Complaint Review: Bally's Total Fitness

Hey everyone, I am new to this site however I wanted to share my story about Ballys as a warning to you all so you dont have to go through what I am . A few years ago while living in New Jersey I joined Ballys Total Fitness. Months after that I had to move to Philadelphia and I tried to cancel but Ballys insisted that I could not cancel. They said that if I was moving within 25 miles of ANY Ballys they did not allow cancellation. Well, go figure, I was TWENTY THREE miles away from one. I tried to fight with them and explained that I have a 45 mile drive to work every day with the move  and I will NOT be able to commute another 23 miles to go to Ballys and I NEED TO CANCEL.  They insisted that I could not do that. I was never informed of ANY of this information when I joined and I honestly should have been. As time went on I got laid off and could not afford to pay for a gym every month that I was not going to. Since then the $1000 that I owe has gone to collections and I still cant afford to pay but more than anything I DONT THINK I SHOULD HAVE TO. I DID NOT USE THEIR FACILITIES (and I NEVER will again). ALSO, about a year ago I sent them a check for a certain amount. Well they misinterpreted the period as a zero and took out my WHOLE pay check. My bank fought this with them and easily won as it was quite obviously a period and not a zero.  As mentioned it is now in collections and destroying my credit.

Thanks so much Ballys!

Overall this is just a horribly run company and please please do not put yourself through this. There are many other wonderful gyms that you can join out there.