Corporate Bullies: An open letter to Bally Total Fitness

Hi, I'm back. I know, it's been a while. I did make the necklace for Marilyn and took a picture to post here, but I'm at work so I'll do another post from home so you all can see it.

Anyway... I'm attempting to cancel my gym membership because my new job has a workout room at the office that I can use for FREE! ... and I probably used my membership 40 times within the last 3.5 years. Worst and most expensive "investment" I've ever made. Probably comes out to $200 per visit. UGH. So, on top of me hating that they made me sign a 3-year contract that you can't get out of unless you DIE, I hate Bally because they are making it totally impossible for me to cancel my membership. Did I mention I hate them?!

And now, my open letter to Bally Total Fitness:

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To: Bally Total Fitness Member Services
P.O. Box 1090 Norwalk, CA 90651-1090

From: J

Date: December 2, 2009

RE: Cancellation of membership (#xxxxxx)

I need to cancel my membership (#xxxxx) to Bally Total Fitness as my new employer has a workout facility in our office that I may use at no charge. I am past my initial 3 year contract, and it is my understanding that I am now month-to-month. Therefore there should be no problem in cancelling my membership.

I attempted to cancel my membership both through the BTF website and by phone. I received NO response to my request via the website form. I called the number provided on the website, and was provided no option to cancel “just because”. The only options given are moving to an area with no club within 25 miles, medical reasons and “buyer’s remorse”. So after selecting both of those options (during two different phone calls), I waited through all the inapplicable info about mailing in letters to get to the part where I could select to speak to a customer service representative. Then I was informed that the wait to speak to someone was longer than 25 minutes, so I would be put in a queue. I found that to be quite ridiculous, so I hung up and called my local club. They informed me that I can only cancel my membership by calling the corporate office. I called the corporate number again, sat through the inapplicable messages again, and was then told by the automated system that the wait to speak to someone was more than 30 minutes, so the call was dropped. 5 minutes later I called back and received the same treatment – call dropped. So I submitted a second request through the BTF website. Then I attempted one more time a half hour later… same thing.

This is absolutely ridiculous and unacceptable “customer service”. Like every other service provider, you should at least allow an option to request a cancellation through your website. A request that you should actually respond to and act on. And dropping the calls of people who call in to corporate is unbelievable – first you require that I call corporate to cancel my membership, and then you make it absolutely impossible to get through to someone at corporate. At least provide the option for callers to leave a message for customer service to return. But I imagine if I did finally get to speak with someone, I’d get stuck with a sales person who will give me a long spiel attempting to convince me to not cancel my membership despite the fact that I don’t want to hear it, and don’t need a membership any longer, AND have every right to cancel since my contract is up. I know how these things work… I have dealt with pushy sales people before. And I don’t want to deal with this now. My membership needs to be cancelled and it needs to be hassle free. And at this point, I will NEVER consider membership with Bally again due to your horrendous “customer service”.


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I hope you all never have to deal with this crap, but we all know that's wishful thinking. Oooh, I should totally write a letter to the BBB too. They listen!

Peace & love.
J

Rant & Rave Wednesday

I found this post idea over at A Little Blog About Nothing.

Rant: Last night in the parking lot of the grocery store, I experienced a little fender bender. I looked behind me, but the guy was in my blind spot - right behind my head/headrest. Neither of us were at fault. The witnesses said that we backed up in unison. My poor little Civic has a plastic bumper, so that needs to be replaced. The other guy drove a 1989 Ford pickup, so he had no damage, and could have cared less. He said, "I'm cool if you're cool." I said, "HAHA! NO! Do you have insurance?" (as I thought perhaps he'd said it because he was uninsured.) He did indeed have insurance, so we swapped info. After re-assessing the situation, I've decided to bypass reporting it to my insurance (because it's ridiculously effing expensive as it is, which is a long sob story that I'll save for another post if I can detail it all without breaking into a fit of rage or depression). A friend of a friend manages a body shop and is totally going to hook a sister up with a great "green" deal. I'll actually save money because I'm paying less than my insurance deductible. woo! But of course, I wish it had never happened!! Damn Honda for plastic bumpers and blind spots that you apparently can fit a truck in!

Rave: I started back Weight Watchers a few weeks ago, and after 2 weeks I'd lost 4.8 pounds! I weigh in again tonight. You wouldn't know it by looking at me, but according to the ridiculous Body Mass Index, I need to lose at least 70 pounds to be just below the maximum healthy weight for my height. A friend so eloquently stated that if I lose 70 pounds, I'll look like a Brazilian super model.

Rant: I found these super cute trouser jeans at Lane Bryant, and when I went to purchase them, the cashier said that they're being discontinued. She also said that they are the best jeans the store carries, and she, along with other customers, are upset about their decision to discontinue them. I sent an email to Lane Bryant via their website expressing my disappointment, but of course I haven't heard a response from them. How in the world am I supposed to take Stacy & Clinton's advice if I can't find trouser jeans that fit me?! But Julie, you say, I thought you were losing weight? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Since I wear the smallest size at Lane Bryant as it is, as soon as I lose my 70 pounds, I won't be able to shop there anymore anyway. But I got a big ol' booty, so I anticipate I'll still need to search high and low for pants that fit me properly. Damn society and their low rise trend.

Rave: This weekend while blog surfing, I found a little gem called 20 Something Bloggers. I joined the network, and have found a ton of new, totally awesome, hilarious, thought-provoking, creative blogs to read. I have also gained a bunch of new followers! (Hi new friends! and thanks for reading. I hope I don't bore you!) I'm excited about all the new blogs I've found, but at the same time overwhelmed with the volume of reading I'll have if I choose to keep up with everyone!

Peace and love.
J

Another one bites the dust

Yesterday I joined "Team Unemployed" an so many else have and will in these dreary and frightening times. Those of you who still have your jobs are extremely lucky and if you haven't already, you should start going above and beyond so you can keep it! I'm keeping busy with updating my resume, emailing my contacts, and searching job postings. I'm also doing the necessary evils of making sure I'm stocked up on prescriptions, canceling my luxury utilities such as my data PDA plan and Netflix. Still contemplating whether I should cancel the gym membership and cable. I've lived without TV before, but it gets depressing when you live alone... And I might be able to put the gym membership on hold, but I'm thinking now is as good a time as any to get into a groove at the gym, not to mention my membership dues were just reduced from $40/month to $20/month because my three year contract just ended. I think that's something I've earned and can't give up... unless I don't find a new job within a month... then I think I'll say adios to Bally... or at least put the membership on hold.

And now for a somewhat humorous story... I just spoke, via facebook chat, with my new cousin-in-law who lives in England. He works for DHL there and said they informed him that hisi job is secure. Why? Because they have a contract with Cadbury. And Cadbury is doing amazingly well during this recession. Apparently chocolate sales are up because when people get depressed, they turn to their tried and true friend: chocolate. (For those of you who don't know, cadbury sells more than just the Easter cream eggs. When I was in Australia, Cadbury was THE chocolate to be had.)

If you happen to know anyone in San Jose or the SF Bay Area who would hire someone with a degree in accounting and 4 years experience as an auditor with a public accounting firm, please let me know. Thanks!

Peace and love.
Julie

So much love to give

It's everywhere... romance and marriage and love and kissing and sex. It's on TV, on the street, in the movies, all my friends are in relationships... I totally cannot relate with any of that right now. I'm single. I've pretty much always been single. I'm so over it. My Grandma tells me every chance she has that she prays for me everyday, and I'm 99% sure she's praying that I find a man and get married and have babies. Like, NOW. It's everywhere. It's all around me. All this good stuff that I don't have. I'm not complaining like I'm desperate, I'm just saying I'm annoyed.

My outlook has changed recently about all this love stuff. I used to feel like I desperately wanted someone to love me; to be in love with me. Of course I still want someone to love me, but now I feel that I yearn to love someone else. I feel like I'm welling up with love to give. This is a relatively recent realization that came to me a couple weeks ago. I was spending some quality time in the kitchen, which i very rarely do. I guess I just don't feel like it's worth it to just cook for me. So when I was making my clam chowder from scratch - figuring out how to friggin cook bacon for the first time - a thought came to me... I enjoy cooking for other people. I think when I'm in a relationship and when I get married I will definitely want to cook for my husband and family. I think it will be vary satisfying to give and to provide for him. I've felt this is the past with a couple guys I have dated and made dinner for, but I never really processed the thoughts until now. I'm yearning to have someone who I can love and I can cook for and I can take care of. I have so much love to give. It's like my heart is full, but at the same time incomplete.

This afternoon I was spending time with one of my best girlfriends, sharing these thoughts with her. She and her husband, whom I introduced her to, were married in November. She shared that she agrees; she really enjoys taking care of her husband and being able to provide for him in certain ways.

One of my favorite quotes is from When Harry Met Sally: "When you find someone you want to spend the rest of your life with, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible."

In other news, my nephew Landon should be arriving any day now! As of this afternoon, his mom was dilated to 1 cm and having contractions every 15 minutes. That sounds pretty darn serious to me; like he'd be coming today or tomorrow, but her comment was "The contractions are only 15 minutes apart, so I think we have a while to wait still." (I obviously don't know anything about being pregnant and giving birth!) I have a feeling that I'm going to love Landon more than I've loved any one else before him. :)

Peace and love.

J

Harasser Update

I called the SJPD to file a police report and the officer said that I could fill out a form online or he could fax or mail a form for me to fill out and return. I opted to file the report online. Who knows if anything will happen. I may as well just change my phone number because I have a number with a different area code from where I live because I kept my phone number from college (on the Central Coast of California). My grandma has been asking if I'm going to change my number now that I've moved back to Nor Cal. I didn't plan to since it's the only number I use and I have it listed on my bills, credit cards, subscriptions, insurance, etc. But I guess it is inconvenient for all my friends and family to have to dial a long-distance number. My parents won't call me from their house; they always use their cell phones. It'll be an inconvience to change my number, but at least I won't be awakened at night by some pervert.

Also, it's weird, yes, but I'm not really grossed out by this guy and what he's doing. I'm just annoyed that he keeps calling and totally curious as to who it is. I blame our whacked culture for my desensitization. I guess I've seen Dateline's "To Catch a Predator" too many times. :(

J

Not happy

I've had enough! It's been 5 months now that I've been getting calls from a withheld number between 11pm and 12am. I have received a few around 2am, 3am, etc. Every time I answer I can hear a guy breathing. I usually hang up after saying hello a couple times. After a month or two, I started hitting ignore, but I'm not happy about that as my outgoing voicemail message contains my first and last name.

Tonight (just 15 minutes ago) I received another call. This time I decided to stay on the line until he hung up. I also wanted to make sure I was actually hearing breathing and not just repeated white noise. I was on the call for 3 minutes before he hung up. Conclusion: Pervert was masturbating. Um, yeah. I just called AT&T to see if they could figure out what the withheld number was and they told me that I need to file a police report for harassing calls and then the police department will subpoena my phone records. OR... the lady said I could change my cell phone number.

Effing LOVELY!

J

Porch light update part 2

I was sick on Tuesday and stayed home from work, so I went to talk to the property manager when she was in. She said that she had gotten my email and responded to me, but I never received a response from me. I told her that my porch light was disassembled and she said that they were planning to put in a motion sensor, and was irritated that the maintenance guy had taken the light apart and not put it back together. On Wednesday when I cam home from work I found my new porch light assembly - a set of two flood lights and a motion sensor. But the damn thing didn't even stay lit long enough for me to unlock my front door, so I had to stop and wave my arms in front of it. I was sick and stayed home from work again today, and I didn't have the energy to talk to the property manager about it. Yes, I was, and I guess I still am, pretty livid about it. First of all it makes no sense for the lady to care about whether the light is on or not. My apartment is in a corner and the porch light could not possibly bother anyone as the only windows in the vicinity are my kitchen window and my next-door neighbor's kitchen window. I'm glad they did something about my request, but I would have preferred a timer over a lame, and UGLY set of flood lights. If I can remember to do so, I'll call tomorrow about the fact that the light doesn't even stay on long enough for me to unlock the front door.

And to answer your questions, Salome - it's a relatively small apartment complex - probably 30 units. I think it's just an independently owned complex because there doesn't seem to be a management company, just this lady who is the apartment manager.

After I found the complex and applied, I went home and looked it up on some apartment ratings website. There were a few complaints about the apartment manager being a bitch, etc. And then it appeared that the apartment manager lady, E, had responded saying things like, "We evict noisy, unruly tenants. If you broke the rules of your lease, then yes, you would be evicted." My friend expressed concern to me, and I waved it off saying that as long as I'm a good tenant, I shouldn't have any problems. And I reasoned that it's usually the upset, complain-y people who go on these websites, ya know? How many relatively happy tenants are going to go online and rate their "ok" or acceptable property manager? BUT, here I am being a good tenant, and my property manager is making me feel like I'm NOT being a good tenant or that I'm a nuisance to her.

I'm a pretty damn good tenant if I may say so myself. I even became friends with the lady who worked for my previous property manager in LA. She and the manager thought I was such a great tenant that they refunded my ENTIRE security deposit PLUS interest. That is just unheard of! She told me that they would charge me a $60 cleaning fee and I wouldn't have to clean when I moved out. I thought that was a pretty good deal, so I just did a little minor vacuuming and got out of there. The following week she called and said that it looked so good that they weren't even going to charge me the $60 cleaning fee.

Back to the current apartment... The one "major" thing E mentioned when I signed my lease was that tenants are not allowed to keep anything on their porches or patios other than plants or patio furniture. She told a little story where she'd come across a tenant who was storing her broom on her patio. E said, "I told her, '29 other tenants have found a place inside their apartments to keep their brooms; I think you can too.'" I thought it was a little anal, but don't really mind because that just means I'll be leaving in a relatively clean, nice looking apartment complex where my neighbors won't be keeping all their random shit where I can see it on a daily basis. That makes for a nice, aesthetically pleasing complex, and it actually is.

One more thing... on Tuesday when I was home in bed with a cold, E called my cell phone and left a message, "Hi Jennifer... I mean... Julie... I hope you can move your car because there is oil in your carport and we're going to pressure wash it in a few minutes. Well, if you can't move your car, it's going to be dirty." UM, excuse me? I get, what, 15 minutes notice? What if I was out of town? Tough luck? The apartment manager of the place I lived in LA always gave us at least a week's notice of things like that. I can understand that E was acting urgent about it because the complex was being inspected by the Housing Authority on Wednesday, but come on! Plan ahead! AND my parking spot didn't even get cleaned. I got out of bed and moved it for no reason.

J

Porch light update

While my property manager has not responded to my email about the porch light, I'm pretty sure she got it because I came home from work this evening to find a disassembled porch light. Yes, the mounted portion is dangling by the wires from the wall and the light bulb and cover are sitting on the ground.

Whatever.

We'll see what happens tomorrow.

Murphy's Law

Since I've finished studying (hopefully. I still haven't gotten my exam score yet) I've decided that I'm going to start being more creative, reading more, eat healthier, and go back to the gym. Today was finally the day that I decided to go back to the gym. I logged no more than 12 minutes on the elliptical machine when I got a sharp pain in my lower back and could no longer take deep breaths. yeah, wtf?! Believe me, I was going slowly in an effort to NOT hurt myself since I haven't worked out in months. Apparently my efforts weren't successful. I found some trainers and told them about my situation to see what their thoughts were. The front desk girl suggested that I was dehydrated and the trainer thought I'd either popped a rib out of place or pulled a muscle. He showed me some stretches to do, which I did, but they didn't make the pain go away completely. So, I got in 12 minutes of exercise. I think my body hates me.

An open letter to the people of Los Angeles

Haven't you seen the insurance commercial with the extremely rude guy getting pissed off at everyone and the narrator says, "You don't act like this in your everyday life; why act like this in your car?" Ummm... yeah, I'd say you have NOT seen the commercial.

A couple things:

1. The world is NOT ending! IT'S CALLED RAIN!! Contrary to popular belief, the rain does not cause your brain to fail. If you calm the frick down, you can drive the same way you usually do, just add some caution and be a tad bit slower. And when I say a tad bit slower, I really mean it; no need to slow to a quarter of your normal speed!
2. Yeah, that stick coming out the left side of your steering wheel is a blinker; a turn signal if you'd prefer. USE IT!!! My personal belief is that if you don't use it, you're an inconsiderate @$$hole who has no regard for other life forms. Appropriate times to use the signal would be when you're turning or want to switch lanes. If you don't use it, I have no warning that you're coming and I'm likely to hit you or get really pissed off! Also, it's kind of THE LAW to use it!!
3. If I turn my blinker on to signal that I'm coming into your lane, it is totally unacceptable for you to speed up and honk at me. The blinker serves as a polite notice to you that I'm coming, so don't be an inconsiderate @$$hole and express your anger via your horn.
4. And that brings me to your horn. The entire purpose is to let someone know if there is impending danger. This means that it should be used to warn someone that they are about to hit you or somethings else or about 20 seconds after a light changes green if the car in front of you has not started moving. It is NOT there so you can use it to express your unending anger, hatred, and frustration. We're ALL frustrated. We're in LA. and we're driving. This means:

• Do NOT honk at the car in front of you immediately after the light changes green. That one virtue? It's called patience!!
• Do NOT honk at the cars not going because there are cars in front of them - perhaps blocking the intersection. Yeah, people block the intersection. Laying on your mother-effing horn is not going to open up a portal in space in time that will miraculously cause those cars to move so you can get through the light.
• (But come on people, at least pay attention and try not to block the intersection - especially you double-long-accordion-extended buses; you @$$holes purposely block the intersection far too often.)
• Do NOT honk at someone who pulls forward a little to far past a stop sign - guess what... they're STOPPED... probably means that, surprise, they actually SEE you and are waiting for you to pass before they drive further!!

Moral of this long-ass gripe post: BE CONSIDERATE! Realize that we're all in the same situation, and we're all trying to get somewhere, and we're all frustrated.

Blah

I got in a minor car accident on January 12. No injuries, but I was sore for a while from tensing up immediately before and during impact. The car is currently in the body shop with at least $2500 in damages. The accident wasn't a huge deal, but it brought me down pretty low. I haven't felt joyful or too creative since then. My mood probably isn't based entirely on the fender bender, but it started there.

Last week I worked at a client's office in Irvine. Because the Controller was busy generating W-2s and 1099s, she essentially tried to avoid me while I was there. It's hard being the "hated" auditor. I know it has nothing to do with me personally, and everything to do with my position as the disruptor of the client's daily duties, but it still gets to me. Additionally, I was staying in a hotel so I wouldn't have to spend at least 3 hours commuting each day. While the hotel, with in-room spa tubs, was fantastic, last week was terribly lonely. I'm used to being alone since I live on my own, but last week was just too much - compounded with lingering pain from the accident and the stress of trying to get things done at work.

Sorry to be "Debbie Downer" but I just wanted to post something...

Julie

My crazy life

Sometime in April I was told that come May I would be working on a confidential fraud engagement somewhere near San Diego. Here's the timeline...

End of April: I find out I'll be in SD May 7-11 and 14-18.
May 3: I hear they won't be ready on Monday, May 7. Plan to be there Tuesday instead.
May 7: I hear they won't be ready on Tuesday. Plan to be there Wednesday instead.
May 8: I hear they won't be ready Wednesday. Plan to be there Monday, May 14. (at this point, I decide I can go to the grocery store. I had no food since I thought I was leaving town for 2 weeks.)
May 13: I don't want to have to sit in traffic for 100 miles on Monday morning, so I choose to leave Sunday night. I drive down to SD, leaving West LA at 6pm. I arrive at the hotel at about 7:45.

I go to the front desk to check in, and the girl at the desk tells me, "Your reservation was changed to the 16th." (The Manager on our engagement was taking care of the reservations and paying for them all on her credit card as the hotel is ~$200/night.) I think, "hmmm, I checked my email yesterday, but not today. I would assume that if something changed since yesterday someone would have called me." I call my Manager to see what's going on, "Oh no!" she says. "You didn't get the email I sent you last week saying that we're having to push back our start date again?! I am SO sorry. I sent it to you Wednesday or Thursday. You didn't get it? The client's numbers aren't right, and at the earliest we'll find out on Tuesday IF and WHEN we can start our fieldwork. I'll definitely be calling you with schedule changes from here on out."

Yes, good idea.

So I turn around and drive back to West LA. and for some God awful reason there's traffic in Orange County and LA between 8 and 10 p.m. on a Sunday night. I get home at 10:30. Next time, I'm calling the manager before I pack my suitcase and drive 100 miles. and on top of all this madness, I'm taking my audit exam in a week and a half. 4.5 hours of potential study time wasted in So Cal traffic.

J