Big Corporation, Little Consideration

<p>After consulting with 2 different sales consultants at 2 different Virgin Active branches, I decided to get a 12 month contract. I spoke with Sithembiso at the Morningside Branch, who assisted me in getting my Premier Student membership in July 2015. At the beginning of 2016, I spoke with a 3rd sales consultant regarding getting a Morningside membership only, and he recommended that I keep my student contract as it allowed me access into any club at any time and the cost difference was low. I had used my contract for 10 months where I was allowed entrance at various clubs at various times without any issues. Then on Tuesday 24 May 2016, I went to gym in the evening where I was denied access. I stood the humiliated and completely unsure as I couldn't understand why I would not be granted access. I was then informed that there was a glitch in their IT system and I actually have an off peak membership. There was no effort made to communicate this information to me. Virgin Active claims to have sent an email, but this email doesn't appear in my inbox. I then read through my contract and couldn't see any indication of it being off peak only and contacted the call centre where I was put through to whom I think is the rudest woman in South Africa. I was treated like a stupid fool and was spoken to in a patronizing manner. There was no apology given for the inconvenience caused by their sales consultants having miss informed me and no solution to my problem. I then contacted the call centre again the following day to ask for the recording as I wanted to go over it again, and the lady informed me that I will not be able to have access to my conversation and that they will need to first listen to it before deciding if I may listen to it. I was then told something along the lines of 'students need to be told things a few times as they aren't aware of what is going on in the world around them". Shortly after this rude remark, was I encouraged to sign a 24 month membership with Virgin Active and to refer a friend to go and gym with me. I received a follow up phone call later that day to say that there was another technical glitch and it seems not all phone calls were recorded the day I called in and that they are unable to find my recording. I feel that Virgin Active has handled this situation incorrectly especially considering that 3 member of their staff gave me the same (incorrect) information on 3 separate occasions. This is another classic example of a big corporation exploiting helpless individuals and taking full advantage of them.</p>