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| - This is going to be yet another lengthy, anecdotal review. For those of you reading the entire thing: get a snack. May I suggest an organic carrot or two?
In sum - this small, cozy gym in a soulless strip mall on the border of Vegas/Northtown has plenty of potential, and even great instructors (C. Lyman, T. Synder and Y. Jemni come to mind) and equally great training partners, but the emphasis of money over EVERYTHING else has driven plenty of good people away (and for good reason). This gym handles its membership very unscrupulously.
Every gym is a business. Quite understandable that bills have to be paid and all that jazz. But when the cost of the aforementioned includes defrauding its members, well ...
I was a due-paying member for years. I even helped out heatpress-transferring tshirts that were going to be used as fighter fundraisers with the promise that the work that I did would mean lower monthly fees (they were not lowered [no surprise]). Then I was injured. Seriously. It was at a tournament and everyone knew about it; I came into the gym the next night in crutches. I was in crutches for a good amount of time. At that point, I was paying for approximately four-to-six months of dues in advance, in cash, and out of contract, because for some reason they never bothered making me sign a third contract after the earlier two I filled out for the first two years, respectively. Anyway, I was at the gym the next day unable to walk; it should be self-explanatory that I would be unable to train. Should I have to retrieve an attorney-authored letter to have my membership account frozen? One would imagine not since this is a gym where everyone knows everyone, not exactly the amount of members the entire chain of Bally's Fitness has across the world.
Fast forward about a year later. I return after having travelled all around the country, living AWAY from the valley and even state. I take a class and make a mental note to speak to James (gym owner) at a later time to inform him I am back and to see up to when my membership dues were paid through. At the same time, in an unrelated (or so I thought) series of events, my good friend broke his leg at a tournament and he and his wife asked me if I could help him with his kids classes at another gym, so that he would not lose his job.
Of course I helped him. Pro bono. He's my friend. Actually, he had instructed at Excel previously, so he should have been considered a friend of many people there. But after helping him with one class, the next morning I was confronted (think Karate Kid; same *rollyoureyes* concept) about loyalty and playing for QUOTE: Lakers and Celtics at the same time and all this other bullshit. I thought: "you serious, man". I said: "I am not being paid. I am helping him because he is my friend and he could lose his job". I won't say what was the retort to that because I have too much respect for my friend and would never repeat what was said and really, no retort is necessary. What I said was a statement. Pretty unequivocal. It was also unequivocal that perhaps they hoped that Rod Wilson would lose his job because a) they disliked him, for whatever twisted reasons; b) would pay his kids back for always having beaten the shit of their kids in local tournaments; and c) perhaps saw dollar signs in the sense that some of those kids could get poached over in the fallout of an instructor switch at the other gym.
Oh, and this is where we get to the defrauding part. Breach of contract. Tort. Whatever-the-fuck you want to call it. I was informed I owed 500$ or some bullshit like that. I said: "What?". Yeah. I owed 500$ because I had not paid my dues, while I was seriously injured and unable to train, and not even fucking living in Las Vegas, NV, USA. Cool beans.
They obvoiusly kept my 3-5 months dues already paid that I imagined, naively, would just be surplus paid until I returned after my injury healed (it was my knee, for those still reading/wondering) and comically on top of that were asking for 5 extra bills. I meekly said alright and told them I would have to get that amount of money.
I don't normally carry 500$ cash in my GI trousers, or Sprawl shorts. Would be hard to do so with neither one having any pockets. I stupidly thought that paying them off would mean a clean break and I would never have to deal with them again (and here I am authoring this extensive review to try to save others the trouble I went through).
I got the ransom money for all my medals hanging on their wall and paid the front desk clerk. Requested my membership be cancelled so that I would no longer be bothered regarding dues I did not legitimately owe. I asked for a good hammer and took all my medals down and went on my way. There were a lot of medals but I doubt they were worth 800-900$ USD which in the end was what I felt like I was paying so I could have them back.
Train at this gym at your own peril; I don't recommend it, naturally. - E
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