This is simply not true, and The Post is irresponsibly ignoring the facts.

With approximately 4 million members nationwide and 125 million workouts being conducted in our clubs each year, Bally will receive complaints from time to time - as does any company.

The Post reported on 400 complaints received by the Federal Trade Commission over the past five years. That amounts to 80 complaints per year - which translates into one complaint for every 50,000 members of Bally per year. And, many of these complaints have nothing to do with sales practices and are, in fact, trivial matters.

This low percentage of complaints is due to a zero-tolerance policy on misrepresentation by our employees, our extensive training program and the fact that all employees must sign a "Code of Conduct" calling for integrity in all actions.

It is our policy and practice to respond immediately to every complaint and to resolve it to the member’s satisfaction whenever possible.

For The Post to dredge up a 1994 FTC action, purely to serve its own agenda, is irresponsible journalism. Bally believes it is in compliance with the seven-year-old consent decree and any implication to the contrary is categorically false.

Lisa Stricker
Director,
Public Relations
Bally Total Fitness
East Rutherford, N.J.

My son is a college student, and he got scammed by Bally.

He was told that he could pay $50 a month, and when he went back to school, he could just send a letter that there was no Bally gym within 20 miles, and they would stop the contract.

That was not true.

Now he owes $2,000, and his credit is so bad that it has affected his student loans.

He told Bally's and provided the proof that there was no gym in the area of his school, but he is still deemed responsible.

Miriam Baez
Manhattan