Richard Lewis
Sugar Land,#2Consumer Comment
Tue, July 22, 2008
The contract clearly states "written notice of cancellation is required". Problem is, my own experience is that LA Fitness employees in the corporate office will tell you that they have accepted your verbal request and cancelled when they in fact have not. I know this because I called back a day later and asked if I still had a valid membership or if it was in the process of being cancelled. Second employee confirmed that the first had in fact done nothing and then stated that he could cancel it. Luckily I did not "bite" and followed up with a certified letter. Guess what -- Even after the certified letter I get invoiced for another month after the 30 day pre-paid last month !! Invoiced rather than billed to my card because I've cancelled the credit card and they can no longer charge to it ! I'd like to believe this is a string of honest mistakes, but read the other ripoff reports and judge for yourself. I usually like to give the benefit of the doubt, but I'm an Engineer and there is a lot of raw data here to the contrary. DO NOT BELIEVE WHAT EMPLOYEES TELL YOU !! Read the contract and follow it explicitly. Pay the money to send the cancellation in by certified mail and keep a copy. Then, inform your credit card company that you are not accepting future charges and dispute anything they try to bill you. Better yet, do what I did, cancel the credit card, and get a new one. I think this is less hassle than continuing to have to deal with them.
Ms. Faith
Roseville,#3UPDATE Employee
Mon, July 07, 2008
The cancellation process goes like this. There is a 20 day cancellation or freeze notice we ask for; not so we can steal your money, but so that there will be sufficient time enough for the corporate office to receive the cancellation form by mail and enough time to STOP the electronic funds transfer. Most LA Fitnesses do not ask for a bill payment everyment and work through electronic funds transfers because it is cheaper, easier, and more convenient for most customers. And yes, so our bills get paid. But the thing is that employees at any given location do not have the ability to cancel right there in the club; and a standard cancel requires the mailed in letter. It is cancelled from the post-marked date so it doesn't really matter when they receive the letter it will be cancelled from the date you mail it. It's snail mail and we can't account for lost mail- so certifying it only makes sure that you get it cancelled from the day you send it. If an LA Fitness staff person claims to cancel over the phone or does not give you a receipt it is NOT cancelled- all cancellations are processed through corporate so MAKE SURE you cancel. And I'm sorry, but it is a month to month membership and 20 days cancellation notice is not that much to ask for- most customers do fine- it's just the EFT cut off date that you need to make. If you're going to cancel and you do it the day before your billing date then HECK YEAH you're going to get billed. Let's be logical here.