Complain about a product or service

Bally Total Fitness

Bally • Sales Practices, Contracts • The 12-Day Rule • "Lifetime" Contracts • Moved Away • Maintenance • Child Care • Opening Late • Headphone Policy --- News • Bally's Customers Hope To Exercise Their Rights

Heather of Burbank, WA September 16, 2009

In October, 2005 I was living in Florida. When I attended Festival Calle Orange, I signed up for a 30-day trial with Bally’s Total Fitness for 5.00. I signed a contract which said that if I did not call and cancel before the 30-day trial period ended, that it would be extended to a contract, and my account would be debited monthly. Because this was a festival, they did not have a copier accessible, and said that they would mail me a copy of the contract. After a couple of weeks I called to ask them to send me a copy of the contract, as well as asking at the gym to submit a request to have a copy sent to me.

In the months to come I continued making the requests and telling Bally’s every time that I called that I still had not received a copy. I called before the trial period ended to cancel the membership, and was told that it was cancelled and my account would not be debited. Approximately two months later (in December) when I was looking at my bank statement, I noticed that my account had been debited 36.77 by Bally’s the current month and the previous month. I called Bally’s to inquire about it. The representative that I spoke with on the phone said that they had no record of me calling or my account being cancelled. I of course argued this issue, saying that their company should stand behind what they have told clients/customers.

This representative went on to say that besides, I would not have been able to cancel because I had not met the conditions of the trial membership. I thoroughly read the contract before signing it (as I never sign anything without reading it thoroughly), and I did not recall there being any conditions of the trial membership. However, because I never received a copy of the contract, I cannot say with clarity exactly what it said as I did not memorize it. I therefore asked what conditions there were that I did not meet. She said that I needed to go to the gym at least 12 times to be able to cancel within the trial membership period. I replied saying that I went more than 12 times, that I thought that I went about 20 times because I went almost everyday. She asked me if they scanned my card at the gym when I went. I replied by saying of course they did or I would not have been able to enter, and in addition, my daughter was checked in to the day care almost all of those times. She said that it couldn’t be true because their records indicate that I only went to the gym four times!

At that time I said that I felt like I was being scammed because their records were inaccurate and they did not honor the cancellation. She said that as a “courtesy”, they would cancel the account. However, the next month my account was charged again. I called the company again, and basically had a word for word repeat of the previously mentioned conversation, including that they had no record of me ever calling.

However, the next month, in February, my account was charged again. This time when I called and complained and explained the entire situation again, of course I was again told that they had “no record” of anything that I had said or that I had ever called. However, the representative that I spoke with said that what they could do for me was to offer me that if I went to the gym a minimum of 12 times within the next 30 days and still wanted to cancel, that I could call, cancel, and that they would refund the money that they had taken from my account. I asked if my account would still be debited the beginning of March.

The representative said that she changed my account, that it would not be charged the beginning of March, however if I did not call and cancel within 30 days (which would only be honored if I went to the gym at least 12 times), that my bank account would be debited at that time. Well, I went to the gym 12 times, my account WAS debited the beginning of March instead of after the 30 days, and, of course, when I called regarding this, I was told that there was “no record” of the conversation or offer that I described.

I went through the whole situation again. They said that they would cancel as a “courtesy” to me because of the troubles. This happened again in April and in May. Obviously, I had long realized that Bally’s was not going to honor anything that I was told. On May 16, 2006, I filed a dispute of charges with my bank, after calling and speaking with a specialist about what my options were regarding this account. They recommended that I file a dispute, and said that they could credit my account for two months of charges and block it so Bally’s could not continue to debit my account.

Once my back account was blocked, I started to get bills from them in the mail and phone calls. Every time I talked to anyone regarding this situation, they said that they had “no record” of me ever calling, even though by this time I had called numerous times. In addition, in June, 2006 I moved to a town in Oklahoma that did not have a Bally’s. This was a temporary stay before my more permanent move to Montana, where there also was not a Bally’s, in August. I informed Bally’s of this move. Supposedly, if you move to an area that does not have a Bally’s, the contract can be cancelled. They said that it would be cancelled; however, I continued receiving bills for an increased amount each month. Each month I would call (or they would call me to “resolve” this issue and bring my account current). Every time, they would say that they had no record of me ever calling. However, as I pointed out to them, they did have proof of my new address and phone number, as this is how they were reaching me. Finally, the bills and the phone calls stopped. I thought that they had finally cancelled my account.

About a year later, I started to get letters and phone calls from Zwicker and Associates, P.C. My Bally’s account had been turned over to them in an attempt to collect the “debt” that I owed to Bally’s. Somehow this amount was 1114.79. I had many conversations with representatives from Zwicker and Associates. When I explained the situation, they agreed that I had been scammed. In addition they told me that they frequently hear similar stories regarding Bally’s clients. However, they told me that it was likely that I would still have to pay the amount. They explained that the amount was the total due for a three year contract, less the amount that they had already collected. They also said that they would talk with their client regarding what I had said. This continued for approximately a year and a half.

Last week, on September 2, 2009, I started receiving calls from Stellar Recovery, Inc. regarding a “claim” against me. When I returned the call, I discovered that it was in regards to the Bally’s account, which is now upwards of 1300. I explained the whole situation to them, and that I didn’t think that I should have to pay it, and that I want help to try to resolve this problem and the scam that was run on me. They said that I was scammed, however that it was my own fault for believing what I was told over the phone, and that I should have sent them a letter, via certified mail so that I had proof of its receipt. Now they said that they represent their client, and their job is to get me to pay.

They told me that they would settle for 879 dollars, and to make it even more manageable, they would collect it in 3 monthly installments of 293 dollars each. In addition, they told me that if I did not agree to their assistance in helping me resolve this issue by meeting their terms, that they would begin proceedings to garnish my wages. In the event that these were to happen, they said that I would end up paying over 2500. In addition, both people that I spoke to, Cathy Kimball and Chris Tafoya, were incredibly rude, disrespectful, and tried to bully or intimidate me into agreeing to their terms. I told them that I did not know what to do as even if I feel that I owed this money, regardless, I could not make payments of nearly 300 a month.

In hindsight, of course I realize that I should have sent my initial notice of cancellation via certified mail, to Bally’s, so they would have received it before the end of the initial 30-Day trial. However, I believed that Bally’s was a reputable company, and when they told me that my membership was cancelled, I believed them. Besides, they still probably would have continued in the same manner, considering that their records were altered concerning the number of visits during the trial period. I feel that I should not have to pay this money. Please help!

Lykisha of Hawthorne, CA September 14, 2009

I've been a loyal member of Bally Total Fitness for the past 6 years. During this time I've became a huge fan of the step aerobics classes offered, which have served as an intricate part in my fitness. For over a year I complained continously to management about the condition of the step-aerobic boards at the El Segundo location.

Often times individuals can not take the class because over 60% if the boards were not useable. The point of the rubber being on the boards is to prevent slipping, however, when 60% of the boards have rubber missing, then it limits the number of people that can SAFELY take the classes. The instructors could careless & would let people take that chance, without even a warning. Just to try to secure a decent board folks would arrive anywhere from 30-45 minutes early. I got tired of this game & tried my luck at another location since I was locked into one of this "lovely" contracts.

After that year or so of gripping about this atrocity I began to frequent the Bally's in Downtown Los Angeles. The boards there were not as bad, so I quickly began to feel that the neglect at El Segundo had some sort of racial undertone due to the demographics of the attendees at each club.

I soon came to find out that Bally's simply doesn't care about it's customers & demography had nothing to do with it. I've come to learn that VERY FEW Bally locations nor their equipment is maintained. From broken machines, to battered boards, to filthy locker rooms/showers, Bally's just simply doesn't care about anything but ripping folks off.

In addition to the LA location I began frequenting the Culver City II location. AGAIN I came across the same issues with the boards. First of all the class is in the basement, with little ventilation, the air hardly works & because of the pool there there may be water bugs in class with us. The worse thing about the class I was taking on Saturday at Culver City is that they actually charge. About 85% of the boards here are damaged and need to be replaced, which has lead to MEMBERS forking over 150 to purchase their own boards just to take the class.

So not only do we have to pay for membership, the class & run from water bugs, we also have to purchase our own equipment! I don't recall any of this being in the contract, but then I also don't remember in the contract where my dues would go up & I woudln't even receive a letter in the mail. I found this out by looking at my bank statement!

In a nutshell because Bally Total Fitness has FAILED in so many arenas & was forced to file bankruptcy/has experienced a decline in membership, they are now attempting to make almost all of their classes pay classes. Members are expected to fork over more per year to take ONE class then they pay for membership for the year, to help them continue to FAIL at running a customer driven business. If members have to pay for classes & equipment, what are the dues paying for? For instance the step aerobics class in Downtown LA was converted to a pay class. Since the class meets twice per week, you are basically paying 29 per month 348 per year)on top of your dues just to take a step aerobics class.

It's these type of "business" moves that makes it no surprise that the corporation is in a dire financial condition. CUSTOMER SATISFACTION & ETHICS are not high on their list, so of course they will continue to fail. It's sad that NO ONE there understands that basic concept. Just as a slum lord eventually losese their tenants so will Bally's as they are the equivalent to slumlords.

Quinn of Rahway, NJ September 9, 2009

When my girlfriend and I started our memebership at this location we agreed that we would pay the intial fees upfront in cash and allow them to set up automatic deductions from my account for both memberships. We completed the transaction with the written agreement stating our first payment was to be taken one month (July 9, 2009). However, they deducted funds from my account the same day as my initial sign up which was June 08, 2009. These deductions results in several complications and expenses over the last three to four months, and on several occasions I have made calls and faxes with evidence proving they have wrongfully deducted money from my account and still no actions have been made to correct the situation.

Martin of Los Angeles, CA September 2, 2009

I have been a premier member with Bally Total Fitness since July of 1999, and I am still currently active (just renewed my membership a couple of months ago). But my following very unsatisfactory experience with their personal training manager E. Chouri has showed me how unfortunately Bally Total Fitness have changed over the years, and possibly should be avoided at this point in time altogether.

Around late August 2007, I was interested with personal training, went to Bally's Hollywood II club and met the personal trainer manager. He sold me 48 sessions of personal training telling me that one of his best trainer Adir (who got a title of Mr. Iron Man and is really impressively fit) will train me personally. Then the training started in early September, and I was happy and seeing better than expected results, but only after 5 sessions with Adir, Adir quit his job. Then I was left floundering around with other personal trainers whom I did not see any results like when I was with Adir; I was going nowhere with my training.

And when I spoke with E., he did not seem to care about my training more than whether I will pay him more money. I became discouraged about the whole thing, and due to some personal health and job situation, I took a few months off. And during this period of off-time, no one from Bally ever called me to see when I will get back in training. With still more than 30 sessions remaining in my account, I could not help but felt abondoned by Bally after placing my money and trust in their hands for my training.

And to make matters worse, I started to notice strange discrepancies occuring in the number of training sessions I still have left. I remember in the past for a trainer to deduct a session, he had to see my membership card to input it on the computer and I also had to sign in. But somehow all these integrity assuring practices had stopped when I started the training this time. So I kept my own personal records on the sessions used.

After I had trained with a couple of other trainers after Adir, one day I called in to get some info on my membership and asked the number of sessions I had left. I was alarmed with some mysterious deductions. I called E. and demanded to have the imporperly deducted 4 sessions put back on my account. He finally said OK, but he said he can not put the 4 sessions back into my account as official records, but he will keep his own private records of these 4 sessions and simply not charge me for 4 following sessions.

I started to see there were some shady things happening. And if I did not keep my own personal record of my sessions used, I would have been cheated blind as whoever inside Bally manipulated my session records without my prior consent or knowledge.

At that point, E. lost my trust. I really did not feel like dealing with Emen anymore because it was obvious that he just wanted more and more of my money without considering providing proper service in return, but since I could not transfer my sessions to other clubs, I was stuck with him. And I really did not want to waste more of my sessions with inferior trainers.This situation persisted Until I finally met a good trainer purely by chance, last week at Hollywood II club who I trained with and personally know that I can trust. So I started a conversation with E. about getting back to training and using my remaining 23 sessions.

But then E. told me that my 23 remaining sessions were to "expire" in September 2nd of 2009 (?!) Despite that I finally found a trainer who I can trust, E. said that "per Bally's policy" the expiration of my 23 remaining sessions is final. Then he said, of course, unless I spent another 1400.00 to purchase an additional 24 sessions, that is, if I buy 24 more sessions, then my expiring 23 sessions will also be added back to my account as "complementary" sessions, making it 47 sessions total. It was incredible to me that Emen would even try to sell more service to an already dissatisfied customer.

So I told E. about my dissatifaction (started with losing Adir and the funny business with my number of unused sessions), then E, said that I am the one to be blamed. Then I told E. that I may just quit Bally altogether, then he said it was fine with him, he does not care. At that point I simply told him that I do not have the 1400.00 in my budget for him so just let my 23 sessions expire (of course in fact I have way more than 1400.00 to spend on whatever I like, but I will never pay anyone or any company whom I have lost my trust and not keeping their word on what they had sold in the first place.)

I gave up reasoning with E. and have wrote the 23 remaining sessions off as a foolish personal decision and a lesson learned the hard way. I just wanted to end the dealing with Emen and to move on. I have not been a happy customer. Bally Total Fitness forcefully "expired" 23 of my remaining training sessions, resulting in my loss of more than 1100.00 and never delivered any services for this amount of value gained from me. When a business fails to make a customer happy and yet still shamelessly tries to get more money out of him, only a fool will remain a customer. got excited, but then Emen killed it all. I had left a message for that trainer explaining to him what had happened so he would understand. Anyway, personally, this whole experience with Emen at Hollywood II club had been a two-year mess. And I am glad it is over even while I have lost more than 1100.00 of undelivered service as a result. And I am providing my experience here so others could be warned about the potential pitfalls when dealing with Bally in the future.

David of San Leandro , CA September 1, 2009

One of the female personal trainers at the San Leandro, CA Bally's location, Maven found out I signed up for a membership at the gym she was trainer at, and called me on my cell phone after my first visit. She told me "she thought I was really hot, and watching me work out turned her on." She asked me if I wanted to go out for drinks. I told her "no," and that I didn't think it would be a good idea. I thought I made it clear I didn't think it was appropriate for her to ask me something like that. As a result I now find I have to ask for permission to use equipment that anyone else, and hopefully not just the people that had to take her out can use. I also find when I'm going through my routine she found a way to use equipment that is right next to me, and sometimes gets in the way of my workout. As a personal trainer, and someone who works at the gym, I can't tolerate this kind of unprofessionalism, and sexual harassment.

I have serious concerns about the confidentiality of my personal information. This woman knows my private cellular number, my home address, and anything else that's on file. I don't think that if this kind of behavior is something that happens so casually it's something that hasn't happened in the past. My only intention in going to the gym is to work out, and there are so many occasions it's almost impossible to do this.

I've spoken to the manager in the past explaining to him I didn't come here to be picked up on, but only to work out. He made it seem that wasn't going to be a problem, but told me I had all club access. The gym in San Leandro is five minutes from my house, and I'm not driving thirty minutes to another club in a bad part of town to work out because he can't control his staff. I feel for the money I pay every month, I should be given every courtesy any other member is given, and should never be asked to cater to one of the clubs employees to use equipment, or the gym.

When I signed up with Bally's I was told by a lot of male members from another gym, 24 Hour Fitness, they felt Bally's was a more comfortable place to workout at because it was less crowded, and they didn't have to worry about the sexual tension that takes place at these kinds of clubs. I haven't experienced that at all. From the first day I was at this gym I've been harassed sexually, and in turning down that advance, have found myself in what I consider harms way.

alba of bothell, WA August 31, 2009

I signed a one year contract with Ballys and used my Visa to pay the entire year in one payment- I specificallly did not want to be charged a monthly fee. Six months after the one year was up, my husband noticed Ballys charge on the Visa- a review of Visa charges showed monthly charges past the one year contract. When I complained to the corporate office they said that they could not give me a refund because "that's just the way the paperwork came to us". No where on "my" paperwork does it say that I agreed to pay monthly payments!

Leah of Fort Collins, CO August 25, 2009

First, I joined the Bally Total Fitness in Englewood, CO because it was very close to my house. Everything was fine until I needed to cancel my account due to financial reasons and learned that I couldn't cancel because of their "terms of cancellation" that I didn't meet. Also at that time I learned that my contract was two years long, which no one told me when I signed up.

Thankfully, I moved to a location where there is no Bally's for more than 25 miles, so I was eligible to cancel my membership.I sent in to cancel my membership in May of 2009, with the 50 cancellation fee and all, expecting my membership to be cancelled on July 28, 2009 so that the fee for August would not come out of my account.

July 28th comes around and the fee is automatically withdrawn from my account. I called Bally's corporate office and they assured me that the money would be back into my account in a few weeks and that they always take the next month out even if you cancel your account (don't ask me why). It has now been over a month and the money is still nowhere to be found.

So today, I waited on the phone for 45 minutes to try to talk to a real person and all they told me was that no one "followed up" on my cancelled membership. I am extremely angry with Bally Total Fitness and will NEVER go there again, and I am telling everyone I know not to go there as well.

Angela of Denver, CO August 24, 2009

Well, where do I start? Our car recently got broken into about 15 feet from the entrance at Bally's and to our dismay this has been the norm there for awhile.. There was no consumer warnings or added security for this issue. We our out a lot of money and I have a lot of concerns regarding safety! So when I took this problem to the GM there, he was extremely unprofessional and not sympathetic at all! He never returned our phone calls and passed a message on to the receptionist that the paper work for cancellation was in.

I still have not yet spoken with him! Come to find out, he only said that to try and shut us up...I then spoke to a corporate contact and voiced my concerns about the situation and unprofessionalism from their GM and she did not say sorry once!!I know understand why this business is what it is because they treat their customers like criminals from the streets.

Kimberly of Indianapolis, IN August 18, 2009

The fitness club that I was using was closed because Bally Total Fitness did not want to renew the lease. I was told I would receive my refund for my 9 personal training sessions I paid for because they broke my contract. I had to call three different numbers in order to cancel my membership. However the only way to offically cancel my membership and receive my refund was to mail a letter. I mailed the letter and today received a confirmation that my membership was cancelled but no refund. I called. They told me that I had not been issued a refund. I was told the only way to get my refund was to mail an additional letter. The first letter did state I wanted a full refund. No one in their Member Services Department could assist me on why I did not receive my refund. They just kept stating that I had to mail another letter. The actions taken by this company are inexcusable. How can a company conduct business this way?

Timothy of Tualatin, OR August 16, 2009

I renewed my membership in Portland, Oregon with the promise that I could use the Vancouver club. However, even with express statements made by the manager in PDX, I was pulled off the equipment, by Tommy P and told to pay an additional 180 (but 100 if I had signed up in Vancouver), even though I was promised club access. This has continued even with the PDX manager calling over 30 times. Tommy P promised a return phone call which he never made.

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