Clare Wilson

Awful customer care. I rejoined in May 23 after cancelling during Covid. I went back wanting to get into strength training. It took nearly 3 wks to actually get an appt with Mark Burrows who specialises in strength training. He took me through a routine including lifting 150kg on the hack squat machine. I struggled with this & told him that I felt a strain in my lower back which concerned me. He said that this was normal & to carry on. I stupidly believed this & left the club happy, thinking everything was fine. The next morning I woke with severe back pain, unable to get out of bed properly, bend over, or walk without pain. I saw a chiropractor who advised that lifting extreme weights would have contributed to this pain & to not do excessive exercise until fully recovered. I immediately cancelled my membership having lost all trust & respect for the club. I received an email asking why I had cancelled my membership and wrote a reply explaining why. It was over a week before I got a reply (even though emails are checked daily apparently)The club manager was very apologetic & offered her own services in the way of a different exercise plan. I declined this as I was still in a huge amount of pain which I explained to her, stating that I was unfit to the use the gym & asked for a refund. I then got a very different response stating that one exercise was unlikely to gave caused the pain & it could have been caused by the the I had slept that night!! She said the personal trainer had emailed me after my session & I had not mentioned anything to him about back pain. It was 4 days after my first session with him that he emailed & it was only a list of exercises that he'd gone through, not even putting the weights on that I should use! By this time I had already cancelled my membership as I doubted whether they would take any responsibility, & I was proved right. She went on to inform me that I would not be getting a refund of one month as requested as they had provided alternative options for me!?
I find it extremely hard to believe that a so called personal trainer would expect someone with no strength training experience to lift such heavy wright's on a first session.
The customer service I have received has been extremely unprofessional.
I would never recommend this gym to anyone.

I joined this gym just over a month ago, specifically to get into strength training. After waiting nearly 3 weeks, I finally got an appointment with a personal trainer.
I told him that I had never done strength training before & wanted to tone up & get muscle definition.
We started on the hack squat machine & after showing me what to do, I did the same. However, after the set I told him that I'd felt it in my lower back & that it didn't feel right. He said that this was normal & nothing to worry about. After completing the rest of the routine I went home happy. Unfortunately, the following day I woke up with extreme pain in my lower back, unable to walk or bend without being in pain.
I visited a chiropractor who said that I had badly strained my back by lifting weights that were far too heavy. They gave me some stretches to do which are helping but I will not be able to partake in any of the exercises I love, like hill walking & running until my back has healed.
I cancelled my membership immediately but still have to pay for June, even though I am unable to use the gym due to my injury.
I have emailed the gym about my experience but unsurprisingly they have not had the decency to reply.
I will see an independent personal trainer in the future & would never recommend this gym to anybody.

Was kept up to date with expected arrival time of my furniture. Furniture arrived undamaged. Pleasant enough guy, dropped off at the front door. No problems.