Lucille Roberts Fitness for Women
With more than 200,000 members in the New York metro area, Lucille Roberts is one of the largest women-only establishments in the country. Ms. Roberts, a native of the Soviet Union who immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 13, opened her first fitness club for women in midtown Manhattan across the street from Macy's in the 1970s. By the time of her death in July 2003, the chain was grossing $50 million chain and was about to begin a nationwide franchise operation.
Ms. Roberts said she wanted to build a low-priced facility that would be limited to women -- one that working women and stay-at-home moms could afford and one they could go to without being ogled by men.
But like all only-in-America success stories, there's another side. Customers complain bitterly that they have been victimized by self-renewing contracts, that they have been charged exorbitant cancellation fees and, in a few cases, that the facilities are not up to par.
In fact, the contracts are self-renewing but after the initial term, they become month-to-month, which isn't so bad ... or is it? See below.
