I joined LA Fitness with my son for his 12th birthday in April. I was assured I could cancel my membership at any time, so it seemed like a no risk endeavor. Within a couple of months of joining we had some serious financial problems and I attempted to cancel. As other reports have noted, this is virtually impossible. The charges continued to go through on my debit card, causing hundreds of dollars of overdraft charges. I called my bank and asked what I could do; they told me to cancel my debit card and have a new one issued, and that this would prevent the continuing charges. I did that, went through the incovenience of waiting for a new debit card, and thought the problem was solved. The next month the charges went through again! I called the bank and asked how this had happened. The bank rep did not know, so he referred me to the Mastercard fraud department. They filed a report, and a week and a half later the charges were reversed. I (again) thought the problem was solved, but the next month I was charged again! I called the mc fraud department, and they said that I had to PROVE I had cancelled my membership, and that I had to produce a confirmation from the company that the account was cancelled. Mastercard says that it is not fraud if I agreed to pay monthly at some point, and that LA Fitness can FORCE the payment through, even if I take steps to stop it. I plan to close that bank account and move my money somewhere else, and hope LA Fitness cannot find it. The mastercard rep claims I cannot close the account as long as there are active charges against this card. We'll see.
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