Dear Ivan
Thank you very much for your email.
While I thoroughly enjoyed the excercize portion of Monday's Bootcamp, and feel for my first class I did really well, and pushed myself well beyond what I do on an every day workout, I did not enjoy having Tony as an instructor. While I can appreciate the difficulty of his job with so many people being in the class, and while I certainly understand the Bootcamp concept of the instructor being tough and being pushed beyond the limit, I felt the way he treated me near the end of the class was not only terribly unprofessional, but I felt bullied and embarrassed. I purchased this item because I wanted to feel motivated and encouraged to excersize, not to be belittled and discouraged from wanting to attend.
When I came in, as you know I filled out a form where I included issues I have with my body. I have a lot of injuries due to playing a lot of sports when I was younger. At the beginning of the class Tony stated if there were issues he would modify things so we were still able to do a form of excersize with the class.
During one occasion I had to ask him to provide me with an alternative excersize to prevent injuring my knees. While several other times I was very obviously struggling with certain excersizes due to my injuries, including one time where I told him it was really hurting my back (I have two very inflamed lower vertebrates), he made little attempt to give me something modified to help me to continue to work out without damaging my body. I don't see much of a point in filling out the form, if it's not going to be read or taken into consideration.
During the class, my partner who I was paired up with was wearing a wrist brace. She asked me to not pull too hard which obviously I respected. Tony saw I wasn't pulling hard enough, came up and litteraly shoved her aside and grabbed my wrists very hard and my thumb was pulled out of it's socket. I didn't complain or say one word about it and I continued as best I could with the rest of the class. He eventually saw that I was massaging my hand and asked me if there was something wrong with my wrist. I told him no, it was my thumb, and then he came up right in front of me to a point where he was no more than 5 inches away from my face and told me he didn't care about it, and that I had an attitude problem, and asked me if I wanted to stay in the class. He continued to negate that I wanted to be there and that there was something wrong with my attitude. I hadn't done anything that warranted the idea that I didn't want to be there, nor that I had the wrong attitude, in fact I truly believe it was the opposite. I pushed on and didn't complain even though I was injured, and even when I physically was unable to do certain excercizes I gave them all my best attempt.
This experience I had is by far the worst I have ever had at any physical training facility. I have worked with over half a dozen trainers and taken multiple different kinds of classes, and worked with people of all different types and attitudes. I have never felt more angry, humiliated, or bullied before by anyone who was trying to "help" me. Bootcamp should be tough but encouraging, and I certainly did not feel encouraged by my experience at your Bootcamp, and I have no intention of returning.
Although I did purchase this certificate a while ago, I would appreciate if in good faith you could please send me a refund for the class.
My mailing address is on my form that was filled out on Monday.
Thank you, and best of luck
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Hi ***** this is Tony..Thank you for your feed back on the class..So I'll get right to it and address some of the issues that you brought up..As was the case with you, I try and personally ask every new client if they have any injuries, restrictions or limitations right from the beginning on their first day before we start the class....I definitely remember asking you if you had any injuries, conditions or other issues that would prohibit you in participating in some of our training activites. I also remember telling you that if there's was any particular exercise that you couldn't perform or even attempt because of an injury or condition, then I would give you a modifier..During that same brief conversation I also advised you that this particular style of training and this particular class was like no other that you've probably ever encountered..During that same conversation I tried to make sure you fully understood the concept of our style of training..This is legitimate military styled training..I remember telling you that everything that we do is all in fun and not to take anything personal..I told you that from the start in which you acknowledge and agreed that you understood the concept..you're right about the fact that you've had numerous personal trainers and been to various types of classes , but have never seen anything close to what we do..That's because all of the other "boot camp " style classes out there, aren't real boot camp classes..In most cases its just a play on words to ride the current wave of popularity and success of boot camp styled classes...So it sounds like you've been conditioned to dealing with a more laid back style of instruction..By the way just fyi, I know pretty much every single boot camp class that's out there in the GTA to include most of their instructors and ironically enough, quiet a few of all those camps and classes out there has tried to hire me on to teach their classes or at the very least train their instructors..Why, because they all would like to offer a legitimate boot camp styled class and instructor. Having said that and by your own account of not ever encountering an instructor or class like the one we have its probably why you interpreted everything the way you did...
You mentioned that you felt that you were embarassed, humiliated and bullied during the end of the class which couldn't be further from the truth..When I approached your pt circle it was only to make adjustments. During this particular stretch routine we shuffle everyone around (change everyone's position) to maximize everyone's full potential of the stretch routine..It was at that time that I noticed that you were not participating..I was just about to join the circle myself between you and another student when you snatched away from me..Which was very disrespectful..So of course I asked you to rejoin the pt circle in which you again disrespectfully replied no and that your thumb hurt..By the way you snatched away so fast that I actually never made contact with you...What you didn't know was that I was just about to make another rotation in the circle, secondly, you snatched away so fast that I was never given the opportunity to show you a modified version of the stretch. Which would have been to execute the stretch by grabbing the individual's next to you forearms instead of the hand..Its a much more comfortable position for some as opposed to the hand grip, but you never gave me the opportunity to show you that because you just flat out refused to continue training..Which is why I responded to you the way I did, which by the way was quite appropriate for true military style training..Again its the style of true legitimate military style training and once again its all in fun..Everyone there in our class and in that particular pt circle fully understands that..Everyone there knew that I wasn't there to humiliate , embarass or bully you in any shape or form..When you refused to continue training I just merely wanted to confirm that you didn't want to continue any more..I gave you the opportunity to go and sit it out..Mean while by you removing yourself from the circle, you broke up the continuity of the strectch routine.. I didn't have time to stand there and have a long drawn out conversation with you, either you wanted to train or you didn't..That's how we do things here ***** and again its all in fun..Everyone knows not to take anything personal..I would have been quite content for you to go and sit it out..By the way, everyone else there thought that you were just copping out because you didn't have the mental discipline or will power to see the routine through and was looking for an excuse to quit. You mentioned that you felt that you were pushing yourself and giving your all during the class, but if you fully grasped the concept of this style of training, you would know that it doesn't matter how hard you're pushing yourself, "you're never pushing yourself enough". Again its all designed to get the most out of you and all in good fun..Absolutely nothing personal. You failed to mention that after the class, I walked over to you to reemphasize that everthing that we do is all in fun and to try and stick with it..I also advised you to try and get in some more strectching once you get home to prevent soreness and stiffening up. Again to re-assure you that nothing was personal.
Now the issue of you mentioning that I was not willing to offer you modifiers for some of our exercises and routine is absolutely ridiculous and couldn't be further from the truth..You mentioned that you were struggling during some of if not all of the exercises. This is nothing new and another concept that I don't think that you fully grasp of our style of trainig..EVERYONE STRUGGLES WITH OUR ROUTINES AND EXERCISES..IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT LEVEL OF FITNESS THAT YOU'RE AT..EVERY SINGLE THING THAT WE DO WILL BE A STRUGGLE..That's the design of the entire concept of true military style training..The exercises and routines are designed so that in even attempting to perform our exercises and routines, you still get a great work out..Struggling with a particular execise is not a reason to substitute with a modifier..You mentioned that your back was hurting during one of the drills which is a direct result of you not executing the exercise properly..You weren't performing the exercise correctly because it appeared that you weren't willing to push yourself..The same applies to the issue with your knee..You weren't willing to commit to the full range of the exercise because once again you didn't appear to want to push yourself..I would never just ignore someone who needed a modifier.. I have modifiers for absolutely everything that we do and substitute them out all the time.
The bottom line is this. At the end of the day, this type of training is not for everyone..We get real quick results with our clients because they're all driven and want to be here...Most of our clients are from other gyms, classes and boot camp programs..To the person, all of our clients agree that this is the most realistic and challenging course they've ever seen and we've trained everyone from soccer moms to police officers..We train hard and get quick results.We get a huge percentage of our clients from referrals, in fact a high percentage of the people in the very class that you were taking were all referrals..We've had hundreds of new clients come through our doors and absolutely none of them have endorsed your point of view.. Having said that, we don't twist anyone's arm to be here..I've even on occasion after observing new clients on their first day have asked a hand full of people to not return..You don't have to be in top physical condition to participate in our program, but you do have to be motivated and have the right mind set..All of our clients know that when they show up for our class that its probably going to be the most challenging hour of their day and they prepare themselves mentally accordingly.
So obviously it appears that this class is not for you, as I stated its not for everyone and there are no hard feelings for anyone when it isn't..Unfortunately we will not be able to issue a refund..You purchased your special through Groupon which only allows refunds within 30 days of purchase..You've obviously surpassed that deadline..There's nothing we could do about that..Another option that you might consider is selling or passing on your coupon to someone else who'd be able to take advantage of the deal and the training..If you can't find anyone to purchase your coupon, I'll even go as far as letting you leave the coupon with us..I'd probably be able to offer it to someon else for the same price but can't guarantee it...Let us know what you decide..
Good luck
Tony A. Chief Instructor
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Tony
Thank you very much for your quick response. While I appreciate the time you took to write such a lengthy and thorough response, your recollection of the event that happened where you stated that I was not participating, I snatched away from you, I replied no to joining the circle, and I flat out refused to continue training is a complete and total fabrication.
What I found even more shocking, was that you even continued trying to bully me after I told you I had no intention of returning and tried to make me feel badly by stating, "everyone else there thought that you were just copping out because you didn't have the mental discipline or will power to see the routine through and was looking for an excuse to quit." As if you took a survey after the class and asked everyone what they thought of what I apparently did.
Not only were your actions during the class completely uncalled for and unprofessional, but your response in this email was as well. At no time did you try to encourage me to come back to the class, or apologize for your actions. Whether you had already decided to treat me poorly at the start of the class, or three quarters of the way through, I don't know when or why and will never know, but congratulations, I have no interest in attending a class or supporting a company that behaves in this manner, and treats their customers with such disrespect. If this is how you try to run a business, best of luck to you.
Your response made me realize that your treatment of me wasn't actually about me at all, but was about you and your need to feel superior by making others feel poorly. So thank you for sending your response, it made me feel much better.
Good luck in your business endeavours, and feel free to do whatever you like with the certificate, as I have no intention of referred anyone to your company.
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