Since I last posted my recent bout with pubic lice, I found myself getting nowhere fast with the club manager Chad. Not one to give up, I blindly tried two e-mail addresses at 24 Hour Fitness. Within an hour, I made contact.

Dear Mr. Elliott:

First of all thank you for the letter of concern and second I apologize for you having to experience a sub par condition of our DT Seattle club. I can assure you that we take our cleanliness and member concerns very serious.

I am currently out of the office until next week but will address the situation as soon as I get back. There are never any excuses for our club to not be at the standard of excellence and obviously we have dropped the ball here.

Once I do my due diligence and get this situation fixed, I will follow back up with you to let you know what steps we have taken to make sure you or any other member never has to go through this again.

We do appreciate your patronage Mr. Elliott and please know that at 24 Hour Fitness we do care about making sure we have the best facilities and the best member experience.

Sincerely,

Steve Block

Regional Vice President

Lesson: every member of a company should recognize their brand and its value to the consumer. It’s not enough that an executive should understand what it means to uphold a company’s mission and values. Where the disconnect occurred between a regional vice president and a club manager is a soon to be an open employment opportunity.

Monday I received an e-mail from the club manager: I would receive a full refund of my prepaid membership. Never doubt the power of the consumer.

I contracted pubic lice from the locker room at 24 Hour Fitness in Downtown Seattle.

I want search engines to link their search results with this entry, thus I made a clear, concise statement about the gym. The club, to date, will not refund my entire prepaid membership and will not take any responsibility for its lack of hygiene in the locker rooms. I have no intention of taking a partial credit for my membership, 24 Hour Fitness is negligible for its unsanitary practices and placing their members at risk for exposure to pubic lice. I have already begun a widespread campaign to bring down the facility until my demand is met: online reviews of 24 Hour Fitness.

Taking search engine optimization one step further, I am linking this entry to my review of 24 Hour Fitness in Downtown Seattle on Yelp. I also posted reviews of 24 Hour Fitness in Downtown Seattle on NWSource, Yahoo! Local and Google. Within the past few days, two of my reviews are within the top 10 search results for “pubic lice locker rooms” and “pubic lice from my gym”.

24 Hour Fitness, as a brand and a service, cannot afford to lose consumer trust. Any slip in a company’s brand allows its competition a market advantage: money must be invested in public relations and increased advertising to win back the consumer.

My prepaid membership totaled $391.82.

24 Hour Fitness will easily spend that amount, and much more, within an hour in hopes of reversing the PR damage done.

Lesson for any brand: do not ignore or abuse the consumer’s trust. Especially in the electronic age.