I get scammed and I'm not happy

[Geek King]

This is one of the reasons why I'm reluctant to join a gym. I need the exercise sure, but the fees are a pain in the butt. If I can, I tend to get 10-20 visit passes somewhere and do it that way.

Best advice I can give is to find a gym that offers a month-by-month membership. That way, they have an impetus to keep the facilities up, and make sure the members are happy. Also, if you have to stop going for some reason, you don't have a year or more of wasted time paid for.

[fireheart]

Best advice I can give is to find a gym that offers a month-by-month membership. That way, they have an impetus to keep the facilities up, and make sure the members are happy. Also, if you have to stop going for some reason, you don't have a year or more of wasted time paid for.

There's one group I'm aware of that runs on month-by-month memberships, but their nearest gym is quite some distance away and kinda pointless for me as a result. (They're also pricier, but the big difference is in the way they work: unlike most gyms where you might get a few sessions, but you're otherwise on your own, you have a personal trainer from the get-go who sets up a program for you, helps you set up the machines and makes sure you're doing the exercise correctly before leaving you to your own devices.)

[wolfie]

when I called them up to dispute all of it, I was told that I had actually signed up for a three year contract!

Surprising they'd make a claim that's so easy to disprove - due to problems with "lifetime" gym memberships, a lot of jurisdictions have legislated that a gym contract can't be for more than one year. From what I've heard, gyms try to make it ridiculously hard to cancel (after all, someone canceling is cutting off the money supply). I wouldn't be surprised if some gym buried in their terms of service that a cancellation request can only be made on a day when the sun rises in the west.

[Gilhelmi]

LOL I don't remember this episode and I love Friends! Made me laugh to read it tho. Will they try to send me a hunk to bamboozle me? I doubt it. Anyway, I'm not going back to the gym to complain, they tricked me there.

Good news! I called my credit card company to file a claim. At first I was a bit afraid, because I have never filed one before and I thought they would be like "Oh God not another one" but actually they were pretty decent. They listened sympathetically and guess what? They had a whole department that deals with claims from gyms! So I guess I wasn't the first one, huh?

After that, I went to the sites where you can post reviews on businesses and told them my story. I didn't expect much, honestly, but I got an email after that from them reaching their hand out in a truce! Is it a ploy or another trick? I'll keep you updated.

It MIGHT be a truce. Sometimes corporate is better then the lower store. It could be that the manager did not want to take a 'hit' to their sale. I could be an honest oversight on filing paperwork. BUT there were a lot of might and could in what I said. So still be careful.

Email is good, save everything. If they call you, say you want an Email confirmation of anything agreed to that same day. As with many parts of life, document document document.

[Bloodsoul]

…and this is why I stick with Farmer Burns' "Guide to Wrestling and Physical Culture."

Well, that, and I'm broke.

[kptsj]

My son's in laws joined a gym and paid for the year. Added about 30 personal trainer visits. The gym kept changing trainers and so over half the visits werent used.. They talked to the gym about the remaining visits when they signed up for 2nd year. Gym said no problem. The gym website has a thing where you can see how many visits you have left, etc. A month after the renewal the in laws get an email saying they are changing to a new system and to click this link and your account will be switched to new system. As soon as they clicked ok the remaining visits disappeared from the gym's site never to be found again. The gym keep saying nothing is on file, etc. The paperwork for personal trainer sessions was separate form the other paperwork and was lost. Last I heard they are still getting the run around.

[Mystic]

I learned a trick about gym memberships in the city... use a prepaid visa/mastercard. When you get the card, register it online and you can use a different name as well to prevent further contact if they try to scam you. Just feed a monthly fee to the card if you like the gym then.