When I signed up for the golds gym membership I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I signed up January at the gym in Cedar City, at the time I was under the impression that, being a student, if I should for any reason not be able to pay I could cancel the contract and be done with it.
January of the next year I inquired about cancelling to the lady manning the front desk. Money had become too tight and I needed it for food and gas. She informed me that the only way I could cancel was to either move outside of a 25 mile radius of a golds gym or switch my contract to another person, both resulting in a 100 cancellation fee.
Dumbfounded and unbelieving I called the golds gym billing company, Paramount Exceptance, and inquired as to the terms to cancel. They gave me the same answer as the lady at the gym. I was caught in a legal trap that I could no longer afford.
Knowing that I couldn't afford them to keep charging an account that didn't have money in it, resulting in the bank to charging me an overdraft fee each time, I took the bill pay off automatic and told them I would call each month to pay. This resulted in a monthly 10 dollar fee on top of the monthly charge and the two 19.99 fees, one a late fee and the other one a declined payment fee.
In February I moved outside of the 25 mile radius from any golds gym. When I aquired proof of my new address in the form of a letter from my new employee stating that I had worked there since February 25. Along with my employers letter I faxed my own letter stating that I had moved and wished to cancel.
I called the same day that I faxed the letters and informed them that I was cancelling. The lady that I talked to informed me that she would need to wait 48 hours before she would get the documentation from another department and that if I was trying to cancel I would need to be up to date on my payments. That I would be charged for the month of March because I didnt give them 30 days notice, the paperwork wouldn't be able to process until the next month and by then it would be too late ande I would need to pay April as well. On top of that I still had late fees to cover and the cancelation fee.
Very angry I paid them for the month of January and told the lady that when everything was processed to send me the final bill and I would take care of it when I had the money.
I was going through a lot of stress at the time, that winter I had totalled my car. I had moved to a new area and had to drop out of school. On top of everything, I found out I was pregnant. Thinking all was taken care of Golds Gym went to the back burner and months went by without a thought for, or a call or bill from paramount exceptance.
When I got a call from paramount 3 months later it was to inform me that I was late on my payment by 4 months and that I owed them more than 350 dollars. There was no cancellation due to my employer not using an official letter head. If I still wished to cancel then I would need to pay what was owed plus the next months and the cancellation fee and provide proper cancelation material, no where of which is stated in the contract that I need something official for my employer to sign.
Caught off gaurd and very pissed off, I said some very choice words and that I would not pay anything but what was originally owed. The bill collecter proceeded to talk over me when I tried to explain that I had cancelled and why I should not be paying that absurd amount. Frustrated I hung up on the rude man.
Paramount began calling me and trying to get me to pay, 350 became 550. Eventually I stopped answering. If I unknowingly did, I hung up.
My bill has since been turned over to cancellations and I now get threatening calls from the bill collectors and my bill has become 1,444 dollars. Almost non of which is rightfully owed by me.
I have given up trying to reason with them about the bill and come to a compromise because they wont compromise. All they do is threaten and talk over me. I have learned my lesson about signing contracts without reading the fine print and taking what I am told as the truth by someone trying to buy my soul.
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