My husband signed a contract with Achieve Fitness in Aiken, SC in the fall of 2011 and was never verbally made aware of their cancellation policy. The gym was able to talk him into a year contract, even though he was there because of a no-commitment $10 a month advertisement. Shortly after starting the gym, he sustained a health issue that resulted in a wound on his leg to the point of needing surgery. The doctor advised him to discontinue going immediately. He called the Achieve Fitness office to cancel the account due to medical issues and the company representative instructed him that he had to fax certain papers to their office. We followed their directions. He called back to confirm the cancellation and National Fitness then changed what procedure was necessary saying that faxing paperwork is not valid. We sent a certified letter, as per the second set of directions provided by their company representative. We were again told it was not sufficient. My husband was unable to utilize the gym for the entire rest of his contract and we tried to work with Achieve Fitness in order to take care of what we needed to cancel the contract due to a disability and doctor’s orders. I called the local gym facilities as well in order to get this issue cleared up, and the very curt representative told me to call back because the computer system was down. The representative did not offer to take my information to call when the system was back up. My husband physically went into the gym to cancel and the representative at the gym was very rude and dismissive to him and did not process his cancellation. We routinely tried to provide the necessary information to Achieve Fitness, despite the inconsistencies within their own company in order to remedy this situation. This process took over six months, to the point of needing to get the Better Business Bureau involved, although that helped to limit the amount of additional funds they pulled from our account it did not fully resolve the dispute as they continued to take certain fees they claimed to be unable to stop despite our follows up with their company, even supplying multiple doctor signatures on forms and notes.By the way, Achieve Fitness has an F rating already with the Better Business Bureau! The customer service we received from Achieve Fitness was neither consistent nor professional. To add insult to injury, the service that my husband did receive in the few months he was able before his health problem, the gym provided spotty at best. The larger portion of the monthly charges was for a trainer who was routinely tardy or would cancel on him! Be warned – and please do not support this business!
Please let others know that this is not a well run business, too, and to avoid it. We don’t want anyone else to have to go through this frustration!
0 comments