My Gym Account Has Been Cancelled! (Part One)

Coming back from Paris, I was tired. I walked a lot, I carried the children when they were tired a lot, I didn't eat all that much and because we had a big secret that we were keeping from the children I didn't particularly sleep a lot. I knew I would be tired so I had forced myself to book my Aquafit before I went (I love Aquafit) so that I knew on Thursday night I would have to go to the Gym. It was a great session and I loved having a gym membership as it meant I got to have this class as part of my package. I was still tired on Friday morning when the alarm went off at 5:30, so I rolled back over and didn't wake up until 7:30am when Gaz from Mix 96 rang the house phone to remind me I was going to be live on air in the next five minutes. I was still tired Friday night and so told Flyfour that I wouldn't be going to the gym, but would be going to bed early instead.

On Saturday morning, when I woke up I got dressed and went to the gym. I swiped my card in the self service machine and was surprised to see it was being rejected. Maybe I didn't leave it in the machine long enough I thought, So I tried again. Predictably the card was rejected again, so I made my way to reception. The reception staff at the leisure centre are a pleasure to deal with, after you've been going a few times they get to recognise you and will give you a wave hello or goodbye as you go in or out if they haven't served you. There was one member of staff on this morning and she was talking with another patron of the Leisure Centre but she gave me a grin and asked if she could help.

I explained that my card wasn't being accepted in the self service machine, and so she swiped it in her machine. After all we are all aware of how some computers like to throw little tantrums now and then, and it's best to double check. My card was rejected on her system too, so she looked into the account and saw that on the 3rd August the account was cancelled. I'm knew I didn't cancel it and I told the Receptionist so. She suggested that I go up to the gym, have my work out and by the time I was finished one of the Sales Team should be in and I could speak to them.

I knew that I hadn't cancelled my card, I knew my card had worked just two days before so I called Flyfour straight away and asked him to check our bank account. Even with our trip to Paris there should have been plenty of cash in our account and the Direct Debit wouldn't have bounced but I wanted to make sure. Thanks to the magic on online banking we were able to check within seconds and as I thought our bank account was perfectly fine, the payment had been taken out on the 1st August two days before my account was cancelled.

Now I was angry at my account being cancelled but I was also worried about logging into my account in the gym, what if it wouldn't let me because my account had been cancelled? What if all my records of what I had achieved had gone? What if I had to start a new contract with the gym, pay a joining fee and have a higher monthly rate as there wasn't a special offer on now? What if my account had been cancelled because I had been talking with the staff outside of the gym? (Hi Danny!) What if it was because I gave a small gift to one of the evening receptionists on Thursday? Luckily my log in to the gym still worked, all my details of past work outs were still there so I did my work out and felt a lot better, but I was still fuming. If I had paid then why had they cancelled my account?

I went back to reception, now sweaty and smelly to find out why my account had been cancelled. I was in a bad mood about it, I had been embarrassed, I had spent the best part of an hour stewing on it and for what? Most likely a clerical error. I was going to be polite but firm, I was going to get to the bottom of this and I was going to encourage them not only to rectify the situation but find a suitable way to apologise to me for the hassle. The problem was that the sales team still weren't in. Apparently today they are only working in the late afternoon and the evening. So now I have to stew on it until I go back in this evening.

This isn't a case of "Don't you know who I am?", I'm not that stupid that I think everything should be given to me on a silver platter but I've not made a mistake. I've paid for the gym, I've talked about how great the staff are on Facebook and Twitter, I've suggested other people join the same gym as me because the service up until now has been great and what have I got in return? I've been embarrassed, I've had my time wasted and it's made me angry.

When I get back from the gym this evening I'll let you know why my account was cancelled, but until then Hertsmere Leisure had better be ready for me.

Don't forget to check out what I'm doing over at A Mothers Ramblings too!