And The Verdict Is…

It was two weeks ago that Katherine and I went to One Health Clubs to try a yoga class and ask them to divide my 6 month membership certificate, which I won at a local race, into 2 – 3 month memberships. To us, it seemed to be a great idea as we could both use the club and motivate each other to get there (let’s face it: flexibility is not my forte so going with a friend is important), which would give the club two potential “revenue” memberships at the end of September.

Wrong. We were faced with opposition – so much opposition that it took a week to hear back from them. I tried to contact them several times but was told that the manager wasn’t there or that the manager was busy.
Then, there was the call when I was “deared”.

I hate being “deared” as it makes me feel like the lesser person. I was even more irritated by the fact that I was being “deared” by a woman, a sales rep. who told me that the membership certificate likely wouldn’t be divided in two as it would be considered “as valuable a prize”.

“I beg to differ,” I told her. “We both absolutely see the value in this and, to us, it has the same value whether it is over 6 months or over 3 months for two people. In fact, we value it more as a package for two or I wouldn’t be going through the effort to try to have it split up this way.”

I was “deared” again, which made me so angry that I can’t really remember what I said to her, but I do remember that I wasn’t all that pleasant about it.

I e-mailed Katherine and told her that I was going to give her the certificate for the whole 6 months. I had decided from the onset that, if they weren’t going to split it for us, that she should have it as I have lots of ways to stay active and don’t always have the time to get to a fitness class. She would get more out of it and I’m all about getting “value”.

And minutes later, the phone rang. It was my “friend” whom we initially met with at the club.

“I have some good news for you. We’ve decided to let you split the membership into two packages.”

I thanked him for calling and told him that I had decided to give the whole 6 months to Katherine. Then, I proceeded to tell him how I felt offended by the lack of customer service that they had given us. “If that is the way you are treating potential members, I can’t imagine how you would treat us once we’re in the door.” Then, I politely said good-bye.

Since then, Katherine has initiated her membership and is putting me to shame in the yoga department. But if I can get my swim on, I have some hope of being able to keep up with her in the pool.

Yes, I’m starting to think it’s time to tri….