Complaint Review: Gold's Gym Kennesaw Georgia

Be careful when dealing with Gold's Gym. Their associates use classic bait and switch selling to get you to sign the "Member agreement". "Member agreement" sounds less menacing than CONTRACT. But that is what it is, and they have left their members no outs.

I signed up in January of 2004 with a friend. I was insistant that the membership be no longer than 1 year, since I was not sure if I would keep working out for even half a year. I was ASSURED by the people there that I could cancel anytime I wanted too, and I just had to let them know. They implied that THEY (the people at the gym) would take care of it. I do have to take some responsibility for not scrutinizing that contract, because they signed me up for 2 years with an automatic renewal at the end of it.

My workout buddy moved away and I have not been to the gym for 6 months, but I waited until December of 04 to cancel the contract. But I am being held to the 24 month contract despite being lied too. Management was unwilling to cooperate, and it appears that no one who worked there 6 months ago works there now.

The way they get you is simple. The Golds employees can say whatever they want to get you to sign up, but they then send the contract off to a company called ABC receivables. ABC is the company that actually debits your account and collects on the account. Now the person who lied does not have any control over it, and ABC owns the contract. They have no interest in what lies you were told to sign. By keeping the sales and the receipts separate, they can play the "you'll have to call x" game and no one is responsible anymore. Gold's will refer you to ABC because they have the contract, and ABC is hell bent on collecting as much as possible. And since they weren't the ones that lied to you, it's not their problem either.

They also make it very difficult to cancel even when the contract is up. Requires several certified letters. If the other posts here are any indication, stay away from Gold's Gym. And for gods sake, never sign anything without reading every last line. Only what is written matters.

KSU Alum
Kennesaw, Georgia
U.S.A.