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I BEAT THEM AND I HOPE WHAT I SHARED WILL HELP YOU DO THE SAME
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I could go on and on about the disreputable business practices of those at Fitness Blowout, but if you are reading this or any of the other hundreds of complaints lodged against them you already know of their sleazy business tactics. So, for the sake of all consumers who like me got caught in their web of deceit, I’d rather focus on how I WAS ABLE TO BEAT THEM AT THEIR OWN GAME, AND I HOPE YOU WILL BE ABLE TO DO THE SAME. I BELIEVE THAT IF YOU WILL ALL DO AS I DID, AND FOCUS YOUR EFFORTS ON HITTING JIM ROSEN AND THE REST OF HIS CREW AT FITNESS BLOWOUT WHERE IT HURTS, TOGETHER WE CAN PUT THIS POS OUT OF BUSINESS ONCE AND FOR ALL!
As far as I’m concerned there is a special place in Hell for Jim Rosen and Steve Barzilai, and hopefully they will get to experience it sooner rather than later. I hope the information I am providing here will help anyone who reads it to also realize, just as I have, the great sense of satisfaction which goes along with STICKING IT TO FITNESS BLOWOUT.
IF YOU DON’T READ ANY OTHER PART OF THIS REVIEW, PLEASE READ THIS PARAGRAPH. In my case, I provided the companies I knew of who ship freight nationally with research I had done on Fitness Blowout and the numerous other aliases they use. This prompted them to do their own research by looking into their accounts and realizing that something untoward was going on with Fitness Blowout, and to my knowledge three of the four companies I contacted have severed all ties with the company. I suggested that they may want to look into how many of Fitness Blowout’s shipments were being redirected; having to touch freight more than once costs the freight company time and money. I also asked them to look into what would happen to the freight if delivery was refused. You may not be aware, but if freight is refused the shipper will be served with a legal notice, 4 (B) of the Bill of Lading Contract. This document serves as notice to the shipper that the freight company is terminating their carrier liability and will thereafter only be liable as a warehouseman. As set forth in the Bill of Lading Contract storage fees will begin to accrue at that time and will continue until the freight company receives written disposition instructions from the shipper. The shipper will have 30 days to guarantee freight, storage, and all other applicable charges be paid, or the freight will be sold at public auction. Guess how often this was the case with freight being shipped from Fitness Blowout. It would stand to reason that if what Fitness Blowout was shipping had any value at all they would most certainly pay the return shipping fees to avoid having “valuable” pieces of equipment being sold at auction for little or nothing. I AM PROOF THAT SOMETIMES THE LITTLE GUY DOES WIN! I am hopeful that my efforts will make it extremely difficult for Fitness Blowout or any other company Jim Rosen, Steve Barzilai, etc. operate under to continue to ship anything anywhere!
Like many of you, I didn’t think to do any research on the company until I’d already placed an order and was having a very difficult time getting anyone at Fitness Blowout to take my calls or address my concerns afterwards. Sadly the days of trusting people to be good and honest are over! BELOW ARE THE STEPS I TOOK TO AVOID BEING SWINDLED BY FITNESS BLOWOUT AFTER THE PURCHASE, AND I HOPE THEY WILL HELP NUMEROUS OTHERS TO HAVE THE SAME POSITIVE OUTCOME I DID.
STEP 1: Email Fitness Blowout to notify them you wish to CANCEL YOUR ORDER IN WRITING, and keep a record of the email. Of course there are ridiculous hoops in place which they expect you to jump through, but I emailed the General Manager Steve Barzilai, who also happened to be the person that took my order...talk about a person skilled at the art of deception. Document, document, document, and keep every single shred of evidence handy, because you will likely need it. DO NOT BELIEVE ANYTHING ANYONE AT FITNESS BLOWOUT TELLS YOU!
STEP 2: As soon as possible contact your credit card company and FILE A DISPUTE of the purchase, and be prepared to provide them with documentation that you’ve cancelled your order. I not only did this, but I requested that an American Express representative join me on a three-way call so that there would be an undeniable record of what was discussed. LIKE NUMEROUS OTHERS, MY CREDIT CARD WAS COMPROMISED WITHIN WEEKS OF GIVING IT TO FITNESS BLOWOUT (STEVE BARZILAI), SO WATCH YOUR ACCOUNT!
STEP 3: Even though I had cancelled my order in writing and had received assurances from a representative, Tiesha, at Fitness Blowout who supposedly worked in the cancellations department, I was contacted by UPS Freight Worldwide months later, and they wanted to schedule a delivery. Of course I notified the representative that the order had been cancelled less than 24 hours after being placed months before, that I’d filed a dispute with my credit card company, and that the freight certainly should have never been shipped across the country, from California to North Carolina. I REFUSED TO TAKE DELIVERY, AND I BELIEVE THAT STEP WAS VITAL.
STEP 4: I continued to research the company and its unscrupulous business practices, and what I found was disturbing. Most laughable was the copied and pasted mission statement Jim Rosen pulled out year after year to make it appear as if he was trying to turn the company around. “We are committed to our valued customers, and are taking immediate corrective steps to regain confidence in us. We have begun putting a comprehensive plan in place to provide better and more-timely information to you, more tools and resources for our team members and improved procedures for handling operational difficulties in the future. We are confident that, as a result of these actions, Fitness Blowout will emerge as a more reliable and even more customer responsive company than ever before. We take feedback and input from our customers very seriously because we care what you have to say. We continually strive to improve and streamline our processes and we have learned a great deal from this incident. Unfortunately when relying on third party carriers and vendors to deliver per our terms of contract, occasionally situations may arise creating unforeseeable delays or errors. After researching this situation this seems to be an isolated case in that this unit was not properly inspected by our vendor’s quality control.” I submit that if Jim Rosen truly had any intention of making changes with regard to his business practices they would’ve come to fruition long before now. It seems that his go to method is to always lay blame on someone or something other than himself…where there’s smoke there’s fire, and this guy reeks of smoke!
In the end I believe it was crucial that I shared everything I found with my credit card company and with the freight company used in my situation. As I’ve already mentioned, this prompted them to investigate further. I also shared the same information with other national shippers, and to my pleasant surprise I learned that these huge shipping companies take their brands very seriously and will sever ties with companies who would shed a negative light on them by using deceptive business practices. I BELIEVE THAT IF OTHER CONSUMERS WILL DO AS I HAVE DONE AND BRING THE DISHONEST PRACTICES OF JIM ROSEN AND FITNESS BLOWOUT TO THE ATTENTION OF FREIGHT COMPANIES THEY WILL HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO TAKE ACTION AND REFUSE TO MOVE FREIGHT FOR ANY BUSINESS WITH A CONNECTION TO JIM ROSEN OR FITNESS BLOWOUT. You see, freight companies don’t like to touch freight more than once, and in the case of Fitness Blowout they’ve had to do so at an alarming rate. Though I believe I’ve been instrumental in making it very difficult for Jim Rosen and Fitness Blowout to continue to use certain freight companies to move their junk, there may be others out there whom I did not know to contact. My best advice to any of you is to contact the freight company being used in your case and insist they look into their account with Jim Rosen, Steve Barzilai, Fitness Blowout, Fitness Club Warehouse, Super Gym’s Fitness Warehouse, Fitness Club Warehouse, Super Gym Rosen, 1800Fit4Less, Exceleration Fitness, Excelerated Fitness. Good luck!
I did ultimately purchase the unit I was interested in from reputable company, Carolina Fitness Equipment, out of Charlotte N.C., and I couldn’t be more pleased with my decision to do business with them. Actually, I ended up with a unit that is two generations newer than the one from Fitness Blowout, and I paid $500 less for it. So, if you are still in the market for top of the line used equipment you might want to have a conversation with David Preble, the owner of Carolina Fitness Equipment~he’s good people!
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