Business ProfileforFitness NC of Hope Mills

I will preface this review by saying I absolutely love this gym location. I have been exercising here for nearly four years, when this location was a Snap Fitness. The local staff - currently Derek & Matt, but historically Christine, Garrett, Jon, Josh, Tasha - are extremely friendly & helpful, and have always worked hard to build a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. Unfortunately, the quality of this gym took a downtown after Hurricane Florence, when the gym switched franchises from Snap Fitness to Fitness NC - I believe the ownership remained consistent. This location was completely flooded during Hurricane Florence, and since then, I have witnessed little to no upgrades, repair or maintenance to the equipment or facilities. Almost any new equipment in the gym has been contributed by individual members, because they love the environment and gym community. Despite this, in addition to our monthly membership rate, we are now charged an annual "maintenance fee", which was not advertised to the membership base. When the owner visits the location - which is infrequent - members always ask about getting new equipment, or getting equipment repaired. To date, other than seeing a dusty/used treadmill brought in from storage, no new equipment has been introduced to the location. So much for that maintenance fee. We have multiple treadmills and ellipticals that do not function, and local staff are being told to cobble parts together to make them work, without further support. The monthly single member fee is $10/month, which is very affordable for the services provided. However, as a legacy Snap Fitness member, I continued to be charged $25/month without notification that a lower membership rate was available - on top of the nebulous maintenance fees that apparently aren't applied to the location itself! Aside from the few consistent staff (Derek & Matt) that we've had over the last several years, there is a high turnover rate of staff at this location, and the Havelock location. I have been told by multiple staff members that they frequently encountered pay issues, if they were paid at all. The previous "district manager", Nick, was frequently unprofessional towards the local staff in front of clients, even boasting about firing staff members within the hearing of gym members. He also insisted on maintaining the gym at an uncomfortably hot temperature, despite multiple requests from gym members to maintain a more comfortable climate. He finally installed boxes on all thermostats in the gym to prevent members & staff from tampering with what he perceived to be the correct setting. The new "district manager", Mitch, seems to be overwhelmed and tasked beyond his capabilities. I have also witnessed numerous verbal altercations between him, staff and gym members. When criticism / suggestions about improving the gym are presented, he has deferred blame to the "owner", Ian, who apparently is impossible to reach, and clients have no way of directly complaints/feedback beyond Mitch (apparently). The gym has closed circuit security cameras installed, which have been in place since the location was Snap Fitness. Mitch has installed personal Wifi cameras which only he can access, which have at several times been pointed in areas where women in the gym stretch/exercise. Multiple women in the gym have expressed discomfort with the presence of personally owned Wifi cameras in the gym. In my view, Mitch's management of this location, and of Havelock's has negatively impacted the gym, and raises a lot of concern among longtime members that anything meaningful is being done to take care of the staff and equipment. The only new additions I have seen to the gym is a vending machine for expensive energy drinks which no one purchases - this was proposed and implemented by a previous manager who embezzled money from the company - and low quality branding/merchandise which no one buys outside of T-shirts. We don't need energy drinks and smart watches, we want refurbished equipment, personal training classes, and other community building outreach. This gym has a lot of potential, and again the local staff is very energetic and engaged with the community. But the leadership and ownership team of this company clearly have no idea what they are doing.