About five years ago, when I was underage and my mother was about 45, we signed up for Bally's Total Fitness. Actually, we went in to see what the gym could offer us.instead, we were shown around briefly and then subjected to endless sales pitches. One after the other, different trainers continued to harass my mother to join. At first, they acted as though it would be a steal to join and kept using phrases like, "well you know that you could get into shape, Bally's can help you do that" and since they had taken our measurements, they kept on referring to my mom's health as "extremely dangerous." She may have been a little overweight for an older woman, but they made it an imperative situation to sign up.
The thing was, they wouldn't let my mom leave. They also made my mother feel guilty that they had spent so much time with our situation and she wasn't going to sign up, that she shouldn't need to think about it with her current state of health.
So, my mother decided to join. Yes, she did sign an agreement. My mother went one time. They had promised services like a personal trainer to oversee her workout, plan out rotation schedules, and help her while she "changed her eating and work out regiment." They didn't do anything of the sort. I was there when they just put her on the treadmill and never checked up on her or anything. My mom left and never went back. When she tried to cancel the membership, they would not let her out of the agreement.
One year ago, they sent the first notice that they suing my mother (they couldn't sue me, since I was underage, so they decided to sue her for both of our memberships that she had decided to pay after they would not let her cancel). They notified her that she had to appear in court and she owed them thousands of dollars.
My mom does not have very good mental health. She is also not a wealthy person. She could not afford a lawyer and was afraid to show up in court, because she didn't want to be liable for all of the money that she could not pay. She was in a very good mental state at the time of this occurence either. She feared going to court and making a fool of herself, as well as having a judgment passed in which she would definitely have to pay this money that she didn't have.
Two years later, the monetary value has gone upwards to almost 3,000 dollars. They want all of her information, where she works, what possessions she has, etc. They want to put a lien on the house because she can not pay.
I don't understand how they can do this to my mother, when she never used the membership at all, when she tried to cancel, and when they did not complete their promised services the first day of her membership!
Is there anything we can do? I'm a college student. I don't have any money to help her out, and it is weighing on my mother's fragile mental health as it is. I hate to see her health deteriorate because of a bullying company like Bally's.
Don't sign up with this company. They do not care if you can't afford the service, and they will not let you out of the agreement without an ordeal.
Please, if you can help me out in any way, shape or form. I am considerably desperate at this point, and if I have to, I will work triple jobs in order to pay a lawyer. I would rather pay a lawyer to expose this company for what it is rather than them victimizing a helpless woman.
Thank you!
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