Gold's has an outrageous contract to begin with. It states that no verbal agreements count as being part of the contract, and it also states that no one can get out of the year's contract unless they are permanently and totally disabled, or move at least 25 miles away.
In either case, proof on paper must be provided. Also, the contract automatically renews at the end of a year. The contract must be voided within 30 days of signing, but the character telling you about it says that it has to be voided 30 days before the first charge date a month into the official membership, and then gives a "free trial" more than 30 days long. They tell many lies, all in the name of getting a person to sign the contract, and then act like they said nothing.
I asked: "wait a minute, where does it say I can cancel any time for a free refund in this contract?" and he shook his head and said "never mind that, just listen to me."
The manager there, Dave Castor, says that everything
between the Gold's Gym employee and the potential customer is just personal, and doesn't represent Gold's Gym in any way.
The Area Director, Adam Foster, says that such lying DOES NOT HAPPEN at Gold's Gyms, and that Dave Castor would never say such a thing. He would like evidence that this lying occurs presented to him, but he refuses to provide any contact information whatsoever.
I went through a lot of stress getting this resolved, but since I WROTE DOWN in the contract that I could get a full refund and terminate at any time before the date the guy gave me, I got this resolved. Otherwise I wouldn't have. These people are like a concrete wall.
If you have a similar experience, Please: file your complaint with the BBB, AND your state's Attorney General's Office. They need all the complaints they can get before they can help everyone on a larger scale. I found that MN-ND's BBB has a negative report on them, and it's growing. Let's see that list grow fast. People here have suffered not just from contract issues, but also sales issues (same thing here, kind of) and billing issues. This business is not operating honestly. Help the word get out there.
ALSO: call all the news networks. Let's get Channel 5
or one of the other ones investigating this place. A televised investigation would be very interesting indeed - I'm sure the news stations will enjoy putting it together. And also, Call the FTC: the Federal Trade Commission. Leave no stone unturned. People all over are suffering many financial and other losses through this company. I lost a lot of time over this issue. I also became physically ill with the stress, and am not even now quite well yet.
0 comments