It has come to my attention that Lifestyle Family Fitness has been charging fraudulent late fee charges of $10 to its members that have automatic payments set up.
I was going over my bank statements and noticed that I was charged $10 more than my regular monthly pay.
For the months of September, October, November in I was improperly charged $10 each month for late fees.
I quickly called the corporate headquarters to resolve the matter properly.
First they told me that the reason for the extra $10 fee was that on the day of the automatic payment, there was supposedly no funds available in my bank account. Unfortunately for Lifestyle, I looked at my bank statements for the past year and found that on the days of the automatic payment there were more than enough funds to cover the payments. Realizing what they had told me was invalid, they then told me that it was an error in their system and that the last four digits of my VISA debit card, which is used to pay the automatic payments, were improperly coded. But if that were the case, they wouldnt have access to my account at all. Needless to say I wasnt credited anything back, gave them the benefit of the doubt and gave them the correct last four digits of my VISA debit card. Problem solved right? Well, in December the regular payment with NO $10 late charge came through correctly, but in January I once again fell victim to another unnecessary $10 late charge. I called Lifestyles corporate headquarters again this time with suspicion and doubt. They again told me that the last four digits of my VISA debit card were improperly inputted into the system. So once again I gave them the correct numbers. After pleading my case with the representative he gave me a one time credit of $10 for the mistake on my future February payment. February came around and I called to make sure that the credit was going to be honored and to make sure that my VISA information was correct. It wasnt. Once, again somehow my last four digits of my VISA debit card were changed.
That was the last straw. I made some calculations and figured that if Lifestyle Family Fitnesss unethical practices were reaching even a fraction of their members then they are bringing in some serious dishonest profit into their business.
Lifestyle Family Fitness has thousands of members in more than 40 locations. Lets say in one year they mistakenly charge 5,000 members $10, but only charge them 4 times out of the 12 times out of the year (not to raise suspicion). 4 mistakes at $10 = $40, $40 x 5,000 members = $200,000 fee profit.
Please pay careful attention to your statements and keep a close watch on your automatic payments. Lifestyles probably doesnt ripp-off all of its members but just enough to make a good profit to their bottom line.
0 comments