On the Labor Day ( 9/1/2008), I parked my Blue 4d Sedan BMW ( nameplate: SUDSBMW) in the 24 Hr parking lot and headed to the 24 Hr gym located at the Bayfair mall, San Leandro, CA 94578 around 5p. I kept my gym bag securely inside the men�s locker and locked with a combination lock. When I returned to the locker at 6p, the slot where I put my bag was taken by another person with a different lock. I returned to the parking lot and found my car stolen. I called 9-1-1 immediately and reported this incident. The case # is 08-41630.

This theft looks organized and well planned. I have also a suspicion that the crime couldn't have been completed so flawlessly without the assistance of a 24Hr staff. Breaking the lock, stealing the bag and leaving the 24Hr center without a trace in a crowded public place seems astounding to me.

I have done my job in filing a police report. The San Leandro Theft Investigation Unit is conducting the necessary investigation to catch the criminal. The insurance company is also going to hire a private detective. I have been also contacted by a reporter to publish this story in the newspapers.

For the past 2 weeks I've been fending off repeated phone calls from 24 Hour Fitness. I went in there simply to inquire about a membership, get a flier and leave to do my research and decide for myself. What I got was a high-pressure sales pitch. They told me they didn't have any fliers, and that I needed to fill out an "inquiry form" that included my name, address and phone number. Then three male employees sat me down at a desk and used a notebook showing different plans (none of it was arranged by total cost, by they way). They insisted that I drop $160 on the spot to join. When I explained that I was just inquiring about their membership plans, I was repeatedly told that if I cared about myself, I'd join immediately and that $160 was a great deal but that if I didn't care about myself I didn't have to join. It was absolutely disgusting! They danced around the total price (I never believed that $160 would take care of anything at this place, and I never got a straight answer). I finally stood up and told them all that their Crazy Eddie approach was driving me away, and that I wanted no further contact from 24 Hour Fitness. They refused to return my "inquiry form", and for the past 2 weeks I've stopped answering my cellphone. They've called me more than a dozen times, each time insisting that they've got a great deal for me but that I need to act fast, etc. The last message was really pathetic, something about how he (the employee calling) was going to lose his job if I didn't sign up. If that's true, he needs to be somewhere else, anyway! From what I've seen of this organization and it's employees, they are nothing but scam artists. I wanted to take a shower the instant I walked out of there, and I hadn't even worked out. Avoid this place!

Regarding the Sun Valley Mall 24 Hour Fitness facility, I spoke with a manager named Damon today...and Damon is a nice man, but, he and his co-manager Carlos are upholding company policies which are abusive to customers.

My major peeve is that the 24 Hour Fitness policy is for staff to do no policing of member behavior with respects to being civil to other members, and to share equipment rather than monopolizing equipment once a member is using a particular piece of equipment.

Last night, 8/6/08, I waited until 8PM or so to go to the gym so I was not there at peak use hours. During this work out, I had 2 unpleasant experiences, one of which resulted in me suffering through one of the clubs meat head customers using a lot of vulgar, threatening language on me, directly in front of one of the club employees (Mike - 50 year old, seasoned trainer types). I had asked the other member to allow me to work in with him on a particular weight lifting machine...he had just completed one set, and he told me that I could not use the machine until he was completed with two more sets...accordingly, the other member refused to share the equipment and as I walked away, he offered me a pleasant "fuck you."

I promptly went to get Mike the trainer...& Mike came back with me (which took about 2 minutes) and Mike asked the member why he would not share the equipment...and the other member said he only needed the equipment for 60 seconds...which is nonsense...no one does 3 sets of the same lifting excercise in 60 seconds...Mike accepted the other members story, and when I pointed out the folly of the discussion, the other member let out a string of threatening vulgarities...lots of fuck yous, and you are an asshole...etc etc etc...and Mike refused to require the member to stop with the verbal attack...and instead, Mike became animated with me and using a loud tone of voice expressing that I was not letting him do his job.

My view is that it was Mike's job to require the sharing of equipment amongst members, and to require all members to behave civilly...but this is not what occurred. Instead, the situation was escalated, and the possibility of having a true physical confrontation was very real.

The sad thing is that I have had other, previous protracted discussions with the club's manager, Carlos, as well as another manager named Damon...as well as their District Manager...and they felt no need to police the behavior of their members, or to require a pleasant sharing of equipment amongst members. I addressed the issue thoroughly with them, and they "blew me off" and said that this was a non issue, and 24 Hour Fitness felt no need to do a better job of policing their facilities.

My thoughts with readers of this "letter" is to simply be aware that when you buy into 24 Hour Fitness facilities, that it is an inexpensive facitily with lots of access hours, but the management and safety are minimal...the clubs I have seen, including the Concord Sun Valley Mall facility are not particularly clean (particularly the showers and bathrooms)...towel and cleanliness requirements of the members is almost non existant (anyone read about the staph viruses/infections that have come to exist in recent years?)...and one has to be prepared to have conflict with other club members if you want to have access to the equipment because club employees are told to leave this kind of conflict up to the members to work things out.

Club Employees and managers like Carlos and Damon fear the possibility of losing their jobs, so they do not bring these issues up to their superiors...and if members ask to talk to upper management customer service phone lines, they will find that the customer service clerks offer to let you write letters or to talk to the local managers like Carlos and Damon, who do nothing and fear talking to superiors about policies that serve customers.

I have asked to have my initition fees refunded and my contract cancelled so I can join a new club that I prefer to be a part of without having these costs for a second time, but Damon has said that it is unlikely that I will be refunded money or to be released. What a sham...everyone knows that these excercise clubs end up dispappointing customers...this is just another example. 24 Hour Fitness is just another club looking to get your fees, then provide the absolute least amount of services possible. I suppose one gets what one pays for...you pay cheap, you get cheap and low class.

I have tried to file a complaint about an incident that occurred at the 24 Hour Fitness facility in Anaheim when I visited on July 4th. I've left 6 messages for the manager at the Anaheim facility but he still has not returned my call. When I contacted the 24 Hour 1-800 # that they offer on their Web site, I was given the run around. I was given another number that was a call center in Panama and of course, they couldn't assist me.

It's amazing to me that a company this large doesn't have a good customer service department that takes proper care of members' concerns and problems. I've been a member of 24 Hour Fitness for over 20 years and I am very disappointed in this fitness company!!

--Natasha ([email protected])

I cancelled my membership after my friend who worked in internal investigations for 24 Hour Fitness was terminated for what I believe is whistle blowing. Here’s the kicker, it took 24 Hour Fitness 5 months, after I notified them of my request, to cancel my month to month membership. They continued to take money out of my checking account - like many others I see on this website. In fact, this is how I found this website. My friend said that it didn’t surprise him that this delay happened, and that I wouldn’t be able to fix things right away. This made me think that this happens way more than what I read here.

Ok, first of all I am very upset as I write this. It is interesting that my friend, who was working as an investigator or loss prevention employee, was terminated after he uncovered unlawful and ethical issues involving lower, middle, and upper management staff. He said he couldn’t tell me specific details about this at this time. I do know that he was devastated when he was terminated, as I know that he dedicated his everyday life to helping the members at 24 Hour Fitness. I asked him why they terminated him and he said that they didn’t give him a reason, but he said that he had received a positive review and a raise just a month before. I know from talking to him, he was always at work, that he was dedicated to his job and did things like talking to members about their lockers, cars, and how they could prevent their cars from getting robbed.

I am writing this story because when I last spoke to my friend, I found out he had been blown-off by the legal department at 24 Hour Fitness leading up to his decision to sue them in court. He mentioned to me that his attorney just filed a lawsuit against 24 Hour Fitness in Orange County. Being that he was an internal investigator or loss prevention employee, I don’t know the difference but I know that he looked into safety, ethical, and criminal problems, I know that he has witnessed all sorts of bad things that occurred and were tolerated on a regular basis. Heck, from the bad things I have seen written by so many of you on this board I’m sure he has a lot to say. Since I had to wait 5 months for 24 Hour Fitness to stop taking money out of my checking account (I still haven’t received a refund for this time I didn’t use the gym) I don’t have any faith in this company.

I asked my friend what exactly he is suing 24 Hour Fitness for. He said that he shouldn’t tell me at this time because of confidentiality. I asked him if the lawsuit would become public record. He said he thinks so. So I asked why he couldn’t say anything. He said that there are many detrimental issues addressed in the lawsuit. He also said he saved a lot of proof that will ultimately become part of the lawsuit through the discovery process. He said that at this time it would probably become part of the public record. I asked him if he could ask his lawyer what he could tell me. He probably won’t, does anyone have any advice for me to get details from court records?

I know from my friendly discussions with him throughout his employment, that if any member knew what he knew, they would probably join another gym ASAP. I remember one time when I told him that I saw a news report about how many lockers and cars are constantly broken into. He said there are things that any business should do to address this issue and many have done so with excellent results. I’m sure that this is going to be part of his lawsuit. I wonder if the celebrities like Magic Johnson, Andre Agassi, Lance Armstrong, and whoever else who have clubs named after them would be embarrassed when finding out about what he has to say.

One time my friend asked me advice about what I would do about some bad stuff he uncovered, but had no one to turn to that he felt safe doing so without losing his job. I was amazed at the management structure he was in that appeared to be like a “good ole boy’s club.”

I asked him if I could see the lawsuit papers so I could get the juicy details. He said he didn’t have a copy for me and then laughed at me, but said would give me the case number and a copy of the lawsuit when he gets it. I told him that I am pissed because of the problems that they caused him that I still see affect him today. I have known my ex-employee friend of 24 Hour Fitness for a long time and am going to do what I can legally do to let all of you know so you can help yourselves with issues that may be relevant.

The only problem at this time is that he won’t give me details right now because he said, it is not public record. Is this true that he can’t tell me? Well, if I have to, I intend to get a hold of the public record that I just know will probably be shocking for 24 Hour Fitness’s members, as soon as I can get it from the court house. Anyone who knows how to get this information can contact me to help me out, unless my friend will be able to give me his case information. My friend is being restrained about discussing the stuff he knows to others and myself. I think he doesn’t want to tell me details of what he knows or has because he doesn’t want to hurt his case against 24 Hour Fitness. Like I said, I am the opposite and will legally tell what I can find out from the courts on this case. I will update this as soon as I can, including the case number if it helps.


he first stage before taking action is to make sure the comments you have found on the internet are indeed defamatory. This can be difficult to prove but essentially a comment will be defamatory if it tends to make 'reasonable' people think worse of its intended target.