I am the former manager of a health club in Cookeville, TN called National Fitness Center. After they outsourced their personal training department to Custom Built Personal Training out of Atlanta, GA, I signed a contract for personal training services. Since I also dealt with contracts for memberships on my end, I read over all the fine print and was sure that I understood the terms and conditions of the contract, even though I did not necessarily agree with them. This was in June.
After fulfilling my 1 year obligation and paying all my payments on time, even though I did not receive the services I was promised because the company could not keep trainers or managers on staff there, I decided to cancel the contract as they will automatically renew if you do not. I mailed a certified letter as instructed in July and I understood the fact that they still bill you for the following month. August 29 was my last draft, and I did not hear anything more... Until today.
It is now December, and the representative from Custom Built's billing company, Affliated Acceptance Corporation, Donnette, told me that my draft for December was declined. Imagine my surprise! I did not owe another payment and no longer use that same account. She went on to very rudely inform me that they would continue to attempt to draft each month and if unsuccessful, they would mail me a statement and my account would be delinquent. After fully explaining the situation, during which time she interrupted me repeatedly and was obviously not listening to my explanation, I asked for a supervisor. I was connected to Joanna (would not give last name) but gave extension 323 and she said that they did not receive correspondence from Custom Built regarding my cancellation and I would continue to be billed.
She told me it was my responsibility to follow up with them to resolve the issue. Although I understand that they are a separate company hired by Custom Built, I think the two should work together more efficiently on issues such as this, and I was highly upset that they are still holding me responsible for payments. When I asked her to follow up with Custom Built to show proof, she said "That's not what I get paid to do." I felt that that was a very unprofessional response. She gave me a phone number for Custom Built, where, during business hours, I was automatically forwarded to someone's voice mail and have not yet received a call back.
If you do end up getting suckered into signing a contract with Custom Built, please watch your credit reports very closely, because even if you attempt to cancel the proper way, their billing company will still attempt to charge you and report to collection agencies if they cannot collect. Being the former manager of the health club where they operated out of, I heard NUMEROUS complaints in my time there from members who had the same thing happen to them and I am aware of several in that area who were pursuing legal action, which is one of the reasons why I left that job. I was not affliated with that company, but of course, the members see it as all operating together, and I totally agree with them and see why they were upset. I just did not want to be directly or indirectly associated with such an unethical company that appears to be ripping people off all over the country. Don't let this happen to you. You will not get the service you were promised, and it will cost you lots of money and tarnish your credit for 7 years. It's as if the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing and the one that suffers in the end is the consumer.
0 comments