Crunch

I am moving to New York next month. When visiting New York this past weekend looking at apartments, a friend of mine invited me to use a guest pass for Crunch in Kips Bay to check out a class and see whether I would like to join Crunch when I move. We filled out the guest pass online and arrived 10 minutes before the class. We were told that I would need to sit through a presentation and have a tour of the gym in order to use the guest pass and, therefore, should not expect to make the class. We asked if we could go through this process *after* the class because, frankly, a time-share-esque presentation and tour was not going to be the reason I chose to join this gym. The gentleman was extremely rude and unaccommodating and, after a lengthy, defensive explanation, he finally said that he would check with the manager. The manager was equally unaccommodating; he went through the same long-winded explanation as to why they have to stick to the corporate policy. At 11 am, he implied that he could let us have the presentation after the class, but then he asked to check my driver's license, which had already been checked by 2 previous people. I have a DC driver's license, and I know very few people that live in NYC that have a New York driver's license. According to Crunch "policy," to use a guest pass, you have to have a New York driver's license.



Congratulations, Crunch Fitness. Your guest pass policy accomplished EXACTLY the opposite of what it is intended to do - rather than gaining a new member, you lost any future business I may have given you because of poor customer service and lack of flexibility.



After wasting 20 minutes of my time, I left the gym and called the Crunch number for that gym to speak to a manager. The number connected to the Midtown location because both locations have the same owner. I said I was giving the gym an opportunity to correct my customer service experience. The gentleman I spoke with was very nice and said that the general manager would be coming in later that afternoon. I said that I would give him my number, and the manager could call me. He never did.



I know one gym I certainly will NOT be joining when I move to NYC.