Pick Your Gym Carefully!
I used to be a member of You Fit, a $10.00 a month gym. Apparently, they recently went out of business, because I received a letter from them to that effect, which also added that Family Fitness would be honoring all of their former memberships.
The next credit card bill I received had nearly a $40.00 charge on it from Family Fitness, so, bill in hand, I paid Family Fitness a visit, to inquire about the unauthorized charge.
I asked the Family Fitness manager why they had charged my credit card without my permission, and he suggested that I must have had an annual membership with You Fit.
"No," I explained, "I only had a month-to-month arrangement. I would not have entered into an annual membership, being as I am a sporadic gym user, preferring 4-mile walks around the river, weather permitting."
"Well," stammered the manager, "You must have signed an annual membership with us when you came in."
"Gee," I said, "that's a great theory, but there's just one problem with it...this is the first time I've been in Family Fitness since the switch."
He shook his head and asked for a minute to phone his boss. He explained things to the man in charge of Family Fitness, who apparently asked for some additional time to look into the problem.
"I believe charging someone's credit card without their permission is considered fraudulent," I said. "Tell your boss I'll give him until my next credit card statement to credit the charge back to my account."
As it turns out, I was being overly lenient, because today I received the next statement, and not only had there been no crediting of the fraudulent charge back to my account, a new $10.00 charge had been added.
I still had never used the Family Fitness facilities.
So, with new credit card bill in hand, I headed back down to Family Fitness to speak with the manager. After explaining the situation again to this different manager, he also suggested that perhaps I had signed up for an annual membership with You Fit. When I assured him that this was not the case, he admitted that You Fit, realizing their business was failing, had "misrepresented some things to potential customers," and that it was not the fault of Family Fitness.
"Neither is it my fault," I replied.
"How can we satisfy you?" he asked. (At least this was getting near to how a customer should be treated)
"Credit my account for the unauthorized charge," I said, "and put me on my originally agreed upon $10.00 a month."
Well, this request was apparently beyond his authority to honor.
"Then cancel my membership," I said, and as he began doing so, he informed me of Family Fitness's $10.00 cancellation fee, which he explained would show up on my next month's credit card bill, adding insult to injury.
So, while I don't really have a recommendation for which gym to frequent, I guess I do have a caveat emptor...not all places have their hands on the barbell, giving you a spot...
Some of them have got their hands in your pockets.
And me? I'll be bundling up on cold days, for my walks around the river!
Recent Comments
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Ugh....hate when that happens. Fitness centers are so competitive and it's just constent selling...very little interest in a person's health....or their finances. The only fitness they are interested in is their financial health. Bummer...invest in a warm jacket!
Debbie
That is dreadful Rick, I didn't think that You Fit had the authority to pass your payment details on to someone else without asking you first. I do hope you get it sorted out and get your money back.
They have some nerve to ask you for a cancellation fee when your account should have been cancelled by You Fit when they went out of business.
You have the right idea, wrap up when it's cold and go out walking in the fresh air, it costs nothing and is better for you.
Hope you got on ok at the Doc yesterday. xxxx
Hi Cheryl. Yeah, it sure didn't seem like ethical behavior. I ended up at an imaging place yesterday, but they were so busy, they had to reschedule my X-ray and MRI for Wednesday. I couldn't even get the pain gel, as they are out until Monday. :)
It seems like they were coming the ham Rick. Don't let them away with it. Make sure you get your money back.
Awww that's a shame, pity you are having to wait till Wednesday and imagine being out of the gel, nothing has went right for you here. They do say it comes in threes so hopefully this is the three and things will go the right way for you from now on.
Have a good weekend Rick and relax as much as you can. xxxx
For the principle of your concern you are definitely right in requesting the refund. Yes I too realized how ‘hidden’ costs can get. The coding alorgthim they have set up is not pro customer, it’s inten is to fill the company. And in your case the gym.
The good old days were not too far back and today the membership costs have soared beyond affordability.
Perhaps you can run a business or focus, similar to Groupon, but called gymon’ , where you scour affordable gym plans city wise and offer plans and discounts?
Whilst entering into affiliation with these gyms?
I’m sure your walks will spur fresh thoughts on how to write content, perhaps using this post here too ?
$10 per month for a gym membership. Wow!! That is a really small amount. Lots of gyms in my country are $1000 per year type arrangements for a standard membership. Sorry you got ripped off though.
Hi Glenys! $1000 per year seems steep to me. There's too much gym competition here for those kind of prices, but they still need to be ethical. :)
That's insane. I wouldn't let it go. How many people are they doing this to?
Nice to walk outside though.
~Debbi
I'm thinking it probably happened to all the gym transfers, Debbi! I couldn't tolerate it. :)
If they did it to you, they're doing it to others. You might want to find other victims of their scam and file (or at least threaten to file) a class action law suit. They took money under false pretense that doesn't belong to them and they may very well be following You Fit right into Lake Scamalot.
Disgusting attitude.Will they keep clients doing such things? If you want satisfaction, publish your blog in a local paper, or some site with the town news if there are any.
Good that you are a great walker.:))
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Good story. Personally I stay away from gyms. They are all full of gossip and the hamster wheel treadmillers that never seem to lose weight but love to chat it up. Seriously. I built my own home gym and it suits me fine plus I don't have to hear the nonstop he said she said chatter so rampant in gyms. I also do walks around parks and lakes. I feel much more comfortable knowing a local gym doesn't have my credit or debit card number. It makes me eat less because I don't have to stress eat worrying about stuff like you mentioned above
Yeah, David-I learned the hard way! :)