Complaint Review: Ballys Total Fitness

Do not under any circumstance sign up at Ballys Fitness Center.  If you sign up for  a one year contract, they will continue to take your money out of your checking account for two years and tell you that you signed up for a two year contract, when you know
for a fact that you did not.  My contract expired in February 2009 and they have continued to extract/steal $440.00 from my checking account.  I was told the only way to cancel was to write them a letter and include a $25.00 fee for processing the cancellation.  Tell me that is not ridiculous!  They have stolen $440.00 from me and now they want me to send them another $25.00 to cancel a contract that expired 11 months ago.  In order to cancel, you must contact Corporate Headquarters in Norwalk California.  You would have better luck calling someone in Haiti.  You can never get through to anyone at their corporate headquarters in Norwalk, CA. and the staff at Woodlyn, Pa., say that they are the only ones who can help you that they are powerless to do anything.  Well, I DID NOT SIGN UP IN NORWALK, CA. AND YOU DIDN'T HAVE ANY PROBLEM WITH THAT THEN and of course, it was never mentioned then that you would have to deal with California.  It is next to impossible to talk to a live person as you are on hold forever and then mysteriously the call is dropped.  Ballys Fitness Center is without a doubt, a scam.  They lie to you about everything when you sign up and then when your contract is expired, they continue to steal your money.  I just can't believe that they get away with this.  THIS IS ROBBERY WITHOUT A GUN!!!  I for one am going to picket the Woodlyn, Pa. facility during the week and on weekends and hopefully clients that were thinking of signing up will decide not to once I tell them what I have experienced.  If you want to have a lot of aggravation, spend days on the phone listening to elevator music and have your money stolen, then go ahead and sign a contract with BALLY'S TOTAL FITNESS.  WELCOME TO MY NIGHTMARE.