Did Bally's VP Tell The Truth?
You Be The Judge!

Bally Vice President, David Southern, claims that Bally contacts members who post complaints on www.compupix.com/ballysucks and that 2/3 of the issues raised on that Web site have been resolved (Computer World magazine, July 20 1998: www.computerworld.com).

We surveyed people who posted complaints on www.compupix.com/ballysucks from January through June 1998. A questionnaire was sent to everyone who provided an e-mail address and whose complaints were unresolved at the time they were posted.

1. "Have you been contacted by Bally in response to the complaint you posted on        http://www.compupix.com/ballysucks/?"

2. "Has your dispute with Bally been resolved?"

Survey Results

93.33% of respondents said that they were not contacted by Bally. 73.33% said that their disputes were not resolved. Of the people whose disputes have been resolved, 95% stated that they resolved the dispute proactively-- with no help from Bally Total Fitness. 1.33% of respondents were both contacted by Bally and offered assistance by them in resolving the dispute (1 person out of 75). FYI: One of the 6.67% who was contacted by Bally said that the contact took the form of a "nasty letter".

Have 2/3 (66.67%) of the complaints on www.compupix.com/ballysucks really been resolved, as Southern claims? Has Bally really been making a sincere effort to contact its dissatisfied customers and offer assistance?

There is, of course, another possible interpretation of Southern's statement that 2/3 of the issues raised on www.compupix.com/ballysucks have been resolved. Perhaps he meant that 2/3 of the types of problems mentioned on the Web site have been cleared up. These problems include poor facilities & sanitation, unwarranted debt collection problems, wrongful damage to consumers' credit reports, deceptive sales practices, rude customer service, failure to honor legitimate cancellation requests, and negligent accounting practices. Have 2/3 of these problems really been cleared up?