Complaint Review: 24 Hour Fitness - San Ramon California

The company we keep is a reflection of our ethics. When that company becomes a threat to the American public, failure to distance oneself from that threat brings those ethics into question. Clearly this is the case with 24 Hour Fitness CEO Mark Mastrov, who seems to have lost the ability to differentiate between right and wrong when he chose to conduct business with terrorists. This became apparent when on the night of May 17, 2004, I was attacked by a Middle Eastern extremist at a 24 Hour Fitness center in southern California and was subsequently discouraged by the club employees from notifying the police. Aggravated battery is a felony in any state, and for the employees of a multinational corporation like the one operated by Mark Mastrov to actively interfere with the legal process would suggest that there was something far more sinister going on there than was readily apparent. Following an investigation it was revealed to me that not only had this person committed multiple felonies on the club premises prior to my incident, but in each case the employees went out of their way to cover up for these transgressions. So obviously, the question became why?

With over 400 locations within the United States and its recent expansion into the global market, put simply, 24 Hour Fitness is doing everything in its power to suck in investors to fulfill Mastrov's ambitions of creating the largest fitness corporation on the planet. According to Mastrov, we haven't been able to raise the capital to develop the product line across the scope of the United State, especially when he plans to open between 30 and 40 new clubs per year with the hope of tapping into the nearly 90 percent of the national population whom he claims doesn't even bother to exercise.

This country is obese, he says. When you travel the world the way we do in our organization it is amazing when you get back home and just see the size of the people in the United States. And whether or not he has the statistical evidence to justify these statements, they are far from complementary toward a public from whom, despite his insensitivities, he his more than willing to dip into their pockets. Which brings us back to the point.

In the business world, money is the key to growth. The problem with this, however, is that rapid expansion tends to diminish the quality of a service, which in turn negatively affects that service's reputation. One would think that at least some of the 150 million dollars provided by their primary investor, McCown DeLeeuw & Co., a private equity firm based in Northern California, would be utilized not just to train the personnel necessary to operate these clubs, but to ensure that each of those clubs represents a safe and friendly environment. When opening nearly 3 dozen facilities per year, finding competent people to run those facilities cannot be a simple task; therefore eventually something has to break, which is what I see happening here because as the service grows, relationships with customers become increasingly robotic because there is far more emphasis on cash flow rather than the individual client's actual well being. Put simply, Mastrov's company operates like a factory, a crude assembly line where clients are nothing more than replaceable parts. And if he chooses to run it as such, just as there are dangers within any factory, precautions should be taken whereby safety comes before profit.

In the fitness industry, what CEO's like Mark Mastrov fail to emphasize is that first and foremost should be the safety of their clients. Granted, within any one of his facilities there is a list of rules and regulations that, if violated, could result in immediate expulsion. And if such a violation should involve a felony, then the local police should certainly be notified, as failure to do so would reflect poorly on their customer service. The truth is, however, that this is not what happened when I was assaulted, a fact which has led to the unveiling of some very peculiar details regarding the club's ethics. And not just that particular club, but all 24 Hour Fitness clubs, as one club reflects on them as a whole.

The events in question involve a Middle Easterner who demanded that I relinquish two 35 pound weights that were clearly in my possession. Knowing that this individual had a history of rude behavior, I politely informed him that I was not yet finished with the aforementioned weights. Any reasonable person would have acknowledged this, yet rather than wait his turn he punched me in the chest, with full force, which twisted my upper body, and then proceeded to rip each weight out of my hands, flinging them across the room and nearly shattering another gentleman's knee in the process. The assailant then spat on me and walked away, shouting racial obscenities as he went. Naturally, I chose not to force the issue because I was in no position to challenge some behemoth who was twice my size, plus the fact that during the assault he twisted my lower spine, which aggravated an injury I had sustained 3 years prior. So I left.

On my way out, I was approached by another client, who ran up to me telling me that this beast had done the same thing to him, just minutes after my own confrontation, and this time nearly striking a club employee with a 20 pound weight when the latter attempted to intervene. This employee, who was on the heels of this client, quickly explained to me that the assailant was a celebrity cage fighter from the Middle East and that it was best to just leave him alone. To me, this was absurd, yet when I suggested that the club notify the police, this employee, as well as another employee, insisted that they would handle the situation. Once again, they reiterated the fact that this was not a man with whom to cross swords, which to me sounded like a friendly warning. And considering that this miscreant had some serious rage issues, I heeded that warning not just for fear of my own personal safety, but for the safety of other people. After all, if I called the police he was liable to throw weights at them, and I was not in any mood to witness a shootout.

Despite the obvious dangers this situation presented, what I found particularly suspicious was why these employees were so willing to cover up for this so called celebrity. Because regardless of what I thought of him, celebrity treatment was exactly what he received, as day after day, week after week he would swagger through the front doors, never checking in at the front desk, hitting on all the women and picking fights with whomever he chose would be an easy target on which to shamelessly bolster that bad boy image. And each time, the club would do nothing about it. In fact, to this day that might even be there policy. And if that doesn't represent a gross misrepresentation of 24 Hour Fitness's safety protocols, then hell must have frozen solid the instant Mark Mastrov struck a deal with its poster boy for fire and brimstone.

After discussing this with the club manager, Michael Leonard, he explained to me that the reason they tolerated this violent behavior was because not only are the facility's clients terrorized by this cretin, yet so too are the club employees, including himself, which is an absolute lie because I've personally seen them all chatting it up with this dollop of devil dung. There is no way that anybody could convince me that a 1.5 billion dollar corporation like 24 Hour Fitness would lack a contingency plan for dealing with a situation like this, especially one involving a foreign militant, as all it would take would be a single phone call and there would be a dozen crosshairs leveled on him from a SWAT team. Unless, of course, 24 Hour Fitness had a financial reason for keeping him there; perhaps one of those celebrity endorsements they're so keen on despite the fact that his mere presence is a colossal deterrent to future enrollments. Even after lodging 5 complaints with the upper management, they failed to remove this person, a failure which prompted me to hire an attorney. And that, according to Mastrov, is a glowing representation of the fine customer service about which he so eagerly blathers.

When a company prides itself in its customer service, it goes without saying that safety should be a principal component of that service. And this shouldn't be restricted to safety from faulty equipment, but also safety from the destructive behavior of a known and actively violent constituent that they have refused to deal with because of his celebrity status. And if the spinelessness demonstrated to me by a manager like Michael Leonard is indicative of the type of people vomited out by Mastrov's certification program, which he claims to be the best in the industry, then the man in charge had better rethink his priorities by training his ferrets on how to deal with people issues rather than just selling memberships like a bunch of used cars. And why? Because if your club isn't safe, for whatever reason, you are conducting a disservice to your paying clientele.

Moreover, if a safety issue, such as one involving an individual with known dangerous propensities, is not handled properly one of their clients could seriously get hurt, or even killed. And if the manager claims that he is incapable of dealing with it because hes afraid, then he should contact the district manager, and then the regional manager, and on up the chain until somebody grows enough spine to take appropriate action. But this spinelessness extends to even Mastrov himself, who is far too busy scrounging for investors so he can spread his company thinner and make it even more irresponsible.

So how does this relate to terrorism? Very simply, when you look at how terrorism is defined under federal law. Under Title 18, section 2331 of the United States Criminal Code, terrorism is defined as activities that involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State, appear to be intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion, or to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping, and occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.

The key words in this discussion are intimidation and coercion. When a person enters a public facility like 24 Hour Fitness, failure to obey the law by deliberately and maliciously threatening peoples' lives is using blatant intimidation not only to characterize himself as a terrorist but also to ensure that his objectives go unchallenged. When that same person coerces another individual to engage in an act contrary to his or her will like, say for example, surrendering a pair of weights because some oversized foreign radical demands it, this would qualify the second term of the aforementioned definition. Making an example out of someone like myself by punching me, spitting on me, and then dehumanizing me with a racial comment was akin to shooting one prisoner to maintain control over 50 others. And considering that this was not an isolated occurrence proves that this man does in fact use terrorism as a means of social domination. Therefore his own actions define him as a terrorist, not my interpretation of federal law.

Moreover, in this particular case the use of the word terrorist on a Middle Easterner with his mind-set is hardly racial profiling considering his lack of respect for U.S. laws and customs. After all, any crime committed on American soil by a foreign national from any country could, in many ways, be considered an assault on the host government which established those laws to protect its own citizenry. His national origin, on the other hand, surely could account for his aggressions toward certain elements within our society, coming from a region where Muslim extremists have convinced a majority of the population that America is the most imminent threat to their political ideology. To avoid that conflict some of those people emigrate to the United States because they sincerely appreciate the freedoms that are afforded them by our great democracy, whereas others come here to exploit those same freedoms with the malicious intent of recreating America in their own distorted image. This tyrant I speak of is clearly of the latter persuasion, one who benefits from our freedoms yet despises us as a people, even to the extent of deliberately breaking the law at the expense of another man's dignity. After all, it was he, not I, who resorted to using racial slurs, and that is terrorism in the purest sense of the word. Under section 2332b of the aforementioned criminal code, even property damage resulting from a terrorist rampage carries a maximum sentence of 25 years, whereas assault and murder entail 30 years and life, respectively.

If vandalizing SUVs because someone believes that they are environmentally unfriendly is grounds for a 25 year sentence under federal law (for eco-terrorism), then a Middle Eastern radical who runs around beating up on American civilians at a public gym should at least be put on a Federal watch list rather than being given preferential treatment by a corporation like 24 Hour Fitness. But oh, that's right: he's a celebrity. And they love him so much they won't even tell my lawyer his name, indicating to me that there is clearly a financial interest in his being a member or their aristocracy. Why else would they be so willing to cover up for him? Certain European governments take money from terrorists all the time, so perhaps Mark Mastrov has decided to follow that lead. After all, money is money, regardless of who it comes from, and the only way to obtain that money is to indulge the source.

Who knows? Maybe 24 Hour Fitness is planning on expanding into the Middle East, and their little friend here is going to be their celebrity spokesman. Or here at home, for all we know some of these gyms have become terrorist training camps, ingeniously hidden within plain sight, right here on American soil. After all, even terrorists work out, if I'm remembering certain Al Qaeda training videos correctly, with all those black hoods and monkey bars. Although it's farfetched, it could be possible. Why else would 24 Hour Fitness's in-house insurance minion, Rich Johansen, have confessed to my attorney that they fully realized that this person has been a problem and that, pursuant to their discussion, he would be permanently banned from every 24 Hour Fitness in the country, and then two weeks later Mr. Johansen turns around and denies that he ever said that? What are they hiding? That they're letting terrorists come here to work out on better equipment? I wonder if any of those hijackers had memberships to 24 Hour Fitness. I bet Mr. Johansen could tell us, or better yet, he could tell the FBI. Although I doubt they'd find anything because they probably ran magnets across their hard drives rights after the towers fell. And like bunny in a hat, POOF! All their records were gone. Isn't that what insurance people do? Damage control?

Incidentally, Flip-Flop Johansen works at 24 Hour Fitness's headquarters in San Ramon California, side by side with Mr. Mastrov himself, which would lead anyone with reasonable sensibilities to believe that after speaking with my attorney, this matter was feverishly discussed, more than likely with our special friend Osama Bin Pumpin, and then the latter must have brokered some sort of deal that would have swayed the Magnificent Mastrov from denying him access to their elite society. And the most logical explanation would be money, investments, or a promise thereof. The only other option would be if this criminal has actually made terrorist threats against 24 Hour Fitness itself, because large corporations such as that cannot be intimidated by any one individual unless they had reason to believe that said individual was a viable threat to their organization. Which, once again, would characterize him as a terrorist even moreso. And if that is truly the case, this would classify what Mastrov is doing as treason under Article III, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution, and not just for adhering to our enemies in the form of harboring a suspected terrorist, which is also a violation under section 2339 of the Federal Criminal Code, but for blatantly doing business with him and whoever else with whom he is connected. Because we all know that terrorists never work alone. They're highly organized, and this man might simply be their emissary. But that's all fine and dandy with 24 Hour Fitness so long as they get their money.

The bottom line is that their fundamental policy seems to be to keep this man happy at whatever cost, and for a corporation which claims to be so pro-American to even contemplate doing business with anyone who has even the remotest ties to any terrorist organization is an exercise in hypocrisy. In today's political environment a corporation like 24 Hour Fitness should not allow a foreign militant to rampantly assault people in a public facility without notifying the authorities, especially when there are California state laws that make said corporation liable for third party misconduct. Yet not according to them. In their membership agreement they assume liability for nothing, including accidental deaths due to equipment failure, active or passive negligence, or if one of their criminal investors decides to toss weights around and accidentally kills someone. Then someone at home receives a telephone call explaining that their husband, son, brother or sister was murdered because a certain individual was having a bad day? And all they'll get from 24 Hour Fitness is a measly we're sorry?

In fact, under paragraph 7 of their membership agreement there is a clause stating that lawsuits exceeding $5000 are subject to binding arbitration and that said arbitrator with decide the outcome of the dispute, not a judge or jury. Furthermore, that the party filing the claim, meaning the victim, will pay the initial filing fee, which is around $1000, and then once decided, the victim, even if he or she loses the case, cannot openly talk about the existence, content, or results of the arbitration. So if one of your loved ones is murdered in a 24 Hour Fitness facility by one of their terrorist supporters, you will be paying for 24 Hour Fitness's filing fee even though they are a 1.5 billion dollar corporation and are quite capable of paying for it themselves. That's right. And if you don't believe me, stop by your local 24 Hour Fitness and ask for a copy of their membership agreement. And by the way, that particular clause can be found on the back of their agreement, bottom right corner, and you'll probably need a microscope to read it. After examining it closely, most people wouldn't even sign it because you are literally signing your life away, for they clearly admit, in plain writing, that they are in fact negligent yet assume no responsibility for that negligence, particularly when it is intentional. Other clubs have similar policies, albeit excluding liabilities arising from willful misconduct like, say, catering to a terrorist for financial gain. This shows how much Mastrov cares about his clients; if he gave a d**n, he'd pass out body armor with his memberships.

For those of the investigative proclivity, if you really want to measure the extent of 24 Hour Fitnesss corruption, you can just go to your local superior court, head into the index room and look under the register of actions to find out precisely how many times they've been sued, why those lawsuits were filed, and the details defining every single grievance, case number by case number. After all, it is public record, and it makes for some very interesting reading. Perhaps then it will become clear why their membership agreement is so one-sided. And like any fascist dictatorship, not unlike 24 Hour Fitness, now they're using it as a weapon, even when they are clearly in the wrong.

In defense of the public, however, Mastrov's little paradise is not a sovereign nation, and it certainly cannot define policies which supercede state and federal laws. In that case, perhaps Congress should pass legislation that protects its citizens from devious business practices as evidenced by 24 Hour Fitnesss questionable ethics, when said corporation attempts to justify those ethics by claiming that they are simply trying to protect themselves from frivolous lawsuits. A business protecting itself from reckless litigation is one thing, yet when that same business is deliberately covering up for the activities of a criminal, that is called aiding and abetting, and that business should be held accountable.

Yet accountability apparently means nothing to 24 Hour Fitness. They, particularly their CEO, are all about the all-mighty dollar, placing monetary gains before the safety of our nation. To clarify, for those who watched the film Farenheit 911 by Michael Moore, they might have noticed that 24 Hour Fitness was all too willing get a shameless plug during a particular scene involving an older gentleman's diatribe against our current President. Now, unless an advertiser actually puts money into a film, normally any recognizable logos are digitally omitted from onscreen view so as not to give free publicity for a company which provided no financial backing for that film, or because that company wishes to have their logo excluded because they disagree with the film's content or fear that such an affiliation might offend their own clients. Yet apparently, neither of these contingencies apply to 24 Hour Fitness, because their infamous logo is clearly and proudly flaunted before that deceitful documentarian's Machiavellian lens.

Considering the nature of the film, I find it difficult to believe that Mark Mastrov didn't wholeheartedly concur with Michael Moore's argument, otherwise he would have asked that his company's logo be omitted from that particular scene for fear that it might insult those who didnt wholeheartedly agree with certain prescribed theories. Yet that was hardly the case, indicating that Mastrov was all too willing to w***e both himself and his organization to some paranoid, self-righteous, idealogical jihadist like Michael Moore. Although from an economic standpoint, perhaps that was a smart thing to do, because by siding with Moore he also didn't risk offending the delicate sensibilities of potential Middle Eastern investors. So either he's an evil genius, or he's incredibly stupid because he didnt think people would notice.

Incidentally, this is the same Mark Mastrov who, on July 1, 2002 in an interview for the Club Industry Exchange, humbly stated that his wonderful organization could actually benefit from President Bush's pro-active attitude towards health and fitness, and then less than 2 years later he sells out to Michael Moore. And if that doesn't characterize him as a backstabbing, Bush-bashing, flip-flopping hypocrite, I don't know what it would take, because as far as I'm concerned that film couldn't have been any more anti-American, especially when news organizations such as Al Jazeera could use it to validate terrorist ideologies. There was a time when such propaganda would have resulted in a hanging, yet today people like Michael Moore and his supporters like Mark Mastrov hide under the rights established by the First Amendment, even though they despise the very government which created those rights in the first place. Such being the case, for some reason the name Benedict Arnold comes to mind.

Particularly in a time of war, never give the enemy the upper hand, lest we lose one single American soldier because some turncoat's activist propaganda bolstered that enemy's morale, a soldier we might not have lost had that enemy thought that his crusade were failing. With the abundance of terrorist movements festering in the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and even here, now is not the time for left-wing extremists to be firing shoulder rockets at a government that is only trying to protect us. That is as irresponsible and inexcusable as a California state senator publicly berating a highly respected member of the Presidential Cabinet knowing damned well that the entire tirade could be used by our enemies to denigrate U.S. policy. Just like Michael Moore's film.

Soldiers died because of that film. Soldiers died because 24 Hour Fitness endorsed it. And it gave the insurgents hope; it gave them a will to fight rather than fall back and hide under the sand. So once again, that is adhering to our enemies. That is aiding and abetting. That is treason. But to Mark Mastrov, none of that makes any difference so long as the thousands and thousands of Michael Moore fanatics who were inspired by his rhetoric hopped on their pogo sticks and signed up at the nearest 24 Hour Fitness today. Free publicity is the best kind, even if it jeopardizes American soldiers. And that clearly represents an absolute, unequivocal disregard for American lives.

So what we have in Mark Mastrov on the one hand is a man who staunchly supports those who vilify government policy, while on the other hand is willing to cut deals with a known criminal who very possibly could have ties to a terrorist organization, and this is being conducted right here in our own country. Now that's anti-American. And even to this day they are continuing to cover up for this man. So much so that I was forced to hire an attorney, which I'd never done before, and now I'm up to my waist in paperwork just to get them to admit that this warlord whom they indulge so passionately is an actual threat to public safety. Under Federal law, whoever harbors or conceals any person who he knows, or has reasonable grounds to believe, has committed, or is about to commit an act of terrorism, can be sent to federal prison just for doing business with that person. So Mastrov, as well as his dubious organization, should have something to worry about.

To qualify this discussion, I'm not saying that just anyone who starts fights in a gym, sexually harasses the female clientele (to which Ive been a witness), endangers people's lives and is generally unpleasant is by default a terrorist. Of course not. Yet the circumstances surrounding this case, particularly its connection to Mastrov himself as well as his reasons, which I believe are financial, for actively protecting this criminal would rouse anyone's suspicion as to what exactly is going on here, especially when that criminal goes out of his way to convey the image of a terrorist, and on Mastrovs end, his robotic underlings are programmed to discourage that criminal's victims from notifying the authorities. Therefore I, as a concerned citizen, will personally see to it that every law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over the above matters gives this case a second look, which is why Ive chosen to make this public knowledge. Because the public has the right to know, regardless of whatever Mastrov and his minions at 24 Hour Fitness think. The government is always looking for ways to cut and slice for the benefit of the consumers and the government, he says, which is a cunning way of implying that the government, our government, is the real villain here. I think this demonstrates his political motivations. After all, a mans values are defined by his actions, and by insinuating that Americans are litigious slobs and that our own government is corrupt characterizes him as a fervent enemy of the public interest; a duplicitous weasel who has discovered financial solace in catering to the likes of some vile, self-absorbed, narcissistic sociopath who should not even be afforded the privilege of living in this great country. But that's just my opinion, which apparently means nothing to the Magnificent Mastrov. After all, I'm not Middle Eastern royalty. I'm just a stupid American. A stupid, sputtering vestige of human potential; nothing more than a diaphanous ghoul that evaporates in the light of somebody else's glory.

The point is, all I wanted was to have this guy dealt with, to uphold the law in the interest of public safety, and they wouldn't do it. Because maybe I'm just not important enough. Maybe we're not important enough. Or maybe we're just expendable; collateral damage on the economic warfront.

Perhaps, it would seem, that behind the barbed-wired fences of 24 Hour Fitness all men are not created equal; that hidden within the wicked complexities of this fascist empire there exists a Darwinian hierarchy whereby those who are bigger, stronger, and morally disinclined are blessed with the inalienable right to prey upon those who are deemed socially inferior, that they can beat down and subjugate anyone they choose because there is a mechanism at work here, generated by an omnipotent force, enabling them to reign with no fear of extinction. In a civilized world, when left unchecked a comparable process spawns the evils of bigotry, where one man's self-professed dominance over another culminates in the systematic dehumanization of an entire race. To allow this occur would be unforgivable, unethical, and particularly un-American. Yet sadly, Mark Mastrov seems to have forgotten this, and for a man like him to nurture this breed of despotism is a blatant attack on the principles that define us.

Roger

West Hills, California
U.S.A.