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From:
Email:
Date: 10 Nov 2003
Time: 11:22:51 AM
1. You will be subjected to high-pressure sales tactics, including but not limited to: being doubled-up by salespeople, being corralled into the small rooms in the back, being offered a HIGH INTEREST RATE LOAN which is misrepresented as a Retail Installment Contract (actually the same thing but only a banker or credit granter would know that information), being pressured to sign for a long term, and being offered a price that is "limited time" or "last day" only. DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING, AND *NEVER* GIVE OUT YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER ON ANY APPLICATION THAT IS NOT FOR THE GOVERNMENT.
2. If you were to sign the Retail Installment Contract (LOAN), you cannot get out of it unless you die, have a doctor's note saying that you are so disabled that you can't use ANY of the facilities (and this includes steam room and hot tub if you are hurt, so unless you specifically can't use these you are good enough to stay in the contract), or relocate more than 25 geographic straight-line miles away from the nearest Bally Total Fitness or affiliate (e.g. Crunch, Gorilla Sports, Pinnacle, etc. etc., check their website for the locations and who and what if you need more guidance). Even if you do have legitimate cause to cancel, if you send anything to Bally Total Fitness by any method that cannot be verified to have been trackable (e.g. certified mail, priority courier), your correspondence will be claimed to have never arrived and ignored.
3. While you are locked into a term, be it through a Retail Installment Contract (LOAN) or a full up-front payment, you will find many clubs to have dirty locker rooms, dirty pools, dirty hottubs, broken/dirty equipment, air conditioning left turned off during hot days, substandard child care and unresponsive and rude employees who will ignore your complaints at best. In addition, they frequently open clubs with free group fitness classes, but then begin charging when new membership sign-ups slow down. If you write a letter to the corporate head office about the conditions, you will get a standard form letter saying that the matter will be referred to some department, but it will never be resolved because BTF only cares about suckering you into a commitment. Also, the contract terms make no specific claim as to the quality of service of the club, so expect to be ignored. The Better Business Bureau, the Federal Trade Commission, and numerous other agencies have documentation on actions they've taken against Bally in the past for its conduct.
4. If you attempt to stop payment or refuse to pay, your Retail Installment Contract will be sold to a collection agency for 2/3 of the price, you will be barred from using the club permanently, and you will have a derogatory remark on your credit record until you pay the full amount remaining on the contract, for 7 years. Derogatory credit can prevent you from getting a mortgage for a home, an apartment, an auto loan, automobile insurance, or employment, as all of the parties involved in these transactions will ask you for your credit history.
5. Even if you do finally settle, or pay off your Retail Installment Contract, you may have derogatory entries in your credit report anyway. Then you will have to deal with credit collectors, courts, etc. to get your credit record cleaned up. This could cost your thousands in legal fees and lost salary, and hundreds of hours of your time.
So please, PLEASE, join any other gym, and NEVER GIVE OUT YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER TO ANY GYM. 24 Hour Fitness, Gold's Gym, World Gym, YMCA, a small local gym all give you memberships without the retail installment contract. STAY AWAY FROM BALLY TOTAL FITNESS AND GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR FITNESS GOALS.
From: service member
Email: puertowop@yahoo.com
Date: 23 Jul 2003
Time: 10:19:04 AM
I joined the service and was told that I could just write to corporate with a copy of enlistment paperwork to cancel membership. No strings attached. "there is a clause for the military" YEAH RIGHT! I did what I was told and even got a letter confirming. I went away, all my stuff in storage, everything was fine until 8 years later. EIGHT!!!! Guess what pops up in collections on my credit??? Not once in 8 years, but now it amazingly appears. My paperwork lost in a fire that almost killed my family, and these scumbags want me to pay $800 or produce the letter of cancellation. They said they had no paperwork of the incident....not even the copies of my enlistment paperwork? BALLYS IS A SCAM EVEN TO UNCLE SAM!!! What a great fitness center...maybe they should relocate to Iraq where we can blow their shit up.
From: Elizabeth
Email: Elizabeth
Date: 21 Mar 2001
Time: 06:26:16 PM
Definitely the YMCA - I pay $32 a month, no contract, no initiation fee, no hassles. Scottsdale, Arizona.