Bally Fitness
by Constance Weygandt

Since many of us do not have the space or the money for a home fitness set up, we join a gym. There are many to choose from and it just depends on what’s available in your area. Most of the fitness facilities, like Bally Total Fitness, or Bally Fitness, offer weight machines, free weights, stair steppers, treadmills, elliptical trainers, stationary bikes, group classes, and personal training, among other things. You can buy bottled water, work out clothing, accessories, purchase tanning minutes, and sit in the sauna or hot tub. Many folks go just to socialize or to check out everyone else, and some really are there to get a good work out. I am in the latter group, I don’t care what I look like, if my shorts match my shirt, or if my pony tail is messy. I’m all sweaty anyway and I’m not there to get a date!

In spite of having all these amenities, many facilities, even Bally Fitness, are not open at convenient hours, they don’t have enough equipment, they are too small and crowded, they don’t clean their equipment or keep it in good repair, and bacteria abounds in the saunas and showers. This is not typical of all health clubs, but it is very realistic. On occasion I have brought my own hand sanitizer to use immediately after using a piece of equipment because the bottle of disinfectant provided was empty or so diluted that there was nothing but water in it anyway. I have gone to aerobic classes and the instructor came late or not at all, and then if she did show up, was rude to the class because she looked like an idiot. If this is the way it is, I’ll just to stick to walking around the neighborhood and my Buns of Steel tapes.

Currently, there is a group of people, primarily in California, filing action against Bally Fitness for false misrepresentation of their services, not honoring their contract, and generally poor business practices. Many of these people were in the military and called to active duty. They were told if they supplied the appropriate paperwork they would be freed from their Bally Fitness contract with no further obligation. This was obviously not correct, and these people came back from overseas to find that they their accounts had been sold to collection agencies and there were judgments against them. How’s that for customer service? Wow. Better make sure you read all the fine print and ask about all the different situations you think may never come up, just in case.


 

Constance Weygandt is an author, speaker and balance mentor. For more information on health and wellness or to receive her newsletter, visit her at http://www.balancedwellnessonline.com

We're located in Salt Lake City, Utah
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