Relentless texts disturb Gold's Gym members late at night

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SALT LAKE CITY -- Text messages advertising holiday specials for Gold's Gym, accidentally flooded members' cell phones in the middle of the night and members say they couldn't get them to stop.

With ringing and dinging and buzzing, this is one marketing strategy for a chain of fitness that went awry and had members upset - and tired. The

"I'm a business owner, I'm a real estate owner. That's my craft. I have to function in life and I don't know how they expect me to function in life," said member Peter Miller.

For two hours, Miller's phone, which he keeps on in case of an emergency, wouldn't stop buzzing.

The messages were mistakenly sent out at the wrong time starting at about 1:00 a.m. Miller says he got texts at 12:45 a.m., 1:29 a.m.,, 1:50 a.m., 1:53 a.m., 1:57 a.m., 2:06 a.m., 2:18 a.m., 2:30 a.m., and 2:41 a.m., all from Gold's Gym.

Miller was so upset that he drove to two different gyms at two o'clock this morning. He says the managers wouldn't talk to him.

If you received the late night texts...

Gold's Gym has set up a special email account, which is text@goldsgymutah.com. The company wants to hear from members who got the repeated texts. Everyone will get a response in 72 hours and the company plans to do something to make amends.

"I don't know how they're going to stay in business by treating their patrons this way. I'm a paying member for this organization and people deserve better than that," Miller said.

Another member emailed us, saying she got 26 texts in 30 minutes. This woman was angry because she couldn't get them to stop.

The texts offered a holiday deal on personal training sessions. Gold's Gym says it hired a text marketing firm to advertise the special to 13,000 of its members. Because of a technical glitch about a thousand of them, including some employees, got repeated messages.

"We're so apologetic to our valued members because this was meant to be something special for them and it turned out to be an unwelcome surprise," said Kirk Livingston, vice-president of operations for Gold's Gym.

Livingstone talked to Miller about the issue and how the company plans to make it up to him.

"Organizations need to be better and they need to be accountable for their actions," Miller said.

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