My wife and I signed up at World Gym Express (which, locally, is changing the names of its gyms to Fuel Fitness) in Spring Hill, TN. The franchisee that owns this and other gyms in this area has backed out of the World Gym Express franchise, taken on the name of Fuel Fitness, and is trying to pitch themselves as a new organization. They are still the same racket, the same con game, only now with different window dressing.
Based on our local gym's reputation for being a place to get scammed, I'm fairly certain that the name change is an attempt to dupe yet more suckers in our community. We're the 14th fastest growing town in America so there are always plenty of new people to con here.
We (my wife and I) each signed 36-month contracts in 2004 with World Gym Express. Our first billing date was March 5. The 36 months would make our contract completed and dissolved on February 5.
World Gym Express required access to a bank account for automatic debit of monthly membership dues something I don't give to anyone, but against my better judgment I relented in this case. Being cautious, I opened an additional bank account just for the gym. I figured that way, if something went wrong, they could do only so much damage and would never have access to our main bank accounts.
Our experience with this gym is a long story of frustration. I don't feel like re-living the details of it all right now. I'm ready to never think about this gym or any other gym again. After paying for a 3-year nightmare, I've earned that much. Suffice it to state that we have anxiously awaited the end of our contract so we could get this place out of our lives and out of our wallets. Our experience with this gym has left us with the conviction that we will never again join any gym, regardless of how they pitch or portray themselves.
We're not alone. Our local gym has so screwed people over that they've even motivated former customers to picket in protest out in front of the gym.
Similar to other people's complaints that I've read and heard, we too were told that we could cancel the memberships if we became unemployed. During our membership, I lost my job, money got tight, and I asked the gym about canceling my membership. We would keep my wife's open, but we needed to trim back. I was told that my contract didn't allow for that. I thanked them for lying to me before I signed up and left (I had learned early-on that trying to find resolution with any of the gym staff was fruitless).
Finally, on February 5, our memberships expired. Our contracts were finished. I had been assured of that two weeks earlier, when I called the gym to ask the regional manager to confirm for me that our memberships and billing would expire on that date. The regional manager assured that our last billing date would be February 5th and that our contracts would be finished. Good. That loose end was buttoned up and World Gym Express would be out of our lives, finally. If only that were true. They're like mud stuck to the bottom of your boots.
On March 6th, I got online to double-check the bank account to make sure that they didn't continue to bill us for the memberships. I just wanted the assurance that they were finally gone from our lives. Since the account was opened for the gym, and since our memberships had expired, I didn't make my usual monthly deposit into it to cover the gym membership. I looked online to make sure that I was good to go for closing the account.
I was surprised when I saw that Paramount Acceptance, on behalf of World Gym Express (now aka Fuel Fitness), had not only made two drafts for membership dues but also managed to overdraft the account twice in the process.in one foul swoop, they had cost us $121 in wrongful charges and consequent overdraft charges.
I had already repeatedly proven to myself that dealing with the gym directly would be fruitless. And having dealt with their billing company (Paramount Acceptance) in the past, I already knew without a doubt that that would also prove fruitless. I try not to lose hope in people so I decided to call Paramount Acceptance and give them another chance to disprove my conclusion that they're beyond incompetent.
I told Paramount that they had wrongfully debited our account and that their mistake had cost us $121. I asked them to void the transactions and credit me back the overdraft fees. The charge had just posted to our accounts so I knew they could simply void the transactions. The bank wouldn't budge on the overdraft fees because they weren't a result of an error by the bank so Paramount was just going to have to pay them.
What happened next is the picture of my dealings with Paramount Acceptance in the past and the exact reason why I didn't want to deal with them again.
The Paramount Acceptance customer service rep (I use that term very generously) told me that our memberships are auto-renewable. I told her they weren't. I had the contracts sitting in front of me.
In a snobby and smart-a* tone, the Paramount customer service rep told me, I also have the contracts right here in front of me. They're auto-renewable. All of World Gym Express contracts are auto-renewable.
I told her it was convenient that she had the contracts in front of her because it would enable her to read them. I asked her to skip down to Section 4 of the contract and read it, which she did out loud, as if she were going to demonstrate what an idiot I was.
This is how Section 4 reads (in bold print): There are no automatic or lifetime renewals of the term incident to the term of this contract. If the health club provides for a renewal option, such option must be affirmatively agreed to in writing by the buyer (my wife and I) at the beginning of the renewal period.
Then I asked her to skip to Section 6, which begins with (again, in bold print), Any renewal right granted under this contract shall expire on the final day of the agreement...
I listened to her read the sections out loud. Then she said, Well, the language isn't clear on whether or not it's auto-renewable.
I was flabbergasted, but managed to keep my cool. I asked her what part of the phrase no automatic or lifetime renewals she was unclear on. She tried to assure me that the meaning of this sentence was difficult to understand. All I could think of was Bill Clinton parsing the meaning of the word is. She was going to have to let a manager review the sentence. I started laughing, but stopped when I realized she was serious.
Fine, I said, I'll wait while you have a manager explain the meaning of the precise language of this sentence for you.
Oh, it can't be looked at right now, she said, as if I were asking her to re-calculate the launch trajectory of the next space shuttle.
What do you mean? I replied in astonishment. We're not building a Buick here. We're talking about two simple electronic transactions. Okay, when will your manager be able to decipher this sentence for you? I asked.
If you haven't heard from us in 7-10 days, call us back, she said.
Once I was able to speak again, I calmly explained to her that in 1991 we took nearly the entire nation of Iraq in fewer days than she was asking me to give her to show her manager a sentence.
I wished her luck in tackling that sentence and hung up.
To make a long story longer, I went to the bank and deposited $121 to cover the incompetence of World Gym Express (aka Fuel Fitness) and Paramount Acceptance. When I walked into the bank and mentioned that my bank account had been screwed up, the clerk asked me if it had anything to do with World Gym down the road or Paramount Acceptance. I was astonished at her guess since I had not mentioned any names. Then she told me that people come in all the time with the same problem and the same screw-ups and the same frustrations with both World Gym Express and Paramount Acceptance.
That's when I decided to head back down to the gym. I already felt like a guy who was senselessly beating his head against a brick wall so I thought I'd head to the gym with nothing to lose but more of my rapidly eroding sanity. I honestly try my hardest to hold onto hope in people.
The gym's regional manager filled out some paperwork and faxed it in for a refund. He said that it would take 7-10 days and I'd have my money. I was surprised that he did something to remedy the situation. Moving toward resolution instead of muddying the waters even more is so unlike World Gym Express or Paramount Acceptance. I was skeptical, but I had never met this man before so I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. That was March 6.
Today is March 21 and still no money. Still no word from World Gym Express. I called the gym on the morning of the 19th, spoke with the same manager and asked him to inquire about the status of my refund. He said he would and that he would know by 1 pm or soon thereafter. I called him back at 1:30. He had heard nothing. He took my number and said he'd call me back. He would know the status any minute.
At 3:30, still no phone call. I called the gym. The manager was busy. I asked that he call me back. At 4:30, still no phone call. I called the gym. The manager was busy. I asked that he call me back. At 5:00, still no phone call. I called the gym. The manager was still busy. I asked that he be relayed the message that I would like the courtesy of at least a return phone call. He said 7-10 days. I had given them 13 days and had heard not a peep from them.
Since I am now being avoided by a company that wrongfully took (i.E. Stole) $121 from my wife and I, what am I to conclude other than they intend to keep it and hope that I go away? I have given this company ample opportunity to rectify its mistake and it has shown me nothing but the behavior of a con-artist.
Thus far, the local regional manager is the only one who has even acknowledged that World Gym Express was in the wrong for renewing our membership contracts, but that hasn't moved me any closer to getting our money back.
World Gym Express (aka Fuel Fitness) is behaving like a thief so now I'm treating it like one. I am tired of this company mistreating and taking advantage of people in my community.
Granted, my wife and I are just two people, but we honored our 3-year contract with World Gym Express (now Fuel Fitness), even when I was unemployed, and when push comes to shove, they treat us like meaningless carcasses.
If you are considering joining a gym, I'd think long and hard before doing it and then I'd turn and run away from them. They're wolves in sheep's clothing.
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