RWJ Rahway Fitness & Wellness Center at Carteret

We have always run our clubmaking sure the programming and services are appropriate for our membership.We also pride ourselveson running a clean, well maintained facility***has crossed the line with her behavior in our facility. She has calledour employees
inappropriate names to the point of degrading them and makingthem feel that they were being bullied. She has created an unpleasant andthreatening work environment for a few of our employees. She was asked tostop on more than one occasion and chose not to listen. Without any otheroption, we were forced to terminate *** membership, as she wasdisruptive and created an unpleasant environment for both our members andemployees. Since *** has been amember since she is not entitled to a full refund as per her request. She was able to take advantage of our best membership, a“Founders”. To date she has paid $2,for hermembership in full. That equals $50.81/month, which is substantially lessthan our standard membership of $59/month. One of the benefits of afounders membership is that it is saleable one time for a fee of $100. Inour effort to resolve this matter, we would permit *** to sell hermembership, but she is not entitled to return to the facility. We willnot tolerate someone that bullies our employees and creates an unpleasantenvironment for our members. We are sure she can sell her membership andfind another facility where she can take care of her fitness needs. Yours ingood health, *** ***General Manager

Review: Since April of this year I have been feeling picked on, bullied, and harassed by [redacted], the general manager.

Currently we are on our 3rd group fitness manager, [redacted], who started in January 2015, Since that time there has been a steady decline in the number/variety of classes/instructors & members, including myself, have been getting frustrated. When we brought up issues, nothing was done & in my case, [redacted] would send [redacted] to speak to me in an effort, I assume, to intimidate me. [redacted] used to work for [redacted] previously at a gym she owned.

There were times in April and just this week where [redacted] would email me and leave voice messages asking me to call her. She would ask when I would be at the gym as she wanted to meet with me. When I did go see her back in April, she was going into a meeting and was not available and we never met. This week she was emailing me again, had the front desk girls ask me when I would be available to meet with her and even flagged my account that when I went to one of the other RWJ fitness centers, the girls would ask what that was.. This was embarrassing as anyone seeing that would think there was something wrong with my payment status.

We met July30, [redacted] also had the customer service manager in her office, & told me that the organization is revoking my membership to all RWJ gyms & proceeded to accuse me of "sending emails and letters indirectly to instructors about how bad they are." She did not produce any documents, or any further information. I tried to get clarification and some details on what she was referring to but she just cut me off saying " you know what I'm talking about" & "we know you did it". I asked if she was referring to a group fitness survey I sent to [redacted] recently but it did not contain any harmful information but she said no. I do not have instructor's emails. I felt the constant badgering was a form of harassment directed towards me. This is also slander & defamation.Desired Settlement: I joined RWJ Carteret as a Founding Member on [redacted]/2011. A Founders Membership required a substantial amount of money paid ($[redacted].) upfront which would result in much lower membership fees after 1 year which were guaranteed never to increase. I would like my membership reinstated with full access to the other RWJ centers & limited access to the Carteret gym since I live in the town until such time as there is a change in one or both managers after which time I will have full access again, or until there is a change in ownership at which time I can choose to stay with RWJ or explore membership with the new facility.

If that's not acceptable, than I would like reimbursement of the $[redacted] down payment since now I will have to begin the process again by joining another gym and having to pay another down payment, etc.

Business

Response:

We have always run our clubmaking sure the programming and services are appropriate for our membership.We also pride ourselveson running a clean, well maintained facility. [redacted]has crossed the line with her behavior in our facility. She has calledour employees inappropriate names to the point of degrading them and makingthem feel that they were being bullied. She has created an unpleasant andthreatening work environment for a few of our employees. She was asked tostop on more than one occasion and chose not to listen. Without any otheroption, we were forced to terminate [redacted] membership, as she wasdisruptive and created an unpleasant environment for both our members andemployees. Since [redacted] has been amember since 2011 she is not entitled to a full refund as per her request. She was able to take advantage of our best membership, a“Founders”. To date she has paid $2,185.00 for hermembership in full. That equals $50.81/month, which is substantially lessthan our standard membership of $59/month. One of the benefits of afounders membership is that it is saleable one time for a fee of $100. Inour effort to resolve this matter, we would permit [redacted] to sell hermembership, but she is not entitled to return to the facility. We willnot tolerate someone that bullies our employees and creates an unpleasantenvironment for our members. We are sure she can sell her membership andfind another facility where she can take care of her fitness needs. Yours ingood health, [redacted]General Manager

Consumer

Response:

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because I would never recommend this place to anyone else. [redacted] is seeking revenge for me raising issues directly to the Fitness & Wellness company even though I was not the only one. She made up these unsubstantiated slanderous and defaming lies to create justification to cancel my membership, but still did charge me for the month of August. Which needs to be credited as well. During my time there, I was only taking a few classes with the instructors that I liked. I did not call anyone names, I had no reason to talk to any of the other instructors and I rarely even saw them as most of the time I came in just for my scheduled class and left immediately afterwards. When I spoke with [redacted] she made all kinds of accusations but did not produce any proof, no documentation, no signed complaints against me, nothing, and we only spoke once, and that was when she cancelled my membership. I tried to ask for more specific information but she was in a hurry to rush me out of there that she just kept saying "we know you did it"........" you know you did it", etc. So for her to say that I was "asked to stop on more than one occasion" is false; we never spoke about this.I also visited the RWJ centers in [redacted] and [redacted] and had no issues. The group fitness managers were caring and listened to the member's suggestions. I know both ladies and they are very nice. Prior to coming to RWJ I had been a member of numerous gyms over the years and never had a problem. So in this case, it's not me, it's [redacted], who is already named on a "[redacted]" complaint from a gym she previously managed and is now closed.There is a current member who harassed an instructor by sending numerous texts, leaving numerous voice messages, and showed up at her classes drunk. Thereis also a mentally disturbed man who threw a tantrum in the lobby, began yelling, called a café employee a derogatory name, and stomped on a plastic container sending shrapnel of sharp pieces flying in all directions (luckily there were no small children leaving swim lessons or childcare at the time) and this individual may 'snap' again in the future and cause a danger to the employees/members of the gym, yet these individuals remain active members. But if you raise issues to get a class back on the schedule or to try and raise an issue about an instructor who was doing an exercise that could hurt someone, than they make up lies about you and cancel your membership. Id like reimbursement of my initial membership fee as well as for the month of August, or reinstatement to the other RWJ centers.

Regards,

Business

Response:

While I understand that [redacted] may have an opinion in regardsto other members of the center; RWJ Rahway Fitness and Wellness at Carteretconducts thorough investigations anytime there is a complaint or escalatedsituation involving members and/or staff. We protect the privacy of members andstaff just as we have with the situation regarding her conduct. This situationalong with [redacted] history as a member was reviewed by a Regional Directorprior to the termination [redacted] membership. [redacted] membership will not be reactivated as she hasviolated our expectations for conduct and created a hostile environment formembers and staff. RWJ Rahway Fitness and Wellness at Carteret has issued a refundof $37.45, which represents her August payment as she was not permitted to useher membership. We will also honor the one time willable sellable ortransferable clause included with the founders’ membership. [redacted]General Manager