Complaint Review: Bally Total Fitness

My wife wanted a health club for my high school senior son who was known (to us) to be leaving town for college when the school year ended. The salesman at Bally promised that she could simply switch the membership to her name (from my son's name) when he no longer needed it. So she made the 3 year commitment.

When my son was through, the salesman was gone (as that kind of person often is). The local club said that their hands were legally tied. I have trouble believing that for a second. Then when I contested the automatic payment charges to Discover, Bally (probably knowing that they were on thin ice) did not stand up for their claim but switched to a mailed bill.

To make a long story short, the final result is that they have made no response to my two letters to them outlining why I am not paying. They simply continue to send us threatening bills, have their automatic machine call us periodically - daily for a while - and, rarely, make personal contact to threaten a collection agency.

BTW, the address above is a corporate address. It was the club in Overland Park, Kansas that committed the fraud. The corporate office is, however, making no attempt to rectify the situation and in fact is behind the continued automated calls and periodic personal harassment.

Thomas
Overland Park, Kansas
U.S.A.