Bethlehem Racquetball & Fitness Bethlehem is a Rip-off Bethlehem Pennsylvania
Bethlehem Racquetball and Fitness is a Rip Off:
I decided that I wanted to try a fitness club in July of 2001. I called around to various clubs and contacted Bethlehem Racuetball and Fitness since it was down the street from my house. They would not give rates over the phone and thus I had to make an appointment. I decided that before I committed to anything I would try the club to see how it was. They said I could take a tour and if I liked it sign up. I was also told that if I didn't like it I could cancel at anytime.
I went for it and signed up to have the monthly payments withdrawn from my checking account. I never signed a contract eventhough BR&F says I did, (but they can't seem to find it) I went for one day July 6th and returned on July 10th to tell them I was no longer interested in a membership. I thought that the 53.00 per month was a little steep and the equipment was not cleaned. They told me it was ok to cancel. I then had 53.00 deducted every month until November of 2002 which totaled 265.00. (For 1 day in the club) They only stopped deducting after I closed my checking account to make them stop.
They then referred me to a collection agency which went after my credit and put a bad mark on it. They mysteriously lost all of their paperwork that said I entered into a membership.
After I refused to pay the collection agency the remaining 400.00 for a membership not used they turned it over to a lawyer who tried to collect. I then had to get a lawyer to help remove the disputed item off of my credit report.
I would advise anyone who is looking for a health and fitness club in the Lehigh Valley to seriously consider what they are getting themselves into and what a RIP OFF Bethlehem Racquetball and Fitness Club is! I would never reccomend this club to anyone and I hope that anyone considering to do business with them seriously considers that they may be the next target of this company's RIP OFF and bad business ethics.
Colby
Allentown, Pennsylvania
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
John
Breinigsville,Pennsylvania,
U.S.A.
This erroneous report is based on a 2001-2 situation
#2REBUTTAL Owner of company
Sat, October 21, 2006
We just discovered this report which was based on a reported July 2001 situation, but the report was not filed until 2003.
We allow cancellation of memberships anytime. We require only 10 days advance written notification. We cannot imagine why "Colby" would allow deductions from his account for well over a year if he wanted to cancel. Further, he apparently renewed his membership, otherwise, it would have automatically lapsed in July of 2002.
We think that "Colby" arbitrarily stopped his monthly payments without notifying us. That action results in penalties against us, and we send three letters to people who do this. If they fail to respond, they are sent to collection. If this happened to "Colby", it was only because he ignored our 3 letters.
He could have cancelled anytime. He didn't, and the result was his own fault. We rarely have problems like this, even though we have 4 clubs with over 10,000 members. See: www.24-7fitness.org
Submitted by CEO, Lehigh Valley Racquet & 24-7 Fitness Clubs