as sending me a threatening letter stating that if I were to contact any of my clientelle, members of Goodlife, staff and or associates I would be sued and legal proceedings taken against me. This is outrageuous coming from a company that supposedly has "core values" and apparently cares!
One quick story I must share with the public has to do with their sales team office. (the people who have nothing to do with a gym or workout facility yet are there at the front to let you know you are out of shape and its time to sign up) As if they really know who you are from a two minute meeting that I must remind you they are trained for consistently, using the same compliment strategies and uneducated fitness assessment guesses on everyone.
Regardless one fateful day I had to visit the sales team room, as one and only one of them was also my client and I had to see how her personal cardio workouts had gone on the previous weekend. The agenda for the day on their dry erase marker board stated and I quote: "Even a bum with a bank account can get a membership: lets get them in! "
Since my club was located downtown and frequented by quite a variety of people, as well surrounded by three mens homeless shelters and methadone clinics. My client who worked in this office advised me that they were instructed not to let people know of fees associated with cancelling memberships or the unability to afford one. If per say, a "bum" would sign up they would tell them they had a"special deal" for them and they didnt have to pay a startup fee! (they did this with everyone) They would then mislead them into thinking their membership was now paid for and as long as they got a bank account number no matter if there was money or not they would begin extracting it for their own greedy uses. I was very shocked at this and saddened to see quite a few actual homeless people be seduced into this trap. When they came back to let Goodlife know they couldnt pay for their membership as they didnt realise there would be all these associated fees. (they also set you up with towel service an extra 5 -6$ a month without your knowledge, you have to let them know you dont want it or they will just sign you up for it) Anyways after they came back in they would be treated poorly, left with no options from their so called "club" and left to deal with the banks and collections agencies. As if these people havent gone through enough in their lives lets destroy it a little more for a dollar. I am so happy and feel entirely free to be away from this horribly run company. I know there are many others out there like me and probably many more horrific situations. In a world where advertising and money rules all, beware what you get yourself into. Goodlife is not what it seems. It should be called Moneylife, as thats what really matters to them.
Anonymous.
Ps. I realise I left you all without a tip or piece of advice. Check out your other options, smaller gyms do usually practice better business ethics, as they cannot hide behind a huge corporate name. Check out your local trainers who work out of their homes or come to you, check out a more private studio (usually their rates are very competitive with the market if not cheaper because you may not have to pay any overhead or membership fees) Their prices will also be very upfront and no extra associated fees will pop up in the future. Good luck to you all and train hard, whatever you do.
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