MEMBERS @ TRUEFITNESS GYM AT DESA SRI HARTAMAS SHOULD READ

What is worst than not going to the gym at all? yesss. thats it!! It felt worst when you get yourself an expensive gym membership to be embarrassed and offended by the gym's amateur Personal trainer when you are in the midst of your training especially when he is under the instruction of the Manager on Duty!!

Being a Truefitness Blackcard VIP Lifetime membership, I have the liberty of inviting 5 guests for a One month free trial and having introduced 4 other VIP Blackcard members, I once had at my disposal twenty free 1x month VIP card membership which I have used up most of it.  Naturally.... of course I would bring all my friends of the closest circle to be a gym member at the same club. That way, we can continue to hound and motivate each other... or nag and nag and nag...



On the same note, last two months, I invited Daing Daniel Fitri aka Sarge (OBC) Dann the lead instructor at the Chief's ORIGINAL BOOTCAMP Malaysia @ Bandar Utama & Subang USJ1 to try out the Truefitness Gym @ Desa Sri Hartamas. After trying it out for 1 month and almost a daily routine-training on non-bootcamp days, I manage to pursuade Dann to pay and join the gym... and who can say no to me.. wink wink.

So there he goes.. Daing Daniel Fitri joined his first PAID gym club membership!!! Being a national gold medalist for Taekwondo, the youngest 5th Dann Taekwondo Master (in Malaysia) and a Taekwondo instructor at 5 centres in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor as well as the lead instructor for the Chief's ORIGINAL BOOTCAMP MALAYSIA, Dann never had to pay for any gym or fitness centres. Many thanks to me (my pleasure), Dann is now a proud paid-member at the Truefitness Gym at Desa Sri Hartamas.

In view of that, I felt obliged to blog this incident for three (3) reasons.

1) I was responsible to get Dann to pay & join the Truefitness gym.
2) I do not think the Management and owner of the Truefitness gym condoned to such an untoward behaviour to its club members.
3) such an unbecoming behaviour from a MANAGER is unacceptable.

The following was the chronology of event.

1.   Daing Daniel Fitri spoke to Danny (Truefitness Sales Consultant) on using the TRX if he became a member at the gym and was assured that he can use the TRX. That, being the pre-requisite, Daing Daniel Fitri then registered and became a member at the gym in December 2010 after finishing the free 1 month free VIP membership.

2.   Since November, during the free 1 month membership and after paying to be a member, Daing Daniel Fitri has been regularly frequenting the Truefitness Gym at Desa Sri Hartamas and without failure, his gym routine includes various workout that always ended with a TRX session.

3.   After more than 2 months of uninterrupted usage of the TRX as well as other equipments at the gym, on 14 JANUARY 2011 AT 5PM, a personal trainer named HAZAL approached Daing Daniel Fitri and asked him to stop using the TRX. HAZAL WAS UNDER THE INSTRUCTION OF THE FITNESS MANAGER NAME "BOY".

Now the following was the quoted conversation translated from Bahasa Malaysia:

HAZAL: Bro, are you with PT (paid personal training session)?


DAING DANIEL: No...


HAZAL: sorry, you CANT use TRX. It is strictly for PT only.


HAZAL: Are you a gym member? ("ko member kat sini ke?") 

and before Daing Daniel could reply,

HAZAL: how come I never see you here?("Tak pernah nampak pun").

 DAING DANIEL: Of course, I am a gym member for already more than 2 months.

 HAZAL: If you still want to use the TRX, you should speak to my Manager Boy, he is the one who asked me to stop you. ("kalau kau nak, kau pergi cakap dengan manager aku, dia yang suruh aku cakap dengan kau")

4.   Then Daing Daniel went to meet the Fitness Manager, Boy (somehow no one at the Truefitness Gym actually uses their real name). Boy introduces himself as the Fitness Manager and told Daing Daniel that he cannot use the TRX. When Daing Daniel asked why? Boy simply said it is strictly for PT.

*ONLY when a member subscribed and paid for a Personal Training Session that he/she is allowed to use the TRX although the TRX is displayed and located at a public area without any notice.

and if Daing Daniel Fitri wants to use the TRX, then he has to purchase a PERSONAL TRAINING SESSION with the Gym!!!

5.   In the course of that conversation with the Fitness Manager BOY, Daing Daniel Fitri asked if it is stated in the terms and condition of membership that he was not allowed to use the TRX and that the TRX is STRICTLY for PT use only? BOY then asked Daing Daniel Fitri to show in the terms & conditions of membership that state that Daing Daniel can use the TRX??? 

6.   Daing Daniel Fitri, offended and irritated went and asked the sales consultant DANNY to further clarify the usage of the TRX as that was his pre-requisite to join the gym. DANNY called the General Manager, Sales Department JASMIT for further clarification and according to JASMIT, a paid member has all the right to use the TRX!!!

7.   Puzzled and confused, Daing Daniel then called Boy again to re-clarify because he need to use the TRX as part of his training and was told off by Boy that RULES ARE RULES!!!

8.   17 January 2010, Daing Daniel spoke to Adam, apparently someone senior at the Truefitness Gym to related his grouses and received a call from a lady UMAH, apparently from Complaints Department this morning and said that she is looking into the matter and asked for 2 days (maybe for a domestic inquiry) after being told of a legal suit.

As at todate, the TRX has been removed.

There are many issues that can be derived from this incident but my take is as follows:

1) The Personal Trainer, Instructor, Manager or any staff of the gym SHOULD NOT abruptly stopped a paid gym member from using an equipment in the midst of his training and/or while the gym member was using it. Perhaps a more polite way, was to allow the gym member to complete his training and diplomatically speak to him after that.

2) A notice should be posted beside the equipment if the equipment is off-bound and prohibited for gym-members usage.

3) The gym staff should speak the same language and not confuse the members with different interpretation & message.

4) The Gym should apologize to Daing Daniel Fitri for the embarrassment. Interrupting a gym member in the midst of his training is offensive especially to forbid him from using an equipment without any prior notification or proper communication.

I do not understand why the Truefitness Gym is being stingy with the TRX. As it is, Celebrity Fitness and some Fitness First branches are offering the TRX as part of the gym equipments made available for all its members... for free!!

More importantly, customer service at the Truefitness gym must be improved. Members should be treated with some courtesy, for that matter..... anyone and everyone should be treated with respect.

WHAT IS YOUR TAKE?