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Complaint Details
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Initial Complaint
01/12/2024
- Complaint Type:
- Billing Issues
- Status:
- Answered
A gym membership was purchased July 2022 and cancelled August 22 by walking into the gym and talking to membership. After that date they stopped billing my credit card so I was certain that everything was fine. I went back to school an hr away ( 44 miles away) and could not drive back and forth to the gym. Nov 2023 I recieved a letter from ************* saying I owed over ****** I called they said I could pay it, rejoin the gym or not do anything, but it most likely would result in more charges. I called the gym they said that ************* tried to contact via phone call , which I never received. It may have gone to spam, but no other written letters except from collection. The gym membership person even confirmed I hadnt swiped into the gym for over a year.
Business response
01/16/2024
Member joined on a student membership with a signed agreement on 5/23/22. See attached agreement. There is still no Cancellation Form on file and no club notes regarding any visit requesting a cancellation. Member was billed for September2022 and October2022 but chose to charge back these invoices. See attached invoices. With the problem billing, future invoices were unable to process. The account remained past due and acquired late fees despite numerous emails, calls, and texts to update the billing on file. The delinquent account was then sent to collections due to nonpayment. Charged back invoices, unpaid dues, late fees, and collections charges have the current balance owed at $385.64. As an offer of resolution, Member may pay half the balance owed, a single payment of $192.82 in cash in any of our club locations, or with money order mailed to **********************************************************************, at which time the account will be closed and removed from collections.Initial Complaint
12/06/2023
- Complaint Type:
- Customer Service Issues
- Status:
- Answered
A few weeks ago, I believe the date was Oct. 11 if Im not mistaken. I walked into the gym and tried to check in with App but, the App wasnt working so, I checked in with one of the staff members at the desk. She nicely said to me ok youre all set.I walked into the gym to attend the 6:30 class but the room was dark, and I asked one of the staff members if there was a 6:30 class. He didnt know and to ask the front desk. I went to the front desk and asked if there was a 6:30 class the young girl at the desk didnt know.She then asked one of her team members next to her. The individual **** ********** Manager) asked if I was **** and I said yes. He then told me I didnt have a membership with the gym, and I responded Im sorry, not sure what you are saying but, yes, I do. He continued to say that I didnt, and I asked. Why would you say that when I was here a few days ago with no problem. He told me I didnt have a balance on the account and that I still wasnt a gym member. I told him **** all I want to know if there is a 6:30 class today. He continued to tell me that I was not a gym member and That I should leave. I got pretty upset and said I dont understand and are you saying Im not a gym member when I clearly have been coming for the last **************************************************** your system. He didnt want to help me and told me to get out and leave and if I didnt.He would call the police. Yelling at me to leave in front of all your staff and club members. I couldnt believe what was happening. I didnt want any problems so, I said ok I will leave not sure why youre treating me this way but, I will leave, and I will contact a manager on this.When I left, I couldnt believe what just happened. Very upset and didnt know what to do at that point. I went to your other location in Drum Hill in ****** and asked if they could check my membership. They said I do have a membership and dont understand why he would have treated me like that.Also, said that they saw two memberships in my name. Not sure why I would have two memberships in my name I asked. He wasnt sure. One account that was active and the other that was not active. He said he would send an email and get back to me. I never got a call back from that General Manager at Drum Hill in ******. I called a few days later and asked about the status of my membership and they told me that it was canceled, and I am not allowed to reinstate my membership. That I was thrown out of the gym I couldnt believe it and I was not happy. This should of never of happened and this is why I am reaching out for help. Im not looking to get anyone in trouble on this but, I cant understand why I was treated this way. I didnt deserve it and the bullying and humiliation was not justified. The 15 years at Best Fitness I have never been treated like this. Im not sure why it happened. No customer should be treated this way. There may have been a misunderstanding with my accounts but, it wasnt my fault. The time should have been taken on that day to review my account nicely.Even if it meant stepping into the offices and going over the account. None of this should have happened. Im upset and unhappy that I cant continue to go to your Best Fitness of Chelmsford, Ma and to this day cant understand why. Please help me clear up the confusion and help me attend Best Fitness once again. *************************** ************ ***********************Business response
12/07/2023
As a private club and this member having been a member at will, Best Fitness reserves the right to terminate a membership at any time for any reason. This particular member has behaved innapropriately toward our staff members on numerous occasions. This member in particular has over 10 years of staff members noting the innapropriate way this member treats and speaks to our staff. Nearly every single interaction over a 10-year period has a note regarding this member being rude, innappropriate, using profanity, rolling her eyes, etc. Our team members work extrememly hard to provide a good service and experience for our members. We are not your personal "punching bags." This particualr evening was the last straw for our staff. When this member shecked in that evening, she was asked to check in, as every member is for every visit. She proceeded to ignore the front desk, shouting her name and running by the front desk. When asked to check in, her bahavior was absolutely unacceptable for our staff to deal with. This behavior was brought to the attention of a corporate team member who decided to terminate the membership based on 10+ years of this repeated behavior. When this member refused to leave the club after being terminated and asked to leave, the next step would be to request assistance from the police to remove the trespassing person. **** has displayed she cannot conduct herself in a respectful manner and therefore is not allowed to be a member of our private club. We wish her the best with her fitness moving forward and hope she finds a gym that better fits her needs and conduct.Initial Complaint
03/07/2023
- Complaint Type:
- Product Issues
- Status:
- Answered
After cancelling my daughters membership, best fitness agreed to return $80 of the $160 they charged her back in January. My daughter went to the drum hill location to cancel in person since that is what is required. We called consistently over the next 8 weeks and spoke with ***************************. He assured us that this was taken care of and the amount was refunded on their end. Apparently Best Fitness returns 1/2 the money and *** financial returns the other 1/2. I called my daughters bank and there were no credits issued. We called ***** and told him that the card they have on file had fraudulent activity and the bank gave my daughter a new card and that he needed to change the card on file. He said there was nothing he could do for us. He did directed us to call ***. I asked for him to do that with me so we could clear this up and he refused. We called *** financial and they told me that it's not normal practice to send the customer to *** financial since the gym has to call this information in. The other issue we had was the management would avoid answering any direct questions and was unable to give me *****'s supervisor and he told me to go online and look for it there! I went online and there is nothing that allows us contact to corporate or customer service, leaving the customers the inability to file a complaint. Chasing $80 for eight weeks has caused us tremendous amount of stress. This company needs to provide a customer service number for anyone having issues. The *** should be aware beside hearing from a complaint on BBB. I had no other option but to file this complaint.Business response
03/30/2023
There are three ways a member may cancel their account. 1)Visiting the Club in person, 2) mailing a certified letter, or 3) over the phone with *** Financial.
As outlined in the original signed contract, see attached,all invoices not paid within 5 days of the due date are subject to a $20 late fee. When Member requested cancellation, she was FOUR months overdue and a late fee was applied to each invoice. Member was just three days from being sent to collections for nonpayment.
All members may update their billing in club, over the phone with *** Financial, or through our app. Member had cancelled the card on file and failed to update billing. Without valid billing, the refund requested was unable to process. Instead, Best Fitness has credited the account, waived late fees, waived the January payment, waived the required 30-day notice and resulting February payment, waived the annual fee, and cancelled the membership with no further payment owed. Credits applied far outweighed the refund requested.
Lastly, a Contact Us email form is provided at the bottom of each page of our website. This allows members to write directly to the Best Fitness **************** with any membership questions not resolved at the club level. Members of our Customer Support Team are available seven days a week,responding to all website inquiries. This Contact Us form is used by members and visitors to contact the office where the team is then able to research and resolve all member concerns directly.Initial Complaint
12/15/2022
- Complaint Type:
- Service or Repair Issues
- Status:
- Resolved
Cancelled my gym membership in 8/18/2022 with them in person and was told I would be getting charged one last time for the month of August, which I paid. Continued getting charged and my proof of move, to break my 2 year contract, was declined and was not told about this. Got in contact with the manager after calling numerous times and was told my bank statement was not enough proof. Said I needed to show a lease or utility payment, which I dont have because I live with my parents, or a new issued license, which I also dont have because Mass.gov says to just update the new address on my profile and print the new address on the back of my license I was issued back in March 2022 with my old address. I sent them every other form of proof showing that I moved well out of their 25 mile radius to break the contract such as all bank/credit card statements, student loan letters, pay stubs, my account on Mass.gov, and billed health insurance claims. Still not enough for them, even though in the contract I signed it states nothing about having to show only a lease/utility payment or updated license. It just says I have to show proof, which I have. Even my bank has stopped authorized payments from them because they said I have done everything I can. Their payment company, *** Fitness Solutions, even told me since I cant show utility or lease payments that its up to the gym to take whatever form of proof of move I have. My account is still not cancelled and I am still getting warnings. My last call to them was 11/23/22 and an employee stated that a manager would call me back right away. Nearly a month later and no contact made by them has come through. Scam of a business preying on people.Customer response
12/26/2022
I have not heard from the business in response to my complaint.Business response
01/22/2023
Member joined Best Fitness with a two year commitment on 4/13/2021, contract attached. Member requested cancellation on 8/18/2022. Member had the option to pay buyout/early termination fee, or provide valid proof of move. The original screenshot provided was declined due to lack of date and clarity. More information was requested. Member refused to provide buyout or proof of move. Best Fitness removed the autorenew on the account and scheduled it to cancel with the final contracted payment. Member has since (1/11/23) provided an ID as proof of move. Best Fitness has cancelled the account and honored the original notice date, waiving all overdue payments and late fees. At this time the account is cancelled with no further charges.
Customer response
01/23/2023
[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
Better Business Bureau:
I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does satisfy my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint #********. I understand that by choosing to accept the business response that my complaint will be closed as resolved.May I please also receive a confirmation of my account cancellation such as a receipt.
Regards,
*********************Initial Complaint
02/16/2022
- Complaint Type:
- Service or Repair Issues
- Status:
- Answered
Day in and day out I would go to the gym and on occasion I would be stopped by the front desk would tell me I owed money on my account for personal training. I would tell them **** was supposed to handle that. They would ask me to leave my name and number for **** to call me back. I did this for months, unbeknownst to me that my PT was the reason why *** fitness was contacting me, not my inability to pay my monthly membership on time. **** and I had yet to speak by then and he had left me one voicemail while I was working one random day, weeks after this whole situation started. Just last week I went in to the gym and it was brought to my attention by **** that I had owed two months of PT. **** was kind enough to ask me to just pay one, mentioning that I had owed one month of PT to Best Fitness. I was compliant of course, it would only be fair to pay since I owed them a month, according to him. A few short moments later, we went up to the front desk to pay and **** asked me to hold on. Fifteen minutes later I was told I owed five total months of PT, September to nowPersonal training that I hadnt even approved or attended? Absurd. I was told that I was charged for September, and that because I didnt pay that month, the payment was accruing every month since.Then **** finally called to fix the problem after the five whole months that I was being charged for. I mentioned that I would have fixed this before it got to this point had I known the situation earlier. **** mentioned he had health concerns happening at the time in which I kindly acknowledged and said that he should have given my situation for someone else to handle. The solution I was given was to pay for three months of PT and be able to train with **** and I would not be charged for anything more. **** also mentioned he would let me use the six sessions that I didnt attend as well, in addition to the 3three months. No one had spoken to me since September regarding the PT charges accruing.Business response
02/18/2022
Hello **************,
We do apologize for any inconvenience or confusion. I would be more than happy to explain the situation of your account and offer a method to help bring your account back to good standings.
On February 27th of 2021 you signed a 6 month contract to personal training which includes an auto-renewal where after the 6 required payments, your account transitions into a month to month option assuming that you are enjoying your services and would like to still utilize them. To cancel your auto renewal option we would have needed you to properly cancel your account. Until you come into the club and sign a freeze or cancellation form your account is automatically billed every month on the same day.
Your payment of $172.33 declined on 9/22/2021. You notified the club on February 3rd, 2022 that in September of 2021 you were out of the country but never notified the club to freeze your payments prior to leaving the country. Notifying the club 5 months after your payment is overdue that you were out of the country and would like that month disputed in not a proper way to freeze a payment on your account. As written in your signed agreement we require a 30 day notice prior to you needing your payment stopped.
As of today, your September, October, November, December, and January payments are past due and were never paid. After September of ******************************************* a cancellation until February 3rd of 2022. Typically if any account is past due and you are looking to cancel, then your account would need to be fully in good standings to process a cancel. Meaning that all of your past due payments would need to be payed. Our team has tried our best to offer that you only provide 3 out of the 5 owed payments and to unexpire your sessions that way you can utilize your sessions before cancelling.
If you do not agree with this offer then the only other way to cancel your account is to pay all past due payments to get your account to a good standing and then we can process a cancellation with a 30 day notice.
I will attach your signed agreement so you can review the terms you have signed. We do believe that we are being more than fair to provide a solution when you did not properly cancel or freeze your account.
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