membership cancellation
Complaint
Jacqueline Phan
Country: United States
So I went into Bally's to sign up for a month to month membership. Jayson, the sales representative that helped me, was polite and energetic. However, he had me electronically sign on a keypad to verify my address, email, and to add a family member. There were no papers in front of me whatsoever, everything was done with him staring at a computer screen. He charged my debit card for the enrollment fees. After everything was set and done and he had printed out my 'contract' i noticed that my signatures were placed in areas of which I felt were not the ones he had addressed to me. Then he starts to notify me of all the other extra fees that will be taken from my account. At this point, I was mad. He had chosen not to disclose all these vital pieces of information about my membership as well as having me sign for it electronically in other parts of the contract and I demanded a refund at once. He told me that it was too late and that the charge has already been put through so I would have to cancel through corporate. I called and I called and finally they told me to send a letter to P.O. Box 96241 Washington DC 20090 (do not send the letter to the Norwalk address, the cancellations get forwarded to Washington anyways so it will only delay your cancellation) stating that I want a cancellation. They did not ensure a refund. So I sent the letter and as CERTIFIED MAIL so they cannot deny that it was never sent or received. I then called my bank to set up a stop payment/claim against Bally's. Bank of America has a claims department that will dispute this situation for you because B of A actually does the banking for Bally's. I have yet to hear the results but for anyone else trying to cancel their membership, SEND A LETTER CLEARLY STATING A CANCELLATION AS WELL AS A CREDIT TO YOUR ACCOUNT IF NECESSARY AND SEND IT AS CERTIFIED MAIL FOR PROOF. ALSO, CALL YOUR BANK TO SEE IF THEY HAVE A CLAIMS DEPARTMENT TO HELP YOU DISPUTE THIS ISSUE AND PREVENT ANY FUTURE PAYMENTS TO GO THROUGH. AND LASTLY, IF IT WAS A DEBIT CARD YOU PAID WITH, CANCEL (BLOCK) THE CARD AND HAVE YOUR BANK REISSUE YOU A NEW ONE. I have no idea how they are even still up running with all these complaints. Even the people at my bank were telling me about how many claims they have had to file against Bally's. Ridiculous! GOOD LUCK! I really hope this works because I for one definitely want my $200 back.
Comments
Contact your local District Attorney, as this is a criminal act.
In addition, contact a consumer attorney, as this might be a good RICO class action case.
We would like to gather additional details regarding your experience and see how we can be of assistance. When you have a moment, will you please email us at:customerrelations@ballyfitness.com your Membership number (located on the back of your membership card), the club you visited and the best phone number to reach you? We will then forward your comments to a Member Services Supervisor for review and follow-up with you directly.
Thank you,
Rick
Bally Total Fitness
customerrelations@ballyfitness.com
They asked me for all that crap (sending the cancellation letter)
Simply, don't do business with them !
Five days before thay could take the money out of my bank account . I call Cal. Time 6:00am stay holding for 2hr. I got cut off
I have been calling and calling. This has mess up my checking . I hope that Ballys pick up before Next month. I have to cancelled this account.yes this could be very very frustrating.
I wrote an angery message about how displeased I was with the process I have to go through in order to cancel a membership. I received an e-mail (3:50's PM) and the membership got cancelled as requested. I did not even have to send a mail to Washington. Too bad I have already mailed it today because I was too pissed to wait. For anyone wishing to cancel the membership, please use that form.