I hate bad customer service. Especially the inexplicably bad. As an independent contractor in a customer service based industry, I always strive to go above and beyond my client’s needs and I expect the same when I’m the paying client. And that is exactly why I’m taking Brandon Brown to court.
Brandon is a pretty well known guy in the Twin Cities. According to his Instagram page he’s a Lifestyle Specialist, Certified Fitness Trainer, Radio & TV Personality and Music Consultant. His public Facebook page states that he’s “Leading the new wave of creative individuals, while maintaining self awareness by serving others through my outward personality and fitness..” I don’t know exactly what that means, but I know Brandon socially and had never had any negative experiences with him, which is why I didn’t hesitate to call him when a mutual friend posted pictures of her weight loss progress since she has been working with him. We spoke for a bit about my fitness goals and current level of activity and we scheduled a time for me to come in for a free fitness assessment and workout; Monday May 12 @ 7:30. We didn’t speak again until Monday morning when we had the following text exchange:
I went to the assessment, worked up a good sweat and was interested in pursuing my fitness goals with him. Now it was time to discuss his fee. I have quite a few friends in service based industries and one thing they’ll tell you is, I’ve NEVER asked for a discount. I understand that your time and service are valuable and I have no problem paying for quality service. Do my friends often provide their services at discounted rates; sure. But I do the same thing when they need my services and I will refer everyone I know to you if I’m pleased. That being said, Brandon said he charges $25 per session and we were going to meet 3 days a week for a total of $300 monthly. I never asked if that’s what he charges everyone (he made it seem as if it was with his repeated references to providing quality service at affordable prices, but I could be wrong) I simply said okay and left. **this becomes important later** I gave him the $50.00 for the two paid sessions that week and brought him $150 Monday May 19th, for the remainder of May.
I go to Brandon 3 days a week for the next two weeks. Week 3 starts on the 26th which was Memorial Day when this exchange took place:
As a veteran of the United States Air Force, I understand wanting to celebrate the lost lives of service members; even if the independent contractor part of me doesn’t know if I would do the same thing if a client who had already paid me was ready to go. Would I have spared an hour and half out of my day? Probably, but hey everybody’s hustle is different. Also, as a service provider 48 hours would never go by without me returning a clients phone call or text, but again, everybody’s hustle is different.
I have to admit, I entered into the 3rd week with Brandon a bit skeptical. Although I was getting winded during our workouts, I never felt the soreness you expect to feel after a really tough workout. There were times I would go to yoga or for runs immediately following our workouts, so I wasn’t sure if I was being challenged. We also weren’t doing any lifting at all–mostly body weight exercises. I’m no expert but every personal trainer I’ve spoken with stresses the importance of heavy lifting when trying to lose fat and build muscle–my current fitness goals. None of Brandon’s clients that I saw were lifting and neither was I. In fact, we were all pretty much doing the same exercise circuit, which also bothered me. How is this training personalized to me and my goals if we’re all doing it? I also wasn’t terribly impressed with my progress. I had started running 3 days a week and eating much better but I didn’t see any results that were different from when I was working out on my own and living an active lifestyle previously. Basically I wasn’t 100% sold on the fact that my (minimal) progress was the result of working out with him or just an increase in my own activity level. Some of Brandon’s business practices also rubbed me the wrong way. After one workout in particular, he decided to talk payment for next month with me–in front of two other trainers (at least I think they were trainers, I really have no clue since they were complete strangers). I had already paid for the month of May but even if I hadn’t, I think it’s tacky and unprofessional to discuss financials in front of other people and it’s something I would never do my clients. But once again, everybody’s hustle is different.
So yes I was skeptical. So much so that I had actually contacted a personal trainer who’s been working with my best friend and has her looking amazing! Not only does my best friend look amazing, she sounds amazing when she’s making food choices based on when her trainer told her body needs certain foods. Her trainer shared with me her fitness philosophy (nutrition, weight lifting and cardio), as well as some of the exercises she makes my best friend do to help her reach her goals. I had already paid for the rest of the month with Brandon and it was the last week of the month anyway so I decided to finish out the week with him before making a decision whether to continue training with him or not. Brandon and I meet Tues and Weds that week and reschedule Monday’s missed session for Thursday. I get to work Thursday only to find out that my position has been eliminated by the developers of our building, and this is where things begin to go left with Brandon Brown:
Now, I know sometimes I’m not always clear when I communicate, however it seems like this is pretty clear: I’m going to pick up my Herbalife order from him on Friday between 9:00-12:00. So imagine my surprise on Friday when this happens:
So now I’m more than slightly irritated. Not only did I send him screenshots of the conversation with him telling me to pick up my stuff between 9:00-12:00 that morning, rather than apologizing for the miscommunication, he’s now insinuating that it was me who made the mistake and that I am in need of vacation to relax my overworked mind. Before I can type a response that included enough “F-bombs” to make my Granny proud he calls.
I answer the phone thinking he’s going to apologize for the situation (like any good service provider would do), tell me when and where I can pick up my order and be done with it. But I was wrong. Brandon proceeds to argue me down about how I’m wrong and he never said I could pick up my stuff Friday. He’s getting loud and I’m getting loud right back because at this point I’m seeing red. He finally tells me that he hadn’t even received my order yet and that it wouldn’t arrive until Saturday. At this point I’m so over this dude and his terrible customer service that I ask when and where I can pick it up and hang up the phone. I say about a million whooo-sahs and call my best friend to debrief. While I’m on the phone with her Brandon clicks in twice. Having decided that I’ve already spent far too much time on him, I don’t answer.
And because Brandon is on a mission to prove he’s the world’s best business man, he sends me this “I didn’t really mess up it’s mostly your fault” apology:
So let me get this straight Brandon Brown: not only have you insinuated that I’m crazy and called me to argue me down, you didn’t even bother reading the text messages I sent arranging the pick up. And you think telling me, THE CLIENT, that you didn’t even bother to read (even though he certainly responded) what I sent you is an acceptable apology? I’m beyond infuriated–so much so that I don’t even respond until the next day when I ask him if my order had arrived and if I could come pick it up. I go to the gym and rather than apologize for being the type of businessman that makes people write terrible Yelp reviews, he simply hands me my order and goes back to training. This would be the perfect time to wipe my hands completely of the situation but we still have 1 unused session and I’ve decided that I definitely don’t want to work with him anymore so later that night I send him this:
To which he responds:
No mention of the refund (no surprise) and of course I don’t hear from Brandon the rest of the weekend. I send another text Monday morning and here is where Brandon Brown enters the hall of fame for the worst customer service ever:
Yup folks, you read that right. Brandon claims to have given me a discount (even though his clients that I know are paying the same amount and I never asked him for one) and that seems to be reason for him to keep my money. He also threatened me for “harassing” him (although I hardly think my text qualifies as harassment) and ever so arrogantly dismissed me by telling me to stop texting him. Oh and the Herbalife “discount” he “gave” me wasn’t for me, per se. He’s a distributor and ordered product for himself and his other clients, not as if that would justify his behavior. But hold on folks, it gets even better:
Now let’s be clear: I paid him $200 because there were only 2.5 weeks left in May. And whether I paid for 2 sessions or 200, if I don’t use them all (especially if it’s because I’m not satisfied with you) I’m supposed to get a refund, right? Not if you do business the Brandon Brown way.
Sidenote–if you know me Brandon doesn’t want your business either. Because somehow, I’ve turned into the problem and all my friends, colleagues and associates must be problem clients too.
And by the way, Brandon Brown is apparently invincible because he’s not afraid of a call to the Better Business Bureau. When you call ask for his aunt Judy. I did and the person I was speaking with had never heard of her–maybe you’ll have better luck:
Now you may be asking, who is the “we” I was referring to when I told Brandon that I would be picking up the money with. I’m not gonna lie, initially “we” consisted of a very big, sometimes irrational male friend and another slightly smaller friend with a very hot head; however I knew if it came to blows, Brandon would swear he got beat up over $25.00 and the principal of the matter would be completely lost. So instead I had the police meet me at his gym, even though they explained to me that they couldn’t make him refund my money and I would probably have to file a claim in small claims court. After Brandon got over his initial fear of seeing the police (he refused to unlock the door at first even though it was just me and the very small female officer) long enough to hear the officer explain that she couldn’t make him refund me the money, he once again refused to refund my money. I asked him what would happen if someone had to move while they were training to which he responded, “That would be their loss.” He also told me that if I wanted my money back I would have to sue him; so I will, but not for the money. I mean, it costs $70.00 to file a claim in small claims court so it clearly has nothing to do with the money. I want it on record that Brandon Brown is an arrogant, super shady businessman. I’m sick of people in these customer service industries providing awful customer service and making it that much harder for those of us who go above and beyond our clients’ needs. So please help me to tell everyone I know (and everyone you know) not to use Brandon Brown’s services. Let’s put an end to bad customer service, one shady “businessman” at a time.
A. Nicole Daily 