Preston Total Fitness has incompetent staff

Until about 3 years ago, the staff at the gym were all very good, recently however the staff seem to have no idea what they're doing. I personally think they've not had sufficient training.

The problem I've been having is such as simple one to sort out, involving the squash court booking system. Since complaining about mis-bookings, double-bookings and the ridiculous amount of time it takes for the staff members to put a booking into their system, still nothing has been done about this (3 months on).

Checkout the complaint that I sent to them today, it pretty much explains the situation:

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There is a big problem with the squash booking system at Preston. Last week I emailed the manager at Preston (Chris Done), but 8 days on I've still not had a reply. I asked that he sort out the problems, however last night when I was at the gym, the member of staff on the counter was still struggling with the system. This is the email that I sent to Chris (see below), who it seems cannot be bothered to deal with the situation - this has also been sent to Total Fitness head office. I dont' see why I have to chase up the failings of the gym, I haven't got the time for this.


Date: Wed, 3 Oct 2012 08:49:13 +0100
Subject: Squash booking
To: [email protected]
Hi,

There is a massive problem with the squash booking system in the Preston Total Fitness gym.

Over the past 2 months, the staff have started to use a computer program to take bookings. The program is inadequate for the job, sometimes the staff resort to writing down the booking on a random sheet of paper. They then say we'll put it into the system later. This has caused double-bookings on the courts numerous times. My friend and I play 1-2 times per week and it is now happening on a weekly basis.

I have told the staff repeatedly (last night especially - 2 new young lads on the counter) to tell the manager about the problem, but as you can tell nothing has been done about it.

Last week we booked a squash court for this Thursday (tomorrow). When we asked to confirm the booking in the system last night, after trying for 5 minutes the staff member told us that somebody else was showing on the computer has having booked the court. My membership is only used for the squash courts, I never use any of the other facilities and I feel if the problems are not sorted out then I'll be cancelling my membership very soon.

In summary, your staff need better training. You need to stop using the computer for the booking system for numerous reasons: it takes ages for the staff to put in an entry, they don't know how to put a booking in, they get confused between different weeks, they resort to pen and paper.

Additionally, when I used to play at Wigan Total Fitness, the booking system was never a problem. The staff there used a computer, either the program they used was easier to use or the staff were simply trained in how to use it.

Only last week a double-booking occurred. One of the players who had booked by telephone was unable to play because of this, his friend was in on a free-pass looking to join the gym if he liked it. Not only did he say the situation was ridiculous but he stated that there is no way he'd join the gym after what I told him about the booking system. I doubt any of these matters have come to your attention as the whole thing has been a farce for months, and now I'm wasting my own time chasing up your operational problems, thanks a lot.

I look forward to your response. Should I not see an improvement or hear from you I'll be contacting someone higher up the Total Fitness company and forwarding on this message.

Kind Regards,
Matthew Ross