And this is our negative experience at Fitness First. I will share with everyone I know and everyone who will listen so that they do not make the same mistake of doing business with Fitness First Philippines. Our email below only terminated the account, but did not resolve the major issue of our wedding money being returned.

January 18, 2008

Mr. & Mrs. B

To: The Management Team of Fitness First

This letter is to inform you of the unfair practice that we have experienced during our sign-up for a 3-month membership at the SM Fairview Fitness First location. We were approached while shopping inside the mall on September 28, 2007 by one of your sales team, Ms. Jackie Gaw (who by the way is no longer employed by your company according to the manager, Ms. Nia Gutierrez). We informed Ms. Jackie Gaw that we are only balikbayans who plan to stay in the Philippines until after our wedding in January 2008. She then continued that there is a 3-month membership available that would be perfect for the both of us which would include the months of October, November, and December. Ms. Jackie Gaw was adamant on our sign-up on that very day because it was the last day of your anniversary special which reduced the membership fee that took care of the first month. We were very clear in agreement that the charges will only be until December since our budget for the January 2008 wedding has been set. The fine print on the contract was not discussed in great detail since we trusted Ms. Jackie Gaw’s word of assurance that everything will work out very well. I must admit that the whole sign-up process was quick and easy and Ms. Jackie Gaw was very pleasant. We were also eager to become members because we saw for ourselves the great facility and we heard positive comments prior to our sign-up about the equipment from our next door neighbors who are also members of your establishment.

It would have been ideal to have used our membership for more than 5 times within those 3 months. It would also have been ideal to have completely used the rest of the power packs, free passes for family and friends, and the coupons for the massages. Unfortunately, our schedule prior to the wedding became very busy for us to take advantage of the P15,020 total paid for the months of October-December. And for that, we both take full and complete responsibility. Our lack of use of the facility if broken down cost us P1,502 per person for each use. We later found out that it would only have cost us P550 per person for each use if we did not sign up for a membership. But again, that is completely our fault. In that respect, your company has already made approximately a 200% profit. What we do not agree with is the P11,320 which is approximately equivalent to $276.00 US dollars that was charged in January 2008. This very unexpected charge from your company caused us a great deal of added stress for our wedding and wedding celebration. This also added a great deal of embarrassment when we checked in ourselves and our guests into a prominent hotel in Ortigas only to be told that the credit card is being declined. We specifically opened up the funds for that account to be used only for our wedding. We tried contacting the proper people at the SM Fairview Fitness First again to sort out the issue and were told twice that a manager will contact us. And when we did not receive a phone call from anybody, we went to the location and were told that the manager was not there and that we will receive a call. The receptionist was kind enough to schedule us an appointment with the manager to resolve the issue. We did receive a call from Ms. Nia Gutierrez in the middle of our wedding reception. Needless to say, we were unable to resolve the matter right there and then. Unfortunately, our meeting with Ms. Nia Gutierrez on January 16, 2008 did not resolve the issue. Ms. Nia Gutierrez was very pleasant and understanding but was unable to help us out with the P11,320 that we need back into our account as well as the immediate cancellation of the memberships as of January 2008 to stop any future payments.

We are writing this letter in very high hopes that the management team of Fitness First will take responsibility for the actions of their employees. The lack of explanation just to make a sale does not promote a long term relationship with customers. Neither will it leave a positive lasting impression for us balikbayans regarding supposedly trustworthy companies such as yours. We have done our part in taking responsibility for paying a total of P15,020 for the months of October-December. Please do your part in returning our wedding funds in the amount of P11,320 as well as the termination of our accounts as of January 2008 without any future balances. Your company probably spends thousands more for media advertising in comparison to our wedding money that we are pleading for. But we all know that there is nothing more effective than the advertising from real customers by word of mouth. We hope to not go home to Seattle , WA with this negative Fitness First experience to share with our family and friends both here in the Philippines and the U.S. Please be fair and help us spin this into a positive situation and return our wedding funds that we both worked and saved very hard for.

We thank you in advance for your time in reading our letter as well as resolving this issue quickly and fairly.

Sincerely,

Mr. & Mrs. B

I read you do not like bringing your own towel to the gym. You should try the Platinum branches of Fitness First (Trinoma and RCBC Plaza Makati) because they offer bath and face towels everytime you visit. Also, the Fitness First RCBC branch is the only franchise gym that has a jacuzzi and lap pool in the Philippines.