Why Does No One At The Customer Service Number Answer The Phone?

The South Central Location in Austin on Ben White and 290 was supposed to open at 4am and was still not open at 7am. Three hours, and no manager or assistant manager, district manager, or regional manager, front desk supervisor, or any one of the trainers had any way of opening the gym or contacting someone to open the gym after 3 hours. Also all of 8-10 employees standing in the parking lot can't offer any explanation or apologize for the gym not being open? They just let myself and about 10 other people have to figure out that the gym wasn't open and left us with no idea about what was going on. Was the gym going to open soon, or ever? I then looked up your customer service number and called to find that you had to wait until 8am to reach someone. I called back after 8am and followed the prompts and waited...and waited...and after 15 MINUTES on hold and no one answering I called the 6th street location and spoke to the FDS, Justin who, even though it wasn't his gym, or his responsibility, listened to me and heard me out. Also Eric Gardaner of 6th street was also able to call me back later and hear me out as well and in the past I have had great interactions with Steven at the 6th street location as well. Why do you have a customer service number if you aren't going to provide customer service and have any one answer the phone? I've worked out at Gold's for half my life and I have noticed a downward trend in customer service and personal training. I can't tell you how many trainers I see half heartedly training their clients who look like they are on the brink of injury. I had a trainer for 2 years and she was phenomenal and I cringe when I see what most of your trainers let people get away with in regards to form. If I were to quantify it, about 70% of your front desk staff in most of the different gyms I attend, which averages about a rotation of 4 throughout the week, have no product knowledge about the drinks, focus more on their phones than greeting people and saying goodbye, and seem to have no training for customer service. I don't blame them I blame your organization for not providing them with those skills. I also think it speaks volumes when you call your customer service number and can't even get someone on the phone. I say this as someone who has been a loyal Gold's Gym patron for over 15 years and am passionate about your success. I love the flexibility of being able to go to different Gold's locations and work out in different atmospheres but I feel that the culture is changing and not necessarily for the better. People want to feel appreciated and taken care of and I feel that this is lacking in a lot of the gyms I regularly attend. If I ask you a question about a drink that isn't even nutritiion specific, such as what happened to this drink? or will you have this flavor again I am often answered with "I don't know" and a shoulder shrug. There's no attempt to find out or even say let me get someone who does know. There is a culture of apathy that could be solved with one or two sessions of general training about the products, about the schedules, about who does what at the gym and where to find answers as well as simple training about how to interact with customers and make them want to refer more and more of their friends to want to use your gym because of the great attitudes and knowledgeable staff.