“The Judgement Free Zone,” also known as Planet Fitness, seems to have used poor judgment by not letting this customer enter the gym. At the core of the issue seems to be information on its website that’s inconsistent with how franchise locations are operated.
In a now-viral TikTok, Keena (@keenastar) sits in her car while chronicling the situation. She says she’s confused as to why she just got turned away from a Planet Fitness location and asks for clarification from viewers, if possible. Keena says she noticed that a Planet Fitness was being built near her home and decided to enroll online and make it her “home gym,” though it wasn’t complete yet. She says that while her home gym is under construction, she’s been going to other Planet Fitness locations with no issue until recently.
Keena says that upon entering and presenting her membership ID, a manager told her she was not allowed to work out at that location because her home gym hadn’t opened yet. When Keena explained that she’d been going to several other Planet Fitness locations in the area with no issue, the manager reportedly maintained that this wasn’t allowed.
“If the access to all the other gyms isn’t until this home gym is open, it should say that,” Keena tells viewers. “Make it make sense, y’all … But you know what? I’m just gonna go back home and do my Apple Fitness+, which I’ve had for the last few years that hasn’t had any problems with me. Right? I can just do it. It works.”
As of this writing, the video has 436,600 views and almost 5,500 comments.
@keenastar Y’all Planet Fitness needs to make this make sense. This is ridiculous. Someone tell me something. #planetfitness #blackcard ♬ original sound – Keena
Viewers in the comments section are just as upset as Keena is.
“Go back to that Planet Fitness Tell the lady to give you that statement on the Planet Fitness Letter head And tell them you gonna take it to your lawyer I’m willing to bet they changed their mind,” says one comment.
In a follow-up video, Keena says a different manager from the location she was rejected from reached out, apologized for the inconvenience and offered further insight into the situation. According to Keena, the general manager explained that their location has access to more information than others and could see that her home gym isn’t open yet, meaning her membership wasn’t registered as “completely” active. Additionally, all the other gyms Keena went to are out of the franchise, but the location in question is in-franchise.
Keena explains in another follow-up that the Reciprocal Use policy on the Planet Fitness website says it doesn’t matter whether your home gym is open or not and doesn’t mention anything about franchises.
Indeed, the policy states, “Members from a presale location should be treated as any other Planet Fitness member and have access to reciprocal use consistent with the stated policy, even if the home club they joined is not yet open.”
The general manager reportedly said Keena was right to be confused and that Planet Fitness needs to add better verbiage to its website. She also agreed to remove the alerts that barred Keena from entering that gym moving forward.
Ultimately, Keena said she canceled her membership. The Daily Dot has reached out to Keena for comment via email and Instagram direct message and and to Planet Fitness via email.
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