In the fall of 1998, I got 3 visitor passes to Bally's Total fitness. When I went I told them that I had visitor passes that I wanted to use, they were very nice told me there was a little paper work that need to be done and then I could use them. I was 19 at the time.
They took me into a little office and rambled on and on and asked me questions anytime I tried to read the conctracts, and the papers continued to shuffle around me, including a check written for a locker deposite".
At the end I started to get a bad feeling about the whole thing. I stared to wonder why they needed my social security number, and why they would not take cash, insisting a check for the locker deposit. When I resisted, the sales pitches came on stronger. Then baffled, tired, and annoyed I thought how much harm can all this be.
At 19 you know nothing. Knowing even less about you rights. The gym representatives knew this and exploited it.
One month later I found out why the insisted on a check. It was to establish an automatic withdrawal from my checking account. They withdrew $54.00 and caused my rent check to bounce. Not to mention the bank fees and late fees from both my landlord and bank.
I went down to the gym to find out what was going on, and to get my $54.00 back. That was my grocery money. They told me I signed a contract and there was nothing I could do. They refused to let me see the documents I signed.
After a long argument regarding the contract, the manager slipped and mention that I would have to move to a location that did not have a Bally's within 20 miles of it. I laughed, I was moving to Sweetwater TX, the town has a population of less then 1,000 people, and you had only the basics in town. The next town was 40 miles away.
I wrote up a letter of cancellation and had it notarized. I hand delivered it to the manager at the Bally's location that this all started at. As I was leaving I saw the manager throw it in
the trash. When I confronted him about it he said I was crazy to think of such a thing. I asked for my letter back. I was told that it was now the property of the gym and then had me removed from the premises.
Now for the last 6 years I have been fighting with a collection agency. I keep requesting copies the of the contract that I signed if indeed I signed one. The debt collector will then give up and hand the account off to another ambitious soul who also gets now where. At this point I feel they have no claim since they have failed to provide proof of the claim of contract in the extremely long period of 6 years.
Bally's Corporation is absolutely without a doubt the most corrupt and vile institution ever known. They are wolves wounding you credit and feasting at your expense. They need to be stopped. This is unacceptable behavior for any institution. People get treated with more respect in prison. They are ruthless, heartless, need to have their lies brought to light and destroyed in the court law.
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