Complaint Review: Imagine Weight Loss

As a person with severe arthritis, I needed a workout facility that was small, personal, flexible and near my home. Imagine Weight Loss Center in St. Peters, MO represented themselves to be the place for me.
I had completed a six-week trial program and decided at the end of that time that I would purchase a full one year membership. Before I signed the contract (and paid with my credit card), I purposely discussed my specific needs with two members of the staff in regards to any plans to change locations, policies, programs, hours, etc and was assured emphatically that things would continue as they had during the previous six weeks of the trial membership. Two weeks later, I received a letter in the mail stating that the Imagine Weight Loss franchise that I had just joined had been sold to Lady of America (headquartered in Florida) which would require members to attend a different facility, at a different location, under different management, with new staff. I immediately called the manager, told her the conversation that I had prior to signing up for a full membership and how disappointed I was that I had been lied to. She had the gall to say that "no one knew that this was going to happen two weeks ago". Anyone with any business experience knows that such decisions take much longer to affect than two weeks. When I discussed this with her she chose to stick with her story so I told her that I would like to cancel the contract. She said that the contract was non-cancelable, non-refundable and non-assignable. Period. End of discussion.

After that I contacted Roger Wittenberns, CEO of Lady America. He never contacted me back, nor did anyone else from either place. I never went to the new facility and I never received the $250 worth of nutrition bars that I had purchased because they were "out of them". I was out a total of $848.00. What a scam!

Charlotte
Saint Peters, Missouri
U.S.A.