Complaint Review: Planet Fitness

I joined this club 2 years ago and never went. I sent an email in June of 2007 to cancel my membership but it was ignored, and they kept charging my cc. I sent another email in December of 2007 and it too was ignored. I called the branch (a VERY long distance call) and explained the situation and ended up speaking to the brick wall of employees. They explained that they cannot cancel via fax, phone, or email.

"Per your contract, in order to cancel your membership, you may either come down to the club to fill out a cancellation form, or you may send us a letter via certified mail." Since I was on the other side of the planet none of this was an option, (there is no certified mail from this part of Asia) but still the broken record kept repeating the same things.

I sent another in March and finally got a response.. It said the same thing as the branch employee... When I first called I wasnt asking for the money, only cancellation... I told them that I was revoking my authorization for them to charge my card, but even though it was unauthorized to do so they kept on charging me. I continued to email my demands that they cancel my account since I could not meet their requirement of going to the branch in person or sending certified mail, and my frustration and anger began to grow. I normally don't complain but this was the worst customer service EVER and it appears to be part of their corporate plan. I emailed again in May and got Eric Dore their Managing Partner and he was just as bad. Blaming me for the conflict, and insulting me. He showed me that this bad employee behavior certainly came from the top. I went online and found that there is such a thing as certified email (since they would not budge from their "policy" they could have at least mentioned that they would accept this type of email). I sent a certified email and they cancelled my membership. This still leaves me with the fact that they charged my cc even though I revoked the authorization to do so, and they proved that they are dishonest... I would suggest avoiding this company because they cannot be trusted. If they had just cancelled the membership in the first place the money would have been unimportant, but because they can't think about the big picture they now have an enemy who will spread the word about them... Oh yeah, AMEX said they would credit the money back, but I will be telling everyone just how bad an experience this has been. Better off if you just buy a soloflex..

Michael
Lake Mary, Florida
U.S.A.