Collective Power

@ihatefitpass - No one is being "FORCED" to attend convention. You are being MANIPULATED to attend convention.

First of all, unless you live within driving distance to Vegas, it is going to cost far more than $1,000 to attend convention, so it is still a financially beneficial move to not attend and pay the fine.

Having said that, just because Lil' Pete threatens to impose a fine does not mean he is contractually, legally, or otherwise entitled to do so. The problem is that threats are really all thats needed to get franchisees to do whatever corporate wants. Most franchisees have no idea what their rights are, and don't even bother to look into it. Second, franchisees seem to be scared to stand up to corporate out of fear of a "notice of default" or some other hypothetical action. Truth is, corporate is not entitled to charge a $1,000 fee for not attending convention, nor can they force anyone to pay it or hold anyone in default for not paying it. But corporate knows that they can intimidate and get their way because most franchisees fee just the way you do in your post.

The way to stand up to a bully is not to go to school with a shirt that says "please don't bully me". It's to walk up to the bully in punch them right in their face. That's what the franchisees need to do to corporate if you want some change. Otherwise, be prepared tp get bullied all the way to bankruptcy.

Let your State government Senators and Congress and Attorney General know what they are doing. Email, Postal Mail and Fax a well-penned letter to everyone in authority in your state about these most outrageous acts they are doing to you. They have absolutely no right to "fine you" for not attending a convention. Do not keep sitting down and accepting their crap as it's being shoved down your throats.

cheryl, over the years I've suggested making this an opt-in program and a home club program. I'm confronted by corporate with the argument that it's a program which is well received by franchisees and then presented with how many $8.95 programs have been run through our club. IMHO even 1 is too many. As someone else has stated in a previous post it's really a theft of services crime and again, IMHO, should be prosecuted as such. I don't understand how they can sell the services of another individual without that individual's consent on the value of said service.

More than 70% of the fitpasses which were approved by corporate were fraudulent for different reasons. In one instance we denied a lady who wanted to use our club for 1 month for rehab. We denied her because she was a former member. She contacted corporate and corporate sent us a letter of default. No phone call asking why or anything else. Corporate's first step was to send a letter of default. Another reason we've had to deny people is because they're home during some sort of college break. Fortunately we're in a small community and everyone knows everyone and it doesn't take long to find this out.

Corporate has also stated that if it's not run at ALL clubs then there isn't consistency in the offering. I don't see how adding "at participating locations" and making it a home club only trial doesn't resolve that. Not all clubs allow people to join their clubs online. It would be simple to have the "fitpass" process behave in the same fashion as the "join now" one.

This is a pretty cut and dry example of how "franchisees first" is all talk and no action. I know corporate has put out a response about things they've done which are examples of franchisees first, but those all look to be examples of how a normal franchisor, or company, would behave.

Hi thatkidfromjersey

I'm not sure why you would think you hurt my feelings. I made a post about Fitpass and you rambled on about convention.

One thing you are forgetting is we are corporates customers. Any money they are getting comes from us. When franchisees are not happy they don't open new locations, close existing locations or don't renew their agreements. These actions take much more money out of corporates pocket than they make off the Fitpass. The $8.95 trial has received a lot of opposition over the years and if we keep it up they will get rid of it, if we are quiet and complacent it will stay forever.

If your choice is to crawl under a rock and hide from the bully you are certainly welcome to. The rest of us will stick up for ourselves and make a change.

Good luck, I'll be rooting for you.