I hired Stephen Johnson, owner of Zion Health & Wellness, for personal training sessions at the very beginning of this year. We worked out together seven times, and I enjoyed our sessions.
Although I didn't get to experience much variety through only seven sessions together, the workouts were fine.
When COVID struck, Stephen informed me that he's no longer offering in-person personal training, so I requested a refund from him for the bulk of the personal training sessions package that I hadn't entirely used up. He agreed to this, but mentioned that he was short on money, and would need to repay me in weekly installments. I was understanding, and told him no problem.
I ran through our session history, and we had worked out together seven times. Those dates were: 1/31/2020, 2/3/2020, 2/5/2020, 2/7/2020, 2/9/2020, 2/12/2020, and 4/11/2020. I originally bought 25 sessions for $1,950, which worked out to $78 per session. This means that the remaining balance owed back to me would be $1,404, for the 18 unused sessions.
After refunding me for four additional sessions, he informed me that he's even tighter on cash now, and doesn't know when he can pay me the balance owed.
I was still very understanding, and proposed that we do some form of virtual personal training to help make me whole, even if it means transferring my remaining sessions to have him train my dad over Zoom.
This is when Stephen stopped responding to me.
I've texted him multiple times since, and never got a response. In the meantime, his Instagram profile has been filling up with photos of himself having a good time traveling, lounging by the pool, hanging out with friends, etc.
He's even posted photos of gold bars, and the profit he's made from investing in gold, and is now offering investment consulting services. For a guy who's supposedly broke, he appears to be doing just fine. Either that, or anyone who signs up for his investment consulting is about to get advice from someone who has no money. Either way, something doesn't add up here.
The balance owed to me is $1,092 ($1,404-$312) for the service that I paid for, and never received. We've always communicated exclusively through text, and I have complete documentation of our entire text message history. Anyone who saw this thread would see how above and beyond I went to be flexible and understanding. If Stephen tries to deny any of what I just said, I can simply just post the screenshots of our texts, which sadly speak for themselves.
The bottom line: Stephen straight-up stole just under $1,100 from me. Stay away. read more