According to The Advocate, the gym initially cooperated. It was only after the request was bumped up to the district manager, that things turned sour:
The Advocate published this story yesterday, and by the end of the day they'd already heard back from a Planet Fitness spokesperson, who said:Rowell spoke to the gym and showed them her son's death certificate. Rowell said no one had been using the gym membership account, and that gym managers told her they did not follow up on inactive members.
"The girl said they'd refund, and after the manager calculated, they found out it was $401," Rowell said. That was a little more than Rowell and the bank employee added up.
The local manager then spoke with the gym's district manager, and Rowell received a call back last week. The manager said it was Rowell's fault for not alerting them, and offered her a six-month free membership, Rowell said.
This is a good example of why it pays to escalate a problem. It's rare that you can get your story noticed by the press, but if both you and the company know that it's behaving in a way it wouldn't want publicized, you can try pointing that out--usually to someone higher up on the executive ladder--and see whether that brings about a better result."We deeply regret the resolution by our club operator. We want to express our heartfelt sympathies for Mrs. Rowell. We will fully reimburse for the dues withdrawn from her son Gregory's account. This really should have been handled better.
"Stamford gym will refund shooting victim's membership dues" [The Advocate] (Thanks to Anonymous!)
(Photo: leunix and Jerry7171)
"The manager said it was Rowell's fault for not alerting them, and offered her a six-month free membership, Rowell said." Thats just plain evil.
]]>That said, it's sad that a business will do the right thing only when the press or a site like The Consumerist gets involved. That simply stinks.
]]>Any chance this was a joint account
]]>I do not understand people.
]]>If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball.. ... Dodge, Duck, Dip, Dive, Dodge!
]]>Every PR officer in every company that follows this sort of policy should be summarily sacked.
]]>Anyway, it sounds like this problem didn't need escalation, and in fact escalation was the problem to begin with. I can't really count "outside media" as escalating my problem in the system.
]]>That said, the propery of those who are deceased goes into probate and how the heck "Gregory Rowell has been dead for nearly two years, but no one knew that he'd set up an auto debit with Planet Fitness on a second checking account." escapes me.
His bank accounts were not checked into? No one found statements showing a second checking account in his home? Nothing? Was the account ONLY used for this one charge? That seems odd.
Sounds like really bad estate management is the original cause of this.
]]>How do people like this get to be managers? There really needs to be a personal campaign against him getting rehired in a similar capacity anywhere else on places like LinkedIn, FaceBook, etc. The Advocate is remiss for not publishing the jackhole's name and subjecting him to the public scrutiny he so richly deserves (and I have let the reporter know this).
]]>This shows nothing is perfect, but indivudally, PF is the best I've found after joining 4 in my lifetime previously.
]]>I couldn't find an article on it (and I'm lazy and didn't look really hard), but I read multiple personal accounts of this happening at a site discussing group fitness.
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