When Anytime Fitness opened up in Carver, MA, just a stone's throw away from my house, I was very excited, because I am a guy who is in need of services during the overnight hours since I work the overnight shift myself and need things to accommodate my awkward circadian rhythms.
When I first went in to check the place out, I was warmly greeted by a very pleasant man by the name of Brian Cassidy, an affable chap who seems to know just the right measure of making a person feel comfortable and welcome.
Brian made me feel as though my share in the ownership of Anytime Fitness was just as much mine as it was his or anyone else's. He really knows how to develop a rapport with anyone who comes into his place, even if you're some weird guy who wants to work out at three in the morning twice-a-week. He's just a really easy-going, nice guy.
I really enjoyed my year-long membership at Anytime Fitness. The two bathrooms were always clean and the showers were really nice, and there was seldom any real competition for them, even when I visited the gym in the early evening hours. All of the equipment is very clean and easy to use, and you are guaranteed to get a full workout anytime you visit, if only you really want one. The only thing I would have liked to see which they were missing was a butterfly machine, but they do have a nice chest press.
There is also quite the assortment of treadmills and ellipticals, all in front of giant flat-screen TV's. Plus, there's a semi-private, state-of-the-art aerobic workout room, complete with various bands and mats, and a projector screen that comes down on which a virtual trainer will lead you through various workouts designed to elevate your heart-rate.
There is, of course, a refrigerator with the variety of energy drinks and muscle-enhancing refreshments you would expect to find in any gym. The nice thing about this, is that there is a cash-box to put your money for drinks into, completely on the honor system. It makes you feel good -- like you are in a real small-town gym with most of the benefits of a big city gym.
Unfortunately for me, I ceased to find the time to keep going to Anytime Fitness regularly enough to renew my membership after my one year had expired. This is where the only trouble arose.
My wife called to let Mr. Cassidy know that I would not be able to renew my membership after my year was up. This was not sufficient. She was told that I would have to come in to cancel. Well, because I was too busy in my life -- for reasons that are my own -- to come in for a workout, I was also too busy to come in to cancel my membership. I was charged for countless months -- $35/month -- for a gym I could not find the time to use. Just today -- October 15 -- I went in to cancel on the day of the deadline after learning that I was being charged an additional $30 for an annual "club enhancement fee." I went in just past 11:00AM. I was greeted by a very pleasant, attractive woman whom I told that I was there to see 'Brian' (as I referred to him) and she was nothing short of professional.
When Mr. Cassidy was through speaking with another member in his office, I went in. I pleaded with him to please drop the $65 dollar charge since I was there to cancel on the day of the deadline, and that I hadn't even used the gym in months. He refused. He stuck to his assertion that I had signed a contract and knew what I was getting into. But the brass-tacks fact is that I had paid nearly $200 -- possibly more -- for a gym I hadn't been able to use. Mr. Cassidy was unsympathetic, but appeared to feel torn inside.
From my perspective, Brian Cassidy is a good and decent man who -- like me -- is struggling with his finances, and therefore felt a compulsion to hold onto my money which I was contractually obligated to pay.
But I submit to you that today Mr. Cassidy passed on the opportunity to do what was morally right, and by doing so invited negative repercussions which 'karma' (if you will) will not allow him to escape. I forgive Mr. Cassidy, because I am a Christian man. But the Bible says that we reap what we sow,and it also says to seize opportunities to do good and magnanimous things. I have taken this opportunity to write a mostly glowing, very truthful review of a gym which is run quite well and a great place to go to get a workout.
I would love to be able to submit an update to this review to let everyone know that Mr. Cassidy had a change of heart and did the right thing by dropping what I see as an unfair charge. We will see. read more
