In I started work for a software company in Austin Texas.
That software company had a "corporate" arragement with Golds Gym that enabled employees to get a gym membership at a reasonable price. No up front fees (if I recall correctly) and ~$17.00 a month. The fees were auto-debited from paychecks.
I was a gym member for over 2 years and was reasonably happy with Golds Gym.
Eventually, I changed jobs ~11. I called Gold's in regard to my membership and they told me that I could keep the membership, but I would have to pay a transfer fee (~$50) and pay increased fees because my rate "was not offered in the public market" - even though they had a corporate agreement with my employer to to continue to offer the same rate.
The increase was minor, ~$17 to $21 / mo.
Of course, I had to authorize auto-debit of my checking account.
In 6, I called Golds to inquire about my membership status as I was not actively going to the gym as much as knew I was wasting money.
I was told that I was "obligated under my contract" to continue to pay fees until 11 or a I could pay a significant penalty.
I disagreed with the representative, asked to talk to corporate, and after several hours on the phone - I was told that I could not cancel due to the signed terms of my contract.
I told corporate, if they could produce a contract of ANY type with my signature on it, I would be happy to pay whatever fees they wanted.
As they could not find a contract, they noted on my account that I was not obligated and a "month-to-month" membership.
In 10, I called to cancel the membership. My local Golds gym in Austin said that I had to come down to the gym, fill out paperwork in order to cancel. I asked if there was ANY way to do it without taking time off work, they stated that I could resign my membership in one of two ways:
1) Call the corporate customer service office.
2) Fax my membership in.
Over the next 2 days, I spent almost 3 hours on the phone - sitting in a "phone queue" waiting to talk to someone in corporate customer service. The phone queue hung up on me once and started my position over in line twice. The only reason I could spend this kind of time on the phone was because I had a speaker phone and could work at the same time.
I called back my local gym, they admitted that corporate was "impossible" to get in touch with and told me that there was a corporate "move" going on. They sent me a fax form to fill out, with a corporate fax number.
I filled out that form (completely) faxed it in, and got a fax confirmation. I kept that fax confirmation for 2 months.
It is now 1 - and I find that Golds is STILL billing my account. I've called Golds Gym corporate - they tell me that I have to prove that it was faxed in AND that I need to issue a second request to customer care ([email protected]) in regard to attempting to cancel (again). Nevermind the fact that I knew about when they were moving and what was going on at the time! I've emailed corporate, included my name, phone number, address, account number, and requested that someone contact me to CONFIRM cancellation. Still no response.
No phone call back.
Good luck getting your membership cancelled!
The corporate office controls memberships.
Go to their website, there is NO corporate phone number or address listed. What kind of company does that? One that doesn't want people contacting them!
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