We\u2019ve been speaking with WellnessLiving customers over the past month who made the switch from MindBody Online Scheduler and App, and we\u2019ve noticed one common trend \u2013 in the end, they all ended up losing <\/b>more time and money than they gained <\/b>using MindBody to run their business! It makes sense \u2013 we all know how widely-used the software is, and while they were the only show in town (which was quite a while) they could run as they please \u2013 but with other options out there more and more people are making the switch.<\/p>\n
Meet April and Jackie from Hi-Ignition Fit Lab \u2013 they are two of the many studio owners who have made the switch from MindBody. They both describe having stressful experiences with MindBody\u2019s scheduler and online app. The constant software troubles and poor customer support had April and Jackie actively avoiding logging onto their business computers due to the stressful reactions it produced.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started as a personal training studio and when I expanded to group fitness as well, at a larger location with more staff and clientele, I needed something to keep track of everything.\u201d Jackie told us. \u201cIt seemed like every spa and gym I came in contact with were using MindBody. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s because it\u2019s the best system out there; I think it\u2019s because it was the only one at the time<\/b> that had the features fitness studios needed,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Just what was it about this troublesome software that caused April and Jackie to throw in the towel on MindBody? Read on to find out!<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve probably already heard about former MindBody clients being fed up with paying tons of cash to attend MindBody University<\/a> to learn how to use software they were already paying for. Just like many other MindBody users, the ladies of Hi-Ignition Fit Lab found the software to be incredibly difficult to figure out and use.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t find it user friendly. We would make changes with MindBody and go through the pages we thought would fix or change something, then go live with it and it didn\u2019t work how we wanted it to<\/b>,\u201d April explained. We\u2019d call into support and endlessly wait on hold.\u201d<\/p>\n After spending a great deal of time on hold, April and Jackie discovered that even when they reached an agent, the customer support at MindBody still <\/b>had a hard time helping them with their problems.<\/p>\n Just as anyone would, April and Jackie expected to receive an answer to their issues with MindBody quickly and effectively \u2013 at least once they got an agent on the line. After multiple support calls, they realized that they weren\u2019t going to receive the kind of help they needed to figure out how to use the software. In fact, it seemed like the people in customer service weren\u2019t able to figure out a way to fix the problem in a user-friendly way<\/b>.<\/p>\n \u201cYou would have to ask and prompt\u2026They weren\u2019t intuitive about their own system. There was too much staff and not enough training,\u201d Jackie filled us in.<\/p>\n \u201cThey would tell me to put in a feature or build something a certain way and we would point out to them the error in the way they were telling us to do it. They would say, \u2018Yeah, that\u2019s right. I never thought of that.\u2019 And I\u2019d say, \u2018That\u2019s great because you\u2019re supposed to be helping me<\/b>,\u2019\u201d she says.<\/p>\n When they weren\u2019t waiting on hold or talking to a support associate who couldn\u2019t figure out how to help them, April and Jackie were struggling to deal with the lack of availability<\/b> of MindBody support managers for tough issues. During one stressful support call, they were told that there was no one to help them and their problem would have to be escalated. As busy studio owners, they asked that someone call them<\/i><\/b> so they wouldn\u2019t have to wait on hold a second time. What happened next surprised them:<\/p>\n \u201cT<\/strong>hey called me back at two-thirty in the morning<\/b>. They woke me up. I get up at five AM! I was working on the operating system until nine at night because I\u2019m a small business owner. And so I said call me back when there\u2019s the next available agent and they call me at two-thirty in the morning,\u201d she says. \u201cI couldn\u2019t believe it.\u201d<\/p>\n Another incident occurred when they asked to speak with a supervisor. Instead of being immediately put through to the supervisor, they were told, again, that the supervisor would have to call them. An hour and a half later, the phone call from the MindBody supervisor arrived. An hour and a half may not seem that <\/i><\/b>terrible, but this happened during an inconvenient moment when she was training a client and couldn\u2019t take the phone call \u2013 which began the entire cycle again<\/b>.<\/p>\n Even these two fitness pros were starting to get run down when they encountered yet another frustration with MindBody\u2019s scheduler and online app: the need to use third-party apps in order to have all of the features they needed to run their studio effectively. Fees started adding up<\/b>. In addition, they found that the third-party apps often didn\u2019t integrate well with MindBody\u2019s system \u2013 at all..<\/p>\n \u201cThey farm you out to other companies for different features\u2026We were paying three or four companies a month<\/b>. We were drowning in fees to get everything we needed for our small business\u2026If you need this, you need to pay for that.\u201d April told us.<\/p>\n \u201cThey all promised to seamlessly integrate with MindBody and that was never the case. We would have issues with things not working properly and all the companies would blame each other<\/b>. Miraculously, the problem would get fixed and nobody would cop to who fixed it,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n This made dealing with issues overly complicated and frustrating \u2013 especially since no one would take responsibility for the error, making it impossible to evaluate which apps were the problem and where MindBody just inherently had errors. At times, April and Jackie felt as if they were losing their minds while trying to figure out how to balance running their business with learning how to use a complex piece of software that never did what they needed it to do in the first place.<\/p>\n The stress and frustration of constantly dealing with MindBody\u2019s many issues began to add up. April and Jackie were tired of wasting their time and their money on something that had turned into a huge headache for them and their business.<\/p>\n To make matters worse, they both felt as if they didn\u2019t matter to MindBody.<\/p>\n \u201cIt didn\u2019t seem to matter. We were a number. We weren\u2019t an important account or client. We didn\u2019t seem significant<\/b>,\u201d Jackie explained.<\/p>\nClients Have to Rely on Tricky Workarounds or Customer Support<\/b><\/h2>\n
Lack of Timely Help and Poorly Timed Callbacks<\/b><\/h2>\n
Third-Party Apps and Features are Costly and Difficult to Use<\/b><\/h2>\n
Choose a Better Option<\/b><\/h2>\n