I signed with Custom Built Personal Training in January of 2009 and for about four months everything was going well, until my trainer left because of how poorly she was treated by the management. After having about three appointments with different trainers I finally was placed with a nice trainer who told me he was there to stay and I would be working with him from then on. After about another month he told me they were running a great special where I could upgrade my contract to have more training sessions but pay less per session. I thought this sounded like a good idea so I agreed to upgrade my contract. The manager, who was new, told me I just needed to update my paper work they had on file, so I did. I was never given any paperwork at all! The next training session I went to my trainer was gone and no one had even bothered to call and tell me.
That month I got billed twice, once was for the amount I was paying before I upgraded and the other amount was for the amount I was told would be my new fee per month. When I asked the manger about it, he gave me a card for Paramount Acceptance, which is the company that does their billing, and told me to speak with them. When I called to inquire, the representative told me he was not sure what was going on and he would have to look into it and call me back. Of course he did not call me back so I called again I was directed to the custom built personal training corporate headquarters. When I call there I was told I had two contracts and that I would have to write a letter to cancel my contract and pay a fee. I explained that in their
This is when I did more research online and I found out about all the horrible things they were doing to their customers. I did write a letter for any and all contracts I had with them but did not pay any fee. I then proceeded to report them to the BBB, the Department of Consumer Protection, and the Connecticut Attorney General.
Unfortunately for me I only researched this company locally in
After my complaint was transferred from Connecticut to Atlanta they responded by sending the same form letter twice using the wrong last name and wrong gender, that had nothing to do with my complaint at all. The BBB in
Meanwhile, Paramount Acceptance has told me that my contracts were never canceled because I did not pay the fee and even though I have stopped them from taking any money from me they are still charging me. And because the contracts auto renew they could, in theory keep charging me forever. I have also filed complaints against Paramount Acceptance.
This company is counting on people to give up and pay. They think if they just send form letters and do not reply that people will just go away. I cannot in good conscience do that. I just want this company to be put out of business so they cannot do this to anyone else. I have also noticed that every gym where they have a location has extremely low rates which is why I decided to go to Club 24 which was only $10 a month as compared to the YMCA which is about $50 per month. These gyms must be getting some serious kick backs if they can afford for their memberships to be so much less than the YMCA.
I am not sure what will happen next with all the complaints I have filed but I will keep fighting until something is done about this.
Kim
Bristol,#2Consumer Comment
Thu, October 29, 2009
I have had a very similar experience with Custom Built Training. Their customer service department doesn't do anything even remotely resembling "customer service". All they will do is tell you that you have to honor your contractual obligation, while they do NOTHING TO HONOR THEIR END OF THE DEAL. Apparently this company is not interested in keeping customers happy so that they do renew their contracts.
I would be most interested to obtain a copy of your letter from the Dept. of Consumer Protection in CT stating that this company is no longer in business, because today is October 29, 2009, and I just got off the phone with the Customer Service "Director" in Atlanta and it appears they are still very much in business. Perhaps just their license has been revoked in CT? Can you clarify?
As far as the BBB goes, they are useless, you will get nowhere with them. Any company can pay a "fee" to be a member of the BBB! It does not mean the company operates fairly with customers.
I have put Paramount Acceptance and Custom Built on notice stating that they will no longer suck another PENNY out of me, and if they want to spend money on lawyers taking me to small claims court, I am happy to waste their time and money to get a lousy $400 out of me! They will spend much more than $400 to pay a lawyer to take me to small claims court. If I see any dings to my credit I will sue them. I think this is how you have to play with them. I bet they don't even ding your credit report or try to take you to small claims court. They are more interested in scaring people into paying anything they can get out of them.