Complaint Review: World Health Fitness Club - Edmonton, Calgary Alberta

Once again the World Health representative has failed to provide the term in agreement THAT PERMITS WORLD HEALTH TO IMMEDIATELY SUSPEND GYM ACCESS UPON FAILURE TO RECEIVE PAYMENT -- which is not surprising because there isn't one.  World Health's only recourse is outlined in section 12. (d) of the agreement. 

The World Health representative has also failed, again, to ellaborate WHY WORLD HEALTH REFUSES TO ENACT SECTION 12. (d) OF THE AGREEMENT.

So let me break things down:

1) I failed to make a payment, the terms of the agreement being that my payments are made at the start of each two week period.  I do not have a fixed term contract with World Health, logic (and the terms of the agreement) would dictate that this would result in the termination of the agreement at the end of the 30 day grace period as outlined in section 12. (d) of the agreement.

2) World health immediately denied me access to the Gym, ignoring the 30 day grace period for non-payment as outline in section 12. (d) of the agreement.

3) I cease any and all payments to World Health.

4) World Health continues to invoice me for a service they admit they are actively denying me.

5) World Health forces payments on to my prepaid MasterCard, payments for a service they admit they have actively denied me.  In other words they received several hundreds of dollars of payments and I received absolutely nothing in return.

6) I terminated my Prepaid Mastercard.

7) World Health continues to invoice me for a service they admit they are refusing to give to me.

I once again challenge the World Health representative to explain exactly why a company that has ACTIVELY DENIED SERVICE deserves payment for the very services THEY HAVE ACTIVELY DENIED.  My payments were made at the beginning of each two week period.  Since I did not pay for those periods, AND IN TURN RECEIVED ABSOLUTELY NO SERVICE FOR THOSE PERIODS exactly what is owed to World Health?  If the electric company shut off your power for 6 months, then told you that you still had to pay them for those six months of service would that make any sense to anyone?  No, it wouldn't, because no one in there right mind would every pay a company for a service the company actively refused to provide.

At best World Health's argument is nonsensical, at worst it is fraud and extortion.

When you don't pay your dues, you can't use the gym. Since you violated section 3 (a), you were not permitted to use the gym until your account was up-to-date. A suspension of your membership simply means that you do not have access to the gym until you have paid what you owe.

Section 12 (d) states that at our own discretion, we could terminate your account, but you would still owe your dues. It doesn't mean that you don't owe what you agreed to pay. We don't like to terminate memberships - we try to work with our members to give them time to make the payments. We understand that life happens and sometimes people aren't able to make payments. We want our members to come to the gym and workout - our mission is to inspire a healthy and active lifestyle meaning we want our members to feel better from working out.

And, as 12 (d) states, once you have made the outstanding payments, then your membership would be valid again until the end of the term (or until you cancel). So even if we did choose to terminate, once you paid, you would be able to use the gym again.

We put all of our sales consultants through sales training and unless we hear multiple complaints about the same consultant, we trust that they are being honest and straightforward. We support our consultants and we've had situations in the past where it's turned out that a member hasn't been honest about what happened in a sales presentation. We admit that we do make mistakes but ultimately, we have to follow what the membership agreement states and what you agreed to upon signing the agreement.

In response to the previous post by the World Health representative:

"You did in fact violate your agreement. If you'll notice in section 3. (a), you agreed:

(a) to pay all Dues payments indicated on the front side of this Agreement (Bi-Weekly Dues), fees and any other sums specified in this Agreement and any other agreements between MEMBER and WH (eg Personal Training, Nutrition Consulting, and Registered Programs) (collectively the FEES) when due, irrespective of the amount of use the MEMBER makesof the WH Facility;"

This is 100% true, and anyone can see in my original complaint I admitted to this.

"So, since you didn't pay your dues, you violated the agreement and you would not be able to use the club until your account was up to date."

This on the other hand is false.  The agreement that World Health created outlines World Health's recourse for a member not paying dues in section 12. (d) of the agreement.  THIS IS THE ONLY RECOURSE OUTLINED IN THE AGREEMENT AND ANY OTHER ACTION TAKEN TO DENY CLUB ACCESS IS IN DIRECT VIOLATION OF THE AGREEMENT.  Once again I challenge the World Health representative to illustrate the term that states World Health can IMMEDIATELY SUSPEND ACCESS TO CLUB FACILITIES UPON FAILURE TO RECEIVE PAYMENT.  The representative will not be able to as there is no such term.

"We kept charging you the amount you agreed to in the contract because you didn't cancel your membership. Although you're on a no contract option, you would still have to give us notice that you would like to cancel your membership and that would require 30 days"

I now challenge the World Health representative to explain exactly why World Health has chosen to not exercise their recourse outlined in section 12. (d) of the agreement despite having not received any form of payment from me for several months while at the same time actively denying my access to the gym facilities.  They admit that I am receiving no service in any way from them, so what exactly am I being invoiced for?

"Because we're not present at the time of enrollment, all we have is your signature on the membership agreement. Otherwise it becomes a game of he said she said."

So in other words, even if the World Health sales person lied in every way World Health will try to take no responsibility what-so-ever for an agreement that was entered into under false pretenses.  This isn't a game, this is a company covering up fraud and attempting to extort money from people who have chosen to break off their economic relationship with the company.

This company needs to be taken to task, please join the fight against them.

here is another complaint against them...Ripoff Report | World Health Club | Complaint Review: 695071

I would love to see the agreement that the OP signed. Your company kept charging a prepaid card? Which I do understand can be nasty. But seeing as your company won't help with this matter disgusts me more. And before you go off on some "I should be part of a health club and/or you probably need a health club" Let me state that I do not need a nasty health club nor do I need someone telling me to get in shape. My case in point..." http://www.smartmoney.com/spend/rip-offs/10-things-your-fitness-club-wont-tell-you-20483/?zone=intromessage#articleTabs"
My other case in point...http://collectionagencydebt.blogspot.com/2012/01/can-collectors-garnish-prepaid-visa.html...

Now if your card was prepaid then I must be mistaken but they can not collect or charge it???
Why Can't Debt Collectors Garnish Prepaid Debit Cards?

The very thing that makes prepaid cards so popular is what protects consumers from their seizure: the cards' novelty. Prepaid debit cards are a relatively new concept. As of right now, there simply aren't procedures in place for judgment creditors to garnish those types of accounts. In addition to instituting garnishment procedures, state laws would need to be modified before judgment creditors would have even the smallest sliver of hope of getting their hands on those funds.

Keep your money safe with a prepaid card.What it comes down to is this: You may not be protected forever, but you're safe right now. I fully expect the collection industry to lobby hard for a way to track and garnish prepaid cards. Debtors across the country are slowly realizing that they can prevent bank account garnishment by using prepaid cards in lieu of a bank account. Creditors hate this.

If you're facing a lawsuit or already have a collection judgment against you, you probably have a laundry list of things to worry about. Fortunately, losing your prepaid Visa debit card to garnishment doesn't have to be on that

I would love to see the agreement signed since it is not on your website. Maybe you have something to hide? Post the agreement that you give to all. I checked your company out an it is shady...Give a cost ..post the agreement online. Save yourself problems. As far as I can see the wonderful ripoff company has probably more violations than anything else.


Please post your terms when signing a contract and if you would be so kind post your violations against you.

You did in fact violate your agreement. If you'll notice in section 3. (a), you agreed:

(a) to pay all Dues payments indicated on the front side of this Agreement (Bi-Weekly Dues), fees and any other sums specified in this Agreement and any other agreements between MEMBER and WH (eg Personal Training, Nutrition Consulting, and Registered Programs) (collectively the FEES) when due, irrespective of the amount of use the MEMBER makes of the WH Facility;

So, since you didn't pay your dues, you violated the agreement and you would not be able to use the club until your account was up to date.

We kept charging you the amount you agreed to in the contract because you didn't cancel your membership. Although you're on a no contract option, you would still have to give us notice that you would like to cancel your membership and that would require 30 days.

Because we're not present at the time of enrollment, all we have is your signature on the membership agreement. Otherwise it becomes a game of he said she said.

Thank-you to the above poster for publicly demonstrating that World Heath employees do not even know the contents of their own agreements.  THERE ARE NO TERMS IN THE AGREEMENT THAT GIVE WORLD HEALTH PERMISSION TO "SUSPEND" GYM ACCESS FOR NON-PAYMENT OF DUES BY A MEMBER.  The ONLY clause in the agreement that outlines recourse for World Health in the instance where they do not receive payment is outlined in section 12 (d) of the agreement which states: "TERMINATION OF THE AGREEMENT BY WH: WH Management reserves the right to terminate this Agreement if the MEMBER or GUESTS of the MEMBER: (d) IF THE MEMBER IS IN DEFAULT OF PAYMENTS OF ANY FEES FOR A PERIOD OF MORE THAN 30 DAYS."  The agreement, as written, allows the member to continue to use the club facilities until section 12. (d) is enacted by World Health -- any other actions by World Health ARE IN DIRECT VIOLATION OF THE AGREEMENT.

I repeat my above statement: by suspending gym access before the end of the 30 day period outlined in section 12. (d) of the agreement World Health has in fact VIOLATED THE TERMS OF THEIR OWN AGREEMENT.  I challenge the World Health representative above to point out ANY term in the agreement that proves otherwise.  I have posted a copy of the terms on the facebook page linked to in the original complaint.

If the account is "suspended" WHY HAS THERE BEEN CONTINUED BI-WEEKLY BILLINGS TO THE ACCOUNT?  The account is suspended, in other words INACTIVE, which means there are no services being provided by World Health, why exactly does World Health feel entitled to payment for
services NOT PROVIDED?

The World Health representative above has demonstrated two things: one, World Health's internal policy is in direct violation of their own agreements (immediate suspension of access to gym facilities for failure to receive payment); and two, that despite not receiving payment for more than 30 days their policy is to ignore the terms of the agreement and continue to invoice (ex-)members despite denying access to the facilities of those (ex-)members.  In other words, World Health expects continued payment for a service they themselves are refusing to provide.

I would lastly like to point out that the above representative was not present when I initially joined the club and thus HAS NO WAY OF KNOWING WHAT WAS EXPLAINED BY OR DISCUSSED WITH THE WORLD HEALTH SALES PERSON.

When you talk about section 12. (d) of our membership agreement, that section deals with termination of member account. However, we didn't terminate your account; we just suspended your account for non-payment.

In order to use our gym, you must be up-to-date on your payment. Since you were on a bi-weekly schedule, when the payment is successful on your prepaid Mastercard, then you would have access to the gym for 14 days, until your next successful payment. When you have an unsuccessful payment, your account would be suspended until you made up that payment.

In order to cancel a membership, you must give 30 days notice and it must be written. There are other ways to cancel if you are not able to visit a club to give written notice but that is all explained in the contract and would have been explained to you when you originally joined our club.

If you'd like to discuss your account, please contact our Member Services department at 1-866-278-4131.