There is no such thing as a free trial. Well, sometimes there is, but be wary of any “free” trial that requires you to hand over your credit card or banking information. Craig’s wife signed up to try the local Gold’s Gym, then decided not to do business with them and end the trial before she ever broke a sweat.
Craig writes:
Wanted to share an experience with Gold’s Gym here in [redacted]. My wife signed up for the free trial offer they had, Gold’s wrote on the paper she could try for 30 days free. Of course after reading over the document I inform her of the multiple fee’s and such in addition to the monthly membership fee. She decides to cancel the trial without ever going to work out there. Cancellation goes smooth (or so we thought) until Aug. 1 we get charged $29.99 as well as $39.99 on Aug. 15. With much hoops to jump through she finally got a hold of the “right person” at the local Gold’s and explained the situation, we were to be credited back the full amount. Aug. 27 we are credited back the $39.99, but not the $29.99 fee. Here we are 9/12 having to call and get turned away because [S] is out “sick” or not in.
It’s one thing when you sign a contract and use a service and then get charged for something you may have not read, but this is down right deceiving. Isn’t a free trial supposed to be free? On top of that we never used the gym and 2 days after going in to check it out it was canceled. Companies are so eager to take your money but when a mistake is made they just don’t want to fix it. Personally I think they do this to everyone just to see if people will overlook the charges or forget.
I emailed Gold’s corporate (even though the form says to contact the local gym) and sent a message to their official twitter. Does Consumerist have any other tips?
We don’t have any other contacts at Gold’s, but be sure to check with your state attorney general’s office to see bout gym membership laws and possible penalties for inappropriate charges.
Craig sent us this update:
As of today, we were told that it should take 5 business days to be credited back the $29.99 still owed. I think my wife spoke to someone there and may have talked about small claims court.
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Gold’s Gym manager to sales clerks: PUSH the free trials through the roof, that’s right, you can do it – just three more and you’ll be done. Come on, give me 3 more free trials and feel the burn.
Beef McLarge Huge!
Slab Bulkhead!
Pay one of the big burly men at another gym to harass the mgr after he gets off work in the parking lot for your refund lol
Have a bunch of slobs picket the front and claim they got that way from their defective barbells.
When picketing it is critical to stick to the facts or you open yourself up to all kinds of legal action.
Like you’d be able to round up a bunch of slobs to stand around and do anything anyway.
This is not hard. Dispute the fraudulent charge with your bank or credit card.
This is why I *never* do any “free trials” that require a credit card. If it’s free, and I want to purchase your service, I’ll be happy to give you my card number once the trial is over. I have heard way too many stories about stuff like this.
I love it when they advertise it as a bonus to you. “Just put your card into in and you will have no interruption to your account if you decide to continue!” If it’s really that much of a benefit to me, let me opt out of it and go ahead with the trial without putting in the info.
I won’t. If I want the membership, I’ll pay them money each month.
I think this is Gold’s business model. We joined one near our house and it was OK for a while, but when we quit we talked to the manager and signed all the forms…and still kept getting charged for months. Luckily my bank wasn’t having any of it, but Gold’s was absolutely no help.
Gyms are notorious for this type of behavior. Management is usually a bunch of beef-necks with wives that are gold-diggers. These guys also have a history of juicing and need “cash now!” and the nice, clean gym is only a façade. I have seen gyms open up for as little as one year, take new accounts, and run with the money. I remember one gym in Grand Rapids, MI do this; open up, get new customer’s and close down. I was one of those scammed but the amount was about $1,000. My current gym charged me $120.00 for one year. Not bad and I used a cc this time so if I get scammed I would have done a charge-back. It’s not the niciest place but for the money it’s worth it.
Blast Hardcheese!
This situation is unfortunate and this advice after the fact, but NEVER sign up for any “free trial” that requires you to submit credit card information. Ever. This goes for everything from Gold’s Gym to magazine subs. And benminer’s right: dispute the charge with your bank or credit card company.
Beat you by four minutes! lol.
Even be careful about ordering those things you see advertised on TV. I keep hearing stories about how people called the number to order something and ended up with extra charges for some ‘club’ on their account.
Am I the only person who will wait until I see something in a store so I can look it over before I buy it?
Gristle McThornbody!
God, I have had HORRIBLE problems with Gold’s Gym. I had a membership for several years. I finally canceled it, and then was told I was on the hook for the rest of my membership term. I signed ONE paper for 2 years, and that was it. I never signed up for another term. I quit after about 3 years. They kept harassing me and telling me I owed them, and I finally told them to prove it, and they couldn’t.
A year or so later, I was dating a woman, who got a membership, then got fired. She had never used the gym yet. She told them she couldn’t afford it, and had to cancel. The membership guy started calling and telling her he wasn’t going to let her out of the contract, and if her check bounced, he would send it to the police and they would toss her in jail for passing bad checks. He had her completely in tears. I would NEVER do business with a Gold’s Gym EVER again. They are a complete and utter scam.
“Companies are so eager to take your money but when a mistake is made they just don’t want to fix it.”
This was no mistake. It was 100% deliberate.
What gym is that in the picture? I’ve never been to any gym where people work out with their shirts off. Thankfully.
Redacted has got to be the most horrible place to live/work/shop. Why do people do it?
Ha, I was a member for Gold’s for a long time, but their tyrant business practices and money grubbing scams drove me away. Far too greedy of a gym for me to belong to. They screwed me out of $250 due to their own billing errors because someone can’t spell my name right in their computers. They would not reverse the fees, and when they begged me not to cancel my account over it even though they wouldn’t return my money. I wouldn’t reverse my decision about leaving either. I made my girlfriend cancel her account also. So due to their greedy behavior they lost about $1200 or more in revenue for the year and here I am writing a bad review for their gym something like 6 years later because I still “feel the burn”.
Pay up it doesn’t matter who is right they are in shape and you are not.
From what I understand all Gold’s gyms are privately owned, or at least some of them are. The one in my city just took my personal info — name, address, phone, email — and gave me a 7 day trial no strings attached….I hope!
I ended up joining the YMCA instead, though. I would like Gold’s if they didn’t try and make you commit to TWO YEARS to get anything resembling a good deal. I just want a treadmill, not a 4G data plan!
Why do you redact, are you scared of lawsuits? Other journalistic entities do not redact when reporting or reporting on other peoples opinions or experiences, it’s your right to report and it’s protected.
Other “journalistic entities” do some actual journalism: check out facts, contact both parties, etc. Without checking out a single fact it would be pretty irresponsible of Consumerist to publish specific, possibly libelous allegations.
Seems endemic in the ‘gym’ business
Like a lot of other franchise operations Gold’s Gyms vary wildly in quality, management, etc. I’ve had a great experience with my local gym, but I know there are a lot of shady ones as well.
I’m unfamiliar with the gym in [redacted].