30 day policy to cancel your membership
Complaint
Phil
Country: United States
I am a member of LifeTime fitness in Bloomingdael Illinois.
This 30 day policy is a complete fraud! God forbid something should happen in your life that you need to open up some free cash and cancel a luxury such as a fitness center, Life Time does not care AT ALL!! I am currently going through the ridiculous procedures required to cancel a gym membership at Lifetime fitness. In today’s day and age with gas prices on the rise and people running into unexpected financial situations month to month, Lifetime Fitness shows no remorse or understanding to its customers and members.
It is currently June 13th 2008, and they have just openly admitted on the phone at their executive offices that it does not take 30 days to cancel a membership only that they use it as a way to charge you for and extra month fees! So regardless of my wishes to stop using their product they are going to take my money anyway. I will be calling my Credit Card Company and possibly cancelling my credit card or not allowing them to charge it.
When I signed up for Lifetime 8 years ago, they stood on a policy that they would not be another Ballys Fitness who locks you into contracts and makes you pay extra money after your wishes to cancel your membership...but it appears that they have in fact BECOME Ballys part 2 in the Chicago land area.
This is how Lifetime treats members who signed up and paid them before they put up the first brick for the building, they are UN sympathetic to their member’s life situations and all they care about is YOUR MONEY!
DO NOT SIGN UP AT LIFETIME FITNESS! YOU WILL REGRET IT!
This 30 day policy is a complete fraud! God forbid something should happen in your life that you need to open up some free cash and cancel a luxury such as a fitness center, Life Time does not care AT ALL!! I am currently going through the ridiculous procedures required to cancel a gym membership at Lifetime fitness. In today’s day and age with gas prices on the rise and people running into unexpected financial situations month to month, Lifetime Fitness shows no remorse or understanding to its customers and members.
It is currently June 13th 2008, and they have just openly admitted on the phone at their executive offices that it does not take 30 days to cancel a membership only that they use it as a way to charge you for and extra month fees! So regardless of my wishes to stop using their product they are going to take my money anyway. I will be calling my Credit Card Company and possibly cancelling my credit card or not allowing them to charge it.
When I signed up for Lifetime 8 years ago, they stood on a policy that they would not be another Ballys Fitness who locks you into contracts and makes you pay extra money after your wishes to cancel your membership...but it appears that they have in fact BECOME Ballys part 2 in the Chicago land area.
This is how Lifetime treats members who signed up and paid them before they put up the first brick for the building, they are UN sympathetic to their member’s life situations and all they care about is YOUR MONEY!
DO NOT SIGN UP AT LIFETIME FITNESS! YOU WILL REGRET IT!
Comments
It has been a scam for decades in this industry.
Search on Ballys and you can find many similar complaints.
Some states have special laws addressing health club contracts. Contact your state Attorney General, since some AGs have sued and reached settlements with some of them.
Read your contract, keep all paperwork, and send all notices in the manner indicated in the contract, sent certified return receipt requested for proof of receipt, with a second sent by 1st class mail so they can't just refuse to pick it up, documenting both in your records. Then be prepared to dispute unauthorized charges and close any account they had access to if they continue to charge you, file a consumer fraud complaint with your local DA or state AG, contact a local TV or newspaper consumer reporter, and sue them or their surrogates in small claims court for willfull reporting of erroneous negative credit information, deceptive collection, etc.
Much of the health club/gym membership industry is not a business, it's a racket.
Not that I am defending Lifetime but I am the manager of two small fitness clubs. We require 14 days written notice (prior to your next payment date) which is clearly outlined in your membership agreement. If you choose to ignore that, why should the fitness club have to be held hostage by it's clients and their techno savvy complaint process?
If you sign an agreement, then live up to it! You wonder why the cost of goods is so high? It's because deadbeats sign agreements, then renege on them. I hold people to their agreements! And let's say they quit the gym by cancelling their credit cards - if they ever want to rejoin - they have to pay me what they owed way back when or I don't want their business! Business is difficult enough in this ridiculous economy but to have to provide a product or a service to someone who cannot be responsible is a joke! Buy a treadmill or a home gym and stay away from centers that have hundreds of thousands invested in their equipment if you cannot be responsible!
Having previously owned a gym membership it doesn't and shouldn't take 14 days to cancel a membership. Fitness Industry is a seasonal business and fitness centers need to sign as many people up with contracts to carry them through the off season. Quite honestly, it is just a way to get the most from the paying customer. If a member pays you to attend your fitness center then they are paying for your service. Once they inform you whether by email, in person, certified letter or phone call,that they no longer want your service or possibly can't afford your service for whatever reason you should not be able to continue to charge them for services not rendered. Requiring a 14 or 30 day written or certified notice is just a way for the fitness center to continue have incoming funds. Your statement "It's because deadbeats sign agreements, then renege on them." No these people just want to be able to cancel their membership in a reasonable amount of time. They aren't asking for you to provide free services they simply want to be able to cancel their membership. If your business is not viable without using unfair billing practices it is you then that is the deadbeat by trying to force your members to pay for something they no longer wish to use. Find a more viable business just like I had to do. Do a service and let them pay for it but don't gouge them. So many fitness centers won't let you join without a contract so that it really makes it difficult for those struggling financially but needing to work out. Bear in mind sell them the fitness don't hold their credit card hostage because you need money to pay your bills. Thats on you not them.
During the time I had a fitness facility if a member wanted to cancel then we would immediately not charge their account anymore. If they were canceling during the middle of the month that they had already paid for then we would not charge them any more and whatever payment had been received was let to run out. On occasion if the member had paid but had not attended at all during that time we gave it special consideration as many times real life gets in the way. Members may have sick loved ones, lost their job, going through a financially stressful time but they are still people just like you and I so we always tried to treat them fairly.
After all if their circumstances changed we would most certainly be hopeful they would return to our fitness center.
LFT is great but they need to sucker punch their policy makers. Ive paid them on time every month - when I cant help it and they cant build a service , then they can go take a BIG HIKE