Gym Professional - Professional Fitness Conflicting information on how to cancel contract, company overcharged $2,400. Raleigh North Carolina
Gym Professional Contract was cancelled in December 2007 because my daughter was moving. My daughter gave them a hand delivered letter notification of cancellation. This company said they would bill one more cycle then stop. They stopped billing February 2008. The contract is out of North Carolina for a Gym located in Raleigh.
My daughter is a student and came to Florida and cancelled her contract in December. She does not have a Gym Membership in North Carolina and can not even use the hours for the personal trainer she has been charged for. Gym Professional started billing fraudulently on: 3/10/08, 4/9/08, 4/10/08, 6/9/08, 7/9/08, 8/11/08, 9/9/08, 10/9/08 and perhaps November too. I have called them numerous times. They told me they would correct this problem on two separate occasions and refund my money.
Finally I began to dispute the charges on my credit card. Now when I call them they refuse to talk to me. They told me my daughter had to call them. She has called them 4 times and each time she is told she needs to talk to a supervisor and that all supervisors are in meetings. I just called them and told them I was my daughter so I could talk to a supervisor directly.
A supervisor is never available and I was simply told to leave my name and telephone number with a message. We have been unsuccessful in contacting a supervisor who is the only one apparently who can make corrections. Sometimes we are even given the wrong telephone number. I am cancelling my credit card and frankly I don't really care if this ruins my credit.
I can not afford to pay $300.00 every month for services no one uses just to keep my credit report clean. The copy of the contract from gym professional my daughter allegedly signed states 2 months of billing which expires on 1/31/08. The company over charged me $2,400. which they state they will not refund, because their contract automatically renews and they require a certified letter sent to their headquarters.
We finally sent a friend of my daughters to the business location to obtain the correct information about canceling the contract and were able to comply with their contract. This company gave us numerous instructions on how to cancel their contract, which we did. Months later they produced a copy of the contract with special instructions. They refuse to refund money and they did not provide services they collected funds for. This is ripe for fraud if used by unscrupulous businesses.
Gym Professional aka Professional Fitness located on 7413 Six Forks Road in Raleigh, NC is a business that will take advantage of consumers. Please be warned and do not sign a contract from this business.
Mary
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Anonymous
Morrisville,North Carolina,
U.S.A.
Suggestions...
#2Consumer Comment
Thu, February 12, 2009
Based on the dates you listed, your card was charged for the auto-renewal by the billing company. Pro Fit doesn't accept cancellations turned in at the gym, and the trainers at the gym don't have the authority to cancel anyone. Also, the billing company that does the monthly draft can't cancel anyone either. Pro Fit definitely doesn't issue a refund for auto-renewal charges EXCEPT if an auto-renewal cancellation letter is submitted before the 1st draft takes place and then you're accidentally drafted anyways. That's why it's important to keep your certified letter mail receipt to prove you sent it and they received it. If you send it after they start drafting you, then the contract states you're not entitled to a refund even if you can't use the sessions. The 7413 address is a post office box, not the corporate office.
From the times I've visited the office, I know exactly who your daughter is and all about your situation (I believe she signed up at the University location in Charlotte) because the Customer Service manager was told by the VP of Operations, Scott, not to issue you a refund despite her explainning repeatedly that your daughter can't even use the sessions she was charged for. He said he didn't care, she should have canceled before she moved, and that her best bet was to give the sessions to friends and family since your daughter doesn't live near the 2 locations in Florida (Cooper City and Hollywood).
You can try to file a chargeback dispute for each charge resulting from the auto-renewal through stating "legal process or fraud" or request proof that a "valid authorization code" was obtained. Make sure you submit it to the corporate office and NOT the billing company though, because it will be harder for them to dispute the charges that way. If your card is through American Express, state that you're due a refund of ALL charges (including what she paid when she originally signed up) because services were never rendered. American Express works in favor of their clients, and they'll automatically lose because your daughter has never used a session so they have no proof she received the service she was charged for. As time-consuming as it may be, I suggest filing a chargeback on each charge individually. Think about it, as unorganized as their gym staff seems to be and as unorganized as their Customer Service department is, you can only imagine how unorganized their filing system probably is. Plus, the turn-over rate for the gym staff parallels the turn-over rate for their Customer Service dept. (which is only about 7 people at the most the majority of the time from what I've seen when I've been up there).
If all else fails, hire a lawyer because the contract states repeatedly that the only thing binding are the details ON the contract. They'll have to prove your daughter used sessions or prove she scheduled appointments and didn't show up--which they probably won't be able to produce that information. Also, the auto-renewal operates under the overall provisions of cancellation which state a refund of unused services for a cancellation fee, and it seems you can point out you ONLY became delinquent after they failed to cancel the auto-renewal as they instructed they would. As long as you have your certified mail receipt and all the letters you sent requesting cancellation and stating that your daughter relocated to an area that DOESN'T have a health facility she can use her sessions at. Based on what you've stated here, she doesn't live anywhere near a gym location and on the contract on the back it states you can get a refund if that be the case. Provide your lawyer a copy of a bill or anything showing your daughter's relocation.