I moved to Redding Ca in August for school. Looking for a Gym, I settled on Extreme Fitness in December because they were close. I talked to the manager when I went into to sign up, because it concerned me that they didn't have a month to month option, instead they wanted to put me under contract. The manager reassured me that it would not be a problem to cancel my account after my school semester was over.
I talked to the manager about billing and he told me that they didn't bill addresses, that I'd have to leave a credit card number. I asked for a copy of the contract, they told me I could find it on their website when I logged in. I decided to go ahead and sign up, thinking there wouldn't be any problems as the manager seemed to know what he was talking about.
I checked the website, but could not find a copy of my contract. I thought nothing of it at the time.
I had no problems with the gym while I was in school, and happily used their services until May paying 40 dollars a month. My school semester ended mid May and I decided not to stay in Redding for more school. I went into Extreme Fitness and talked to the manager again telling him I was moving. He was very nice and went to the computer to take care of it himself. He told me that the gym had been having trouble with some employes trying to cancel accounts and the cancelations not going through. The gym had received enough complaints about customers continuing to be billed after cancelation that the owner was going to transfer all billing responsibilities to ABC financial in June.
He finished my cancelation himself, told me he was sorry to lose my business and that was all I needed. He said that one more billing cycle would go through in June and that would be the last I would be billed. I asked if I could have the confirmation number on the closure of my account, he told me I didn't need it, the account was closed.
I moved, June rolled around, and I got billed like he said I would. July came, and I got billed again. Since they had my card number instead of a billing address, they automatically took it from my account. I called the gym and they told me that they couldn't help me, all the billing had been turned over to ABC Financial. I called ABC Financial and the person helping me was rude to me. They told me that my account was still active and that I was under contract. I told them that I had canceled in May and the person on the other end told me that I needed to cancel again, the person proceeded to treat me like I was an idiot and question if I had actually moved, requiring several forms of proof.
The person from ABC told me that,
I needed to submit a cancelation request in writing with the proof of new address of: a utilities bill in my name with my new address on it, and a copy of a new drivers license, with new address issued within 30 day of their receiving my request in writing.
The place I needed to write to was their main office somewhere in central US.
I needed to have moved at least 150 miles from the gym where I signed up for a cancelation to be valid.
That after they received my request, it would be processed, which would take 2-3 weeks and that they would consider canceling it. (I was left with a strong impression that they may decide not to allow me to cancel.)
That once it was processed, my cancelation would take 40 days to go through and that I was obligated to continue paying for the gym services until the end of that period.
I explained to the person from ABC that I had already canceled and that I was being billed unjustly. I also told them that I had moved back in with my parents and that I had no utility bills in my name and that the address on my license was valid. The person from ABC was rude to me again told me in that case I could not cancel.
ABC continued to bill me. I continued to call them and request a manager. They refused to let me speak to one.in September I was finally put through to a manager. The manager was more rude to me than the employees and threatened to mar my credit if I stopped paying. Near the end of September my card was stolen and I had to change it. ABC could no longer bill me, so they turned me over to collections.
ABC has been rude and unwilling to work with me. I offered to just pay them and settle it, but they made it clear they would continue to bill me for a one year contract period. They also made it clear that my contract would be automatically renewed if not canceled at the end of the period.
I have called ABC and Extreme Fitness repeatedly and have found them rude and unhelpful.
ABC and Extreme Fitness are now attempting to damage my credit and I am in the process of contacting the Better Business Bureau. I will not get involved with anyone using ABC Financial again, and would recommend everyone who values their credit avoid Extreme Fitness.
Liz
Salinas, California
U.S.A.
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