Gold's Gym Beware of cancelling membership!!! Altamonte Springs Florida
Me and my girlfriend's membership was due to end on February 5, 2007. That would complete our full one-year membership. (You can cancel anytime after that without being charged a cancellation fee).
So, on January 14, 2007 my girlfriend went to the front desk of Gold's Gym to confirm when our membership agreement was coming to an end. They told her February 5th. They gave my girlfriend a cancellation form to fill out (WITH BOTH OUR NAMES ON IT) to end our membership on February 5th.
However, never did they mention to us that by cancelling on January 14th this would technically extend our membership thru mid February (they require a 30 day cancellation), thus making us owe for another month - plus, we also stopped our bank draft at this time because they led us to believe we had made our final payment.
Now, four months later my girlfriend and I both get letters from a collection agency for $149.76 and $128.36!!! (I guess 4 months of interest is being tacked on to what we owe, and they said I didn't cancel, just my girlfriend - although my name is clearly on the cancellation form). We never once heard from Gold's Gym about oweing them this extra month.
When we contacted the gym they said they had tried to call me, but my number had changed. Not once did they ever send me or my girlfriend a written notice that we still owed them for one more month!!
Now we're stuck hashing it out with a collection agency (for a ridiculous amount of money!) when it would have been so much easier had Gold's Gym done us the courtesy of letting us know of this situation. And, I'm sorry, the, "I called but their number changed" excuse is poor! If that's the case, you take the next step and mail out a letter!!
This is the thanks we get for joining Gold's for a year. Never again!! Oh, and watch some yearly maintenance fee they'll throw at you ($26) during your membership. We were told when we signed up it was a small fee, but never given the price. Hmmm. To me, $5 or $10 is small, not $26!!
Step up to the plate and do something about this Gold's!! You sold us on how great your gym was when we signed up. Where are you now? Where's the customer service? It's your poor handling of this situation that has led to our dilemma. Me and my girlfriend await a response.
Raymond
Altamonte Springs, Florida
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Raymond
Altamonte Springs,Florida,
U.S.A.
They just don't stop!
#2Author of original report
Sat, May 26, 2007
So, I settled with this debt agency (the the beginning of May) for a payment of an extra month (which I NEVER even got to use at Gold's). It was $32 for me and $37 for my girlfriend. And believe me, this was no easy task getting the payment down to the above figures. I had to fax my cancellation form to them and talk to about 3 different people before finally getting to this point. So, all over, right? Not quite...
...Now, it's the end of May and I get another call from the same collection agency. They are wondering why I didn't send the rest of the money? WHAT??? And to make things worse, the lady I'm talking to from the collection agency had no record of me faxing information to them. No matter what I tell her, she's like a broken record and says I owe $96 dollars more. I keep telling her this was all settled a month ago and it's not my fault they can't keep their records straight. I finally ask for her supervisor and explain things to her. I tell her I'll fax my cancellation over again if she would like. This is when I finally find records of my last fax. I tell her I sent it to a girl named Mallecia. She tells me, "Oh, that's the Chicago office, we're in New York". Huh?? And she goes on to tell me she's sure they have a hard copy (of my cancellation form) in Chicago, but I better better fax one to New York just to be safe. The Chicago and New York office don't share information?? And you're a collection agency?? That's pretty smart.
Well, thanks Gold's for all this extra harrasment (and incompetence)!! And until I hear from someone at your company, I will do everything in my power to steer people away from your gym. your cancellation policy is a joke and needs to be fixed. Me and my girlfriend paid for our year (and an extra month now) and you should be happy for our patronage. Instead, you sick these vicious debt collectors on us. You should be ashamed of your pratctices!