Be Careful With Your Credit Card & Their "Free Trial" Offers
Written: Nov 09 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: New & Clean Equipment
Cons: Underhanded Sales Tactics
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| infocat's Full Review: Bally Total Fitness |
Bally's may offer new equipment and facilities, but they use very underhanded methods for signing up new members. We had a horrible experience with Bally's and I am now wary of all gyms, not just Bally's.
First, my friend and I were invited for a tour of Bally's and a free trial offer. Thinking we had nothing to lose, we decided to give it a try. When we arrived all ready for our first workout, we were told we had to talk to "Jimmy" first, he'll be giving us an "orientation". Well, we were brushed aside and waited over 30 minutes for Jimmy. Just as we were close to leaving, Jimmy shows up and hurries us both into a small, cramped office. Jimmy was quite friendly, but we immediately got the hard sell from him. Blah, blah, blah, and how much weight did we want to lose? Now, my friend and I aren't exactly runway models, but we're not anywhere near fat either. He seemed quite shocked when we told him we weren't trying to lose weight, we just wanted to get some exercise and stay healthy. Not a good start to our conversation, making us feel fat.
After inundating us with very complicated membership plans, tiered pricing and length of payment, we were thoroughly confused. We also kind of forgot we were there just for a "free trial", we weren't planning to buy anything. He wouldn't believe us when we told him that we just wanted to try out the gym. He kept trying to sell us a 3-year contract. I wasn't even planning to live in Florida that long and when I told him that, he said "no problem". There are hundreds of Bally's everywhere and you can always cancel your membership. I found out later that this was a blatant lie. Of course you can cancel, but expect to pay exorbitant penalty fees!
After what felt like an eternity with Jimmy, we were weakened by the hard sell, but still determined not to commit to anything. He finally offered us a 30-day trial and after that we would pay $55 a month for a year. If we didn't like it during the trial, we can cancel. That sounded okay and we really agreed just to get rid of him. We filled out the forms and like stupid idiots, we gave Bally's our credit card numbers.
For the next 2 weeks, we came to workout at Bally's and we both liked the facilities. The equipment is nice and new and clean. However, we could only come in the evenings and it was often quite crowded. Parking was also a hassle. So after giving it a sincere try, we decided to cancel. We told the front desk, he took down our names and we thought that was it. Well, next month, the charge appeared on our credit cards. We called to complain and was told we had to cancel in writing. We were angry that the receptionist didn't tell us that, but we were resigned to losing the one month fee. This time, we both wrote letters and sent them in. Again, the charges continued! This time, they told us that we didn't cancel within the 30 day period.
To make a long aggravating story short, after four very frustrating months, we got them to stop charging our credit cards. We dealt with people at levels at Bally's and they were all quite nasty about the whole thing. Yes, we should have read all the fine print, but even if we did, not all of their inane rules are printed. We also assumed that the receptionist who took our names did cancel our trial memberships. The whole thing was such a scam and we still haven't gotten our money back. I doubt we ever will and I now know it was a very expensive lesson.
I have since moved back to Canada and will probably never step foot in a private gym. I now go to the community recreation centres and they have everything I'll ever want at very reasonable prices.
Beware, beware, beware!
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
infocat
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Member: Sherry
Location: Victoria, Canada
Reviews written: 43
Trusted by: 4 members
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