In December I received a postcard in the mail re: a new fitness center called Urban Active, opening in the renovated Bakery Square district in Pittsburgh.
I visited the "preview center" - which is just a mostly empty room, except for a few desks for sales and contract signing, with huge floor plans on the walls. Currently, they are setting up membership packages well before the center actually opens, with prices lower now, if you sign the contract now, compared to joining when the center officially opens in June. The gym, purely in description and theory, sounds good.
Salespeople continued to tell me and other prospective customers about the great facility - set to open in June with the "preview center" equipment being installed and ready for use Jan. 15.
Pittsburgh lacks such a gym in the East End of town, so yes, it is appealing. I decided to join, paying an initiation fee and last month's fee up front.
Here's where the trouble begins: the contract and its process.
1) Urban Active asked me to digitally sign and initial a contract first - without offering me an opportunity to read a membership contract. After I signed digitally, the contract is printed out - this is the first time my hands touched the membership contract. I thought this was an odd practice at the time, so I made sure to read it top to bottom when I got home...
2) I asked in person about all details re: the cancellation process: I was told that if I gave 30 days' notice, and if I had pre-paid my last month (which I did), and if my account was in good standing, all I would pay is a $10 "administrative fee, " and that's it.
Yet, the contract, literally in 4 pt. Font type, also states a "TERMINATION FEE" of $250.00! This was never, ever, brought to my attention by the salesperson when I asked about what ALL cancellation fees are included in the membership.
Also, the contract is pre-printed with a $50 "administrative fee" for cancellations - which I made the salesperson cross out and write "$10, " after another prospective customer cancelled her membership on the spot after catching this, right in front of me.
3) Deceptive opening date: All verbal communication stated that the gym will be open in June 15. Yet, the contract states that the fitness center will be open for use "no later than September 1." But my Membership Start Date on the agreement is 6/15/10. If the gym opens on August 31, will I be paying for a gym membership until that time? Absolutely no guarantees made by Urban Active for delivering a product as advertised.
4) Cancellation process: Though I went to the preview center the next day, with a letter drafted and signed by me stating I want my membership cancelled, I still had to sign its "Member Cancellation Request Form" and send my letter to the Lexington, KY HQ in 3 business days (per the agreement, at a cost to me!). Note, this is a cancellation REQUEST form. Urban Active has to APPROVE a member's decision not to patron its business. That is seriously and ethically wrong... There is zero good faith made.
Essentially, this fitness center company has enough legal-ese in the agreement to do most anything it wants to do... Yet members - customers - must abide by misleading and strict rules.
To Pittsburgh residents thinking about joining Urban Active in Bakery Square: READ THE SMALL PRINT! My personal experience: Urban Active comes across as a very litigious, cold company, selling memberships via misleading sales practices and contract signing techniques. And the fine print is absoutely ridiculous... For a gym membership.
I have read many, many similar issues about Urban Active memberships online, and I hope everyone stays smart and and alert.
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) recommends being cautious of the following:
* Joining health clubs that have not opened.
* Low-cost "Bait" ads. This is a selling technique definitely used on me. Anyone - even "in today's economy" - who can afford a private gym membership won't cry over the addition $15/mo. If they waited until the gym actually materializes.
* Promises that you can cancel anytime and stop paying. (With Urban Active, you have to be APPROVED by them to cancel.)
* BEFORE signing, check the written contract for the terms of membership and of cancellation and verification of any other promise made. (Urban Active makes you sign a contract first, then it is printed out for you to read - an extremely deceptive practice).
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