I had been a member of this club for about 3 years when in 2002 I spoke with the manager about getting a lifetime membership. The basic deal represented to me was a one time fee of about $800 for 3 years, then one more year at $200 then no more fees EVER. I went the 3 years and then got the expected $200 hit in year 4. But lo and behold in year 5 I get another bill for $200. I call and am informed 'nope you got it wrong, if you want to keep your membership its 200/year'.
For 24 hour Fitness personnel whou might read this, I first want to point out that if a sales person misrepresents a contract, whether or not a consumer reads the contract and identifies the fraud, the misrepresentation still constitutes fraud. Is it likely I would win a lawsuit in this case? No. However if it happens enough a class action suit is possible.
Ok, stupid me. I got outsmarted by a health club sales manager. That stinks, but its ultimately my fault for not reading the fine print and also for trusting the sales person. I had a good relationship with the various club personnel, so kind of felt like they were my buddies and were not going to try and screw me.
The above is a rip off. However, what is more annoying is the clubs position on remedying the situation by doing anything reasonable.
I call back to my current club in Oceanside and inquire what their 'lifetime' plans were (I did not tell them I was a member). The sales person I spoke with indicated that they had a 'lifetime' membership plan that required an upfront payment of $650 then no payments until year 4.in year 4 and beyond the payments are $30 annually (as contrasted to my $200 annual. When I told the salesperosn I had been a member for almost 8 years and that I thought they should put me on a lower rate plan, her reply was 'too bad so sad' (essentially). The salesperson wanted me to start over with the new plan.
If I ran my business like this I would have no customers. Thats probably the difference between mass market businesses like 24 hour and my stuff (enterprise software) where word gets out quick if you try and ream someone.
As an FYI, I thought about moving to LA Fitness, but see a lot of EFT based rip offs on this site regarding LA Fitness. At some point someone in the health and fitness vertical is going to 'get it', make a ton of money, and put these bozos out of business.
Maybe its time to open my own gym.
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