A harsh assessment of Lifetime Fitness

Ok, so the above graphic is pretty immature. Maybe it is a bit harsh to load that graphic based on what happened, but there are about a dozen incidents that I am unhappy about. This is the straw that broke the camel’s back!

Needless to say, I am very irritated with Lifetime Fitness. I have never been a big fan of their pool policies and just when things start to get smooth, they do something that puts me out. Today, it was their swim-team lane reservation tactics. Here’s what happened:

I arrived at Lifetime at around 5:20PM to find that the indoor pool was full with 3 lanes occupied by swim-team lessons (kids). I went outside and noticed that the first 3 lanes had cones on them with no instructions. All other lanes were occupied. I asked the lifeguard as to when swim lessons begin in these 3 lanes and was told that they begin at 6PM. All I wanted to do was swim a mile. 35 minutes is plenty of time to swim a mile. Perfect!

Not so fast. After swimming 1,200 meters, I was (rudely) interrupted by the swim instructor who asked me to stop using the lane because of swim lessons. It was 5:45PM. The same instructor who was teaching inside had the bright idea of blocking 3 lanes inside from 5PM to 5:45PM, and the 3 lanes outside from 5:45 to sun-down. I have no idea why she couldn’t just block the same 3 lanes for the entire 2 hours!

After cutting my swim workout short, I immediately looked for someone to talk to. Other than the lifeguard (who obviously had zero authority) and the swim instructor (who I was annoyed with), there was nobody around. Hence I spoke to the person at the front desk who had me file a complaint by filling out a piece of paper. Seriously? Haven’t we evolved into the 21st century yet? In the complaint, I simply asked someone with some authority to call me. We’ll see how long it takes for someone to call. I am not holding my breath!

Hey Lifetime Fitness, here are some suggestions; are you listening?

  1. When you have swim-practice for multiple back-to-back sessions, block the same 3 lanes. This way, your members won’t have to interrupted less often.
  2. Train your lifeguards about your swimming schedules. I understand that they are kids who are (probably) still in high-school, but there is no reason why they can’t know the schedules. After all, they are trained to save lives!!
  3. Allow members to fill out their complaints and suggestions electronically. Paper forms? Are you kidding me? If your IT staff is technically challenged, call me; we can help them out!

I went and did a casual Google search on “Lifetime Fitness complaints.” The number of results was astonishingly high. I guess I am not the only one who thinks that Lifetime Fitness sucks!

Oh, by the way, my back is almost back to normal. I am REALLY happy about that!

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