A Blog Post to Gold’s Gym Philippines: “Thanks” for Kicking Us Members Out!

In June 2015, Gold’s Gym Philippines surprised its Sheridan branch club members by kicking them out without considerable notice. The reason — the Sheridan Gold’s Gym branch had become Nike’s House of Rise.

 

 

I’m happy for Gold’s Gym Sheridan for getting this gig, but did the gym have to kick out its members? Unfortunately for the members, Gold’s Sheridan is still pocketing the member’s money while raking in the Nike millions. That’s stinkier than a used pair of gym shorts.

Why was the Sheridan Gold’s gym branch chosen as the site for Nike’s Rise program?  For one, the gym has a regulation sized basketball court. Another probable reason is that the gym sits in a huge warehouse, that’s a lot of blank canvas for Nike to work on.  The gym is just across the TV5 studios in Mandaluyong, so TV production for the Nike Rise event will be very convenient. Nike Rise currently airs on Sundays at 5pm on TV5.

I’m happy for Gold’s Gym Sheridan for getting this gig. Hopefully most of the Nike improvements are not taken down so that they can be enjoyed by members. Take a look at some of the renovations:

 

 

 

 

Enough with the drooling over the Nike House of Rise.

I’m not a crab so I’m happy for Gold’s Gym Philippines. Unfortunately, the company did not handle the situation very well.

 

This is where the staff of Gold’s Gym Philippines got things wrong:

 

1.  They didn’t contact us members in advance to advise us of the situation. Gold’s has records of our phone numbers and even email addresses. The staff could have sent texts or emails to warn us about our gym being used for another purpose. They didn’t bother. How did I find out? I went to the gym and saw a piece of typing paper in July which says the gym is closed for renovation until August. Did the staff suddenly lose our contact numbers? I have a feeling that come membership renewal time, they’ll find our numbers again.

2.  There were hardly any mentions of the situation in Gold’s Gym PH multiple social media accounts. Gold’s has Facebook (see here), twitter (see here) and Instagram (see here), but those accounts weren’t used to inform the Sheridan members that their gym will be used for another purpose. I dug deep in the timelines of all accounts and didn’t see any memo. What did I see? A lot of birthday greetings to starlets and minor celebrities that members don’t even care about.

3.  No one in the gym was assigned to explain the situation to the members. When I went there and saw the posted typing paper, there was a security guard who politely shooed me away. Gold’s could have assigned someone to deal with the members and advise them on their options.

4. Gold’s didn’t provide options. If my gym tells me that I can’t use it for many months, I think it is not unreasonable to ask for a refund for months lost. I think it is also not unreasonable  for members to have the option to cut their membership and be refunded for the months remaining. If a member chooses not to use other clubs, Gold’s can also offer to extend the membership of the affected members to compensate for the time they can’t use the gym. Gold’s probably assumed that Sheridan members were too lazy to workout.

5. Gold’s wasn’t clear on where the members will relocate. Since my membership allows me to access all branches, I didn’t have much of a problem. Unfortunately, some members have access to Sheridan only. Since Gold’s didn’t do a good job of advising its members, where are the members supposed to go? The other branches (Galleria, Holiday Inn, Wilson, BGC, etc) are located a few kilometers away only but in Metro Manila traffic, that translates to an hour of commute. I chose the unlimited pass because my work takes me all over Metro Manila, though my home gym is Sheridan (it is the only one that has a basketball court). I suppose people who chose the Sheridan only option did so because they didn’t feel the need to go to the other gyms. Sucks for them now.

6. Gold’s didn’t even apologize. A sincere “sorry” can go far.  Actually, a fake sorry can too. Gold’s didn’t bother with either versions. This is probably the only time that Gold’s Gym Philippines addressed the situation in its multiple social media accounts. No sorrys here. Gold’s just thanks its Sheridan members for their continued patience. Ha ha.

 

Gold’s can also use their social media accounts to update the Sheridan members on when Sheridan will be open again. No such thing. What I saw is a repost of popular Filipino actor Xian Lim (see more of him here) thanking Gold’s Gym Philippines trainers for giving him a great body.

 

 

He’s lucky because he doesn’t go to Sheridan — and he doesn’t need to pay membership fees.

 

– Finance, M.D., thefinancemd.com