My wife and I decided a little over a year ago to invest in a Workout Anytime franchise. We don't have much money, but we've been saving for a long time and waiting for the right opportunity to open our own business. It's always been our dream, and we wanted to build something for our children to inherit when they grow up. We met with the entire team at Workout Anytime corporate in Alpharetta, and they were all so nice. The numbers that they gave us and promises they made sounded so amazing. We were certain this was our dream come true, and that we would be very successful. They told us no one had ever gone bankrupt, and that was very reassuring.
To say we've been disappointed is such an understatement. We're devastated now only a year after opening because we've learned that everything they told us was lies. Everyone in the company knows that they lie to new prospects, and we feel like such fools. They told us that worse case scenario, we should have 1800 members in our first year, and the same amount added each year for 3 years. We trusted these people, and have learned now that there's maybe 1 club that has ever seen this many memberships, ever. The worse case they told us turns out to be more like best case, rock star scenario. The best case they told us was something like 2500 members each year, which would give us over 7000 after 3 years. That's never been done, so the numbers were wrong. We believed them, and invested all of our money, but now realized we were lied to and feel like such fools.
We had $200,000 to invest and that was every penny we had. Randy at corporate told us worse case we'd only have to spend about $150,000 out of pocket, so we'd be fine. Our credit scores were excellent, so getting financing for the equipment was no problem. Well, there were things he didn't tell us about and our $200,000 was nowhere near enough to get the club open, so we ended up having to take out additional loans just to get open. So we thought we'd be OK if we could just get open, but once again we were wrong.
We did our best during presales but just weren't bringing in nearly enough members. Corporate made it seem like our fault, but we've talked to other franchise owners and have learned that this happens to a lot of owners. Only a few clubs make it to break even within the first 2 years, and break even is more like 1800-2000 members, NOT 1200, which is what our Randy told us.
Now, we're open for almost a year and we don't even have 1000 members. All our money is gone, and there's no way we'll get to break even soon, if ever. We only have enough money each month to make payroll and we're 2 months behind on rent and 3 months behind on our equipment loan payment. We're so terrified because we have personal guarantees on everything and the landlord is threatening to force us to sell our house to pay them back. I can't sleep at night and am so sick about all this because we don't know what we're going to do.
My wife didn't want me to write this because if corporate sees it and figures out who is writing this, she thinks they'll do something to retaliate against us. That's what all the owners tell us will happen if we speak out, but I don't want anyone else letting these people destroy their lives. We're young and will recover, but I don't know how these people can get away with telling so many lies to people who invest everything they have with them.
Every day we hear more horrible things that corporate has done to other owners, and we just want out, but there's no way out. People say they're corrupt and that they make money off of all the approved vendors, even though they told us they would never do that. I don't know if that's true or not, but I know we can get stuff cheaper than what we're paying and better quality too. It seems like we're not alone and there are many other clubs, newer ones mostly who are barely hanging on and many more who will be forced to go bankrupt, like us. We will lose everything - our savings, our house where we live with our family, everything. Our credit is ruined too and neither of us have jobs since we've been working so hard on trying to get our business running. We were told we could hire a manager too, and keep our jobs. There's no way! Just another lie.
Everything they say is a lie and now that we're owners, not prospects, they treat us like we're stupid and do nothing at all to help us. Steve Strickland, the owner and Mark DeGorter the COO are bullies and talk down to us, if they ever talk to us at all. They only care about selling franchises, and once you sign on the dotted line, they're no longer your friends. Instead, they're your enemies, only looking for things you're doing wrong, ready to criticizie and punish you. They've even hired a guy who's job is to go around to all locations just to find stuff we're doing wrong. Do you think they could have hired someone to help those of us who are trying desperately to just stay in business? No. They don't care one bit that you're struggling or even dying. First they lie to get you to buy a franchise, then they put you in a crappy location, tell you it's your fault for not being able to get 1800 members in the first year, then add insult to injury by only finding fault in everything you do, never offering to help even when you ask.
We know it's not our fault even though they all try to make us feel that way. We talk to other owners and it's all about site selection, and more and more of us are being set up in bad locations because of all the other gyms that are doing the same thing we are. We have to live with this mistake we've made, and it will take years to recover. We won't ever be fooled again, and I hope whoever reads this will help us get the word out that these people are bad news!
Workout Anytime Franchising, LLC. Reviews
My wife and I decided a little over a year ago to invest in a Workout Anytime franchise. We don't have much money, but we've been saving for a long time and waiting for the right opportunity to open our own business. It's always been our dream, and we wanted to build something for our children to inherit when they grow up. We met with the entire team at Workout Anytime corporate in Alpharetta, and they were all so nice. The numbers that they gave us and promises they made sounded so amazing. We were certain this was our dream come true, and that we would be very successful. They told us no one had ever gone bankrupt, and that was very reassuring.
To say we've been disappointed is such an understatement. We're devastated now only a year after opening because we've learned that everything they told us was lies. Everyone in the company knows that they lie to new prospects, and we feel like such fools. They told us that worse case scenario, we should have 1800 members in our first year, and the same amount added each year for 3 years. We trusted these people, and have learned now that there's maybe 1 club that has ever seen this many memberships, ever. The worse case they told us turns out to be more like best case, rock star scenario. The best case they told us was something like 2500 members each year, which would give us over 7000 after 3 years. That's never been done, so the numbers were wrong. We believed them, and invested all of our money, but now realized we were lied to and feel like such fools.
We had $200,000 to invest and that was every penny we had. Randy at corporate told us worse case we'd only have to spend about $150,000 out of pocket, so we'd be fine. Our credit scores were excellent, so getting financing for the equipment was no problem. Well, there were things he didn't tell us about and our $200,000 was nowhere near enough to get the club open, so we ended up having to take out additional loans just to get open. So we thought we'd be OK if we could just get open, but once again we were wrong.
We did our best during presales but just weren't bringing in nearly enough members. Corporate made it seem like our fault, but we've talked to other franchise owners and have learned that this happens to a lot of owners. Only a few clubs make it to break even within the first 2 years, and break even is more like 1800-2000 members, NOT 1200, which is what our Randy told us.
Now, we're open for almost a year and we don't even have 1000 members. All our money is gone, and there's no way we'll get to break even soon, if ever. We only have enough money each month to make payroll and we're 2 months behind on rent and 3 months behind on our equipment loan payment. We're so terrified because we have personal guarantees on everything and the landlord is threatening to force us to sell our house to pay them back. I can't sleep at night and am so sick about all this because we don't know what we're going to do.
My wife didn't want me to write this because if corporate sees it and figures out who is writing this, she thinks they'll do something to retaliate against us. That's what all the owners tell us will happen if we speak out, but I don't want anyone else letting these people destroy their lives. We're young and will recover, but I don't know how these people can get away with telling so many lies to people who invest everything they have with them.
Every day we hear more horrible things that corporate has done to other owners, and we just want out, but there's no way out. People say they're corrupt and that they make money off of all the approved vendors, even though they told us they would never do that. I don't know if that's true or not, but I know we can get stuff cheaper than what we're paying and better quality too. It seems like we're not alone and there are many other clubs, newer ones mostly who are barely hanging on and many more who will be forced to go bankrupt, like us. We will lose everything - our savings, our house where we live with our family, everything. Our credit is ruined too and neither of us have jobs since we've been working so hard on trying to get our business running. We were told we could hire a manager too, and keep our jobs. There's no way! Just another lie.
Everything they say is a lie and now that we're owners, not prospects, they treat us like we're stupid and do nothing at all to help us. Steve Strickland, the owner and Mark DeGorter the COO are bullies and talk down to us, if they ever talk to us at all. They only care about selling franchises, and once you sign on the dotted line, they're no longer your friends. Instead, they're your enemies, only looking for things you're doing wrong, ready to criticizie and punish you. They've even hired a guy who's job is to go around to all locations just to find stuff we're doing wrong. Do you think they could have hired someone to help those of us who are trying desperately to just stay in business? No. They don't care one bit that you're struggling or even dying. First they lie to get you to buy a franchise, then they put you in a crappy location, tell you it's your fault for not being able to get 1800 members in the first year, then add insult to injury by only finding fault in everything you do, never offering to help even when you ask.
We know it's not our fault even though they all try to make us feel that way. We talk to other owners and it's all about site selection, and more and more of us are being set up in bad locations because of all the other gyms that are doing the same thing we are. We have to live with this mistake we've made, and it will take years to recover. We won't ever be fooled again, and I hope whoever reads this will help us get the word out that these people are bad news!