Where should they go!?
Posted by: Qaiss in Health & Food Related Issues, Kuwait, up and aboutI’ll explain what this post has to do with the new Anti-Platinum campaign i’m starting,(located on the top right) some whom know me, know how i try explian how obesity and fast food can effect us, and how Kuwait is going into a health crises. So a close friend of mine who is quite obese, and i could not personally accept it, so i have been chasing him for ages to work out, loose weight, go on a diet really anything. So he took the first step with a diet company, then today after long talks about the gym he accepted to join a gym, we went together and as he registered at obviously Platinum, he was told that he canot use the treadmill! i was shocked, if obese customers cant use the treadmill who the hell does, models:P then the trainer there says okay maybe for 15 minutes only! which honestly made me more frustrated, then infront of everybody there, he asks my friend whats your weight? Many people like to keep there body weights private, but this trainer infront of everybody started pushing for the answer. So on the spot my friend just walked out of the gym and even though the trainer and the receptionist knew there where wrong and what they did is discriminative, nothing was done to stop him leaving the gym. I tried personally to reach the manager of the gym but with no luck (or avoiding me as it seems) so i took my anger back to the blog, and see what you folks think? I mean how ignorant the management of Platinum can be, obese customers are your targeted customers, which you are supposed to make a good example off, these are the customers when loosing weight in the gym will create positive advertising. I guess an apology is the least from Platinum, other than that the banner will stay until my credit card gets stolen or overdue:P    Â
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June 17th, 2007 at 6:49 am
Disgusting!
That is humiliating! I would have demanded my money back, Platinun is known to be one of the most expensive gyms in Kuwait, and then they offer this as client service!?
Get hold of the owner. forget about the manager!
June 17th, 2007 at 7:34 am
Wow….pretty shocking story, however, there is some truth to what the trainer says.
Even treadmills have a certain amount of weight that they can ‘stand’ before burning the motor, so I guess the guy was only doing his job and protecting the machine. It would have been better if he had taken him to the side and had a quiet word and explained the problem.
Qais, when I first saw the AD, I thought it looked real, and was put out my platinum – which is not good! Be careful, you may well promote Platinum to your viewers as opposed to deter them.
I would change the wording to something like ‘Fat People Not wanted on Our Machines….’ or ‘No Fat people allowed in our gym’…….or “If you are fat – Get out of our Gym”….. I think you need something a little more offensive!
June 17th, 2007 at 7:37 am
Plus – I think you should put a Red boycott sign over the Platinum sign as some people STILL may not get it! Remember, most people are not used to seeing negative Ads!
June 17th, 2007 at 8:33 am
what the hell?!
June 17th, 2007 at 10:25 am
SHOCKING!!! Never mind the courage it takes for an obese person to take the first step… and then to be treated like that!! It’s disgusting…. if this was the USA they would have had the pants sued off them a long time ago!!! They should pay out for a personal trainer for this guy and preferably at another gym as well. They don’t deserve to have him as a customer!! Yip, go to the owner and show him the link to this blog.
June 17th, 2007 at 10:56 am
bbq8: this place knows nothing about customer service!
Red_M: The machine had a sticker stating: if your over 120kg you’ll break it. many big people now are close to 120 kilos they even dont have to be obese, and people over a certain weight canot even run they walk on these machines, thanks for your tip on the AD will take them into consideration, and your right about the negative ads too, thanks
EniGma: sheftay! mayest7oon wala!!
LEEMAC: nicely out, its shocking and disgusting, will get the manager into the problem soon.
June 17th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
walla i’m disappointed to hear this…similar case happened with us at a restaurant in salmiyah last week..we paid the bill 750 fils less..so the waiter instead of coming to our table just screamed from the cashier box “sir the bill is 750 fils less” in a loud voice i was shockedddd…coz everyone heard and the place is small..but i didnt let this pass,i spoke to the mgr directly. Many places lack customer service here.
June 18th, 2007 at 1:48 am
MAZE: customer service is not in the business owners definitions here.
June 18th, 2007 at 2:28 am
Most probably you are referring to Kaifan Platinum. I don’t know how tings are like in Salmiya’s branch nowadays; it’s been 4 years since I shifted from Salmiya Platinum to another gym and it was a nice experience.
Last May I shifted to Kaifan Platinum for summer months period in order to avoid the super crowds in my gym, don’t get me wrong, it’s been a lovely 4 years membership, but the teenagers and wannabe super fast muscularity are ambience killer for me.
Keep in mind that the owner is a royal family and it’s a matter of cash in, period. I know customers are the base for any successful business, but when you get greedy and have multiple different gyms then it’s a matter of numbers really.
The fault falls on the poor management, they are a bunch of expatriates group, whom some have been in Hayat Center gym and currently taken over the new Platinum management. They don’t grasp the idea that Platinum customers are a total different type. They still use the old Hayat Center mentality.
Piece of advice, leave while you can, Platinum is merely taking advantage of the stupid Kuwaiti mentality which adores superficial; it feeds the shallow egotistical mentality of belonging to a certain class. Sure there are some who like to take advantage of joining a close to home gym which fancy facilities “an emulation for O2 gym key success point”, but many are joining it for the mere purpose of joining a fancy gym.
Here are some of key things that make me hate the place:
1. I want a super clean place, super clean showers, super clean bathrooms, benches. There isn’t a cleaner guy who is responsible for the cleanliness of the showers and bathrooms. You get into the shower and still find the floor is still wet with residuals of previous guys (sorry for the inconvenience).The ceramic tiles are beige and any single hair is visible, now imagine the floor which is poorly designed with a 0 degree inclination and covered with bright tiles and still damped with water from the shower!! A high sophisticated gym can’t afford a cleaning boy for dedicated for the showers!!! And don’t know that the showers floors must have a slight inclined degree to have the water runs to sewers.
2. I’m used to cleaning boys with wet towels wandering around the place in my old gym, their sole purpose is to clean the benches, grips and chairs after EVERY single set or working out!! Again, how hard can it be to assign 4-6 cleaning boys!!! I’ve noticed only one and you have to call him to clean the sweaty benches!!!
3. I know this might be odd for some, but I have got to have a hot shower after my workout!! And I mean hot, not warm. Do I have to slack from work in order to workout early in the morning to have a chance for some hot water!!! Can’t they just install high capacity centralized water heaters and water chillers for the establishment to give the customers the choice!!! I know it’s freaking summer and the water is boiling, but not in the evening!!! Not when people start to use the cold water as a hot water source to be mixed with the cold heater water!!! I know I can take my showers at home as many guys do, BUT I often have some place to be at after the gym and I’d like to seize the time by having my shower in the gym.
4. What kind of gym that doesn’t provide a free small locker!!! I’m willing to pay for the big lockers to keep my things there, but many others only need a small locker to keep keys, mobiles and some money!! It’s a lame way to force customers into renting a locker or having to carry out a back bag during the workout.
5. OMG, the trainers’ distribution in the gym area is a pure stupidity. Every part of the gym should have an assigned trainer to it with a sole purpose to spot, help and provide advice for customers!! They are standing all the time as a group, talking and never trying to spot anyone unless they are being asked. And sometimes you have to walk from the far end of the gym to the opposite end where the trainers are spending time watching satellite and talking just to ask them for help!! The ideal way is to have each one of them assigned to a specific part and watching over all the clients there, I’ve seen many guys who are pushing themselves to a hazardous limits with non of the trainers are trying to spot or at least stand behind him to prevent an injury.
6.You can waste up to 10 minutes standing in front of the reception just to give them your membership card so they indulge you with the courtesy of swiping it into the card reader!! What’s so hard into keeping the stupid card reader on the top of the reception table, so every customer comes and swipes it in!! And let those monkeys sit back and watch the screen to verify the membership!!! Do I really have to wait for a new guy who is subscribing to finish up his procedures in order to have my lousy card swiped by the receptionist!!! And yes there are times when there are only two receptionists and both are occupied with new customers. Hello, I know you are aiming for your target sale, but what about those customers who are on the verge of leaving your gym for your opponents.
Yes, I have filed a couple of complaints addressing the above issues. The result? A cleaning boy assigned for the bathrooms, showers and lockers area. Is that the best they can do!! One cleaning guy!! Don’t they know how frequent the showers are being used every five minutes!!! So this proves that if the owner had any interest in customers feedback, he would’ve at least read the f&#*in comments cards.
Sorry for the long post, but it just hit a nerve and I can’t wait till I shift back to my old gym and hell with the crowds, I’ll go late at night and my problem shall be solved.
June 18th, 2007 at 5:30 pm
Touche’: man did you just right a book;P man honestly thanks for your input and you are totaly right about the hayat center managment and how ignorant they are, all your points are happening to me right now! i’m not kidding…its really a bad ass gym, and you know i have been trying for two days now to get reach of the manager there and still i did not get a hold of him, thats the best thing i try going late night at 12 sometimes just to work out alone with out the crowed, man touche!!
June 20th, 2007 at 8:25 pm
fuck platinum. why the hell would anyone bother joinning a gym with a HUGE billboard size picture of a black sweaty guy’s face and in the middle of fucking share3 al mata3em so u can get a fucking caboriya za3eem meal after u work out for 15 mins?
the only reason it gets any business is bc the keifan branch is close to all the kuwaiti trash areas, it’s not even that cheap to join!
June 21st, 2007 at 2:22 pm
holla:lol extreme point of view which i concure too
June 22nd, 2007 at 2:32 pm
First I would like to say that I think the situation with your obese freind was handled very poorly. I don’t know what his weight is but most commercial treadmills can handle in upwards of 180 kilos. I’m sure all the treadmills at both Platinum gyms are commercial grade. These things cost as much as cars and are designed to hold up under a lot of stress.
Second, I don’t think that Paltinum gym is the only place in Kuwait that could use a little customer service training. Although sometimes I feel like things are getting better in that area, I am often brought back down by the behaviour by an employee that makes you feel like you are there for them instead of the other way around.
I have spent most of my life working in Health, Recreation and Fitness to include many gyms/fitness centers similiar to Platinum. First and formost we must all understand that running a gym is a business. The owners, be they individuals or corpoarations are in it to make money. The problem here in Kuwait is that the owners focus entirely on the wrong areas in order to generate income. imho Here in Kuwait it seems to be that most gym owners concentrate on their gyms facade and giving the impression of being high class or fancy. Most of the money in starting a gym is spent on decorations. What the owners fail to realize is the importance of customer service and marketing. Once they realize how much money they are loosing from disgruntled clients and poor reputations you may very well see a change in customer service. I wouldn’t necessarily blame the trainers in every situation. Most gyms hire the trainers, not for their customer service experience but merely for their knowledge and background in exercise and fitness. (actually here in Kuwait its mostly their bodybuilding background) There is far less focus on customer service and virtually no customer service training for these employees.
I am a former member of Hyatt Center and loved it. It was exactly the kind of place that suited my background, experience and needs. That’s not to say that it would work for any of you. I liked it so much I drove from Mahboula to Salmiya everyday in order to train. Not all facilities will suit all people. I suggest before joining a gym/fitness center you inquire into a short term membership in order to try it out.
Fitness Centers/Gyms in Kuwait have come a long way since I first arrived here. I think things will continue to improve as facilities are forced to compete for clients.
Good luck to all of you and I hope you find what you’re looking for.
June 23rd, 2007 at 12:51 am
Trainer: thanks for your detailed imput and keen observation, and yes all gyms in Kuwait think of fancy customer, they allways enter the market as a fancy gym, then these customers just jump from one place to the other..what i hate mostly is when these place start to operate they introduce this method of applying then they will call you back to accept you or not, Palms made this stupid move and platinum too. now they are begging for customers after they have left them.
June 28th, 2007 at 7:08 am
Welcome to Kuwait!
July 19th, 2007 at 6:17 pm
How I add this article to Digg?