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Review 3/14/2011
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I recently joined this gym, drawn to its convenient location, relatively fair pricing, and a large, clean facility. As far as providing appropriate equipment to exercise with, the place does its job.
However, I have a VERY serious issue with the unprofessionalism that was displayed by their staff in association with a vandalism/theft incident in which TWO phones were stolen right off the basketball court bench from paying members.
Never mind the fact that their front desk staff is often so apathetic and absent from their job that I often walk in without even scanning my card, or that FOUR members of their staff decided to walk into the gym and start up a full court game, effectively and rudely kicking off me and two friends who just wanted to shoot around for fun. We were playing a game when one of the players suddenly stopped and approached the bench area. He noticed a group of individuals who had been acting suspiciously walking out, and instantly noticed that his phone was missing. Knowing that I normally leave my phone on the bench (incorrectly) assuming that most people who go to the gym would be respectable enough to not steal other people's shit, I knew I was in for a rude surprise as well. Sure enough, both of our phones were missing, and since there were only twelve people in the entire court the whole time, with four of them walking out in a hurry and in a group, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out they had stolen our phones.
I had instantly realized that these four particular individuals did not belong to this gym and no right to be there, but they seemed to be pretty friendly with a long haired Hispanic male employee named "Raza" who happened to be playing basketball during his shift.
Naturally we approached the staff for the next course of action, but the Hispanic employee instantly wanted no part of anything, which seemed suspicious at the time. He blurted, "Since we didn't see them take nothing there's nothing we can do for y'all." While I realize there isn't a whole lot to be done in the situation of a robbery after the fact, I was disturbed by how quickly Raza seemed to defend his friends. It was even more interesting when the other victim revealed that he worked for AT&T and would eventually track down the location of the missing phones and thus the thieves, Raza seemed noticeably uneasy and began asking questions about specifically how they would go about tracking them, and what the activation/de-activation of the SIM card would do to that.
Clearly this employee Raza brought these four random high school/just out of high school kids in when they weren't members of the gym but were friends of his, and since he was aware of their actions but did nothing but defend them, he is considered an accessory.
It should also be noted that three of the four kids stuck around after we were aware that our phones had been stolen, and while they had all arrived together as a group and obviously were friends with one another, ONE of them was clearly missing.
Again, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that he had made off with our phones, the three kids stuck around to see the aftermath while being scared shitless.
This is not to say all of the employees reacted unfavorably. Two-three male employees were sympathetic to our plight and went through the entire locker room to open every locker in case they had hidden our phones in there, but to no avail.
If that employee had not allowed four random hooligans in the gym who happened to be his friends, our phones would not have been stolen...and the fact that he was so adamant about defending them and seemed to aid them in getting away says a lot about his lack of ethics and possible involvement in the vandalism. Point blank, he brought in people who don't belong to the gym, one of them left with two of our stolen phones, and he wants to do nothing but help them not get in trouble. How could anyone ever feel safe in an environment like this?
And yes I am aware I am somewhat at fault here for leaving my phone somewhat unattended (although I had put it on a bench in a room with less than twelve people in it with a towel on top), but the fact remains that something has to change about the way their staff handles things.
I wanted to update you on the situation. The police have identified the four men involved and Raza. Two of the men who actually stole the phones together are ex-employees of your club who were previously fired and suspended and were not even supposed to be ON premises at any club to begin with. But somehow your employee Raza allowed them to come into the club and play basketball. As we stated earlier, Shawn and Tom kept asking Raza to give them the fourth man's name (the one who ran off with the phones) and Raza would not give them his name. Raza brought these men into the gym knowing they were already suspended. Raza protected the thief and refused to give his name and he KNEW who the thief was because he is friends with him and allowed him to come in with his guest pass.
As far as I'm concerned your company is liable for so many reasons. Mike the district manager that you told to contact me is not helpful regarding this matter. I told him we wanted reimbursement for our phones since you as a facility are responsible for your employees and what occurs on your grounds. He refuses to admit fault and says that Raza had nothing to do with it. He refused to acknowledge the lack of scanning people in that occurs at the gym. He continued to say that those men were Raza's guests and don't need to be signed in. If that is the case than one could argue that Raza shouldn't have even let those guests in when they are suspended employees who are not even allowed on premises. What kind of management cannot control who leaves and enters its facility? What kind of business cannot even prevent two men FIRED from its own company and have restricted access from entering the premises. If Raza had nothing to do with it why was he immediately terminated the following day? Shawn and Tom were there talking to Raza and have reported to the police how Raza was defending the criminal and would not release his name. The officer told me that he could charge him as an accomplice simply for withholding information from us. If I need to pursue charging Raza as an accomplice (which the police may do anyway) I will do so. If I need to sue you as a company with Shawn then we will do so. We may not win, but we WILL sue and cause a lot of bad publicity to your gym. That location is a growing business and has only been open two months. For something like this to occur is beyond me. No one is going to want to go to a gym with employees working with criminals. Furthermore, no one is going to want to go to a gym where the management IGNORES it's customers complaints and refuses to take responsibility for itself. We will make the community aware of your negligence and refusal to take responsibility of crimes occurring on your premises and crimes that involve your employees on premises. We may not win, but we will DEFINITELY make the community aware and draw a lot of attention to this matter.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/la-fitness-rockville
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