Complain about a product or service

Gold's Gym

Karen of Loveland, CO April 17, 2009

I cancelled my membership with Golds Gym in January 2009. They gave me specific instructions as to how to cancel the account - by sending certified letter. My effective cancel date was 03/15/09 - the last payment I had to make. I called on March 17, 2009 to VERIFY that they received my letter, that this would be my last payment and that everything was in order.

On April 15th 2009 Golds Gym STILL charged my bank account the membership fee. I called again on April 17th to get this straightened out and they actually told me somethere there (at their own company) decided to reinstate my account!! And they are unable to tell me who that was. Although they were able to tell me that it wasn't me!!

After being put on hold for over 20 minutes while they dug into my account - they came back telling me that they still can't find out who reinstated my account and that there is nothing further they can do. Now they want another certified letter to cancel the account again - before they bill me again - on May 15th. Even though they already have verified with me that I have sent the certified letter on Feb23rd 2009 - that cancelled my account.

Spoke with the account manager at my local gym - and they had also spoke with DeeDee from ABC Financial - and corrected them on the situation and they NO they should NOT have billed me and to debit back my account. They claim to them that Lynn the manager had called them on March 9th 2009 and reinstated my account. But Lynn did NOT do that - nor had any reason to. Also - when I called on Marcy 17th to verify that my account was closed and I would not be billed again - this was never mentioned to me. As obviously - I would have corrected the situation then.

Jessica of Calgary, AB April 17, 2009

The sales people at this gym blantently lied to me. I signed up at this gym during the presale while the gym was being built. I didn't even want to sign up, I was in there merely to check out rates. The only reason I signed up was because they told me that I would have 30 days until after the gym officially opened to cancel my contract for full money back from my deposit for my personal training sessions and my membership, thus making my commitment to this gym riskless. They also said that if I change my mind after the 30 days are up that they would sell my contract for me therefore making this a win-win situation.

There was more than one sales person that kept pressuring me into signing the contract because they kept on insisting that I couldn't possibly lose for signing up that day. I have talked to many employees of the gym including the head office manager and all they can say is that its not in their best interests to help me even though they flat out lied and told me that this contract isn't actually in effect until after the gym opens.

I cancelled my contract about 2 months before the gym even opened so as per my discussions with their sales people, I have not broken contract. I'm a student and I cant afford to pay for any of this. I have found serveral others that are in the in the exact same position as me and we are now preparing to take them to court. I can say every person that I talked to pretty much answered each question word for word as the previous employee I talked to did.

I'm a student that can barely get by and now they have added more debt to my life that I'm already having a hard time paying off

Edwin of Brooklyn Park, MN April 15, 2009

I was thinking of joining Gold's Gym in early January and even went so far as to buy a membership. I cancelled it within 3 days by writing as per the agreement I signed, and as of April, it is still active. I have been in contact with the gym for the past several months and they constantly tell me that it will be taken care of, but I constantly get calls from the corporate offices about the status of my membership. I even asked them to stop the automatic monthly payment withdrawals, and they refused to do that until the account has been cancelled.

My account is now negative because of the 50 they took out of my account (and the monthly payment was to be 30)

Danny of Raleigh, NC April 15, 2009

Back in April of 2007, i terminated my membership with Gold's Gym at Celebration Mall by going in there and filling out a termination of membership form. Come next month, gold gym kept on debiting my checking account for the membership fee. I was away on basic training for a whole year, and kept calling the gym to stop debiting my account with no success. I have since then contacted their account manager, their home office, the manager at the location, and none would return my call.

The accounts manager person at the celebration mall location kept ignoring my calls, would not take them, and everytime i called, i would be told that she is either busy or in a meeting. This kept happening for almost two years until i ended up canceling my debit card so that the charges would stop. None of the managers nor the home office employees would return my calls. I never stepped a foot into that gym since i canceled the membership. They can verify that in their system.

I need a refund for the whole amount i was charged of 39.99 a month from the day i terminated my membership in april of 2007 until october of 2008, i am an active duty member of the army and have been gone for two years. Loss of time and money!

Kelly of Birmingham, AL April 11, 2009

I joined the Gold's Gym in the Birmingham AL area in March 2009. I negotiated a rate that was lower then the market rate (I knew what the going rates were since I knew people that were members). The guy that talked to me about membership got really mad when I told him that I would not pay any joining or admin fees. I ended up not paying the joining fee which was over 100. But I had to pay the admin fee--but I got the first month free and some tanning to make up for it.

Well I had another friend who wanted to join and they told her that was not possible. Also as other people said my contract was for 2 yrs not one year like I had asked for. I later asked a change to the 1 yr rate--which could be done but I would have a higher rate. Ok I just stuck with it. The sales reps are often rude--if they would not have deceptive business practices people would not call their bosses to talk about their problems.

I signed up for a personal trainer in April. I spoke with the personal trainer manager--who became my trainer. I spoke with him and about rates and I was assured that I would be billed monthly at a rate of 75 dollars and would be able to cancel for any reason at any time. I gave authority to charge my account. I was never explained that this was an non-cancellation 1 yr contract. I had 1 session-the guy was very nice but he really killed me with heavy weights for a girl, did not talk about food, did not write what we were doing, was not given a copy of what the plan or billing info was, or when we would meet again.

I tried calling the gym a couple of days later and the trainer was out sick. Well in the meantime--I get a notice from the collection agency about my PT contract. It was for a yr and on top of being billed 2 months--I now owed 10 more payments of 75. I called the credit agency and they explained to me that this was due to a contract that I signed. I tried calling the trainer who was stil out. In the meantime one of the regional managers called me about my recent call to the credit agency. I explained to her that I did not feel satisfied and I felt like I was taken advantage of. I told her I would be glad to pay for training on a monthly basis but I was informed that a one yr contract was my only option.

After her telling me that I was given a contract that I signed by the trainer (which I was not--I told her to check the security tapes) and that I needed to learn about reading things before I signed them--and more bs--she agreeded to cancel the whole thing. I am awaiting a credit on my account next week. Hopefully it will go through as promised if not--I will be calling my credit card company. I am glad that I was offered a solution to my problem. But I feel like I was taken advantage of and lied to. I have spoke to other people who have the same stories. Beaware of this company there are many similar complaints on various websites.

Nancy of Gladwyne, PA April 7, 2009

I had a membership at a Gold's gym in Limerick, Pa that closed without warning. I was never informed that my membership could be transferred if the gym closed. The gym closed within 3 months of my joining and they continue to charge my credit card. There was no warning and in fact they signed people to contracts within days of their closing. This was after reassuring us that they would not close.

Credit card charges and loss of the use of a gym that had the classes that were useful.

Neal of Jacksonville, FL April 6, 2009

I have report to the front desk the filthy conditions on several occasions. I continue to be told the same thing; I will let someone know. The mens locker room, specifically the showers are full of mold and mildew. The shower curtains are so dirty that they have started to decay to the point that they are hanging in shreds. The restroom area is also deplorable; the only thing they have done was refill the toilet paper holder. I have had to make a point of going home after my work out as Im afraid that any contact could cause either an air born illness or a flesh one.

I hesitate to cancel my membership because of all the difficulty that I have read about getting that accomplished.

James of Rockville, MD April 6, 2009

I went into Gold's Gym in December of 2007 and joined what I thought was for a year. In February of 2008 I slipped on the ice at my house, slipped a disk in my back, got a concussion and broke 4 ribs. I went there after I healed and told them that I could no longer use their equipment and wanted to stop my membership policy, and they agreed. That did not stop them from debiting my company bank account until I closed that account. Meanwhile the hassling calls continue as do the notices from the collection agencies. This company practices very deceptive business operations and they are not an honorable or professional company. Next stop the States Attorney's office in Texas.

I reluctantly paid the outdated bill and if any more continue to come I will contact an attorney and put together a class action lawsuit on behalf of all the other dissatisfied dupes.

Karen of Greensboro, NC April 4, 2009

When I signed up at Gold's Gym I made it clear with them that I am doing this because the company I am working is paying up for it. I told them I want a membership that I can cancel anytime without any problem or extra fees. The guy I signed up with told me there will be no problem with that. Few months later, because if financial crisis my company withraw the offer to pay for gym membership. I called the person to cancel my membership. They told me ok no problem. 4 months later they are still charging me. I called the company who does the billing and they said nobody had called them to cancel my membership. I keep calling gold's gym. They keep saying they will call me back when they fix it. They never did.

Travis of Rockville, MD March 31, 2009

3 Years ago I joined the Golds Gym in Rockville MD on a 1 year contract, 4 months after joining I had to move to another city farther from the Gym but not far enough away to be able to cancel my membership. So I started showing up extra early to the gym in the morning only to consistently have the staff show up 2 hours after their posted opening time and a new parking fee put into effect.

After 2 months of this continued behavior I stopped attending the gym and canceled my membership at the 1 year mark. 2 years later (2+ months ago) they started billing me once again, saying that they never received a cancellation from me. So I processed the cancellation once again only to find that they billed me 10 days latter. Once I noticed the fee on my credit card I called them up and they gave me some lame excuse about having a 30 day cancellation policy that they never made me aware of. I would have thought that 2 years would have been enough.

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