I joined Bally Total Fitness in 2000. I remember it well because it was shortly after my son was born. At the time, they were offering a "$19 Down, $19 a Month" special that sounded great since I was already anticipating a tight budget with a new baby.
I joined because I had just had a baby in January and I wanted to utilize the club facilities so I could get back into shape. Makes sense, right? When I joined I had inquired about the childcare facilities and was told they would be available to me as soon as my son reached 6 months of age. This was because the club wanted the children to be old enough to interact with others and such, I was told. This was fine with me.
So I went the club as often as I could, which was difficult at times since I couldn't find childcare. Once my son reached 6 months of age, I called the club to make arrangements for childcare at the facility. I was told I could bring my son in provided that:
1) I was a club member
2) I set up reservations in advance
3) I paid the fee of $15.00 for the sitting fee of 10 days. This was perfect and I thought I understood everything completely.
However, when I attempted to come into the gym for my workout with my son in tote, I was told I would not be able to use the childcare services until I UPGRADED my membership.
Now my question is, why wasn't I told this to begin with? I feel that I was wrongfully recruited into joining Bally's club and some very important details of my "contract" were not conveyed to me. Needless to say, I stopped sending payment for my Bally's account because I felt that I was misinformed when I originally joined the club.
Following my decision, I made several attempts to try and work through these issues with Bally's including phone calls and certified letters, but they refused to respond to any of my queries. Now my account is in collections and I have no way to fight this.
I feel it was wrong to expect me to abide by certain expectations, when they were not made clear to me from the very beginning. I was more than willing to resume my payments if Bally's would only come up with a way to make their childcare services available to me as I had originally understood they would be if I just paid the session fees. I didn't feel I should have to upgrade my account AND pay the extra sitting costs.
Just a caution as the saying goes, "Buyer beware!"
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