Gym Issues in HBG PA
~July 30th I took my three children into the gym child care as I do about 5 days a week and signed them into the child care. I was finishing my workout when the child care director came and told me I had to take the boys home and my 3yo was not listening to anyone as he was kicking and punching. I said ok no problem I was two minutes from finishing my workout and followed her to the women's gym door where she stopped and told me he would not be welcome back into the child care for "a while" and I told her I understand and I'll see what I can do and I told her that is fine but when will he be allowed to return. She looked away from me and told me never. She also informed me for the first time that he had broken the child care changing table the last time that he was there which was the morning before.
I said I have to get my things from the locker room and I would be over to pick them up. I was so shocked that he was kicked out for good that I didn't know how to process what she just told me.
I went to the locker room and gathered my things and changed as quickly as I could. On my way to the child care I stopped at the front desk and asked about cancelling my membership because I can't workout without having someone to help with my children. The two men at the desk were very polite and gave me the number to call, I think its for the financial services? And I started to become more upset about the situation.
Then I went straight to the child care and called the kids over to me. I asked what happened and the child care manager told me the same thing that he was kicking and punching and was not listening and he was not allowed to return. I also asked where did he break the changing table and she came over and put her hand on it making it wobble and she said she had fixed it. I did know that my son had climbed on the table multiple times before and we had been working on making him stop. At this point I was very upset and began to cry so I just wanted to get out of that room where the other employees were just staring at us.
I went back out into the gym where I stopped and asked if I would be able to speak to the gym manager about the situation and the front desk clerk spoke with me telling me that the gym manager would be in Monday-Friday and I could stop by anytime during the day and he would be there. I thanked him and the other man and we left.
~July 31 I stopped by the gym again to leave my number for the gym manager to call me. The clerk again told me when the gym manager would be available and I told him if he would just call me it would be easier so I don't have to stop by more then once. He took my name and number and I left.
~August 1 I expected to hear from the gym manager first thing in the morning but by noon I still hadn't heard from him so my husband and I stopped by. We were informed by a different employee that he had just left and would be at a meeting for most of the afternoon. I left my name and number again for him to call me.
At 5:30pm, I received the call from the gym manager asking about the situation. He informed me he had already spoken to the child care manager and that he was aware there was a problem from before and I told him I'd much rather talk about it in person because we weren't getting anywhere on the phone. I also personally wanted another person present because I felt on the phone he wasn't listening to me and I was frustrated because he repeated that my children had been a problem in there for a while. Even though I wasn't aware there was such an issue in the past. So I told him we could be there in a few minutes and he agreed.
My husband and I both went into the gym and the gym manager introduced himself to us both and we briefly spoke of the issues. He then brought us over to the desk and went to get the child care manager. He brought her out and we went back and forth for a good 10-15 minutes about what happened and how we each felt about the situation.
The problem seems they have been having issues with my 3yo not listening to the child care staff for a while now but have only been telling me that they place him in time-out and they tell me that when I pick him up but have never said it was so much of an issue there was going to be huge consequences. I have only heard that he was in time-out once every week or so and when they would tell me they would also say there were other children in time-out as well.
We also had an issue with my 3yo turning out the lights as we were leaving the child care room on a few occasions and I addressed this with him each time and he seemed to be doing much better as it had been a while since he had done that. He would also climb onto the changing table which is located just inside the door to the child care and has on many occasions grabbed the thermostate that is located just above the table. I have been trying to keep him form doing this while also signing out and holding my one year old.
I was not aware that he had broken the changing table or that he had caused any issues with the thermostat. Noone had told me about the changing table being broken until after my workout on July 30th one whole day later, and noone had told me he broke the thermostat until August 1st. I would have offered to pay or replace the items myself if my child was the one to break them.
In his defense on climbing the table, I do let him climb up on our changing table at home but I have been going over it with him that it is not allowed there.
The other issue, which I was not aware was a problem was when leaving the child care, my 3yo would get ahead of me and go over to the table right inside the front doors and pick up a flag and wave it around on our way out the door. This is a table set up for the Silver Sneakers program but he had never broken anything or knocked anything onto the floor. He would put the flag down and we would leave. Though he never brought the problem to me, that as I was leaving that my son touching the flag was a problem to the gym. The gym manager brought to my attention that this was bad parenting. - My husband and I are NOT happy that he deemed our parenting style as bad. He also said this was bad parenting multiple times throughout our conversation. The gym manager was asked, by my husband, that if he had children of his own. He stated that he does not need to have children.
So during our chat with them both, I felt that the gym manager was not paying us much attention other then when addressed and he was waving or nodding to other gym members as they would walk past us and he was looking around the gym here and there. In my opinion he was not giving our situation full due. He would stop us from talking here and there just kept offering to cancel my membership which I thought I made clear I did not want him to do.
The child care manager would barely look at us and would just say over and over that the issues weren't being addressed and she also made me aware that the child care staff felt I didn't care when they would tell me about my 3yo being in time-out. My issue here is that he is three years old. When something happens it needs to be taken care of then and there. Anytime he was put in time-out or anytime he was not listening they should have come to get me or asked a front desk employee to come get me instead of letting it go until I came to pick him up. My usual gym time is forty-five minutes to an hour and a half.
I also let them know that I have noticed different things through the year that I never brought up because I didn't feel it was my place. Like child care staff being on their cell phones, not calls but texting or something. Or how my oldest complains that they don't let them pick out toys to play with-the child care manager let me know this is because they have to clean the toys after each use. I find that fair and even noble to keep the toys so clean however I don't think its fair to not let the kids play with them just because they are closing in a half hour. My usual gym time is between 11-11:30 and so I am usually gone by one giving them ample time to clean the child care before it closes at 1:30.
Back to the original problem. My husband and I were offering up other options from our son being kicked out. To maybe not allow him to come for a week, two weeks, a month and then maybe that when we came back I would just slowly by first sitting in the child care with him for a few minutes and then to start slowly leaving for longer amounts of time. The child care manager started to tell me that this was not possible and they don't have the child care staff to allow me to do this even though I thought this was similar to what they do when I new child comes in and is not ready to be left alone.
At this point, the gym manager stopped the child care manager and sent her back to the child care and he again offered to cancel my membership which I again told him I didn't want to do but I felt like we could work something out. He then started to walk away from us telling us there is nothing else we can do. My husband then said he's being an "a******" and won't work with us. The gym manager sat down at his desk and said I am cancelling your membership because I won't take someone calling me that in my own gym.
I reminded him that he called us bad parents and he said he did not, but said it was bad parenting-I pointed out that my husband did not call him an a****** that he was being an a******. Do you see the difference?
He said it doesn't matter that he is cancelling my membership and to leave. As we gave up and turned to leave my husband said "yes he is like an a****** on steroids" The gym manager hollered at our backs that we are just jealous of him and continued to make smart remarks to my husband while leaving.
August 4 I took my 3 children to the Hershey location and talked to the child care staff in the child care. I did my workout and returned in 50 minutes. The child care staff said all was well and there was no trouble.
I went home and recieved a call from the VP of the franchise at 2:44 pm. She told me that I was causing issues on the franchise's facebook but wouldn't tell me what was being said. She said due to this my membership was being cancelled and I was being 'flagged' from ever entering one of the franchise locations again. I tried calling her back and asking her what happened and she refused to tell me anything other then she was busy and couldn't deal with my problem right now but I would be hearing from the company.
At 3:59 pm I recieved an email from the gym manager (don't know how he got my email address?) stating that the franchise is going to file a lawsuit against me. This is the email:
Vanessa,
It has been brought to my attention that you have decided to defimate my character and place of employment through a social networking site called Facebook. These comments and posts have been documented and photocopied. I have spoken with my superiors and we have decided as a franchise to take legal action as a result of "Defamation of Character" and "Cyber Bullying".
"company name"s legal team will be in contact with you in the near future to inform you of the suit. This is a very serious matter that we are taking action against to further protect our business and my personal reputation. Any questions or comments pertaining to this matter you can contact me at the Harrisburg location. "phone number removed" or email at "email removed"
"name removed"
General Manager
"company name" Harrisburg
"phone number removed"
"company name" - The Authority Since 1965 - "company website"
I have printed out all the comments made on MY facebook page about this. It was posted on Monday before anything was handled. My computer was acting up and I didn't have time to post anything on Tuesday or Wednesday.
I had also posted twice on the franchise's main facebook stating that I had problem with the Harrisburg location's customer service and both posts were removed within minutes.
*I have removed names, phone numbers, email address and the company name involved.
I said I have to get my things from the locker room and I would be over to pick them up. I was so shocked that he was kicked out for good that I didn't know how to process what she just told me.
I went to the locker room and gathered my things and changed as quickly as I could. On my way to the child care I stopped at the front desk and asked about cancelling my membership because I can't workout without having someone to help with my children. The two men at the desk were very polite and gave me the number to call, I think its for the financial services? And I started to become more upset about the situation.
Then I went straight to the child care and called the kids over to me. I asked what happened and the child care manager told me the same thing that he was kicking and punching and was not listening and he was not allowed to return. I also asked where did he break the changing table and she came over and put her hand on it making it wobble and she said she had fixed it. I did know that my son had climbed on the table multiple times before and we had been working on making him stop. At this point I was very upset and began to cry so I just wanted to get out of that room where the other employees were just staring at us.
I went back out into the gym where I stopped and asked if I would be able to speak to the gym manager about the situation and the front desk clerk spoke with me telling me that the gym manager would be in Monday-Friday and I could stop by anytime during the day and he would be there. I thanked him and the other man and we left.
~July 31 I stopped by the gym again to leave my number for the gym manager to call me. The clerk again told me when the gym manager would be available and I told him if he would just call me it would be easier so I don't have to stop by more then once. He took my name and number and I left.
~August 1 I expected to hear from the gym manager first thing in the morning but by noon I still hadn't heard from him so my husband and I stopped by. We were informed by a different employee that he had just left and would be at a meeting for most of the afternoon. I left my name and number again for him to call me.
At 5:30pm, I received the call from the gym manager asking about the situation. He informed me he had already spoken to the child care manager and that he was aware there was a problem from before and I told him I'd much rather talk about it in person because we weren't getting anywhere on the phone. I also personally wanted another person present because I felt on the phone he wasn't listening to me and I was frustrated because he repeated that my children had been a problem in there for a while. Even though I wasn't aware there was such an issue in the past. So I told him we could be there in a few minutes and he agreed.
My husband and I both went into the gym and the gym manager introduced himself to us both and we briefly spoke of the issues. He then brought us over to the desk and went to get the child care manager. He brought her out and we went back and forth for a good 10-15 minutes about what happened and how we each felt about the situation.
The problem seems they have been having issues with my 3yo not listening to the child care staff for a while now but have only been telling me that they place him in time-out and they tell me that when I pick him up but have never said it was so much of an issue there was going to be huge consequences. I have only heard that he was in time-out once every week or so and when they would tell me they would also say there were other children in time-out as well.
We also had an issue with my 3yo turning out the lights as we were leaving the child care room on a few occasions and I addressed this with him each time and he seemed to be doing much better as it had been a while since he had done that. He would also climb onto the changing table which is located just inside the door to the child care and has on many occasions grabbed the thermostate that is located just above the table. I have been trying to keep him form doing this while also signing out and holding my one year old.
I was not aware that he had broken the changing table or that he had caused any issues with the thermostat. Noone had told me about the changing table being broken until after my workout on July 30th one whole day later, and noone had told me he broke the thermostat until August 1st. I would have offered to pay or replace the items myself if my child was the one to break them.
In his defense on climbing the table, I do let him climb up on our changing table at home but I have been going over it with him that it is not allowed there.
The other issue, which I was not aware was a problem was when leaving the child care, my 3yo would get ahead of me and go over to the table right inside the front doors and pick up a flag and wave it around on our way out the door. This is a table set up for the Silver Sneakers program but he had never broken anything or knocked anything onto the floor. He would put the flag down and we would leave. Though he never brought the problem to me, that as I was leaving that my son touching the flag was a problem to the gym. The gym manager brought to my attention that this was bad parenting. - My husband and I are NOT happy that he deemed our parenting style as bad. He also said this was bad parenting multiple times throughout our conversation. The gym manager was asked, by my husband, that if he had children of his own. He stated that he does not need to have children.
So during our chat with them both, I felt that the gym manager was not paying us much attention other then when addressed and he was waving or nodding to other gym members as they would walk past us and he was looking around the gym here and there. In my opinion he was not giving our situation full due. He would stop us from talking here and there just kept offering to cancel my membership which I thought I made clear I did not want him to do.
The child care manager would barely look at us and would just say over and over that the issues weren't being addressed and she also made me aware that the child care staff felt I didn't care when they would tell me about my 3yo being in time-out. My issue here is that he is three years old. When something happens it needs to be taken care of then and there. Anytime he was put in time-out or anytime he was not listening they should have come to get me or asked a front desk employee to come get me instead of letting it go until I came to pick him up. My usual gym time is forty-five minutes to an hour and a half.
I also let them know that I have noticed different things through the year that I never brought up because I didn't feel it was my place. Like child care staff being on their cell phones, not calls but texting or something. Or how my oldest complains that they don't let them pick out toys to play with-the child care manager let me know this is because they have to clean the toys after each use. I find that fair and even noble to keep the toys so clean however I don't think its fair to not let the kids play with them just because they are closing in a half hour. My usual gym time is between 11-11:30 and so I am usually gone by one giving them ample time to clean the child care before it closes at 1:30.
Back to the original problem. My husband and I were offering up other options from our son being kicked out. To maybe not allow him to come for a week, two weeks, a month and then maybe that when we came back I would just slowly by first sitting in the child care with him for a few minutes and then to start slowly leaving for longer amounts of time. The child care manager started to tell me that this was not possible and they don't have the child care staff to allow me to do this even though I thought this was similar to what they do when I new child comes in and is not ready to be left alone.
At this point, the gym manager stopped the child care manager and sent her back to the child care and he again offered to cancel my membership which I again told him I didn't want to do but I felt like we could work something out. He then started to walk away from us telling us there is nothing else we can do. My husband then said he's being an "a******" and won't work with us. The gym manager sat down at his desk and said I am cancelling your membership because I won't take someone calling me that in my own gym.
I reminded him that he called us bad parents and he said he did not, but said it was bad parenting-I pointed out that my husband did not call him an a****** that he was being an a******. Do you see the difference?
He said it doesn't matter that he is cancelling my membership and to leave. As we gave up and turned to leave my husband said "yes he is like an a****** on steroids" The gym manager hollered at our backs that we are just jealous of him and continued to make smart remarks to my husband while leaving.
August 4 I took my 3 children to the Hershey location and talked to the child care staff in the child care. I did my workout and returned in 50 minutes. The child care staff said all was well and there was no trouble.
I went home and recieved a call from the VP of the franchise at 2:44 pm. She told me that I was causing issues on the franchise's facebook but wouldn't tell me what was being said. She said due to this my membership was being cancelled and I was being 'flagged' from ever entering one of the franchise locations again. I tried calling her back and asking her what happened and she refused to tell me anything other then she was busy and couldn't deal with my problem right now but I would be hearing from the company.
At 3:59 pm I recieved an email from the gym manager (don't know how he got my email address?) stating that the franchise is going to file a lawsuit against me. This is the email:
Vanessa,
It has been brought to my attention that you have decided to defimate my character and place of employment through a social networking site called Facebook. These comments and posts have been documented and photocopied. I have spoken with my superiors and we have decided as a franchise to take legal action as a result of "Defamation of Character" and "Cyber Bullying".
"company name"s legal team will be in contact with you in the near future to inform you of the suit. This is a very serious matter that we are taking action against to further protect our business and my personal reputation. Any questions or comments pertaining to this matter you can contact me at the Harrisburg location. "phone number removed" or email at "email removed"
"name removed"
General Manager
"company name" Harrisburg
"phone number removed"
"company name" - The Authority Since 1965 - "company website"
I have printed out all the comments made on MY facebook page about this. It was posted on Monday before anything was handled. My computer was acting up and I didn't have time to post anything on Tuesday or Wednesday.
I had also posted twice on the franchise's main facebook stating that I had problem with the Harrisburg location's customer service and both posts were removed within minutes.
*I have removed names, phone numbers, email address and the company name involved.