Complaint - CW Fitness LLC and & Chris Warnes (Follow Up)

Notice: To all Oxford and Seymour Residents,

On November 2nd, 2017, I authored the following complaint and posted it to the Oxford Patch:

"Please be advised that I have registered a formal complaint with the CT Better Business Bureau against CW Fitness LLC and its owner Chris Warnes. I have also filed a Consumer Statement with the State of Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection"

My post on November 2nd, 2017 contains a detailed and truthful account of the circumstances which led to my registering formal complaints with both the CT Better Business Bureau and the CT Department of Consumer Protection. You may review this post in its entirety here: https://patch.com/connecticut/...

The following is an update with regards to my progress with these two complaints. I take no pleasure in posting this information to the Oxford Patch, but I feel that I have a duty to my fellow residents to report my experience in an effort to warn others before they fall prey to these unfair business practices.

The CT Better Business Bureau has a total of five (5) complaints that were registered against CW Fitness, LLC, including my unresolved complaint. Three (3) were for “Billing/Collection Issues” and two (2) were for “Problems with Product/Services” these are on public record: https://www.bbb.org/connecticu...

On December 8th, 2017, I was contacted by Chris Warnes regarding resolution of the complaint. In our conversation, he promised to refund my $508.00 in return for dropping the complaints against his business. He later reneged on this promise. This complaint remains on permanent record with the CT Better Business Bureau.

On January 10th, 2018, I received an update from the CT Department of Consumer Protection containing a letter authored by Chris Warnes in response to my formal complaint. The information below is a word for word transcript of this document. In my opinion, it is a pathetic attempt to impugn my reputation in an effort to avoid taking responsibility/ownership of the poor business practices carried out by both he and his employees. It is important to note that I have no ill will toward any of the employees at CW Fitness, just their employer!

As a matter of reference, I am a 55 year old father of three boys. My family and I have lived in Oxford for over twenty-two (22) years. I had personally belonged to this gym for twelve (12) full years prior to this experience. My wife and three sons also belonged to this gym. During this time, my family and I have always treated the owners, employees and patrons of this gym with respect. We basically lived there, and I consider many of these gym members and staff as personal friends. I had a very good relationship with the previous owner. I had even discussed buying this gym with Karen after the last owners defaulted. Collectively, my family and I made a decision to leave CW Fitness. The reasons are outlined in my previous post. In no way was I or any of my family members "asked to leave". To even suggest any thing otherwise is simply untruthful and downright ridiculous.

In 2004 I opened a robotics automation business in Oxford, CT. Over the last fourteen (14) years, I am honored to have employed a number of U.S. military veterans at my company and have earned a solid reputation with my customers and with the members of our community based on honesty and respect. It is for this reason that I firmly believe all businesses and business owners should be held to a higher standard. I applaud the efforts of the CT Better Business Bureau and the CT Department of Consumer Protection in protecting the residents of Oxford and Seymour CT.

Below is a copy of the letter which was sent to the CT Department of Consumer Protection by Chris Warnes in care of CW Fitness, LLC (Image attached):

Quite frankly, I am shocked and amazed with the litany of false statements and accusations that are contained within this document. As per the counsel of both CT BBB and CT DCP personnel, I am strongly considering taking legal action against Chris Warnes and CW Fitness, LLC, on the basis of consumer fraud, defamation of character and libel.

[Beginning of letter]

To Whom This May Concern:

I am writing this letter in response to events transpiring between myself, the owner of CW Fitness & Brian D'Amico. I have personally attempted to resolve every situation Mr. D'Amico spoke of on numerous occasions, including an offer to refund his money and release him from his gym membership contract. Over the past 8 months, the staff of CW Fitness, as well as myself, have been unable to make amends when attempting to resolve this situation with Mr. D'Amico. Unfortunately, upon many attempts to offer a resolution, we are met with condescending responses, excessive anger, and one instance, illegal threats and actions from Mr. D'Amico.

Timeline:

In May of 2016, Mr. D'Amico and I did speak regarding renewing his membership along with his family. He wanted a deal, and I advised him that we offer family plan memberships that provide 30% savings per person, per month & 50% off enhancement fees, per person. These l memberships are offered to all current and prospective members of CW Fitness. I never informed Mr. D'Amico that we would wave his enhancement fee/fee's for his membership, as I all members of the club are entitled to the same deals.

June 10th 2016, Mr. D'Amico purchased a family plan for three members. This initial transaction took place between Mr. D'Amico and CW Fitness staff member, Drew. Mr. D'Amico forcibly pressured Drew to complete his membership agreement without initialing the section for the enhancement fee. Mr. D'Amico, however, initialed and signed his contract, which he provided I to this complaint, and thus has been held to its terms. I was called immediately following the transaction by Drew and was informed of these details: Mr. D'Amico intimidated, yelled, and forced Drew to complete the membership regardless of his disagreement with the contractual terms, to the point that Drew feared for his safety.

On June 12th, 2016 I called Mr. D'Amico to hear his side of the story. I was met with more demands, threats, and anger from him. I reminded Mr. D'Amico of our original conversation regarding family plans that waiving the enhancement fee from his family membership would not be part of the deal, as we already offer a discount on these fees. Mr. D'Amico did say that he would look elsewhere for a different gym to use, and I encouraged him to do so, as at this point our staff was scared of dealing with him.

On June 15-16th 2016, we received messages from Mr. D'Amico, to call him back. I had Joe, our lead desk manager, call Mr. D'Amico back. Joe called Mr. D'Amico twice, leaving voicemails for him, but never received communication in return.

Late October 2016, Mr. D'Amico claims he called several times between October 24th, 25th, & 26th. I received a message on the morning of October 26th from our employee Joe that Mr. D'Amico would be coming to the gym at 2 pm to meet with me. As I had a meeting at 2 pm booked prior, I met with him immediately following in efforts to resolve our longwinded issue.

In this meeting he became combative with me. He threatened to slander me as a person and my business on social media, amongst various other public channels of information. Given the circumstances with how hostile Mr. D'Amico was becoming, and how he has become hostile in the past with previous employees, I decided it was best to end the meeting and collect the club fees owed to the club that had not been paid by Mr. D'Amico.

When l purchased this business from the previous owner in 2016, I was warned by both prior ownership and the general manager of the business of Brian's reputation that was reflective of what l am writing about today.

My current staff is trained to diffuse all escalated customer situations in efforts to steer clear of conflict, by working to solve customer issues with the best possible solution to ensure customer satisfaction and long-term customer loyalty. Unfortunately, all resolutions and explanations I that were offered to Mr. D‘Amico by myself and the staff members who dealt with him were only met with disrespect, anger, and threats to the business and employees involved. Not at any point in this situation has Mr. D'Amico ttempted to positively work with the staff or myself, the owner, to move towards a resolution. On several occasions, Mr. D'Amico yelled at the staff, to include myself, in front of other staff members and customers. I felt it was best that Brian moved on to another gym as our employees felt unsafe in his presence. I stand behind my decision & wish Brian the best in his health minded endeavors. Happy Holidays.

[End of letter]

I made the decision to post this letter in its entirety so that everyone, including all CW Fitness members and staff could see for themselves just how far Chris Warnes is willing go to cover up, what I consider to be, unethical business practices. The fact of the matter is that this pitiful attempt at defamation of my character has not helped his cause one bit. The complaint registered against Chris Warnes and CW Fitness, LLC is justifiable and will remain on permanent record with the CT Department of Consumer Protection.

While I am fairly certain that I will never recover my losses, I am hopeful that the time and effort that I have placed into documenting and sharing this experience with my fellow residents will prevent others being unfairly treated.

I encourage all who have been subjected to unfair business practices by Chris Warnes and CW Fitness, LLC to SPEAK UP and register your complaints with both the CT Better Business Bureau and the CT Department of Consumer Protection. It is our responsibility to help protect our fellow residents.

Thank you…

Respectfully,

Brian D’Amico