The Saga

It started with an email.

One dated 7-19-08. That said the the Little Gym of Arrowhead was CLOSED.

How could it be closed? We had just been there that week. We had paid for the summer session which there were several more weeks in and we had pre-paid for the fall session. I decided I would call on Monday and find out what was going on. I called, and no one answered the phone. I left a message.

The next email dated 7-21-08. Entitled Closure FAQ.

Basically the email explained the the owners were locked out by the landlord of the building, and that they would be unable to open the gym and that due to having to file bankruptcy, there would probably not be any refunds given for classes already paid for. Lovely. They also explained that since The Little Gym locations are franchises, the other gyms are under no obligation to honor the monies we had already paid.

The next email dated 7-22-08. Entitled INFO

This email came from Little Gym International. It said:

The Little Gym International, Inc. was contacted on Saturday July 19 by the franchise owners of The Little Gym of Arrowhead, Stephen and Donna Rains, and advised that they had been locked out of there facility by their landlord. While this came as a surprise to us we can only imagine that it was a bigger surprise to you as a customer of The Little Gym. We recognize that their closing without notice regrettably left your children without their classes and camps to attend for the remainder of the summer semester. The owners of the other The Little Gyms in the Valley, having received no prior notice from the Rains that The Little Gym of Arrowhead was closed, have agreed to honor your memberships and to accept your paid tuition for the remainder of summer classes and camps as well as birthday party deposits.

For those of you who enrolled at The Little Gym of Arrowhead and paid for the Fall tuition, we are exploring the options available to obtain either a refund or to provide classes. One option being explored is to influence the Rains to do the right thing and refund those customers that they took money from for the Fall session.

So, I called the number listed on the bottom of the email and requested information about how to get a refund. We are talking about over $300 that I had pre-paid for the fall semester. That is a lot of money in my world. The man from The Little Gym International called back and left me a message at home with sincere apologies and hope that refunds would be offered--and to keep checking my email.

Email dated 7-28-08. Entitled INFO

Again, another email from the Little Gym International. This one finally set the record straight.

After several conversations with the Rains, as well as their attorney, it has become apparent that they will not be providing refunds to those of you who paid them for tuition. In our last call the attorney informed us that they had filed bankruptcy, both personal and corporate and would not be able to honor their obligations.

While we recognize that this is extremely disappointing to you, we have been working with the other The Little Gym franchise owners in the area and are pleased to announce that all of The Little Gyms in the Valley want to and have agreed to honor your Fall tuition at their locations.

Now this in theory is wonderful. If I can't get a refund, at least Cade can continue to attend classes at another Little Gym. However, here is the downfall. The two closest gyms are hardly close. We went to another gym this morning and it took us 30 minutes to get there. So while we do truly appreciate the other gyms allowing us to come (without getting paid, basically) it is no fun having to go that far. Not with an almost-two-year-old who gets antsy in the car very quickly.

To be honest, I am angry, but my heart also breaks for the owners of the gym who had sunk so much of themselves and their lives into the gym to have it fail. Hard to stomach, I am sure. So while I would have appreciated some advance warning, or some money refunded, I feel much worse for the Rains than I do for myself.

So, I guess we will survive until the new year driving to the new gym. Maybe someone will have bought the Arrowhead gym by then and we can go back there. One can hope, right?