member ship and personal training
Complaint
THEONE
Country: United States
they are scam artists. after i signed up for the club membership, they decided to sign me up, 2 weeks later, for personal training without my consent. they even sent me an email confirmation for the personal training 2 weeks after the membership enrollment email confirmation. the personal training contract they sent didn't have my signature or initials, but someone else's. they had my card info from my membership draft and drafted $399 out for personal training for 12 sessions and then wanted to draft $300 every month there after for 12 months totaling 3,9999.00. i never agreed to anything like that. i went in the next day and they said they couldn't cancel the "contract"... no apologies or anything, a little strange since this is a illegitimate contract that I NEVER SIGNED OR AUTHORIZED. they tried to offer me all types of things to get me to go along with their scam, extra sessions and freezes etc. i thought about it for all of 30 mins before i completely got disgusted and decided that i no longer want anything else to do with those dishonest ppl.
Comments
That was clearly their intent from the moment you walked in the door. Bait and switch contract fraud is a fairly common scam among health clubs, with several variations showing up repeatedly in consumer complaints over the years.
Sounds like LA Fitness is just like old Ballys, which they purchased. They are running a shakedown racket, and there is no way you can trust that they will not try something else even if they now agree to the original offer.
Their game will likely be to try to smooth it over for now, initially like they have done by offering some "deal" to accept their forged "terms" so they can claim you "agreed" so there was never any forgery, but if that doesn't work, they will next probably try to brush you off by saying verbally they will take care of it, so don't worry about it, you don't "owe" it.
You cannot rely on their verbal assurances (they've already shown that), since the way this game is played, the "contract" has really already been handed off to some "finance company" partner, and treated as a "loan" that the "monthly fees" are payments against. They will ignore your fraud claims, pretend they "don't know" anything about it, maybe be quiet for the life of the "contract", then come back later and claim you "owe" the whole thing, and it's "your fault" you didn't use the services you "agreed" to. They will then threaten to sue you for this unpaid "debt", which the health club will conveniently "forget" had any dispute. All the employees will of course either have no memory, or be long gone. Who knows who actually altered the contract, but that's just a red herring anyway, as it's unproveable (simple, just scribbles in a box), and they all benefit from the fraud.
They are "laundering" the fraudulent "contract" to separate your fraud and forgery allegations from interfering with their ability to use it to coerce payment of the full amount. This practice shows that they knew the game from the start, and had this in mind before you even walked in the door.
The sales guy pockets his commission, the trainer gets his fees, the "lender" gets a $4000 "debt" to pursue, probably buys it at a steep discount, and everyone's happy, except you, the sucker, but you won't know this for a couple years. No matter, the money the "lender" expects to make is planned for at the front end, and the alteration stacks it enough in their favor to make it worth going after you, even suing, even though it's all based on forgerry.
Deal with it NOW, or YOU LOSE.
Only way you get out of this is to make it too hot for them to try to bluff through it.
Send them notice, mailed certified return receipt requested, to the corporate headquarters, that the alleged contract terms have been altered by forgery, and is null and void due to fraud, and that you have filed a fraud complaint with the District Attorney. List the names of the persons connected to the matter who may have been involved in the fraud.
File a fraud dispute through your bank against the fraudulent charges, and shut down the account to prevent further fraud and theft. If you fail to do this, they will keep taking your money regardless of whether they agree to recind the contract.
In addition, file a bank fraud theft complaint with your local police, including with it copies of the altered and forged contract indicating the alteration, and your bank statement showing the fraudulent charge.
Also contact you District Attorney immediately to file a consumer fraud complaint, forwarding copies of the same evidence.
Same goes for filing a complaint with your state Attorney General.
Contact a local TV or newspaper consumer reporter to report on the story. If they are so smoothly pulling this on you, they are probably doing the same to others.
Hang onto your copy of the forged contract. Do NOT let it into their hands, or even in the same room with them.
You should also contact a consumer attorney now, as a letter from your attorney may be the most effective way to indicate you mean business. This type of case may fit within FDCPA debt collection law, or state consumer fraud law, which may interest attorneys who file class action lawsuits if there are other victims.
You can find a consumer attorney in your state through www.naca.net