OBVIOUSLY THE CUSTOMER ISN'T ALWAYS RIGHT

You might have thought that in this current economic climate, every business would be doing its damndest to keep its customers – and keep them happy. It’s something that appears to have eluded health club chain LA Fitness. At the branch I use and have used for the past 11 years, a decision has been taken to cancel one of the club’s most enduringly popular classes.

Boxercise took place on a Saturday morning and had done so successfully for three or four years. Most weeks it was full, many weeks it had a waiting list and it had a sizeable core of regular members who rolled up religiously to work off the stresses of the week. There was no customer consultation, no coherent information but, it would appear, bags of indifference on the part of LA Fitness towards loyal customers.

These are people, me included, who commit to membership over many years in a sector that is renowned for high customer turnover and which has, traditionally, been poor at delivering effective retention strategies.

I’m told the decision came from head office – no doubt staffed by people who haven’t a clue what their customers want never mind, and God forbid, actually asking them!

At the end of the day this is an inconsequential example, but what it does demonstrate in its own small way is the complete disregard a major business can have for loyal customers. It’s a prime example of corporate arrogance.

As a marketer I find it incomprehensible that any company would ever (never mind in the depths of a recession and in a discretionary spend sector) take a decision that would alienate customers without even consulting with them and canvassing views.

Has the management of LA Fitness become so indifferent to its members that it treats them with such disregard while, as a business, appears to have forgotten even the basic, entry level rules of effective customer relationship marketing? Sorry, but as business people and marketers aren’t we supposed to be fighting tooth and nail for every customer’s loyalty?

Now, where are my gloves?