Avoid: EnergyOne Gym Mount Faber Safra

Best thing is: Don't go there.  It's very sad when Singaporeans treat another Singaporean badly.

I've been there on different occasions & the service has always been bad. Always.  The same bad staff year after year. Even with my complaint, EnergyOne supports such staff & keeps them.

Really, iron rice bowl is easy these days. Won't get fired regardless of how they treat the customers.


Guys & ladies, take your money elsewhere. Don't give to EnergyOne. Go to other gyms. Companies that value their staff more than their customers don't deserve your money!

#1 Very unprofessional staff with couldn't-care-less attitudes. Very impersonal, very mean & very rude when it suits them.  They don't have to answer to any supervisor or manager. So they think they are the boss.

The staff does whatever they feel is their right towards customers.

I have seen the female counter staff do their school homework at the counter in front of customers. After attending to customers, they go back to doing their homework.  Nobody stops them from doing that.

The female counter staff may seem nice & friendly. But don't be fooled. They have no conscience about being rude & mean later.  And they will ignore you when it suits them. Very impersonal, very rude, very mean.

#2 There is a man on the gym floor who will suddenly appear to find fault with the customer, even though he is not a counter staff, not a supervisor & not the manager.  He himself admitted he is "just a worker".

"Just a worker" and yet  he is always causing problems & is a permanent nuisance. Very small-minded & unreasonably picky man (a disgrace to manhood).


#3 The swimming pool is really too crowded even on a weekday hot afternoon. For per entry, it's terrible to pay $8.55 & can't even get a clear lane.  This is the highest price to swim in a pool I've ever come across.

This is despite Safra cutting out the public some time ago. Although excluding foreigners is good, giving EnergyOne exclusive use of the pool is unfair.  The pool is under Safra, not EnergyOne.  (I still remember the Chlorine gas leak back then.).

If you pay for membership, it will be minus the use of the pool because this pool benefit will be compromised every time by the crowd. Not worthwhile.


#4  Handing over your I/C for pay-per-entry. What is so great about old thin towels & lousy stinking lockers, that customers have to risk having their I/Cs stolen, lost, misplaced or given to the wrong person? Why should customers have to hand in their I/Cs in exchange for a clunky locker key? 

Why do I have to give my precious I/C to get an ugly rubber bracelet noisy locker key that I've to leave behind somewhere while I swim, use the Jacuzzi or the gym?

While EnergyOne forces customers to fill up a form to cover their ass, what guarantee do customers have that our I/Cs are safe with the staff? That the staff won't photocopy the I/C for whatever reasons? 
 

#5  Jacuzzi. The temperature cannot be adjusted. It's small & quite boring after a while.  Not hot enough (I miss the onsens in Japan but make do with this.). And there is no ice/cold bath to cool off.

#6  Fill in a form. Even if you are just there to swim, the staff will make you fill in a form. Every time & anytime, the staff will make you jump through a few hoops first.


2 June Tues, I was desperate for a swim. My regular pool was temporarily closed. Despite previous bad experiences with the staff at EnergyOne Mount Faber, I still went.

No surprise that even this time, it's again another bad experience.

I approached the counter woman (in her 20s) to pay for per entry rate $8.55.  Logically, just paying for the use of the pool & flashing my I/C should be enough. As long as the I/C is pink (for Singaporean), it's enough.

But no. She wanted to know if I've been here before etc... etc... Then wanted me to fill up a form. (She seemed friendly & polite in starting a conversation with me about the pool, how it used to be very crowed on weekends etc...).

After I scribbled some stuff in the form, she wanted my I/C.  Took it, then gave me their clunky key & a thin, rough towel (I recall their towel used to be thicker?). She wanted to give me 2 of the towels but I said one is enough.  (It had a smell by the way. I guessed it should be clean. Even my house towel is better.).

The pool was unexpectedly full. Even at a price of $8.55, I couldn't even get a lane. Had to swim between 2 men & then dodge them because some men just can't swim straight.

When I was done with the swim & Jacuzzi, I came out to return their key & get back my I/C.

That woman took back the key. Not knowing what she was up to (& since she had been friendly earlier), I asked her what timings were less crowded. She replied only halfway, purposely left my I/C on the counter-top & walked away.  I was quite puzzled why she left my I/C on the table like that.

When she returned, she didn't bother resuming the conversation. Instead, she just sat back at her seat & stared at the computer.

Meanwhile, a man with yellow sunglasses suddenly came over & picked up my I/C on the counter-top. I recognized him as the stupid & crazy gym man.  He don't remember me, but I remember him.

In his 40s, short hair, crazy eyes.  Looks like a body builder, on gym supplements and/or steroids. Wears yellow sunglasses even inside the gym.

So, I knew what happened. This counter woman had called him over.  She had rudely talked to me halfway, broke off to call him over, & sat back without answering my question.  Such a mean woman. Such a faker, pretending to be friendly at the start. 

They behaved as if they just discovered the customer robbed a bank & want to borrow money from them. She the bank teller and he the bank manager.  *rolls eyes*

The crazy man started questioning me about my I/C. I said my playful niece blanked out 1 or 2 digits, but I already filled up their form. (So from the form, they can still enter the data into their ancient computer system). 

But he wouldn't let it go. Continued staring intently at me like a nutcase. 

I looked away from him to ask the counter woman about my earlier question. I said she had replied to me halfway regarding less crowded timings.

She started talking to me again, but without any genuine interest. In fact, she seemed to intentionally make the pool sound completely unfavorable so that I wouldn't be coming again.

During this time I was trying to engage in a conversation with her, the mad gym man who had not moved, kept staring at me, intently & closely.

After accepting her information that the pool is crowded from morning to night, I turned to go. But that madman wouldn't let me.

He pushed the form forwards & crazily pointed to what I wrote on the form, asking me to confirm if my year of birth was correct. This is despite the fact that my writing was very clear & sharp.  He was doing it intentionally. And he was smiling.

I confirmed that it was correct, then prepared to leave. But even then, he still clung on.

He threatened me. Told me that if I came with my I/C again, he wouldn't let me in. I said, "That's fine.". And walked out.  But just before I left, I turned back & asked whether he is the supervisor or manager.

He smilingly said, "Just a worker.". He said they don't have a supervisor or manager. "The manager is up there." (He pointed at somewhere far away).

"Just a worker" and he dared threaten me in that way. What authority has he to even forbid entry to a paying customer? And I already showed my I/C, which is a Singaporean I/C as per their entry requirement.

And this is not the first time he has behaved in this way.  Always a nuisance.  And EnergyOne keeps him.


Let's make it really clear. This incident is not about the digits of my I/C. According to entry requirements, the customer just needs to 1) pay 2) present a Singapore or PR identification.

Both requirements have been fulfilled. I have paid. My I/C is pink.

If the argument is about needing to enter the digits into the database, then I have already said I completed filling their stupid form. Just input the data according to the form. Why cause so much trouble to the customer?

After all, I am only using the pool & Jacuzzi. As I already told the counter woman at the beginning, I am only here because my regular pool is temporarily closed. I am just here for maybe once or twice.

And what about at the beginning when the counter woman accepted my I/C & form filling? Why couldn't the woman have entered the data I filled in the form? After all, the I/C is just a hostage in exchange for their clunky key.  Why call that mad man over?

I really hate staff who don't use their brains, who don't know when to use their discretion in matters. Because such staff are stupid, they make customers upset.

Throughout, I didn't see any point in arguing or raising my voice even when the mad gym man threatened me.

There is only one word to describe this man: Bully.

And EnergyOne keeps such staff on a long-term basis. Even if they upgraded the facilities, the place will still be shitty with the same stupid staff.