London - Sport - Gyms - Sport - Climbing
This Leisure Centre was a firm 2 stars until my recent trip to another sports centre and luckily realised that considering the cost of it and number of machines, it's not *quite* as bad as I imagined.
The biggest issue I have about this spot is that no one here knows what's going on; their website is a complete joke, their staff are pretty clueless and they have no concept of rewarding customers, keeping the old ones and enticing new ones in.
Example in point: I walk in and register immediately - not from their disinterested sales team, but because it was rather large on my 'to do' list = money on legs. I come in to do my 'free assessment' where the half-asleep instructor ping pongs me between a few faulty machines to try and find one that can complete a test of measuring my heart rate while displaying all the other important vitals. After this he jots down a suggested routine on my card and shows me where to find it on the next visit.
A little unsure of the advice, given a few medical conditions including back pain I decide to give it a go. To this day I've never seen that card - it magically disappeared, shortly followed by the trainer a few weeks later. Which is only revealed to me by staff confused at who to point me to next.
After 2-3 months I want to switch to pay as you go as I'm going on extended holiday. This often loses the gym money and would be gold for them to have a little 'why are you requesting this change?' box in their form. Nope, nothing. And the sales chap doesn't say a peep when I ask him to switch.
To this day I've never received an email. In an email age where some people make millions selling email addresses, I found it hard to imagine a business running without at least a monthly 'here's what's new'.
Besides this some processes are backward; such as if you're put on a waiting list for a class you can go in and wait but you're not allowed to use the gym. And if you do go to the class you need to come back and pay after. Just silly. Can't these cards take credit? Do I really have to stand in a queue for 10 minutes every time I visit? Can't I transfer funds from my bank/charge it up online?
And besides all this how about a little welcome pack, some info on services, trainers, classes etc.
The only reason the gym is as saturated with little excercisers as it is, is because it's cheap - at £40-something a month it's very competitive with other gyms in the area.
I think they really need to take a look at their retention and education schemes to make their customers fit and happy. Rant over.
Check out my review of Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre - I am Urbanite - on Qype
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