Canceling Membership
Complaint
Ali Poze
Country: United States
They all lie.
When I register Bally, I ask can I cancel anytime. He told me I can cancel in 60 days. After 25 days later I went to cancel guy told me my membership canceled. A month later, I got a bill I went office back the guy told me he will told with office about my cancelation. A month later another bill came. I call customer service they told me I am not cancel and 60 days pass. I can't cancel now. After 1 hour discussion with customer service they told me I cannot do anything if I don't pay it will be destroyer my credit history.
When I register Bally, I ask can I cancel anytime. He told me I can cancel in 60 days. After 25 days later I went to cancel guy told me my membership canceled. A month later, I got a bill I went office back the guy told me he will told with office about my cancelation. A month later another bill came. I call customer service they told me I am not cancel and 60 days pass. I can't cancel now. After 1 hour discussion with customer service they told me I cannot do anything if I don't pay it will be destroyer my credit history.
Comments
It is rummor that it has been going on for some time. Bally's needs to take responsibility and hire security. This will only follow them to the new location. THIS IS A PROFESSIONAL THEFT TEAM1
We as long term members should feel safe while working out.
call 866.402.2559
press 2 to "hear about specials and add an additional member"
press 4 to "add an additional member"
enter your membership number then press #
An operator will pick up and you can ask any question.
to cancel a member ship you have to write a letter with your member #, reason, and name. The letter has to be adressed to:
Bally Cancelation Dept
PO Box 96241
Washington DC 20090
Thank you for contacting us recently.
Please be advised that we have received you request not to renew your membership. However, your
account remains eligible for promotional reactivation offers.
Feel free to contact our Member Support Center at the number below."
Bally Total Fitness
Member Support Center
1-800-402-2559
This is my first time doing written request for account cancellation. This is ridiculous, they are still trying to make money out of you from account cancellation. I will not ever comeback to this fitness gym. I know everybody is not happy writing a cancellation request..i guess nobody will renew and instead make curse on this company. By doing this company scheme...they are losing more members completely than signing up..
That's the reason why Bally Total Fitness is not successful...They cheat the members.....
Make sure when you send your request, it's registered or certified.
Anyhow, I was a month-to-month member and I called 888.348.5005 a number that they gave me at the club, half expecting what everyone was experiencing. Even though I had to wait 15 mins prior to someone picking up the phone [in a Costa Rican call center], when the rep finally did pick up - I did received some resistance -- I also followed the advice someone posted on the first page of this thread and kept repeated saying 'I do not wish to discuss. I want to cancel my membership.' After doing so about 5 times and receiving all types of 'offers' including a free month [ridiculous], some other promotional offers, the rep then found himself playing the aggressor and said I would have to pay for one more month then he could cancel.
I responded, 'I do not authorize any further payments. I wish to cancel my membership.' the rep put me on hold for another 5 mins then finally caved in and cancelled my membership via phone. He told me that the only way to get confirmation was via mail. I did not believe that he cancelled anything [from all the horror stories I've read] So I made sure to get his NAME and OPERATOR ID #, and repeated that 'My membership is cancelled effective today 6.3.12 and that I shall not be charged any further fees from Bally's.' Once he agreed I hung up. and called back again to check the status and to my surprise on their automated system it said my membership had been CANCELLED. Also, since I was feeling lucky I got another rep on the phone, and requested that they send me a confirmation via e-mail and waited about 1 min and GOT IT.
Guys please be persistent, I'm sure you could accomplish the same feat. Good Luck.
ONE WORD OF ADVICE STICK TO YOUR GUNS AND WHENEVER DEALING WITH REPS VIA PHONE ALWAYS GET A NAME AND OPERATOR ID # -- BECAUSE IF/WHEN YOU DO CALL BACK YOU CAN PLACE RESPONSIBILITY ON THAT PERSON AND THEY DON'T LIKE THAT AT ALL.
I signed up for a month to month plan with only one month down on the contract. Since I only wanted to use the gym for two months, I went for two months and then decided to quit. Then I looked at all the horror stories surrounding cancellation, and after looking at my contract I couldn't tell if I could just cancel after my contract expired or if I had to move 25 miles away to cancel.
I didn't want the risk of having Bally's take advantage of me over the next few months, so I called the Member Services Center (866-402-2559) and requested that I wanted to cancel my account. I stated that I did not want to discuss the reasons why I wanted to cancel and that I knew that it was possible to cancel over the phone since others had done that. The first agent I spoke to said that it was impossible to cancel over the phone and that I had to send a letter. I called again and got a different agent. After I told him that I did not trust the letter cancellation method, he said that I could cancel on the phone by paying a $10 processing fee and for an extra month, making the first agent's position untruthful. I stated that it would be absurd for me to pay for an extra month since I was not going to be using the gym. He finally said that he would turn me over to his supervisor, and then he hung up on me. Those two calls took about an hour.
I tried again, and this time I got a woman agent who tried to sell me all this stuff I didn't need. I told her I wanted to cancel on the phone and she said that I could only cancel through the letter. I said that isn't true because I just spoke to an agent who had said I could cancel over the phone, and gave his name. She said that they had no record of me calling and speaking to that agent, but that they did have a record of me speaking to the first agent. Unbelievable. So then I asked if I could speak with her supervisor, and in a few minutes I was connected to him. He said that I could only cancel by sending the letter, or by paying for the next month and the $10 processing fee on the phone. I restated my case that its absurd for me to pay for another month and that I did not trust the letter cancellation process given the number of horror stories surrounding corporate's "loss of certified mail, delays, and reactivating closed accounts." I kept on with my argument until he finally gave in after about 5 minutes. He said he would cancel my account immediately, and I made sure that he stayed on the line until I had received a confirmation email affirming my cancellation. I also made sure that he had agreed to the following: my account is effectively closed on this date, I will not receive further fees or charges from Bally's, I will not have to write a cancellation letter to Bally's, and Bally's will not reactivate my account. I thanked him and then hung up.
I then followed DinNYC and checked to see if my membership code no longer worked by calling again, and luckily it said my membership was no longer valid. I also checked my bank account to make sure they hadn't secretly applied the "supposed" cancellation charges
All in all, be persistent and call several times if you have to. Repeat your case and don't give up and you might be able to get them to cancel your account. Just make sure you write down their names like DinNYC advised and watch for factual differences between the agents' positions.
Anyways, I left a comment using "Contact Us" form (http://www.ballyfitness.com/contact-us.aspx). I wrote how upset/displeased I was in order to get my membership cancelled, how could Bally make it impossible to cancel a membership, etc.
A day later, I received an email back about transfer and nonactive option bulls*it. But importantly, my membership was cancelled as requested! I did not even have to send a letter to Washington, but I did anyways today early in the morning. Too bad I received the email too late, I could've saved stamp money for that company! I do not wish to spend a penny for them. I checked the official Bally website to see if it was really cancelled and YES it was.
EXCEPT.... the email stated that I was only able to continue using the facility till the last day of the payment... But I had already paid the first and LAST month in advance when I signed up for the membership. So I should be entitled an extra month. So I emailed back to fix this problem!
Hopefully I hear from them soon!.
I said that "I need to check on why I am getting charged after canceling my membership?"
"Sorry sir you're breaking up"
"I need to check on why I am getting charged..."
"Sir, you are very garbled, can you call in on a better connection?"
"You had no problem hearing my membership number and name, but NOW you can't hear me when I ask about canceling?"
"Sir, can you call in on a better connection?"
"NO, I WAS ON HOLD FOR 25 MINUTES"
"Are you still there sir, I will have to hang up" CLICK.
I received the cancellation letter back today "return to sender", they had given me the wrong zip code.... an honest mistake, I'm sure.