24 Hour Fitness consumer ripoff liars deceptive company Houston Texas
I was interested in getting in better shape, so I called 24 hour fitness. Because I was a little skeptical regarding what I was being told by Christian, at the gym, I did not return any calls. Once I did answer the phone, and it was Christian, I was told that he was not going to stop calling until after I came in to sign up. (Sign up. They never use the word membership or contract until after you sign.) I came in with more questions, then I was told that if I was not happy, that the location would do everything to ensure my happiness. I signed up. At that time, I knew that I was having surgery within 1 week, and I was told that it would be no problem that I would be taken care of.
Contrary to what was stated, I was told several lies to the effect of "my membership can be frozen up to 1 year" my the location manager Dustin. (who also denies that Christian worked at his location) Months later after filing with BBB, I find out that the membership was, indead, not frozen as promised. After comfronting Dustin, he did not remember our conversation. At this time, my membership should have already been canceled by Clay, who also claimed to be the manager of the location.
After recieving a letter from 24 hour fitness regarding my BBB complaint, I was told that I could not cancel or recieve a refund at this time. I was also sent a medical release form, to be filled out by my physician. Concidently, the medical release does not name the condition, nor, does it leave any room for the details of the surgery and affliction to be named or explained. Also the affected muscle groups section of the form only lists the major muscles in the arms and legs. Not the hands or lower arms, which is where my problem lies.
I am extremely upset regarding this. It might also be mentioned that I have not used this membership at all. I have never worked out at this or any other location of 24 hour fitness. I have paid for a membership (which I was not told was a contract) and for personal training sessions that I cannot use because of the above (and lengthy explaination).
Upon asking what was a legitimate reasoning for refund, I was told that it was on a case by case basis. ALso when I asked who made that decision, my questions were avoided.
Tammi
Houston, Texas
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Lincoln
Bellevue,Washington,
U.S.A.
Deposits?
#3Consumer Comment
Mon, June 11, 2007
To equate a gym membership to renting a car or an apartment is simply foolish. The purpose for a legitimate deposit is for collecting damage or maintenace to a TANGIBLE PRODUCT. A gym membership is not a tangible product, it can not be damaged and it does require any sort of maintenance or up keep. Hence, a gym membership does not need a deposit, just a bulls*** processing fee that does nothing but hit the bottom line (a deposit is refundable and as we all know nothing at a gym is). So get your facts straight.....
Monica
Houston,Texas,
U.S.A.
misunderstanding/poor customer service
#3UPDATE EX-employee responds
Mon, October 24, 2005
well first thing is first. if you really didnt want the membership you shouldnt of gotten it. that is the honest truth. i used to work for this company and dealt with a lot of customers. it is true that 24 hour fitness does not run contracts but runs off an automatic payment via credit or bank account. there are two types of options you could of done. 1 you could of paid this membership upfront which would be roughly around $500-$900 depending on which memebership you got. or you could of chose to go the month to month. unfortunatley the membership is still active even if you go to the gym 30 mintues a month or not at all. let me clarify , at 24 hour fitness to get a membership you pay a deposit. just like any other thing you buy like a car, house or apartment, kind of like a down payment. a contract is different. you sign the contract and once you are in it you have 3 days to cancel it otherwise you are stuck. just like a car. and even if you want to get out of the contract you pay a cancelation fee. 24 does give you time to cancel this membership... 3 days. otherwise you end up paying you deposit in full. as far as your medical release that was up to your doctor or therapist. whether you doctor said you couldn't go to the gym or you just didnt want to. but you had to have a medical statement from your doctor stating that your condition was critical enough not to work out. you knowing that you had a surgery, shouldnt of bought the memebership. you played into the selling propoganda. these sells men are paid off of commision. so of course they are going to do everything they can to get you to buy the membership. all in all its all stated in that fine print you sign when you buy that membership. also another thing you could of done is that once you paid off your deposit you could of canceled. since it looks like you didnt want the membership anyway. when you cancel your membership pending when you automatic pay date was after that you get an extra month "free" this was included in your deposit. if you decided that you needed the gym then all you do is go back to the gym give the front desk personell a new form of payment and start your memebership back up again. i used to work as at the front desk and worked there for 3 years.
but unfortunatley i couldnt because i am in the navy now...
i would still work there if i could to help people like you