Consumer Law, Warranties Bally Fitness Gym - cancellation problems

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antonxvi

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I have a 36 months membership term contract with Bally total fitness gym. The contract states that I can cancel my membership if I move without range of any of their located gyms.
The situation here is that I have lived in Sweden since January 2009, and was promised when I left that they would cancel my membership. 1 year later here I am, still being charged with 50$ a month. I have contacted the HQ with a letter proving my new location in Sweden, including a copy of my VISA that expired 2009-12-16 and a statement from the swedish tax agency (governmental) proving my adress to be in Sweden since april 2009.
Bally Fitness still wont cancel my membership and refund my money. I no longer know what to do. All I know is that I can't afford this anymore, my credit is running out.

I appriciate any advice that can help me.
 
http://www.thelaw.com/forums/tags.php?tag=fitness

I don't know if your particular question will be addressed there, but it's a start. Considering you signed on for 36 months, Bally's might be entitled to hold you to your agreement. You will be in the position of having to show that they released you from it, and you know what they say about oral contracts.
 
Thanks for the help :)
But no, the contract dictates a cancellation if you move without a certain range of any Bally fitness club. The problem here is that they don't consider the proof that I have sent them to be enough, even though it includes papers from a swedish government agency.
 
Hi Antonxvi,

I attempted to contact you via PM, however this is my first post so I'm unable to use that function.

I work for Bally Total Fitness and I came across your post. I'm sorry to hear about your experience with our company. I would like to see how I can help you out.

Will you send me a PM with your membership # and all the details regarding your cancellation? I will then contact our Member Services department to see the status of your request.

Thank you, All the Best,

Beth
Customer Relations
Bally Total Fitness
 
Hi!
I am very glad to finally find someone at Bally that actually wants to help.
However I am new to this forum aswell, do you have an e-mail where I can contact you?
If not, I can pm you in a few days maybe when I have 10 posts.
Thank you
/ Anton
 
I love stories like this. Beth - thank you for making an appearance on our site. Unfortunately we have had to take steps to prevent spam here (the necessary evil) but am glad to accommodate you and Bally's with a mailbox or other assistance to deal with the unusually high number of customer complaints we receive here. In fairness, not everyone follows procedures or follows up properly.
 
thelawprofessor said:
I love stories like this. Beth - thank you for making an appearance on our site. Unfortunately we have had to take steps to prevent spam here (the necessary evil) but am glad to accommodate you and Bally's with a mailbox or other assistance to deal with the unusually high number of customer complaints we receive here. In fairness, not everyone follows procedures or follows up properly.
Click to expand...

No problem at all - I definitely understand. Thank you for having me! :D

Our company is under new leadership, including a new CEO that is making some big changes to our company and how we do business. Besides revamping and simplifying our membership offerings to be more customer friendly, we're also in the process of revamping our Member Services department.

While big changes like this don't take place overnight and many of the issues that happened in the past are out of my control, I will try to help where I can.

Thanks again,

Beth
Bally Total Fitness
 
Bally's Contractual Errors

Since somebody else got resolution from Bally's on this site I'd like to air my frustrations with this company as well. I signed up for an 18 month contract on October 28, 2008 and was told by my new club manager that the first month was taken care of by the $90 I put down that day and then the regular $63 would come out of my account starting the following month on the same day.

I didn't even think about it as I have been going to this club ever since, but lately I have been checking into the end date of my contract because I'm looking at possibly switching to a different club. I counted 18 months from October and figured my last payment would be March 28, 2010. I looked at the contract I signed and saw the words "DURATION OF MEMBERSHIP: By signing this contract and paying the contractual amount you are entitled to an 18 month membership beginning today.

Obviously, I would be done in March 2010.

After contacting Bally's, however, they stated that I would be responsible for my last payment on April 2010, because the 18 months started on November 2008, not October 2008 as I signed. I spoke with a manager at the call center, a Manuel, Employee number 6538, and after a yelling match where he refused to listen to my argument, he told me to "Go tell my story to a lawyer" and that "if I chose not to pay, you will suffer the consequences." He stated that the contract showed that I owe 18 months of the amount provided, and did not try to understand that they were not honoring the portion I signed of the contract that very visibly stated it was for 18 months.

It's obvious Bally's is trying to have this situation both ways, not counting the first month of the contract as a part of the 18 month contract, but listing the first month of payment due as $0.00. So in essence, the contract itself cannot decide the length of the contract, or whether the first month is October listed as free, or November listed at $63.00. And according the Bally's call center, I will be required to pay for 19 months, or face the consequences by means of a collection company.
 
After several rounds of conversations with customer service agents at Bally's, an understanding was met and the situation was resolved amicably in my opinion. I want to credit the new staff working at Bally's for listening and understanding to the customers.
 
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