On December 24, I arrived at Anytime Fitness Hollywood (headquarters are in Hastings, MN) for my birthday workout only to discover a sign indicating that the facility had closed as of that date. Guy del Borello, the owner, provided no notice, and no way of contacting him. The sign referred members to ABC Financial, which was closed until the 27th.
Although I had a receipt that proved that I paid $95 (on 12/08) for dues from 12/09 through 03/09, both ABC Financial and Anytime Fitness refused to accept responsibility for the fraud perpetrated by Mr del Borello. John Betancourt, the employee to whom I had made the payment claimed that the payment system was down each time I inquired during the preceding two weeks. Consequently, I paid cash; prior to 12/08, I had used my credit card to pay my dues.
Although Jonathan at ABC Financial said that Mr del Borello had informed them earlier that month of his intention to close the facility, neither Mr del Borello nor Mr Betancourt, to whom I spoke in passing at the gym (on 12/22) bothered to tell me, thus ensuring that I could not recover $80 (the prorated dues from 12/24 to 03/09). This was despite the fact that I was courteous to those who worked (and worked out there), and I always paid promptly.
I discovered after the fact that ABC Financial had chrged my credit card $31 on 12/09 for one month's membership although I had given Mr Betancourt $95. I was able to recover the $31, but although Jonathan at ABC Financial assured me that I would get my money back eventually (whether from them or Mr del Borello), ABC Financial claimed that Mr del Borello had not responded to their e-mails and that they could not provide me with any contact information. The offer to transfer my membership to Fort Lauderdale was useless because bicycling back to Hollywood at night would have been quite dangerous.
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