24 hour fitness Unauthorized charges. Charges without previous noticing customers. Midtown NY
Last year I went to 24 hour fitness and asked them to cancel my membership because I was moving to a distant location.
They told me as a long time customer and to enjoy the low montly fees ($74 montly) one option would be freeze the membership for a couple months and have time to decide later. Instead of cancelling. They told me that later on the membership would be a lot higher if I decided to return to gym if I cancelled. So I did that.
Before the 2 months I returned and asked them to cancel because I was sure I wasn't coming back to that Gym. Again a sales person convinced me that would give me an even longer time to freeze membership (6 months) trying to keep me as a member. I said OK. Well... Yoyu never now maybe things changed and maybe I would move back to city.
After a while I ended up forgeting about the ammount of months the already passed. But I said, OK. They will probably contact me through email, phone or mail saying that the membership was being activated. So I did not worried about.
This week I verified that a full membership was charged in my credit card. Went to 24 hour fitnes, spoke with the menager Olivia and asked why I wasn't contacted before and if she could void that charge. She simply said that they do not contact customers because of that and is my responsability to keep track of the months I asked for extention.
First I did not asked for extention. Twice I went to cancel, but the sales person convinced (that's what they are trained for) me that extention would be a safe choice. Well fine. I just hoped that they would have noticed me before that suggested extention ended. Gyms when they want to sell products they are not shy to keep calling or emailing, but in this case they were simply silent.
I made sure this time I cancelled and got my cancellation receipt from the Manager but the charge of $74 was not returned.
Be aware of the tricks Gyms try to do. They will always try to convince to stay. But they will always offer discounts no matter what. So better way to do is cancel and get your paperwork on hands to prove and not be ripoff.