Complaint Review: Ashar Syed - American Body Works

On Nov 16th, I discovered that the gym location that I had used had recently closed -- without ANY prior notice, despite having provided my full contact information (name, address, phone number, AND email address). As I had renewed and PAID IN FULL for a 2-year membership period of June 01st, 2013 through June 01st, 2015, I was quite upset.

Looking through the glass door of the gym, I was able to see that all equipment had been removed. On the door, there was a note about the closure. Here are it's contents, in italics, repeated verbatim (I took a photo and have duplicated it here exactly as it appeared):

    Dear Valued American Body Works Members

    This GYM is closed for indefinite period of time. For
    Billing questions please call National Fitness at:

            1-800-658-7727

    Or American Body Works Holding, Inc (owner of
    your contract) at:

            1-954-449-4700

    Thanks,

(The note was not signed / did not provide any author details or names)

I immediately set about contacting American Body Works Holding (ABWH), and was redirected to National Fitness when I had selected billing from the menu. I spoke to National Fitness several times since then (over 10 times according to my call history), each time hearing that they would need x amount of business days to receive more details on the closure,

Eventually -- after over a month of repeat call-ins -- National Fitness told me that they had been officially notified of the closure on 11-06-13 and that billing had been turned off on 11-18-13. They also informed me that since I had been paid in full (as opposed to a monthly billing), that I would need to contact the owner for a refund. They finally provided me with the owner's name: "Ashar Syed" and a phone number "678-478-2452".

I have tried repeatedly to get ahold of the owner at this number (also over 10 times) and left voicemails. In one of the voicemails, I even stated that I may be interested in applying my refund toward purchasing used gym equipment, if any still remianed. I first contacted Ashar on 12-10-13; I have yet to hear ANY form of response. Again, I would like to point out the ALL of my contact details were already available to ABWH and presumably to Ashar.

I have since called ABWH again and selected other menu options. Most of these are no relevant to billing (Sales, Legal, etc) and go to voicemail boxes anyway. I was able to get ahold of someone under the technical support option and explained my circumstances. They were able to verify the information I had been given by National Fitness, but were STILL not able to provide me with a mailing address or alternate phone number for the owner,

I have also tried researching Ashar online, hoping to find an alternate phone number / contact details. I didn't have any luck here and it seems that he has a prior history of shady business dealings that have his name and phone number attached to them. Below is all of the information I was able to find online, hopefully it will help someone else.

ps -- I used the 5456 Bethelview location, but was told by ABWH rep that Ashar also owns the Alpharetta location and that it was closed on the same day as the Cumming location.

 Owner:

----------
Ashar Syed
678-478-2452

Emails:
ashar@americanbodyworks.com
ashar@telecircuit.com
asharG@telecircuit.com

Busines Names:
-------------------------
American Body Works
American Body Works Holdings
American Body Works 24-7 Fitness
National Fitness (used for billing)

Addresses confirmed to be owned by Ashar:
-------------------------------------------------------------
American Body Works
678-288-4154
5456 Bethelview Rd.
Suite 103
Cumming, GA 30041

American Body Works
678-668-7531
5950 Northpoint Pkwy
Alpharetta, GA 30022

Websites/Domains:
---------------------------
www.abwfitness.com

Domain Information (via whois lookup):
-----------------------------------------------------
[Querying whois.verisign-grs.com]
[Redirected to whois.wildwestdomains.com]
[Querying whois.wildwestdomains.com]
[whois.wildwestdomains.com]
Domain Name: ABWFITNESS.COM
Registrar URL: http://www.wildwestdomains.com
Registrant Name: Ashar Syed
Registrant Organization: Tele Circuit
Name Server: NS09.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
Name Server: NS10.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
DNSSEC: unsigned

Other references with the same name and phone number:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted September 24th, 2008:
http://classactionconnect.com/consumer-complaints/usbi-telephone-bill-complaints-unauthorized-phone-charges/

Submitted: Fri, July 24, 2009:
http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/tele-circuit-network-corporation-usbi/alpharetta-georgia-30022/tele-circuit-network-corporation-usbi-telecommunications-telemarketing-scam-ripoff-the-473160

Submitted: Fri, January 18, 2013:
http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/ashar-syed-american-body-works/marietta-georgia-/ashar-syed-american-body-works-buyer-beware-marietta-georgia-999216