Naturally Women members finding refunds hard to get

04:55 PM MST on Monday, January 2, 2006

By Scott Simonson
ARIZONA DAILY STAR

As some former members of the Naturally Women Fitness Centers would tell you, a health club should exercise your muscles, not your patience.

When Naturally Women closed its two Tucson clubs last year, it left some customers with hard feelings and questions about how to get their money back.

Some women spent hundreds of dollars in multiyear club memberships, which were suddenly worthless, and no refund was offered.

More than three months after the September closings, many of those women haven't changed where they work out. They go to the same buildings, which now contain new women-only clubs, which belong to new owners, and bear different names.

What happened to the club members at Naturally Women is both a cautionary tale about paying upfront to join a health club, and a story about what it takes for new health club owners to build trust with wary customers.

Arizona Natural Woman replaced the Naturally Women club at 2850 W. Ina Road. It is used by more than 400 of 535 club members who belonged to Naturally Women there when it closed, the owners of the new club said.

Darla's replaced Naturally Women at 6880 E. Broadway. It has close to 1,000 members, most of whom joined from the previous Naturally Women club, according to Pat Sharp Finch, the club's new owner.

The two new clubs have separate owners, none of whom is connected to the owners of Naturally Women, they said.

Owners and club members alike said women-only health clubs create a special sense of community.

"We support each other as women," said Gayle Tomkiel, general manager of Arizona Natural Woman, which she co-owns with Margaret Phillips and Kevin Tomkiel, her husband. It's the sort of place where a mom can meet her daughter for a workout while her daughter's daughter works on homework, Gayle Tomkiel said.

"We're re-created a safe, non-intimidating environment for women, regardless of age, shape or experience," said Darla Gentry, who is the namesake and manager of Darla's.

Naturally Women was a longtime player in women-only fitness clubs locally; it operated in Tucson for nearly 20 years before closing abruptly in September.

Former Naturally Women member Lois Sather said that before the club closed, she changed her membership contract, deciding to pay month-to-month instead of annually.

Even though the annual plan sometimes offered 13 months for the price of 12, Sather said, the deteriorating condition of the club made her suspicious.

"I kind of had a feeling something might be going on," said Sather, 70, who belonged to the club for more than 10 years. "Things were not being kept up like when I joined the club. "

Sather said she knew others who purchased long-term memberships and didn't receive refunds. Finch said some women complained that they had memberships for several years, costing hundreds of dollars, when Naturally Women closed.

Membership confidentiality rules prevented club members from banding together, said Marilyn Hanson, who has worked in vain to obtain a refund from Naturally Women.

"The thing that upsets me is because of the confidentiality, we cannot contact each other and come together as a group in any sort of class-action suit," Hanson said. "We're all anonymous."

No state law prevents members of other gyms from finding themselves in the same situation, said Tom Collier, president of the Better Business Bureau of Southern Arizona.

The bureau has received no response to 10 complaints against the former Naturally Women clubs, according to the bureau's Web site.

Management of Naturally Women has stopped returning phone calls, he said.

WFC Naturally Women Fitness Centers LLC was managed by Daniel J. Rice of Scottsdale, according to documents filed with the Arizona Corporation Commission. Attempts to reach Rice were unsuccessful last week.

After the clubs closed, new owners opened new clubs at the same locations and tried to offer Naturally Women members some good news: They wanted the customers to come back to their gyms under new ownership.

Finch, who owned the building that housed Naturally Women on the East Side, took over the club .

She helped the club simplify its membership policy: No long-term contracts, just month-to-month memberships.

"We have to earn that woman's respect and longevity," said Gentry, who also worked at the club on the East Side owned by Naturally Women.

The club kept its equipment and staff, Finch said. It helped Naturally Women members write letters requesting refunds from credit card companies for services not rendered.

"A lot of them got their money back from the credit card company," Finch said. "If there are women out there who have not tried this, we'd like to support them."

On the Northwest Side, Arizona Natural Woman has attempted a different approach, trying to create an entirely new club, with a new look and new equipment. The club has spent more than $1 million on renovations and new equipment, and is to begin a 10,000-square-foot expansion in early 2006, said Kevin Tomkiel, one of the owners.

To those who had long-term contracts with Naturally Women, the club offers discounts on massages and other products and services.

The club is also trying to keep members by expanding its services to include a day spa, yoga, Pilates and computers that will allow children to work on homework while their mothers work out — all with the goal of becoming a "women's wellness center."

Sather said that after Naturally Women closed, she joined Darla's out of loyalty to her fitness instructor and some of her friends.

However, she said she's not sure she'll stay. Her dues rose from $17 to $25 per month at the new club, but she's not sure that the upkeep of the club has improved enough.

"I feel like I'm getting less for what I'm paying more for," she said. "I don't know how much longer I'm going to be able to do this."

Elaine A. Clark, 65, who also joined Darla's after belonging to Naturally Women, gave the new East Side club a glowing review.

"I'm going to work out, but there's also a lot of wonderful people there who are so pleasant," Clark said. "It's more than a gym. It's people who actually care what happens in the community, to each other."

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©The Arizona Daily Star, 2005