ComplaintsforGold's Gym

• Initial Complaint

  11/07/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  The Golds Gym where the complaint is being filed is at ***** *** Street, ***********, Tennessee. I was on a family "Gold" plan ($40 for me and discounted to $35 for my fiancé) placed under my name. I learned all of the plans were updated, so I went in to cancel my old family plan and to start a new $10/month plan for myself and would let my fiancé do the same on her own. So I went in and requested that my family plan be canceled and to just have a new membership for only myself. Instead, Golds continued to charge me for my fiancé's portion of the family plan on an expired debit card. When I contacted the manager at the local Golds I was told it was an error they would get it resolved. I was told for 3 months that it was being pushed to an "accounting director" for further review but that I would receive a refund for their mistake and was told that the charges should stop while they figured out what was going on by the manager******* and the assistant manager *****. Yet I continued to be charged. I requested for any kind of update or to speak with a corporate customer care member before I was charged the 3rd time yet I was assured by the local gym manager that I would not be charged a 3rd time and that if I was, it would be returned. The next day I was charged the third time and called and was told that my fiancé still had an active membership and that it was my fault for hers not being cancelled. Yet it was in my name when I signed up for it and I had originally requested it be cancelled the first time. I was told we were on a "silver" (false) plan and that even though they miscommunicated that they made no error and that they "didn't see any reason for a refund." Even after bringing up the issue they continued to charge me after I requested that they stop and continued to stall the issue. I have records of everything including both memberships being on my name. What kind of company continues to charge someone for 2 months after being notified of an issue? Poor.

  

  Business response

  01/12/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 8, 2021/11/22) */ Mr. ******* enrolled with Gold's Gym 03/19/18 on a legacy plan for both him and his fiancé. This included a primary membership (Mr *******) and a discounted second membership (fiancé). On 08/17/21, Mr. ******* came in and rewrote his agreement to a new silver month to month plan and was sent a copy of this agreement on 08/18/21. When replied to, this email goes straight to the billing director. There is no record of Mr. ******* reaching out via this outlet. On 09/07/21 Mr. ******* contacted the GM ****** with some concerns regarding his account. The GM called and left Mr. ******* a message and reforward the paperwork. Internal note: "called and left a message for member. Member said $36 had been pulled from his account on 8/20, system doesn't line up so I asked for a bank statement. Member also said he wanted a 12 month agreement and got signed up for month to month. He is well outside of 3 day period, emailed paperwork to him again. -******" Here are the account notes detailing the next month of interaction. "member called yesterday on 11/3 complaining about how he was still being charged and was under the impression that we canceled his membership. I informed him that in the email we sent we explained that it was only his girlfriends account.-*****" "September 19th Member sent first email stating he wished to downgrade to a silver 12 month because he was getting charged $36.21 from Golds and attached pictures of the transaction from his bank statement.-*****" "September 21st ****** emailed ****** back informing him that the attached file had been sent to *** the billing director for overview and informed him that if he wished to do a rewrite that he would need to stop by in person in order to resign all of the new paperwork.-*****" "September 21st member replied via email and informed us that he would come in that week to change everything over.-*****" "October 19th member emailed a response informing us that he had been charged the $36.21 (without having come in to change anything.) He stated he wanted a refund and that he had changed his account a while ago to the $10 a month which was still coming out but was still being charged the extra $36.21 . -*****" "October 19th ****** responded via email informing him that the extra charge was for his girlfriend's membership that was linked to his bank information. His girlfriend had an older Silver membership that was not rewritten when he had updated his which had a rate of 36.21 which his girlfriend was aware of from a call with her we had previously received. -*****" "October 19th member responded via email : 'That should have been stopped when I changed my membership over as I said when I was in there that I was in a family plan and I wanted to cancel it completely and to just put me on a new membership. So that money needs to be refunded as I requested that plan be stopped and for some reason it was not.' -*****" "October 19th ****** responded via email explaining that his girlfriend is on an old silver and there are no family account linked to his membership or hers. ****** noted that his girlfriend had frozen her account a while before which was why her dues appeared at a lower rate , then informed him that the longest it will freeze is up to 6 months which is why it jumped back up to the normal price of $36.21. ****** informed him that ***** had spoken to his girlfriend and that she would come in to rewrite the membership but had not been by yet but that his gf was aware of the situation. -*****" "October 19th member responded via email explaining that when he signed up it was with ****** and signed for a family plan and that his dues were $40 a month and his girlfriend had a discounted rate of $35 due to it being a family plan. He stated that when he came in a few months before this and requested to cancel his family membership and only rewrite him to a new silver. (his gf was under the impression that he had updated both of their memberships based on conversations we had with his gf over the phone.) -*****" "October 19th ****** responded via email explaining that the pricing plans he is referencing to are old and that ****** does not work for Golds any longer and stated that both him and his gf have silver memberships, hers is just an old silver and was never updated to the new pricing, only his. ****** informed him that his gf told us over the phone that she would stop by to update her account and still has not and nothing can be changed or updated until one of them stops by in person to sign the papers. ****** also attached two files for each of their memberships showing they are both Silver. -*****" "On October 19th ,member responded via email with attached files with bank statements showing his recent drafts from Golds and continued saying it is Golds fault and that we have handled this entire situation wrongly and stated that we had been going back and forth for a few months now with no resolution.-*****" Despite never coming in to make changes, the account were both closed by the billing director and GM. "October 20th ******, ***** and *** had a conference call regarding this situation to come together and came to a conclusion to go ahead and cancel his gf's account that is linked to his so that he would no longer be charged the $36.21. An email was then sent to him explaining that his girlfriends account was canceled and fees were waved so that he wouldn't see any future charges from her account. We also called both members to inform them.-*****" "Member's account was cancelled and cancellation fees waived. Member complained saying he had wanted his account cancelled, when previously he had confirmed via email that he only wanted a rewrite, which was taken care of. -******" Despite some clear miscommunication in the process, we attempted to resolve Mr. *******'s issues promptly and correctly. As outlined we were unable to get him into the location to make requested changes, which made the process very difficult. Consumer Response /* (3000, 10, 2021/11/22) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) Management team is now lying to cover their tracks. I let them know that when I had requested my plan be switched to a silver membership, that I wanted the ENTIRE old plan cancelled and to start a new silver plan for $10 a month. And being that the account is in my name, telling my fiancé that her old membership is still active does me no good. And I was told by ****** that the charges were "their mistake" and "they would be refunded" however as soon as they figured out they didn't cancel my fiancés half of the membership they tried to turn the blame around on me and make it my fault. ****** and ***** have continuously changed the story and proceeded to tell me about my fiancés membership being active 2 MONTHS LATER after continuing to charge me. I had no resolution for two months and as for the billing director I was told on the phone by both ***** and ****** that there is no way to directly communicate with the billing director and that the only way to communicate with the billing director is through ******. So there's another lie. Lawyer will be pursued if this keeps up seeing as I have records of everything. Business Response /* (4000, 20, 2021/12/20) */ When the plan change was requested, the entire old plan was canceled and a new one started. This would not have any impact on a separate membership regardless of who was paying for it. Your fiancés account is in her name, not yours, and is not connected to your account. The associates would not know to find her entirely separate account and change it. They only discovered this after you emailed stating you were still being charged and we tracked down her account. As stated before, both accounts have been closed.

• Initial Complaint

  10/25/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I have sent three certified letters to golds gym, the last letter receipt number *********, and they have failed to cancel my account. Golds gym employees have admitted over the phone they have many customers with this same problem. They continue to charge my bank account every two weeks for $28.70, even after being directed to remove my bank account from their system. The amount of time that has gone by has allowed golds gym of Murfreesboro, TN (old fort pkwy) to over charge my account $344.40 plus the cost of the certified letters. My golds gym barcode number is *********.

  

  Business response

  11/29/2021

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2021/11/03) */ Here's another complaint that needs to be transferred to a franchise in Tennessee please based on the consumer's case description. MIRNA MONTELONGO SENIOR CUSTOMER CARE MANAGER Business Response /* (1000, 17, 2021/11/17) */ We have not received any certified letter from Mr. ******** and his email requests were sent to us via Gold's Gym International in Dallas, Tx. On 07/13/20, Mr ******** was emailed instructions to cancel. This email address replies directly to the billing manager, and her contact info is also included. Our billing manager has canceled the account and a refund was issued.

• Initial Complaint

  10/15/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I used Golds in Smyrna for years. I sold my house, and told them to turn off my membership in 3 months. they said no problem. Each month I checked in asking if there was anything I needed to do, they said no. I moved, and was still getting charged for membership. I called Golds and they told me I had to come in and sign a form, there was no way around it, if I didn't wanna get charged, I need to come in and sign. So I went to my credit card company and told them these charges were not authorized. Then I get a letter from Golds, they've turned me over to collections for $100. I called, and they said I still needed to come in and sign, I live far away from Golds now. Then they sent me an email and said, if you pay the $100 we'll cancel your membership, no need to sign anything. So they were able to cancel my membership without signature, but didn't. I'm 65+ years old, and they are trying to take advantage. I want collections dropped, and all money refunded that I didn't use gym.

  

  Business response

  11/04/2021

  Business Response /* (1000, 8, 2021/10/26) */ After investigating Mr. *****'s account it was found that it should have been terminated at the end of May 2021. The account has been closed and pulled from collections. The only invoices billed after are in chargeback status and will need to reconcile before a refund can be issued. A separate email has been sent for details. We apologize for the error and wish Mr. ***** the best.

• Initial Complaint

  09/29/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Signed up for membership. A week later, I went to gym to use services, I was told I didn't have a membership. Disgusted, I left. I never went back. I have never once used their services due to they told me I did not have a membership and denied me entrance, and asked if I wanted to sign up for a membership, after I had already spent an hour of my time signing up the week prior. Now they want me to pay for a past due bill for a year of membership I have never used, even once. They now harass me daily with calls from collections and attorneys. They refused me service, I will not pay for services I was denied.

  

  Business response

  11/04/2021

  Business Response /* (1000, 10, 2021/10/25) */ Mr. ******* signed up for a 12 month Gold membership with Gold's Gym on 1/21/21. He initially signed up with a ********** belonging to an Amy *******, however he came back in on 01/26/2021 at 04:43 PM and provided a ********* bank account. The first draft for this account was rejected. We attempted to contact Mr. ******* throughout February and March to advise but were unsuccessful. Mr. *******'s account was active , contained his photo and correct information, and the account barcode is the same as a phone number on file. Our staff are well versed in the numerous options we have to look up a member in the event they forget their barcode. 5 days after sign up, on 1/26/21, the staff had no issue finding the account to update billing info. The account barcode is the same as a phone number on file.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩