Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  03/22/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Hello-I would like to file a complaint against the Pure Barre Indianapolis-Fishers. I have been unable to get a copy of my contract even though this has been requested to ************************************************ I confronted ***** about having an uncertified instructor teach a class and I have now been at the receiving end of bullying and retaliation by the owners of this franchise.They cancelled my contract as requested but then also cancelled all of my classes for the rest of the month that I had already paid for. I re-signed up for the classes and was notified via email (I have copies of all of this correspondence) that I would be charged an additional month of membership if I took a class. I went to the studio to take the class and/or discuss other options and I was promptly told to leave by ***********************. She invaded my personal space multiple times after I asked her to keep her distance. She then told **** to call the police because she wanted to press assault charges against me and asked if I could "read" because I clearly didn't understand the contract (contract which was never provided). You can ask her to see a video of this encounter since she has secretly been recording **************** I have been charged a $250 cancellation fee, but have not been provided the contract nor has it been confirmed that they have kept their end of the agreement by staffing qualified instructors. They are also preventing me from taking classes before the end of my contract. I just want to understand what rights I have as a customer and what standards the ********************** brand has around instructors. This studio has seen 10+ instructors leave in less than 6 months. They are desperate for staff and do not care about the safety and well-being of their customers.

  Business response

  03/25/2024

  On Tuesday, March 19th, Lifestyle Member ********************* attended a Classic class at Pure Barre Fishers.  Customer completed the full class and left approx. 1 minutes early as the rest of the attendees were cleaning their equipment.  *********************** (General Manager) participated in class and was not informed at the time that there were any issues.  Upon leaving *****************, visibly angry, stopped at the front desk to inform *********************, the owner, that she wanted to i Cancel my membership immediately and further stated that I dont care if it costs extra as she was very upset that, in her opinion, the newest teacher whom was teaching the class she just attended was horrible.   **************** recommended she wait a couple of minutes for the current class to exit so *********************** (GM) could take a look at her contract and determine her appropriate exit strategy.  ***************** stepped to the opposite corner of the room to wait, for approximately 15 seconds, then exited the studio.  **************** asked her if she could wait another minute or two, however she did not respond.  **************** asked other members about the quality of the most recent class and they indicated that it was good.  ***********************, called **************** as soon as classes were completed for the day and left a voice message, as ***************** did not answer the call.  ***************** sent an email on March 19th at 6:37pm with the email titled, Cancel my membership immediately  and within the body of the email her reasons for wanting to cancel.   
  

  Per Ms. ****** contract with Pure Barre Fishers; to cancel, she would need to submit a 30 day written notice of cancellation, submit her last payment of $159 and pay the early termination fee.   The leadership promptly submitted her cancellation request per Mrs. ******* wishes, waived the 30 day cancellation submission as well as her final $159 payment.  The reason for this decision was to prevent further dissatisfaction of this client and meet her demands.  **************** has a history of expressing her dissatisfaction on social media and this was our attempt to avoid repeating this pattern of behavior. Upon the submission of any canceled memberships/contracts, pre-scheduled classes are canceled.  This information was shared with the client promptly on March 20th at 8am.   
  

  At 9:16am on March 20th, **************** stated that Pure Barre Fishers breached our contract with her and wrote the Pure Barre corporation requesting she be allowed to attend classes or have her remaining 11 days remaining in her month as a pro-rated refund to account for her previously paid membership for the current month.  Please note that **************** was still scheduled to attend the 5:30pm Empower class with *********************** on 3/20  and was still able to book classes via the Pure Barre app.   This is a system error with Lifestyle memberships unless we manually remove their classes.  
  At 4:06pm, ********************* sent the following email in an attempt to resolve this issue:
  
  ****,
  Your previous email stated you wished to be canceled immediately and we attempted to honor your request.  Last night, I understood that you wanted to cancel immediately and then we received your email this morning. Technically, as your contract states, today is your 30 day written notice, so you would owe your next month's fee of $159 on 4/1/24 as it falls prior to the end of the 30 day cancellation.  We were willing to waive that to honor your above request.  If you would rather we keep with the contract, please let us know that you would like to continue booking classes until the end of the 30 day notice instead of terminating your membership now.  We would really like to work with you and have you continue as a member.  
  When we entered in the cancellation request, the system may have removed your scheduled classes; however I still see that you are listed in the 5:30pm Empower class.  If you still plan on attending, we would love to discuss this further with you and come up with a resolution.  
  Kind regards,
  ********************;    

  
  At 4:58pm March 20th, **************** sent a response stating that she will be in attendance for the 5:30pm Empower class and indicated, I will be at class tonight.  I wouldnt want to get hit with another late cancellation fee.  I am sure other members would love to hear how you treat your clients.

  **************** followed through with her intent to come to the studio to let other members know how she felt.   Mr.  ****** was at the front desk and *********************** was in the studio preparing for class when *****************,  visibly upset, approached the front desk where clients were attempting to check in for their class and loudly demanded her cancellation fee be returned.  She used adult language and was blocking the iPad so that other members could not check-in to their scheduled class beginning at 5:30pm.    **************** asked to remain professional or she would need to leave the studio and discuss her concerns at a later time when emotions were de-escalated.   ***************** started to escalate in her behavior and could be heard by ****************, over the music in the studio as she was preparing for her class.  Hearing the commotion, *********************** came out of the studio and tried to de-escalate the situation.  Please note that **************** has attended many of ****************** classes and never had an issue.   **************** stepped to the front of the desk and asked **************** if she wished to attend the class that was about to start.  **************** stated that **************** will not allow her too.  **************** stated that if she could remain calm that she would attend class.  **************** once again asked if she would like to attend class however **************** again demanded her money back.  **************** explained that she will be unable to attend to her request as she was due to teach however she could follow-up after teaching.   **************** asked **************** to remove herself from the iPad so **************** can assist other customers with checking in. Then **************** communicated derogatory statements; questioning Ms. ******* experience as a fitness professional, spoke derogatory about Ms. ******* personal characteristics and stated that ****************** email was threatening to her and that **************** was bullying her.  **************** immediately removed herself from in front of the iPad area and closer to ****************.  **************** did ask her to leave and **************** called the local police as it was apparent that she was intentionally attempting to escalate the situation given Ms. ******* insults, aggressive behavior and refusal to leave, which was disruptive to our normal business practice.  As the call to police dispatch ensued, ***************** walked off stating further insults and suggesting we were wasting police resources.  **************** agreed that it was a shame that police had to be called due to her actions.
  Shortly after this, **************** called ****************.  This is the email that ******************* sent: 
  Pure Barre Fishers :: ****** Agreement Cancellation
  External
  Inbox
  Search for all messages with label Inbox
  Remove label Inbox from this conversation
  
  ******************** <*******************************>
  Mar 20, 2024, 8:33?PM (5 days ago)
  to me
  
  *********************,
  
  Thank you for your time today on the phone.  I wanted to document our conversation and your cancelation offer from earlier today.
  Pure Barre Fishers will reimburse ********************* for 8 days of March prorated monthly dues.
  With a cancellation on 3/20/23 (below) that should be 11 days prorated.
  Pure Barre Fishers will not charge ********************* for next months dues (April).
  Pure Barre Fishers does plan to charge ********************* a $250 cancelation fee for which she is disputing.
  
  I am concerned that the front desk told ********************* that her contract was up on 6/1/24.
  The cancelation note below states a start date of 5/3/23.
  A 12 month agreement is through 5/3/24.
  The contract breach is only Aprils monthly payment of $159.
  The cancellation fee for one month early is $250.
  If Pure Barre plans to charge the cancelation fee it makes more sense for her to stay on for the Month of April $159 versus cancelation cost of $250.
  Please do not cancel **************** contract at this time.  It makes more sense for her to stay on with Pure Barre Fishers through 5/3/24 and not renew her contract.
  
  During our call today you referenced a contract with Pure Barre Fishers.  ********************* did not receive a copy of the contract with the new ownership of Pure Barre Fishers.  At your earliest convenience, please reply to the email with **************** current contract for legal review.
  If any of my statements are incorrect please kindly correct the statement and reply back.
  Regards, ******************* *************)
  On March 21st, *************** resent Mrs. ******* contract to her as requested.   Please note that all members automatically receive an emailed copy of their membership agreement upon signing their contract.   
  

  **************** continues to attack the business, with communications to Pure Barre Corporation, placing derogatory comments on social media and further slandering us to other established customers, of which some have canceled their memberships based on what she has told them.  We are attempting to resolve this issue with the customer however every attempt has only resulted in continued demands.  We did offer to provide the customer (please see above) the pro-rated amount of $56 for unused classes however the customer has declined, despite her husbands acceptance.
  I hope this information explains our opposing perspective of Mrs. ******* complaints against us.  If you need any further information, please do not hesitate to reach out to me directly.
  Kind regards,
  *********************, owner
  Pure Barre, Fishers  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Customer response

  03/25/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined the response would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. 
  
  Please see the attached documentation regarding my complaint(s) against Pure Barre Fishers.

  In the response from Pure Barre Fishers, the following issues were not addressed:

  1) Pure Barre Fishers did not provide "certified" Pure Barre instructors as outlined in the services section of the membership agreement (see attached documentation).  ************************* response addressed the quality of instructor (for which I disagree), but not the fact that the instructor was not a Certified Pure Barre instructor at the time of leading the class.  ************** team responded that this was only the teacher's second class (per contract she should not have instructed any).  I did not say the teacher's class was "horrible" on March 19th, but I did say that the classes at this location were terrible.   Pure Barre Fishers has video documentation of this conversation.

  2) Pure Barre Fishers provided conflicting statements about what would happen with my membership as a result of my notice to terminate my membership with Pure Barre Fishers.  These statements also conflicted with the membership agreement of Pure Barre Fishers (see attached documentation).   In the response Pure Barre Fishers made another conflicting statement about "a system error allowed me to schedule classes."  This does not meet the terms of the membership agreement with Pure Barre Fishers (see attached documentation).  Per the agreement, I should have 30 days to finish out my contract.  And contrary to all of ********************* statements, I am still receiving the attached offers to re-new my membership at Pure Barre Fishers (example from March 25th, 2024).

  3) Pure Barre Fishers did not address my concerns about the customer service provided by the management team (see attached documentation).  

  In Pure Barre Fishers response, they claimed that the manager de-escalated the situation on March 20th.  The manager escalated the situation when she invaded my personal space multiple times and at one point asked me "Can you read, honey?".

  Pure Barre Fishers alleged in their response that "**************** has a history of expressing her dissatisfaction on social media."  I would kindly ask Pure Barre Fishers to provide documentation to substantiate this claim.  My past actions were actually the opposite.  I invited many of my friends to attend Pure Barre Fishers classes and several also became members.

  Pure Barre Fishers also alleged in their response that I am the reason that other members have cancelled memberships at Pure Barre Fishers.  If I were as bad as outlined in their response, other members would be happy that I left Pure Barre Fishers.  I am one of many time-constrained working moms at the studio who are looking for a good workout and some comradery.  Unfortunately, the studio lost that welcoming culture once these owners took over less than 12 months ago.   In the last 6 months, the new management team has run off 10 long time certified instructors and is struggling to get and keep certified and quality replacements.   Other members are leaving and frustrated just as I am because of the poor-quality services provided by Pure Barre Fishers.

  I am only looking for Pure Barre Fishers to reimburse me the $250 cancelation fee that they charged me.  They broke the contract by providing an instructor who was not certified.  I should have the right to cancel without fee.

  Regards,
  
  *********************

  
  

  Customer response

  03/27/2024

  Please see attached additional information.

  Thank you, *********************

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩