JP Results Fitness

JP Results Fitness is the personal training business of [redacted]. I went to him for an initial consultation on Tuesday, 1/20/2015. At the consultation, I requested personal training via email for 12 weeks. We agreed on a price of $200 for this service, and I paid with a personal check on Monday, 1/26/2015. This personal check of $200.00 was cashed on 2/12/2015.On Sunday, 1/25/2015, I received a partial exercise program via email. The program included dates and exercises without specific amounts of weight to use. I also received nutrition guidelines without specific foods listed. I proceeded to follow the exercise and nutrition by doing extra research on my own. It was emphasized that I should ask any questions that I had. I did so, and did not receive timely responses.The email responses to my questions, concerns, and feedback gradually took longer and longer, exceeding an acceptable business time frame. Between 1/19/2015 and 1/26/2015, email responses were same day or the following day. Between 1/26/2015 and 2/9/2015, email responses were 1-3 days later. Between 2/11/2015 and 4/21/2015, email responses were 4-8 days later. The last email response that I received was 16 days late.In addition to the poor customer service over email, business was not conducted in good faith. JP Results Fitness was not transparent with changes in scheduling that affected customer service. Initially, I requested brief occasional meetings at a time and place that was mutually convenient. I was told that this could not be accommodated. [redacted] went on a planned vacation, and I was not notified in advance. [redacted] increased his visits to my workplace, and there was no attempt to contact me regarding this or to accommodate my needs into the new schedule.There were many opportunities for JP Results Fitness to communicate openly with me and address my concerns. The combination of being unresponsive over email and declining to meet in person demonstrates the lack of commitment to our paid agreement.Product_Or_Service: 12 Weeks of Personal TrainingDesired SettlementI did not receive the service of our paid agreement. Therefore, I am asking for a refund of my $200 payment.On Tuesday, 5/12/2015, I discussed this matter with [redacted], in person. He apologized for the lack of service. He also stated that I was not made a priority and it was not fair to me as a customer. He refused to give me a refund, and instead offered free additional service. I declined and reiterated that I want a refund.I do not want more subpar service; I want my money back.Business Response Contact Name and Title: [redacted], OwnerContact Phone[redacted]Contact Email: [email protected][redacted] was referred to me by the wellness director at [redacted]. I met with her from a free 1 hour consultation and ended up spending close to 2 hours with [redacted] without charging her for the extra hour. We agreed via email for a fee of $200 for a 12 Week workout program design. This price was based on an estimate of how long it would take me to plan and write her program. My program design rate is $125/hour and time required is dependent on complexity and other details such as nutrition. It ended up taking me approximately 2.5 hours to complete on a Sunday as I wanted her to be able to start on Monday. I did not charge her for the extra time it took me to write her program. The program design fee covers the program design and any initial questions that may arise from said program. It was never discussed or agreed upon that this would include regular coaching and Q and A. That service is associated with either scheduling semiprivate/private personal training sessions ($30-70 per session) or a phone consult at a fee of $1.50 per minute . In response to the "partial" program design comment, I instructed her that since she hasn't been in the gym for quite some time and we were not doing on site personal training it would be nearly impossible to prescribe weight amounts and instructed her on how to pick weights and also when to increase those weights. While trying to be accommodating, I continued to answer her questions as they sporadically popped up. I tried to be as timely as possibly but since this wasn't a paid service, the turn around was not always immediate. One week I was on vacation in Colorado, and notified her that I had really spotty service (satellite internet) and I would get back to her. As far as not wanting to meet in person, I offered the Monday after her program design to meet with questions. In an email on March 2nd I offered to schedule a followup session which was declined due to her going out of town. She stated in the email she would look into it when she got back in town on March 18th. From March 3rd to April 17th I did not hear via email or phone from [redacted]. On April 17th [redacted] contacted me and the only question she posed was how to schedule a follow up session. This day also coincided with last day of her 12 week program. Her email got lost in the shuffle while I was moving my business and I found it a couple of weeks later when sorting through old emails. I responded and apologized for the delay but did not receive a response from her.A day or 2 later [redacted] approached me at [redacted] and requested a refund due to untimely email response and what she percieved as subpar service. I explained to her that the $200 was for program design and initial questions only. I told her that I kept answering her questions out of courtesy but that is was not of up most priority as she was not paying for that service. Due to the misunderstanding and in an attempt to make a customer happy, I offered 4 free weeks of once weekly Q and A. She declined and stated she would like a refund. I again instructed her what the program design covered and our conversation ended.Finally, in response to my increased presence at her workplace, I did increase my bootcamp classes that I teach 4x/week at [redacted]. I train clients at my gym until 10:45, [redacted] 11:15-12, and more clients at my gym at 12:15. Needless to say the turnaround is very quick at [redacted] and my presence was never requested nor would I know how to locate [redacted] unless I were to ask where her desk is located. I feel like it would have been [redacted]'s responsibility to drop by before/after class or email me with a request for either in person or email consultation . None of these ever occurred. Consumer Response (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)I was not informed that asking questions would incur any additional charges, whether hourly, per minute by phone or otherwise. In fact, this is the first time I have seen these hourly and per minute by phone rates. Over email, I was encouraged to continue asking questions via email. I once stopped by the gym before the bootcamp class, and we spoke briefly, for a few minutes, and I was discouraged from stopping by again due to the limited bootcamp time and outside schedule constraints.During our initial consultation, I set forth my expectations and previous experience as an email client with other trainers. This includes regular email check-ins. I was not informed that this would be excluded. There was no indication or explanation that our email correspondence would be charged separately.As we started corresponding over email, I was encouraged to send updates and ask questions. When I expressed interest in scheduling an additional session in person, I was told it would not be necessary.Final Consumer Response The business owner refuses to negotiate a resolution, even a partial refund, that we could mutually agree upon. He has acknowledged in person to me that he did not treat me fairly as a customer. His only offer is to extend the issue with the same service. As a business owner, he refused to explore any other options, which could include negotiating a partial refund or other equivalent service.I hope my experience can be shared as a warning to other consumers to show that this business does not provide service with customer interest as a priority.Final Business Response I apologized to her in person that the response time had been delayed for multiple reasons not that I felt she was treated poorly. As stated in previous response, I am offering her 4 weeks of q and a. This was offered because customer had misunderstood that regular correspondence was included in a program design, which it is not. As previously stated, my consult rate is $1.50 per minute. At an estimated minimum of 15 minutes 1x per week for 4 weeks, this comes out to a minimum of a $90 credit that customer has chosen not to accept. This is the equivalent of an almost 50% credit of what her original service cost of $200. This is only being offered in the spirit of customer satisfaction because the customer misunderstood what a program design included. After speaking with the coworker who referred her, whom also believes she has received more that what she paid for already, I feel confident that this is a fair and generous offer.During 15 years of personal training, I have NEVER received a complaint nor refund request in regards to results or customer satisfaction/service. Thus I feel that my customer service and results driven programs have and always will be top priorities.