Harrassment at Gym

neil277

Mrs_C26 wrote: »

Hi everyone,
I joined Fitness First in November 2010 and I am desperate to leave as I have been harassed by one of the personal trainers there. When I joined I was entitled to three free PT sessions and the trainer who was assigned to me was a complete sleaze. Cut a long story short he made pervy remarks about my body, asked if he could take me out (but told me not to tell my boyfriend), made racist remarks about the Eastern European gym members (my mum is Slovakian therefore I found this particularly offensive!), kept touching my waist and arms when he was showing me how to use the equipment and then got my mobile number off the computer system and proceeded to send me inappropriate texts.

I basically stopped going to the gym after this and my boyfriend phoned to complain twice – he was told a manager would call back but we have heard nothing. I am paying £50 a month for a service I am not using. I spoke to Head Office today and they said they can’t cancel my membership as I am under contract. They said the best they can do is ‘investigate’ my complaints to stop it happening again. I don’t think this is good enough at all – surely they are in breach of contract? I didn’t think being sexually harassed was part of the service they offer?! I have been totally put off going there again and my boyfriend is not keen for me to go there either. I don't want to go to another Fitness First as there isn't another one anywhere near where I live plus why should I be made to go elsewhere because of someone else's bad behaviour?

Can I legally take this further if FF are refusing to cancel my membership? Any advice would be much appreciated. Many thanks.

I would go to the police and make a complaint it might change their mind on the direct debit.

neil277

DVardysShadow wrote: »

It is a fair point.

What has bothered me about this thread is the number of people who have said take it to the police on what is quite a balanced account of unreasonable behaviour There is no evidence here of any significant degree of violation and I think that the correct response is to firmly tell the trainer to stop and escalate to management. That should put sufficient distance between OP and trainer.

company computer got my mobile number off the computer system and proceeded to send me inappropriate texts. He broke the law simple Data protection act

RuthnJasper

Thank you for the update MrsC26. I was appalled to read about what he got up to in the private room especially (and his comment). It must have been really embarrassing for you. Fitness First's response was pathetic. "Use a different gym", indeed. Honestly. It's not like the country is packed with them. Why should you have to go miles out of your way in order to avoid one of THEIR employees who has degraded you?!

Hope you get a better response from them in due course.

I probably wouldn't have been brave enough to smack a guy who'd said that to me in a similar situation, but I would get very, VERY loud with him and make sure someone heard. I did that once when some perv sat behind me on the bus thought he'd cop a sneaky feel. I stood up, turned around and said loudly (so that everyone else on the bus heard) "Can you STOP fondling my breasts, please - you make me feel sick." The stricken look on the grubby s*d's face was almost funny.

What a disgusting creep - I'd definitely be avoiding the gym and getting out of my contract if I could. Not sure about the direct debits - you could write to them, I suppose, saying something like "You have failed to provide me with a satisfactory response to my complaint and your suggestion that I simply use an alternative facility is patently inadequate. Please, therefore, accept this as notice of cancellation of my contract, for the reasons stated in my initial letter to you of xxth xxxxx 2011. My final direct debit payment to you will be on xxth xxxxx 2011." Or something along those lines. I'd also be tempted to add "I am sorry that I have been left with no option other than to cancel our agreement and, moreover, that you did not feel able to respond to my letter in a courteous manner with helpful advice and assistance. I have also sent a copy of this letter to the head office of Fitness First, so that they are aware of the issues I have raised." but you might prefer not to do this. (N.B. If you DO copy a letter to the Head Office, make sure that you also enclose copies of any other relevant paperwork so that any investigation of theirs is not hampered by your branch of FF having "lost" your paperwork).

Good luck to you sweetie. You certainly didn't deserve to have smutty comments and advances forced upon you by this creep. I hope he's not pulling the same stunts with other members.

xx

Gavin83

VfM4meplse wrote: »

Thanks for the post Mrs C26, I have a great deal of sympathy with you, but it has highlighted the broader isssue of men trying to take advantage of women in the gym. I have lost count of the number of times gym bunny meatheads with SfB have tried it on with me.

Quite possibly the worst attempt at chatting me up came from a chancer on an adjacent treadmill. He asked me where I am from, not satisfied with the answer he asked me where my parents are from so I answered "Africa" - which is true, although I am clearly not of African descent either. To which the reply was "I love Naomi Campbell".

At which point I got off the treadmill before the conversaton could plummet further.

At what point does it become inappropriate though? Is it not acceptable to talk to women in the gym?

I actually know people who have met their partners in the gym so some chatting up must be successful sometimes.

hollydays

Being in a professional position,being alone in a room with,touching them, them-mentioning their breasts.....? Would you do this?

Otherwise,some women will get bored and irritated with being hit on by men when they are trying to exercise,cheesy (not sleazy) chat- up lines do not harm as long as you don't mind the brush off sometimes,but why not just try talking to them? This isn't really the right thread for advice on chatting up:eek:

RuthnJasper

Gavin83 wrote: »

At what point does it become inappropriate though? Is it not acceptable to talk to women in the gym?

I actually know people who have met their partners in the gym so some chatting up must be successful sometimes.

It's fine to flirt and chat, if it's mutual and appreciated. I love being chatted up and am quite flirty myself.;) I went out with a guy I met in my gym for a while (split up when I caught him kicking his cat around his living room :mad:).

Where the instructor went astray was ignoring the OP's clear statement that she had a boyfriend, then starting to undress in front of her in a private room whilst touching her and making comments about her breasts. That is not flirting - that's creepy. And that's before he started on the racist nonsense or the unwanted texts.

I can't imagine too many guys who'd want a stranger in a position of trust to start making personal comments about their c*ck. Actually - I probably can. Although possibly not along the lines of how it reminds a woman of her ex-boyfriend, hehe.:)

Gavin83

Sorry I wasn't referring to the original post when asking my question as the actions of the instructor are obviously unacceptable. I was speaking more in a general sense as the post kind of came across that it's inappropriate to chat women up in the gym. There are obvious boundaries, ie if they ask you to leave them alone leave them alone but that applies anywhere.

I wasn't looking for chat up advice either, I'm in a happy relationship thanks!

MyKeey

Mrs C26 - I wonder how many other female members this guy's harassing???

hollydays

Gavin83 wrote: »

Sorry I wasn't referring to the original post when asking my question as the actions of the instructor are obviously unacceptable. I was speaking more in a general sense as the post kind of came across that it's inappropriate to chat women up in the gym. There are obvious boundaries, ie if they ask you to leave them alone leave them alone but that applies anywhere.

I wasn't looking for chat up advice either, I'm in a happy relationship thanks!

I don't think the OP actually said that,though .
sorry for my comment,i was being flippant.

Equaliser123

neil277 wrote: »

company computer got my mobile number off the computer system and proceeded to send me inappropriate texts. He broke the law simple Data protection act

The fact that an employee acted on a frolic of his own doesn't necessarily make the company liable for breach of the DPA.

Do you have any idea how few prosecutions there are under the DPA?