Canceling Membership

On November 2012, my first attempt to cancel my Bally's total fitness I was turned away by a Bally's employee with a tiny paper reading instructions on how to do so over the telephone. I called the next day to cancel my membership with the assumption that I would speak to a live representative. There was a live recording stating that I could only cancel my membership if I possessed a doctor's note, if I relocated to another state where there are no Bally's locations within 25 miles of my residence or if I wanted to place my membership on hold. Luckily it wasn't because I just wanted to cancel my membership because there was no option for that. I jotted down the address to a P.O. Box located in San Diego California, in where I had to send a written letter explaining 1 of the 3 options why I wanted to cancel my membership. And in my case it was because I relocated to another state; so I had to include a written letter in addition to providing proof like a paystub, utility bill, etc.. Well, this is an issue for me being that I just relocated I don't have any mail whatsoever. I then made the mistake in trying to speak to a representative because the line disconnected when I was transferred. I tried calling back a total of 5 times with 2 different telephone lines and in the end I still received a disconnected line. I finally gave up and had to incur another automated fee of 35$ being that I was waiting for a utility bill to arrive in my name and current address. Once I had both the letter and utility bill in hand I mailed it off to the address stated on the automated machine to a P.O. Box located in San Diego California. 3 weeks later I noticed another charge on my bank account for $35, at this point I was frustrated so I called a sales representative for new membership instead of canceling my membership being that I knew I would never get through because the line would mysteriously disconnect. Next, I spoke to a sales representative and explained that I submitted all documentation I was requested to do by Bally's in order to effectively cancel my membership 3 weeks ago, and I was just charged a membership fee. The representative informed me that I mail it to a P.O Box located in Washington D.C. I stopped the representative in mid-sentence because this obviously was not the address stated on the automated system which I am sure is heard by plenty who are also trying to cancel their membership. The representative gave a murky apology stated that the company has yet to change the automated message. It is now 3 months later since I first initiated canceling my membership who knows where my original letter with proof of address ended up and why isn't the mail being forwarded to this so called new P.O. Box address??? I am now in the process of mailing my documents to this new address. My advice to newly interested Bally's wannabe’s please make certain to bring up cancelation policies to the representative and read the fine print! If in the case you cannot cancel your membership directly over the phone or in the office. DO NOT SIGN UP, go with another gym-sure it maybe a little more a month but in the end my membership has cost me greater financially.