Member of a Fitness Club? Take note --

[alfreda89]

Here is a story of one woman trying to work out at the 24-Hour Fitness Club that was most convenient for her. There's another story, too -- I'll put these behind the cut. But I have many friends in Austin who have club memberships, so here's a warning. The woman this has happened to is going public. K-EYE in Austin interviewed her, but they did not use any details, since 24-Hour claims there will be an "Internal Investigation".

NOW there will be an investigation. Apparently the manager who screamed at this poor woman probably had a good idea of what was going on in the facility, usually at night -- and wasn't planning to do anything about it.


***
Subject: Warning for women in the Hyde Park area

* REPOST every where you can to warn other women! *

24 Hour Fitness is a national corporate chain. I spoke with corporate head
quarters about the lack of security for women members and to report my
situation. They refuse to change their policies or hire security. Get the
word out for women to know how they stand with this multimillion dollar
company who'll take your money, but doesn't care about your safety - it
ain't cost effective lady, sorry.

I encountered a sexual predator May 17th, 12am at the 24 Hour Fitness at Hancock Center. It happened in the pool area. I told the man at the front desk right after the incident, but he let him walk out without reprimanding or identifying him, and did not contact the police or inform his manager. I contacted the police today. I spoke to the Assistant manager of Hancock Center 24 Hour Fitness today at 1pm and was told there was no
record of the incident whatsoever.

Later I spoke to the Hancock Center General Manager today, Alexander Bruce,
at 2pm. He told me they had no plans to ensure safety for women members;
there would be nothing in place to prevent this happening to me or any other
member again.

He also said he would not drain the whirlpool in which the pervert performed
his lewd act, stating that "the chlorine in the whirl pool is strong enough
to kill sperm and the HIV Virus. We will not be draining it." So if you
soaked in the whirlpool today, there was more than just you, the water and
chlorine swirling around in there....which is enough to make me sick and
never go back.

The district manager Becky Most admitted that the problems with sexual
predators is an "ongoing problem at this location." If you work out here,
you need to know this to protect yourself, because the club has no intention
of doing so. Becky Most said "It's a public club, we can't be everywhere at
once. Swim at your own risk." It is not a public club, I paid a hefty
initiation fee in addition to a monthly fee, which I thought was access to
the clubs without harassment. Becky Most also showed no remorse, no
sympathy or apologies,; she was hostile and rude, raising her voice and
speaking over me.

In short, 24 Hour Fitness Center blames the victim for what happens in their
private facility, instead of themselves for letting perverts come and go
without reprimand.

After personally reviewing the security tapes of my incident, District
Manager Becky Most admitted that no one actually watches the cameras; I
could have been killed and no one would have noticed.

District manager Becky Most of multimillion dollar corporation 24 Hour
Fitness Center said they will not be hiring anyone to walk around and make
sure it's members aren't being violated, even at night when they have just
one employee working the front desk, even though it keeps happening.

Paying someone $8 to walk around and make sure you're not being gang raped
in the steam room is not cost efficient, nor their company policy.

I don't want this to happen to anyone else, especially since it's an
"ongoing problem." The incident happened near the daycare center within the
club; it could be a little kid next time. Becky Most informed me that the
last incident did happen during the day.

To voice your opinion to 24 Hour Fitness Center about their policy of
ignoring women's safety and welcoming sexual predators into their
facilities, even after they've committed lewd sexual crimes, call their
Dallas corporate headquarters:

Tom Welter, Dallas Corporate Headquarters for 24 Hour Fitness Center
877-865-0414 extension 2232
Or Membership Services 24 Hour Fitness Center (800) 432-6348
Or Club372@24hourfit.com"
***
Some became curious, and did a little Googling:

"I think the public sex act issue at 24 Hour Fitness has been going on for
quite a while. I discovered that it is listed as a hot "cruising" location
for gay men at www dot cruisingforsex dot com. (This site is NSFW, and has
pornographic images on the index page, so be warned before you look.) You
can search for places to go to find anonymous sexual partners on that site
by metro area, so I looked up Austin and that 24 Hour Fitness is literally
the first item that appears in the search results under "Public Places".

Here are some of the comments made referring to the 24 Hour Fitness
location in question at the Hancock Center:

New comments added August, 2005:
"Great time to cruise is around 9 pm and 12 am weekdays. Fridays are
always busy."

New comments added August, 2005:
"I've noticed guys are starting to cruise here late at night. I had plenty
of action in the steamroom, sauna and shower area, but you have to be
careful. The gym is co-ed so women come in every now and... Read More...

New comments added August, 2005:
"This place is great. I have found it to be cruisy weeknights after 11 pm.
The steamroom may be co-ed, but there is plenty of action. I went into the
steamroom and got it on with a hot guy, then with... Read More...

New comments added November, 2005:
"Hot action in the restrooms between 5 pm and 7 pm. Guys usually initiate
something there and work there way to the steamroom, where you can get it
on, just keep an eye out."

I think it is pretty well established that sexual activity takes place
there and the management probably does know about it.

FWIW, I don't have any objection to gay men having sex whatsoever, but no
one needs to be having sex in public at a gym."

***

And another location:

I have also experienced the manager of 24 Fitness (Arboretum location) to be
extremely unprofessional. A few months ago, my purse was stolen out of my
locked trunk (they broke the car window and the internal trunk lock) and on
filing the report, I discovered that the gym averages 4-5 break ins a month
(!). When I suggested they hang up some signs informing their members of
this risk and/or invest in a night time security person for the back of the
parking lot (thieves hang out in the back of the lot, break the parking
lights so that they can't be seen, and wait for people to leave their cars)
she told me that she essentially really couldn't be bothered and that what
happened in the parking lot was not her responsibility.


I'm not a member of 24 Hour Fitness, but I know I have friends with gym memberships here in town. Keep an eye out, because if 24 Hour Hancock gets closed down for this type of thing, another area will be found -- and a 24 Hour facility does seem to be a likely candidate for mischief. (I am stunned that they only have one person on duty at night. And if no one glances at the camera occasionally, what if someone exercising has a heart attack?)

Sorry about the format -- rushed day.

Comments

[hutson.livejournal.com]

Wow... sounds like they want a civil suit

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Not sure how far they'll go with this -- I think the woman wants her membership refunded in full, and wanted something done so people aren't sideswiped by this (imagine dropping off your son in daycare to go exercise and coming back to find a pedophile entertaining them with tricks he can do with his condom-covered slinky (does this sound like a memory to you? Oh, yes -- that fellow was on the city street in a car where kids were coming and going to school.)

[mouser.livejournal.com]

Isn't it Curves that only lets women in?

Might not be a bad idea.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

There's also still a strong Premier Lady here -- but this woman is PO-ed, I think she wants her money back. They should have given it to her, no questions asked. She might have only warned close friends as opposed to going public with it. I am glad she came forward, but I could understand her deciding not to go big-time public. I hope her number is unlisted, for example.

I may never use a hotel hot tub again . . ..

[hutson.livejournal.com]

There's that whole civil responsiblity thing though. She should get her money back, but she should also raise such a stink about it that the gym is forced to make the place safe. I'm not a member, but I always liked the idea of a 24 hour gym and wouldn't have given a thought in the world to my safety inside the club. And no matter how the company wants to look at it, they have to be held liable if they've been informed and it keeps happening.

[ebeeman.livejournal.com]

I highly, highly recommend Premiere Lady in south Austin. In addition to just being an overall great women's gym, they also had the best deal for childcare I'd ever heard of at a gym.

Or, alternatively, look for a gym like my current one in Bellevue, which has completely separate men's and women's sections for the hot tub, steam room, etc. And a dedicated attendant for those locations.

---Ell

[rkimedes.livejournal.com]

There's also a Ladies Spa (http://www.olympusspa.com/) (not health club) that a group of the womenfolk go to on a semi-recurring basis, if you're interested in that sort of thing. There's one in Lynnwood and one in Tacoma. The Lynnwood one is *way* nice.

[end Seattle area PSA]

[oliana0.livejournal.com]

There is probably a duty of care involved here, meaning the company if it KNOWS about criminal activity and does not inform it's members of the risks or do anything to protect them, it can be held liable for damages its members incur while using the facilities.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

If it's been posted on sex boards for a year, don't you think they must have been at least suspicious that something was going on? As you say, that's the damages issue. I haven't gotten the details on the other situation the assistant manager referenced, but safety issues with kids are an even bigger hot button.

[janni.livejournal.com]

Definitely they should have more staff and more security, but it's not actually clear to me what happened here. Did the guy attack and try to molest her, or imply that he might? Did he just engage in some inappropriate self-gratification in the hot tub? Allowing the former to go undealt with is pretty much unforgivable, and certainly a case for serious legal action; the latter is creepy, but isn't on the same level--or the same threat to the safety of those going there, for all that the staff still really should have taken action.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

The impression I got was that he was using the hot tub purely for his own "inappropriate self-gratification" but I may be wrong. My first thought was not safety as in getting jumped (but that would be my second thought) -- my first thought would have been, does this bozo have a disease I can catch even in a well-balanced hot tub?

El's place in Bellevue sounds great, and a smart investment on the club's part.

[cabin77.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the warning. I live in Oak Hill and there is a 24 Hour Fitness being built right now. I'm a member at Gold's and have never had a problem there - but they don't have a pool and I don't go to the sauna. I will definitely keep my eyes open at any gym location and warn my friends away from the new 24 Hour Fitness. I hope that the woman can succeed in getting the word out. This is really creepy and scary.

Oh, BTW, I'm a friend of incandragon. That's how I came upon your post.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Oh, BTW, I'm a friend of incandragon. That's how I came upon your post.

Welcome! At this point, I wouldn't say never go to a 24 Hour Fitness -- but I think this laxity shows very poor judgment on their part, and possibly dangerous judgment. I personally hate hassles like this, don't want to confront some idiot. That's what security is for --

It's made me think twice about getting a gym membership anywhere. I probably need one eventually, but can hold off another year.

[tigresa.livejournal.com]

I've been a 24-Hour Fitness member for 7+ years, and have only recently begun having problems with them as far as lack of professionalism in dealing with managers, but that's out here in California and is basically a side-issue of what the main problem is, which is that club policy doesn't include handling any level of use beyond your basic gym-goer who uses the gym for an hour a day max and never goes late at night (which has always been my level of use).

Personally, if I were to go to a gym on my own after midnight or before 6am, I would either stay within eyeshot of an employee or in a well-lit, well-traveled area of the gym. I'm of two minds on the issue: on one hand, 24-Hour Fitness should certainly provide better security in areas of the gym that might cause danger to its clients, but on the other hand, everybody is personally responsible for their own safety and shouldn't naively do things they recognize as dangerous with the blind assumption that someone else is looking out for them.

Also, I suspect that problems like this would be very difficult, practically speaking, to combat in a place that's open to the public 24 hours a day. Is the solution to hire a rent-a-cop to patrol the problem areas, and would that really fix the problem? It seems like it could potentially bring up other issues (for instance, privacy complaints from clients who don't want a rent-a-cop leering at them in the restroom).

Anyway, the least the club should have done is refund the woman's membership in full. There's no reason she should have to put up with that kind of behavior. Though it also occurs to me that if she has security tapes of the incident, and the club should be able to identify the man based on that and his membership card scan (they scan your card and check your ID every time you use the club), she should be able to go to the cops and nail him for exposing himself in public or whatever.

The thing I like about 24-Hour Fitness, and the reason I'll still use them, is that they have clubs in every state and a pretty good international club system. I haven't and don't plan to use them as a true 24 hour club.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

That's a very good point -- if you don't go at off-hours, you won't have a problem. The cruiser around the daycare bothers me, but I must admit if I was working out at night I'd carry mace with me -- just to be sure.