ANYTIME FITNESS Franchise Complaints

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• As a start franchise owners I would to hear from you in what you think Anytime Fitness lacks to help you succeed and what you think they could have done to assist you in your franchise?

  All comments are welcome!

• In Marietta Georgia off Canton Road. Thief trainer. Gossip. Ruining the gym. I can't stand it. Had to switch

• Excuse me. To be more precise the old blonde lady trainer is thief and gossip. She took my mom's money. We aren't even members. No proper receipt it awkward. We aren't even members. I told my mom no more. The tanning bed cut me. It's broken really broken glass cut me
  . Liability. What happens if we get hurt? We aren't members? That's considered stealing right?

• I own an Anytime Fitness and I can tell you it is not all they say it is. Aside from monthly franchise fees there are other fees that really eat into your bottom line. These fees amount to over $2000 a month. Support from corporate is just ok. We have put a lot into the franchise and are just holding our heads above water. Somebody mentioned that corporate is making all the money and that is the absolute truth. They are raking it in while mist of us are just getting by.

• Similar to others. I am a real estate developer that is into fitness and am considering a franchise(s) in MA and NH. The areas I have property in are affluent and underserved. My main question is whether I can make money from it. In our area you need to have classes as well so I would not consider Planet Fitness. I am reluctant to buy a single franchise rather than an entire area. I had two RE/MAX franchises years ago and they took all of the money. Any help would be appreciated.
  Thanks

• What is the main reason for franchising? Systems. If you can build or buy a system that is nearly as good or better than a franchise is not the best option.

  I work with franchise businesses, and the biggest complaint I hear "Franchisor makes all the money."

  There are many types of reasons to buy into a franchise: Fast, fixed, known operational, information, but the biggest is the reduced fear of doing it alone.

  I have read the complaints and agree that in each situation the franchisee is entitled to feel good or bad. The question I leave you with is who had the power when you entered into the business? Who had power to change and serve the customers during the business? Why would a business franchise give away all the ideas and power, and not expect a solid return of cash or control?

  We started in athletic clubs and left to go to other locations. Still feel the clubs are the best place to work out, and host family focused solutions. They will not all be profitable, they will never really be easy, but are they worth it?

• The 24/hr fitness in framingham , has poor customer service . The staff is rude and the manager Andrew is to busy , on his cell or computer to achknowledge a customer most of the time. They lie to make you sign a contract , pressure , and push . This continues to be the worst gym experience ever, I am walking into my nightmare daily. The gym smells , is dirty , and equipment is old. I asked to speak to owner the manger Andrew stated , " when i see him , i can ask him, President Obama , can be reached faster " ! This is the super fitness next to stop and shop 19 temple st. , buyer beware !

• Anytime Fitness is the biggest con in the Franchise world. The best advice that I can give is to avoid them like the plague. Badges of honour mean nothing when there is no honour to protect. The company received the number 1 ranking on Entrepreneur based ONLY on financial strength. Well they charge £25k for a franchise so it is no wonder - they make millions off just the franchise fee. Loads of unhappy franchisee's drop out because their pathetic property teams are hopelessly ineffective at sourcing viable sites for franchisees. Yet the sales team are let loose on promising the world to poor franchisees who will never know the difference. Some franchisees are without a property for many years and just give up trying but don't get ANY assistance from Anytime. All they want is YOUR MONEY and they flash around a couple of successful gyms to seduce you into joining. Fact is that many gyms are going under because they haven't provided to support nor the assistance to franchisees to get them going. Then they absorb your fees so it is no wonder they have a high ranking. Try doing a proper ranking of franchisee support / follow up, number of franchisees that have lost interest or have been simply ignored out of the franchise network after some time.

  Chuck the CEO is actually just a greedy guy - he has a poor management record and a poor implementation record. The clubs themselves are not at all self managed but take copious amounts of time to run and maintain. There is constant support required and none of their promises can be met.

  This is truly an ugly place - speak to other franchisees there are much better options there

• IS this franchise worth looking into ?? I am getting very mixed reviews which means is not good news.

  Seems many Snap places are shutting down as more lower end franchises are poping up and big gyms like Planet will probably put smaller gyms out of business.
  This looks pretty risky but wanted more information from other owners.

  Thanks, David.

• I am a current and soon to be former UPS store owner and I can tell you to avoid UPS and the model is a disaster. Seems the franchise business is only lucrative if you can afford the higher end ones that costs millions.