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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

We get so many complaints about Bally Total Fitness, it's a workout just to sort through them. Maybe the most important thing to know about all health clubs is that the contracts are legally binding. If you want to cancel your membership, you must do it in the manner specified in the contract -- in writing, via certified mail, usually. Otherwise you end up like Kathleen (below).

Kathleen of Waterford, MI (8/4/05):
In April of 1990, I went to the Waterford Balley's (which at that time was called Vic Tanney) with my sister-in-law to see what it was like. The girl that met with us talked me into joining. After I filled all the paperwork out, she told me that I needed to bring back a cancelled check to verify my checking account. She also informed me that if I wanted to cancel that I should contact them within 4 days. The following day I called and cancelled the membership. I was then under the impression that everything was taken care of.

Now 15 years later, as I am trying to get my finances in order to buy a house, I find out that I was turned over to a collection agency and I owe over $1100.00 to Balley�s. 15 years later!

Elidon of Lodi, NJ June 18, 2009

When I first signed up 2.5 years ago I was never told that I had to attend the gym for 12 or more days for the first 30 days in order to have a chance at canceling my membership the first month. So when I did try to cancel the first month they got me with that. I figured I couldn't hurt my credit so I kept it. But now my financial situation is such that I am sincerely approaching them asking to cancel my account by settling it for a sum of money. I clearly explained that there is simply no way I will be making any payments to Bally's anymore. They are just so stubborn - they don't care for the consumer, they don't care if you're dying - all they care is to get their money.

As a business they have a responsibility to this community and as such they should honor difficult financial situations and make exceptions. For God's sake we're talking about a gym membership, not a mortgage Knowing that they will never receive another payment from me they choose to hurt my credit rather than settle for a small lump sum. Now this is just right down shady, dirty, sick, and unthoughtful of the customers that make make Bally who they are.

Reeta of Wayne, NJ June 16, 2009

I became pregnant in Sep, 2008. My doctor advice me that I should not be going to gym. I sent them a certified mail in January, 2009 with my doctor's note explaining my medical condition and the time frame (unable to use gym services). It's been more then six months they have not made any decision on my case. I have been calling them last six months. Every time I called them they say that I should make my regular payments to avoid late charges and they will issue a refund.

Today on Jun 16, 2009 I called them again after seeing that their system is showing that now I owe them money in the amount 133.98 from April 9, 2009. Problem is that I been making all the payments on time and waiting for them to refund me. I talked to their customer service representative name Maria with employee ID 6521 about this matter she told me I should not make any further payments on this account and they are in process to cancel my membership. Further more she said I should receive a refund by the end of this month. I have serious doubt about this since its been more than 6 months and they have not met their promise.

Stacey of pompano beach , FL June 15, 2009

About 15 year ago,i was invited to Bally's fitness club in Aventura with a friend who had a membership and was told that they needed to see my I.D.I was pulled into a room and was told to verifiy the information on my I.D to make sure that was me and they told me I was going to be able to workout with my friend as a visitor.

Two months later I started to recieve bills in the mail from Bally's. At that time I spoke with an representative and she informed me on what to do and how to handle the situation so that I can stop recieving these bills. I never signed a contract agreeing to be a member. I never recieved a card saying that I was a member I just kept recieving bills, which i've been disputing since 1997. They've been harrasing me ever since that one time. It's now 2009 and im still recieving bills saying now i owe almost 3,000 dollars to Bally's which i know for a fact is false because I never, never was a member I been contacting them asking them to give me proof to why im still in their system. A copy of a contract signed by me,a video tape,or some kind of verification that I came to their club to workout as a meMber.

Now all im recieving is letters from ACCESS ACCEPTANCE with a fake account #. I wrote them a dispute letter and their telling me just because they have my information doesnt mean the files or whatever records they have are accurate. This is messing up my credit its harrasing me an its constantly getting me upset. if you can help me please contact me

Alex of New York , NY June 15, 2009

After a month of calling and asking for a document so I can transfer my membership they have yet to send a document. Meanwhile no one is using the membership and I did pay for it in full. They are irresponsible, unprofessional and should be fined for abusing clients. I will be contacting an attorney if this does not get resolved and will call the media if possible - NY1 and channel 7

sean of east greenbush, NY June 9, 2009

I signed up in 5/2006-3yr contract, called after two weeks to cancel- was unsuccessful.Today 6/09/2009 my bank account was charged by them for the monthly fee of 37.00. I called to explain that my contract had ended last month and they told me that it is in my contract that I had to call and retract the membership so no further charges were made. Seems a bit odd to me that when you sign a 3yr contract that it has an open end?

Any way, after being on hold with Bally's for 30 minutes, I hopefully will not be charged any further. This company should have the pants sued off of them because they are nothing more than thieves! If there are any lawyers that are interested in pursuing a case against this company,I would be the first among many to go after them to get all my money back! Note: I had only used their facility a few times in the first week and never went back, but still honored my obligation because they would not allow me to cancel after only two weeks of being a member!

shifali of jersey city, NJ June 9, 2009

I had joined Bally's on April 30th along with a friend of mine. They had an offer going on at that time where there was no long term contract involved and so you could cancel your membership at any time. Now when we spoke to the sales guy, he told us that one of us had to buy the membership and that we could use only one credit card to pay and could not use our individual credit card to pay our individual amount, inorder to avail the offer. My friend was the buyer and so it was his credit card that would be charged and I was the primary member on the contract. When I joined I specifically told the sales guy that I needed the membership for 2 months only that is for the months of May and June. He said that wasn't a problem and I just had to tell them a month before I had to leave inorder to cancel. He made it sound that simple. So they charged me 24.00 for the first and last month (total of 48.00+ 10 for the card+ taxes which came up to 62.06) I assumed that was all I had to pay. On May 21st I went to my local bally's where I had enrolled and I told them that I wanted to cancel my membership from June 25th. They tell me that it cannot be done by them and that I had to call the customer services. This is something the sales guy conveniently did not mention. So I then call the customer services on, May 21st and it is a torture to get through to their agent as they just put you on hold for a good 25 minutes to half an hour. Anyways I had no other choice but to wait and had to spend my cell phone minutes as they are open only from 6am to 5pm(PST) Monday to Friday.

I finally got to speak to the customer care agent and told him that I had to cancel my membership and he told me that I was all set and my membership was cancelled. But on May 28th my friend calls me up telling me that his credit card has been charged for 25.68 in spite of my cancellation. We ended up paying the amount of 25.68, but had the charge been on my credit card I would have definitely disputed the charge. Since it was my friend's credit card I was helpless. I believe that this is another wrong selling practice. Why should someone else pay for you? Anyhow, I called customer services again and had to wait for half an hour to finally get to an agent. I told her that I had cancelled my membership and still was charged and she started saying that the 62.06 I paid was down payment and this was the monthly payment charged. I told her that this was not what was told to me and nothing of that sort was mentioned on the contract. She bluntly told me that I just could not get a refund. The customer services is so pathetic that they will come up with some new excuse every time you call them.

I then decide to go to my local bally's to see if they would help and they were as bad as the customer service. I spoke to Brian there who was a real butt head, arrogant and rude. All the sweet talk with which they woo you into signing the contract was gone and they told me that I had to deal with customer services myself. So I get on the phone and call corporate again and this time they tell me that I had to call them 10 days before the monthly payment due date (my payment due date was 05/28/2009) something again which was not informed to us by the sales guy.

Had the sales guy given us the right information we would not have to go through all this. Who would read a 3 page contract when you have asked all your questions and have got the answers from the sales guy assuming every word he says is the truth. We were mislead about the cancellation policy and had to come out of this bitter experience losing the money. So beware all you future customers as these people will just rip you off. Their selling practices are pathetic which needs serious correction and all their employees are thugs.

Rebecca of Milwaukee, WI June 2, 2009

After honoring my contract with Bally Total Fitness, I have attempted to cancel payments on at least five different occasions (they DO continue to charge monthly fees after your contract is up). It is nearly impossible to contact someone over the phone. I "cancelled" my payments back in January and I am still being charged almost six months later. I have since tried calling the hotline (unsuccessful), the actual gym(unsuccessful), cancelling through the website (good luck!)and I am about to march into the headquarters if necessary! This is an out-right scam and they are STEALING from me. I would not recommend this gym to anyone and I am quickly spreading the word. Please speak up if you have been part of a similar situation, the CEO's of this organization should NOT be allowed to take advantage of hard-working, regular people like myself.

Sini of Thousand Oaks, CA June 1, 2009

I enrolled in Bally Membership on 09/04/2008. I moved to LA recently and I want to cancel my account because I never went to the gym. the representative said, he is not going to do anything about it, asked whether I can speak to his Manager, he said 'You can talk to anyone you want, but its not gonna change anything'. I feel this is a rip off, they had some things in Fine print and the representative did not discuss anything while enrolling me in. This is a scam! The representative told me that he is going to put my case to collection agency and will incur more charges to deal with.

corenna of fresno, CA May 23, 2009

I called to speak with L. Hutton on April 2nd in order to cancel under buyer's remorse, but he didn't return my call. I called him again April 3rd and he had me come to the gym. When I went down to the gym he wasn't able to process my request that day. This would involve calling the corporate office which he couldn't do until Monday. I wasn't able to meet with him Monday because I loaned out my car. I tried to reach him to still go through with the cancellation, only keep me as the buyer and I would give the free membership to my mom. I was unable to reach him again. I continued to call the gym multiple times to speak with L. but he never returned my calls. I was without a vehicle due to allowing my sister to use my car for work reasons.

Granted I should have gone down in person but I feel L. should have returned my call. On April 21st I wrote a letter to corporate to get a refund and to ensure that those two memberships were cancelled. I also wrote to file a complaint against L. Hutton. The week of May 5th, I spoke with a supervisor who stated that he would refund me for Jacqueline but not Avis because she used her membership.

Turns out when I went to Shaw and Blythe to have my mom register for the free year membership, the representatives used her month to month instead of the certificate. He wasn't supposed to use the month to month because I was disputing that transaction.

i still am not sure if that issue has been straightened out. i have no ought against the shaw/blythe branch. whenever i call corp their reps dont seem to know anything. they dont have info on the complaint i filed against the manager nor any records of the supervisor agreeing to at least refund jacqueline. they have no record of me faxing or mailing them letters.

Harland of Wilton Manors, FL May 19, 2009

Got a memebership, the place was allways dirty- no one enforcing the towel rule, no one wiping off equipment (including the trainers and their clients. Threatened by S.BUTLER (VP REGIONAL BALLYS) to take away my membership (for standing up for my customer rights, and wanting a hygenic atmosphere. allthough i received a letter from a "A. Vasquez", who stated "thanks for bringing this to our attention" and even got a free month, stripped me of my membership IN ALL 50 UNITED STATES for coming up with anew invention (a towel that wont fall off gym equipment) that i was taking pictures of (allthough there IS NOTHING THAT STATES NO PICTURE TAKING) he said I "violated the contract"

Not only that, but I also had my expensive GT Timberline w/ ROX SHOX stolen in broad daylight right in front of the entrance (the bike was locked, and no one saw anything, of course) They said the bike rack wasn't theirs. The owner of the complex said the bike wasn't his. Gonna take [them] to court for false advertisement. Also-not all their trainers are certified/licensed! I have a witness.

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