I joined Nelson's Nautilus (aka USA Athletic Club) 5 months ago because they had a massive pool, daycare and tanning facilities. Granted, it wasn't the prettiest gym in town, not even the prettiest gym in, say, post-communist Ukraine, but it was cheap ($35 a month) and within walking distance from where I live. To get the $35 rate, I had to sign a one year contract. Frankly, at that time the decision was tough. Even though they had a pool that was easy to get a private lane at almost any time of day (hard to find in PDX), the place was in shambles. There was mold everywhere, the hot tub was literally foaming with bacteria,employees were literally sleeping at the front desk, most of the showers were capped off and non-functional, the bathrooms smelled like...eh, nevermind, I'm trying to be polite here.
Suffice it to say, I joined. This was mid-fall. Within the first week, the tanning room was closed down. By week three, daycare was gone. Then the rains came and the whole place sprung a leak. The workout room where they held their core classes needed to be mopped prior to class only to have literally gallons of water refill the room by the end. The same room was heated by a kerosene barn heater which may or may not have been responsible for burning down an adjoining section of the gym (as a side note: on one day I personally lifted a live extension cord from a soaking wet carpet) .
Then, somewhere in mid-February, they put up a notice that they were closing the pool for all of March in order to isolate an ever-elusive water leak. Despite my joining primarily because I am a swimmer, I decided to be patient. They ended up closing the pool on February 26th. At that point I asked for the manager. The person I spoke to (either Bubbuh or Bobo...amazingly the one who was asleep at the desk that I mentioned before) said that they would know within 2 weeks when the pool was going to reopen. Meanwhile rumors were circulating (by the employees!!) that the plan was to pave over the pool and make a basketball court. I checked in with him one week, and then two weeks later. Clearly no work had been done on the pool at either point. He said "we still don't know what's going on." At that point I submitted my written notice of termination. He (Bubbuh or Bobo) threatened to submit my case to collections. And this is precisely how the conversation went:
Me: I joined this gym because it had a pool, tanning and daycare
Him: I don't sell pools or daycare or tanning, I sell memberships.
Me: Well as a swimmer with a child to watch, what am I supposed to do?
Him: You can run on the treadmills.
Me: I'm not a runner, I have a bad back. And besides, what happens when you have to close the treadmills down for whatever reason?
Him: *shrug*
Anyway, I ended up having to buy out my contract to avoid an ugly legal hassle.
Simply put, this is ownership and management at a level where it's very difficult to imagine how it could possibly be worse. My expectation is that the city will shut them down. If not, do yourself a favor and take the month-to-month option and expect disappointment, frustration and mistreatment.
by crowmagnon
March 22, 2010
