Harringay online

Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

By all accounts Fitness First Harringay staff responded very poorly when a customer keeled over with a heart attack

Read more in The Guardian here.

Tags for Forum Posts: fitness first, gym

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If someone's in distress that person must be helped. No question. Establish urgency of situation and call appropriate emergency service, then stay with that person until the police or ambulance arrive. If necessary a chain of help naturally establishes itself (in my experience) over the minutes between the incident happening and the services arriving. In other words if anyone needs to get on their way another person takes over responsibility.

I remember years ago an older gentleman collapsing in the middle of West Green Rd one calm sunny morning. I got him over to the other side of the road with another member of the public. Someone else called the emergency services and another person then took over until those services arrived. It all went very smoothly.

Coming across scenes involving violence or the threat of violence (e.g. domestic situation that spills out onto the street) are the more tricky to deal with but still at the very least the police must be called.
I was a member of the Crouch End branch (before the Harringay branch opened) for a while. Never again. The way they treated me when I cancelled my contract was borderline harrassment, and left a very bad taste in my mouth. I am not surprised at the reaction this woman had, seems to be company policy to be completely ignorant of pretty much everything.
I went to the new Fitness First branch when it first opened. I just wanted to enquire about prices, packages, conditions etc, but they wouldn't give me ANY information unless I wrote down my mobile phone number. When I asked why, the said it was to do with health & safety. So I was left wondering whether, should anything happened to me while being showed round, they would try and alert me on my mobile......
Needless to say I didn't bother.
Fitness First; says it all really. Common sense/decency unlikely.
A few of the staff are friendly but a lot dont even bother with the courtesy of saying hello or goodbye on the way in/out. I dont think they get trained much in customer service. Surely someone could have come down with some water at least? trained first aiders are meant to respond to emergencies no matter where they are surely?
I am considering now cancelling my subscription.
Ruth C
Reminds me of a incident in my home town, which sounds unblievable but I'm sure happened, where an old man had a heart attack in the public toilets outside the hospital. The staff wouldn't treat him as they weren't insured to work off the premises..... ambulance called, man died.

The discussion on Fitness First, Harringay has started again on Twitter over the past couple of days:

 

 Rosy 
 Harringay is a horrible, horrible gym. Dirty, broken machines, indifferent staff, threatening clientele. .

 Harringayonline 
 Did you feed back to ? Any response? Anyone else have any experiences to share of Harringay?



 adam dewhirst 
  can I ask what other gyms are there in harringay?

 

 Harringayonline 
@
 In Harringay itself only FF & Legends (abv Tesco). Easy in Wood Green & Virgin in Crouch End. See also 
Anyone else any experiences to share?

I've been a member for years. The staff are always friendly and nice to me, but the up keep of the machines is rubbish. Food eg the headphone docks on the running machines are almost all broken and have been for years. I am reluctant to complain, as when I did so about the sockets on the bikes they just ripped them all out and never replaced them. Now they have merged the tottenham gym with it, using the riots as an excuse (link added by Admin), the demand for room on the mats can be impossible. Fitness First really need to do something about it or it will lose a lot of members.

I've been going since it opened, as it is so convenient. I must say the staff themselves are always pretty friendly and helpful but the one problem with all FF branches is the lack of a strong senior management presence.  The rest of the staff seem very young and unable to deal with any complaints.  If you complain to head office about anything nothing ever seems to happen.

The main problem with this branch is it is filthy. I sometimes think a visit from health and safety inspectors would force it to close. It makes me cringe when I am there. Think gum and dirty tissue paper in every bottle holder, uncleaned toilets, broken, dirty showers and sweat stains on the gym floor. But, I've been told you get what you pay for and it's about £45 a month which I guess is cheaper than most other gyms.

I also got threatened by a fellow gym goer in the changing rooms at New Year. I had moved her bag whilst she was in the shower to get to my locker (no way round it!) but she told me she was going 'to kill me' and brought me to the floor by my collar. She was a very large, very generally 'angry' woman and as I slipped from her grasp I ran like hell! It was pointless going to report it to the guy on reception as she was coming after me and nobody would have done anything, he looked very sweet but very young and I didn't feel safe.  But, that is a one-off and I've put it behind me, she was obviously not quite right, although you can detect a slightly intimidating element amongst some of the people who go there but generally if you put your head down and get on with it it's ok. And it keeps me in shape!

Kate

What happened to you was unacceptable and I think you should lodge a complaint about this woman. She will do it again maybe next time really hurt someone. She needs to be chucked out the gym and interviewed by the police. You are paying 45 quid for this plus the other shortcomings to the gym. This is not cheap! I used to the think the showers were just filthy and waiting for an outbreak of legionnaires disease, or something similar.  I believe there are other smaller gyms round and about now and perhaps people should vote with their feet and leave FF behind. 

Yesterday I went to a great keep fit class in Finsbury park for free. I know that is not an option for everyone and in bad weather not good but it's something on offer plus the outdoor gym machines in the park... I am finding other ways to keep fit now. And saving myself a monthly fee. 

Kate, that sounds awful! And completely unacceptable.
I had one session at Shitness First, and never went backs as it was so awful. Smelly, crowded, not very nice at all. Have now joined Virgin Active and it's like a different world!

If people started leaving Shitness First then surely they will get the message? Also a quick call to organise a health and safety inspection may solve some of the problems. I'm sure senior management don't want to see their grubby little gym shot down..

More from Twitter:

 Only reason we go is for convenience (open @ 630am). Not nice tho - rundown, too busy, not enough machines & ppl w/ attitude

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