A June fire closed a St. Louis Bally Total Fitness, giving lucky members an excellent excuse to avoid feeling pressure to work out, but irritating those who had to drive half an hour to the next closest Bally’s. [More]
gym’s
24-Hour Fitness Would Rather Lose 2 Members Than Let You Use Your Free Pass
By 9.14.10
Thanks to a policy-lovin’ member-hatin’ front-desk bizzatch, 24-Hour Fitness is losing two annual members. But hey, at least they didn’t get scammed by someone trying to redeem a 7-day pass, right? [More]
24 Hour Fitness Rolling Out Fingerprint-Based ID Entry System
By 8.13.10
Gym chain 24 Hour Fitness is getting some attention for a new program that uses members’ fingerprints to replace the gym’s existing photo ID system. [More]
Urban Active Gym Appears Lets You Cancel, Then Charges You More
By 8.6.10
Gyms are notorious for being difficult to cancel your membership at, so at first Heather thought hers was different. They even backdated the cancellation date so she wouldn’t pay for the full month. So nice! A month later, collections called her. [More]
Don't Get A Staph Infection At The Gym
By 8.4.10
Besides the number of the cute guy over at the free weights, you can also pick up MRSA, athlete’s foot, jock itch, boils, impetigo, herpes simplex or ringworm. [More]
How LA Fitness Convinced Me To Cancel Two Memberships Instead Of One
By 6.7.10
One bungled customer service experience can change your whole outlook of a company. Joseph proves this as he talks about how LA Fitness — a gym he once adored — bought itself two membership cancellations instead of one by screwing up his attempts to cancel his partner’s contract. [More]
Join The 24 Hour Fitness Class Action Lawsuit
By 5.3.10
If 24-Hour Fitness kept charging even after you cancelled, you might be eligible to join a class action lawsuit against them. You can join if you were debited between Oct 2, 2002 and Feb 28, 2010. You could get $20 back, or, in a perhaps ironic twist, a three month gift certificate to 24-Hour Fitnesss.
Friedman, et al. v. 24 Hour Fitness USA [via Top Class Actions]
Planet Fitness Publicly Shamed Into Refunding Dead Member's Fees
By 11.25.09
Gregory Rowell has been dead for nearly two years, but no one knew that he’d set up an auto debit with Planet Fitness on a second checking account. The gym continued to debit his account each month until a bank employee notified the victim’s mother, Patricia Rowell. When she provided the death certificate and asked them to refund the money, they not only refused, but said it was her fault and offered her a six month membership instead. That’s when Rowell took her story to the local newspaper. [More]
Bally Reps Drove Developmentally Disabled Man To Gym, Signed Him Up
By 11.6.09
Family members of a developmentally disabled 49-year-old man told 6 News in Indianapolis that two men from Bally Total Fitness showed up at the man’s apartment, drove him to a Bally location at Pike Plaza, and signed him up to a monthly membership. When the man’s family asked Bally to invalidate the agreement, the gym refused.
24 Hour Fitness Sued For Charging Ex-Customers Fees
By 10.23.09
The gym chain made famous on NBC’s “Biggest Loser” is being sued for continuing to debit the bank accounts of customers who have canceled their memberships. The US Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, has given the green light to a class action lawsuit that says the chain is violating both the RICO Act and the Electronic Funds Transfer Act by keeping these zombie memberships active.
Bally's Members Still Paying Dues For Closed Gym
By 10.4.09
Ten miles isn’t always a quick or easy trip. That’s the message that the former members of a Bally’s club in Vancouver, Wash. want to get across to the chain after their local branch closed with little to no notice. Bally’s claims that they don’t need to end contracts or refund members’ dues since there is another Bally’s within ten miles of the club, but the drive tops half an hour for some customers—not exactly convenient.
Bally Sends Fake Past Due Bills To Ex-Members To Get Them To Rejoin
By 9.22.09
Reader Jordan writes in to share a past due “bill” that he received from Bally Total Fitness, where he had previously been a member. It turns out that the letter, which specified the amount Jordan owed and threatened to report Jordan to a collection agency if he didn’t pay, was actually a sneaky solicitation to get him to renew his contract.
$10 XSport Fitness Upgrade Really Costs $20
By 8.27.09
Cache asked about the $10 “Super Power Pass” add-on at his local XSport Fitness club today—the sign in the window says “work out where you want, when you want with a Super Power Pass for just $10 more*,” and lists “Chicago – New York – Washington” across the top. We don’t know what’s linked via that asterisk, because the fine print on the ad is so small that it’s unreadable in the photo Cache took, but as you might expect there’s no such thing as a $10 add-on that lets you use any XSport Fitness.
Gold's Gym Applies Fitness Shrink Ray To Membership Privileges
By 8.23.09
Most complaints that we receive about gyms involve memberships that refuse to die (even when the customer does), but Laura in Indiana has a different problem. Her local Gold’s Gym is changing its services and membership structure with no regard for the facility’s current members.
LA Fitness Will Say Anything To Avoid Honoring Free 3 Day Pass
By 7.10.09
The sales team at the LA Fitness in Floral Park New Hyde Park, Long Island, were so pushy to a prospective customer that they basically forced her to take her business elsewhere. Apparently if they actually let a customer redeem one of their free passes, the gym will be sucked into a vortex of non-commission, so they have to deny you access.
Gym Member Catches Thief In The Act; Gym Staff Too Lazy To Help
By 7.8.09
We’re pretty impressed that this member of the Washington Sports Clubs at the DC USA Mall helped catch a thief. We’re a little stunned, however, that the staff at the gym let the guy enter in the first place without making sure he had a membership, or that they did nothing to stop him as he ran out with someone behind him yelling, “Stop! Thief!” Thankfully an off-duty cop pursued and apprehended the guy, and the member got back his wallet. But what’s the point of a gym membership and a staff if you’re completely on your own once you get there?
Rewind: The Culture That Brought Crunch To Bankruptcy
By 5.15.09
Just read these headlines our some Crunch gym posts from our archives. Not surprising that their new owners say Bally’s, who themselves settled with the SEC for understating losses, lied to them at the time of the sale about how many members they had.
Balance Sheets Flabby, Crunch Gym Files For Bankruptcy
By 5.15.09
Crunch gym filed for bankruptcy last week. Guess that strategy of signing up your members for long contracts, then making it really hard to cancel a membership and continuing to debit people’s bank accounts even after they were supposed to be canceled and generally being total jerks about any member that tried to stop giving them money, even if they moved away or the gym itself closed down…yeah guess that didn’t work out.
