Complain about a product or service

LA fitness

Laurie of Orlando, FL September 14, 2008

Put membership on 3 -month hold 05/11/2008, was charged for hold. In September 2008, was automatically billed for restart of active membership. Front-desk representative at location gave me number of operations manager and for to send in, but that person was never in. Call on subsequent day yielded individual who told me I should call back the following day, and that that they do not do such refunds. It is merely stalling, and thus represents fraud. I will be going to the attorney general of the sate of Florida, the BBB, and any other authority which takes such complaints.

Even if they do eventually cancel the membership I have been/will be billed for at least 2 months of membership.

Christi of Locust Grove, GA September 9, 2008

I am fed up with them at this moment. My husband had lost his job in April 2008. So we went to the LA Fitness where we had joined months earlier so we could cancel our membership. They gave us papers with a bar code on them that we were told to sign and write a letter telling why we were canceling our membership. We came home and did as we were instructed and mailed it in to them the same way we were told to do, reg. old fashioned mail. We also made sure that we were paid up before mailing this in.

The next month we still had a payment come out of our account! We went back up to the LA Fitness and my husband used his card to get in so he could make sure he got everything out of his locker. They would not let him past the desk without using his card to get past. This was July 12th 2008, we requested papers again to cancel our membership. We went home and did the whole process again! We mailed them out that next day which was July 13th 2008.

They call me AT LEAST 4 times a day trying to get us to pay them for July, Aug., and Sept. We canceled the credit card that they has access to and that is why they are calling the house all day. I just talked to a manager on the phone and explained to her what all has happened and that we did exactly what the contract said to do about canceling. All they can tell me is that I should have mailed it certified and I need to get paid up. They also said that if I pay half of one payment right now they will cancel our membership for good. CATCH: I have to do it today because there are 2 payments pending. I told her that the credit card is no longer active, that we have canceled that credit card when they would not stop taking money out of it and when my husband lost his job. She said I understand but you still have to pay. I don't know what else to do with these people.

Harishma of Alsip, IL September 2, 2008

On 03/31/08, I signed an agreement with Joe T. for LAFITNESS for personal training. I had said that I do not want to be in any contracts and that's why I'm not interested in Bally's. He said it is NOT a contract but a agreement and that you can cancel it anytime. I spoke with a late 20's white male on 06/25/08 and told him I need to cancel. He asked for my information and typed somethings on the computer and said, it has been cancelled and you won't be billed anymore. I found on 7/28/08 and 8/28/08, I was billed once more.

On 9/1/08, I spoke with Tamara and Jimmy from Alsip,IL location, Kellyn from Corporate, and Joe T from the Lansing, IL location and they said it will be cancelled when 1 year is up. They said the only terms to cancel the agreement was 1.) have a note from doctor saying that you can't ever work out in your life 2.) find someone (friend or family) to transfer your contract to 3.) pay 50% of the remaining of your contract. I looked the checklist provided on day 1 and it said i may voluntarily cancel my agreement at anytime during the initial term by providing written notice of cancellation 30 days prior to my next scheduled payment and paying a termination fee equal to 50% of my remaining balance at the time of notice.

I'm paying 320/mo so I thought I would only pay 160 for 50%, but they meant 50% of the entire remaining contract. This was not clear and explained correctly to me initially. My father was there at the time of signing and he understood it the same way. They're saying it's not a contract but an agreement. But there are only 3 reasons which you can get out of the agreement which was not clear.

I still got billed 640 AFTER I told them that I need to cancel which he agreed to. PLUS I would have to pay additional 50% of my agreement which is 1380.

Jessica of Kissimmee, FL August 22, 2008

I have been going to the gym for 1 year and 1 month. I have been paying each month with satisfaction to the gym. On 08/18/08 I arrived at the gym to a body pump class at 4:30 P.M.. I went to the restroom at the end of the class when I was approached by an aquaintance whom said to becareful because someones car just got broken into. She said it was a white SUV. I said Hey that could be my car! I ran outside and it was my car with broken windows, my purse, my 4 year old nephews back pack and a jacket. I ran back inside and told the staff, and she said We announced it over the gym. Hello!!! I was in a class where you cant hear because there is no overhead. At this time the gym is full of people. Apparently this happend to someone else that same day, the day before and 4 times the previous month. The gym owner is not doing a single thing for his gym members. He has been told that cameras have to be installed but still nothing. Im cant believe this.

I was out 340.00 dollars and the fear of going back to the gym. I am upset to know that so many women go to this gym which does not have any form of security.

Genevieve of Orlando, FL July 5, 2008

During the course of my membership to LA Fitness, I opened a new bank account and changed banks for a better interest rate. Before I could provide LA Fitness w/ my new bank account information in order to continue the automatic payments they somehow managed to get my bank account information on their own and I was recently charged the membership fee out of my new account.

Is that legal? How would they have gotten my bank information? Bank account information should be confidential and protected, not just given out to anyone.

Jeffrey of Houston, TX June 18, 2008

I signed up for a 1 year term on personal training and also three month-to-month accounts for me, my wife, and kids club. These were all setup in June 2007 with monthly auto-bill (the only option they would support).

The personal training contract auto-renewed at the end of the 1 year term and so I needed to provide 30 days notice of cancellation. In February 2008, I provided LA Fitness with notice of cancellation for the personal training contract to be effective after the mid-May 2008 billing. At that time, I also notified LA Fitness that I wanted the three month-to-month accounts cancelled in coorindation with the training contract. All of that was accepted at the time in Feburary 2008.

Now, over the span of two days, I've received at least five phone calls from LA Fitness representatives asking for payment on these accounts again. I've talked with three different people to get this resolved and all deny they've received any notification.

Asside from the personal interruptions during my work day, the direct economic impact is over 400 USD.

Terre of Lawerenceville, GA December 6, 2007

I mailed letter to cancel with form provided by local LA Fitness in July 2007; as of December 2007 they were still auto drafting my account for membership fees even after a second request to cancel using same form was mailed certified mail. I kept getting NSF fees, so I went to my bank to review my account and discovered in about September, L A fitness had been stealing from me. The local office was no help; at the time they stated they didn't handle cancellations and were in between management. This was the story at two locations. On December 4, 2007, new management faxed over bank statements, the certified mail receipt, doctor's statement, and I was told I would be refunded for December only. They would not locate the original contract or the certified letter requesting to cancel that stated on the letter this isn't my first request.

I have been billed 5 months in gym membership fees of 35.99 each. I haven't used the gym because I thought the membership was canceled. I've had 128 in NSF fees for one month and 198 another. I spent 8 hours while the local Lawrenceville, GA manager sent emails requesting refunds with the NSF fees. I've spent 3 hours on my cell phone's peak time; it is the only phone that I have.

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