The Latest to Gold’s Gym
TO:
GOLD’S GYM # 672
825 PIKE STREET
WASHINGTON STATE CONVENTION CENTER
SEATTLE, WA 98101
CC:
GOLD’S GYM INTERNATIONAL, INC.
358 HAMPTON DRIVE
VENICE, CA 90291
RE: CONTINUED BILLING OF CLOSED ACCOUNT
Dear Managers,
By now you may have received my previous letter, outlining the continued billing of my checking account for five months after the termination of my Gold’s Gym Membership in late July. To summarize, I was billed a total of $168.35 from the months of August to December while not enrolled in Gym #672 and not present even in the Seattle area. Near the end of my summer internship in Seattle with Amazon.com, I went to great trouble to arrange a meeting with Erica, the accounts manager for Gold’s Gym, Downtown Seattle, to cancel my membership. At first, the gym claimed I was on a one year contract. After retrieving my original contract, Erica told me that the account was then closed. At this point, I assumed all business with Gold’s gym was done, but the billing has not actually stopped.
To this end, I demand the following within 30 days:
- The immediate cessation of your illegal billing
- My “membership” with Gold’s Gym to be officially terminated
- Full payment of $168.35 by check to the name and address above
I strongly recommend that you immediately reply via telephone or email of your intentions to comply with these terms, followed by a signed agreement in writing.
Sincerely,
Elliott C. Back
ecb29@cornell.edu
| This entry was posted on Thursday, January 5th, 2006 at 4:53 pm and is tagged with venice ca, summer internship, hampton drive, seattle area, gym membership, accounts manager, pike street, amazon, seattle wa, five months, cessation, name and address, checking account, washington state convention, washington state convention center, cornell, email, gold, state convention center. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback. |
Today I loked at my bank statement and saw that they took out 3 payments within 4 days instead of one, I am going in on Monday to talk to someone, wishe me luck!
Also I have had battles with other gyms before, such bs I just want to work out, I love how you can go to your bank and block them from touching your account though.
TRY THIS FOLKS: USE A PRE-PAID DEBIT CARD FOR THE MEMBERSHIP, WHEN YOU WANT TO CANCEL…DE-ACTIVATE THE CARD. IF THEY THREATEN TO SUE, TELL THEM “GOOD-LUCK”. WITHOUT A S.S NUMBER, THEY WILL BE SCREWED, JUST THE WAY THEY SCREW THEIR MEMBERS…GOLD’S GYM SUCKS!!!!!!!!!
Gold’s Gym has one of the most ironclad contracts in the business, according to my attorney. I signed up, and two weeks later my life situation changed drastically and I could no longer afford the membership. They stuck like epoxy to their 3-day recission clause and would not budge an inch. When I changed my credit card to stop the automatic billing, they came after me with their collection lawyers and threatened to sue, and to ruin my credit (which was in the toilet anyway, but that’s beside the point.) This outfit is iconic of all that is wrong with corporate America. My takeaways: 1) **Read Your Contract Carefully Before Signing.** 2) “Legal” does not always mean “Right”; Hell is full of such penurious moneygrubbers.
Dude seriously nobody gives two ***** that you got ripped off or are getting ripped off why the hell would you carry on posting about this and posting on other forums/sites about it.
Your an idiot just face it everyone has been ripped off at one point by something like this stop being a whiny ***** and deal with it without coming here and posting because seriously YOU need to stfu *****. btw im from uk so dont bother bitching i maybe from golds gym which ive had before cos chances are ill never be back. you made me waste 2 minutes reading this **** YOU
Teddy, regardless of where you live, you are a sorry excuse for a human being. Please die in a fire.
WOW Tedd. A little angry? Maybe he posted this for others whom are going through a similar situation. Regardless of his purpose, who cares? No one forced you to sit and read it!! The fact you claim to have “wasted your 2 minutes reading the post” is just outright stupid…I mean-who takes 2 minutes to READ a short paragraph?? and lastly, the fact you took even MORE time out of your oh so precious day to write a response, is non the less asinine of you. Dear Tedd, go be immature and lame somewhere else. Thanks buddy.
Teddy, you are a jackass and a moron to come on here and attack this poster. Many people are members of Gold’s Gym and many have been burned by them. I’m sure he’s posting this as a warning to be on your toes when you cancel your contract. If you don’t like it, don’t read it and be a moron elsewhere because nobody cares what you think! I recently canceled and in seeing this, I’m going to be extra careful to watch my account whereas I may not have right away.
Please join my Facebook group “Gold’s Gym Sucks”.
Here is my story:
Upon going through my most recent bank statements, I happened to notice a pre-authorized debit that seemed strange and out of place. Curious, I phoned my bank to see who or what this payment was for. It was Gold’s Gym. They were double billing… me. My bank investigated further, and told me they’ve been doing this for over three years! I immediately notified Gold’s Head Office in their Northland location in Calgary, and they vehemently denied the double billing, saying they have no record of this, and that they wanted me to send in all of my bank statements ($5.00 cost to me per statement x 9), and that they would investigate. After a week of hearing nothing (of course) I decided to investigate on my own, and made two phone calls. In the span of 5 minutes, I discovered what the problem was. Upon transferring from the Calgary Gold’s to Edmonton 4 years ago, what they processed was a new membership NOT a transfer, so I was still a member in Calgary, and paying dues in Edmonton as well. Of course they are denying responsibility and don’t want to refund any money. They are saying it was MY responsibility to notify the Calgary gym of the transfer. The battle is on-going…total monies stolen from me: approx $1800.00
Me and my girlfriend joined golds over a year ago, and when we signed up…we specifically told the man that we would not be at that gym any longer than a year as we would be going to the college’s gym, and come to find out, he didnt even note that in the contract. I am trying to find out exactly how much I and my gf owe, and through this communication I am told that I am the liar and their people would never screw the members. All they had to do was reverse our payment on the 2nd and 3rd months, months might I add that we hadnt even stepped foot in the gym for use! THIS GYM CARES ABOUT GETTING MONEY MORE THAN SERVING THEIR MEMBERS!!!! If you want to sign up for a contract that is a certain period of time without renewal, MAKE SURE THEY WRITE A DATE IN THE “MEMBERSHIP END DATE” box on the contract, not just the “INITIAL END DATE” box, THATS HOW THEY SCREW YOU!!! and then, come to find out, they havent even contacted my girlfriend yet and she changed banks, so basically what they are doing is letting the months, late fees, and interest rack up that my girlfriend will owe until they decide it is time to give her a call or even worse…send it to the collections agency.
I went to a Gold’s gym and asked them specifically if I could cancel at any time mainly because I was working for a temp agency at the time. Now I’m being told that I cannot cancel because I haven’t moved 25 miles from the nearest location and I have no one to transfer my account too. I have many other important bills to pay, and would like to cancel this piece of **** membership. They guilt tripped me into the agreement by saying that’d it’d be better for me, and that my boyfriend would like me more, and stuff like that. I have called corporate, talked to them there, and haved explained that I am without a job and have no money to pay them. I was told that insufficient funds isn’t a good reason to cancel my membership. If anyone could possibly help me that would be wonderful!!
Hi
Oh my goodness I wish I had know all this before I signed up with Golds. I signed up last year October and I have moved and really can’t go to gold’s anymore as its too far from where I am now. Now they are saying I have to pay $100 to cancel my membership. I would love some tips on how I can cancel and not have to pay. After all I have been paying my monthly subscriptions so why should I pay to cancel????
If you read the fine print on the bottom of your contract; it states that you can cancel without any penalty if the nearest Gold’s Gym is too far…
Hey there, wish I had of seen all the problems I would have encountered before I decided to join. I acually almost became an employee. I put money towrads training at the London, Ontario, Canada gym for a specific trainer and now he has quit (empolees were not getting paid) so I requested my funds back (I was no longer even a member there) and they are refusing. Apparently they need my momey (single mom 2 kids) more than I do! I am in the processing the paper work for small claims court.
Wow. Well, I got screwed when I signed up, not afterwards. They made me feel like I was busing a used car instead of getting service.
Customer Service sucks at this company.
I signed up for a membership Oct ‘09, paid a fee and they charged my card accordingly until February,2010. In February, misc charges appeared, so I called to ask what they were for. I was put off for a month before someone finally told me I wasn’t even in their system as a member. Yet, charges from Gold’s Gym were being taken from my bank account. Finally found out that they weren’t receiving my money, but someone was. My bank traced it to a bank in RI and reported fraud on all charges from Gold’s. Luckily, my bank will refund all of my money, but now I have to wait to find out if whoever stole my info from Gold’s will do something else in the future. Also cancelled my debit card and had new reissued. Gold’s owner was not helpful, and didn’t seem to think it was a priority to find out why some members had disappeared from their system. Also found out his former accountant was suspected of embezzlement. They have new accountant now who seems to be on top of it and trying to get to bottom of it, but I will never trust a Gold’s Gym again. Ever. Buyer beware – if you’re looking to join a Gold’s Gym, do your homework first. There are horror stories online everywhere.
It’s sad to see that there are others being screwed royally by Gold’s Gym. I too will be bombarding their head office with letters of discontent.
Gold’s Gym-you suck!
I belonged to a Gold’s Gym in Calgary and was told during signing that I could use any location. After the fact they told me I was not allowed to use the other facilities. Even though in their contract it clearly states that I can use any facility within 50 miles of my home gym any number of times. Northalnd Gold’s Gym has got to have the worst management of any organization out there. I encourage everyone to bombard the head office with continuous letters and pass the word, especially right now as eveyrone is making their new years resolution.
In Calgary if you are looking for a Gym check out World Health club, much cleaner, responsible and much better up to date equipment. Gold’s Gym that I dealt with does not even have a TRX system yet because they think it is too expensive (losers, uneducated). I will be sending my 2 page letter to corporate and making sure I post on every website that I can find. I have never done anything like this before but this one really set me off! So cheers Gold’s Gym heres to a ****** year 2010 FOR YOU!
I had a friend who worked there for a year or two and finally made it to management…where he found out that there is a fairly standard procedure of actually forging the signatures on renewal contracts. Be aware these folks are up to no good.
I have a question for Josh Dunn. Did your friend happen to know how the forging worked? I just sent the Police today to the Golds Gym that forged my signature on a contract. The officer said they walked him through the procedure and he did not know how they might have faked anything. I know I didn’t sign a new contract. Any directions you could have me pass on? Thanks, Gerry.
I have been going through the same drama with them, they refused to cancel my membership, so I had to cancel my credit card, I am pissed, they are a predatory corporation.
If all of you want to get to together, sign a petition against them, and ABC financial, e-mail or call me. 973-534-6178.
Ike! I am more than anxious to launch a class action on Golds. They were in my acct for 3 years….
Please contact me through email … I need to get in on this…
I just had a problem with them today. I went to the Gold’s Gym here in Utah, and I went in to clock in for normal gym services, and the lady working there says I was cancelled. I had this issue for a while for few times, but what I told her is I paid in full for two years from July 31st 2009 to July 31st to 2010. It says here right in the contract that it was supposed to go that long. When I made the payment they had me fill a automatically close the account after the 2 year contract was up. I think they changed it from 1 year to 2 years without telling me and just closed it. I think they just make up their own rules on their end, and just screw anyone over when they please. The WORST company I have ever dealt with in my 38 years of life. They are not a healthy company to make anyone healthier. I go fat just because of the stress those people give others.
I prepaid for a two year contract two years ago. I was at the gym this evening and asked to make sure my membership would be terminating at the end of the week. The employee kept harassing me about starting a new contract and I told them I was not interested. I asked if I could do month to month and the employee said that they never do month to month memberships and I had to have a contract. I said no thank you and left to do my workout. The employee stopped me and told me my bill was delinquent for $15. I prepaid for the entire membership and asked what on earth it was for and how I could be delinquent on a charge I had never heard of or been billed for. He said that it was a maintenance fee for this month. He told me I was not allowed to use the facilities unless I paid it or renewed my contract–keep in mind I still have a membership.
I was livid and left. I called another location to cancel my membership and they informed me I have to give 30 days written notice to the corporate office or it will automatically default to month to month. I was too late to cancel and was going to be charged for the following month. I asked the employee about what the other person had told me and he informed me that I was allowed to go month to month at the end of my contract and that I was also allowed to use the facility regardless of the weird $15 fee. The employees at this location admitted that Gold’s is a sneaky company and structures their contracts to be confusing and fee-loaded.
I was very frustrated with the dishonesty of the first employee as well as the culture of dishonesty that Gold’s Gym breeds.
I enrolled at Gold’s Gym with my daughter. When I was signing my contract, I went to extreme lengths to let the Gold’s Gym employee know that I was unsure if we would be living in the state for more than 1 year. I signed the contract based on a 1 year contract. I authorized my bank to be debited automatically each month. I had the employee make a special note on the contract that the terms included a 1 year contract. I had been a member for over 18 months, went to cancel the membership and was told that all contracts are 2 years – no matter what. I didn’t have the time or energy to fight them. Just want to spread the word, they stink
James
Did you get anything solved?
Chris
Did you have the same types of problems in this situation?
All together it is a bad situation and it sucks that a state funded rec center drove a striving business out of town. Sorry off post but yes it is possible for them to ban you from the other clubs. Read the back of your agreement you signed. It talks about “cease of operation” Sorry…
I was searching the web for how Gold’s Gym operates generally in the country and I am a bit distressed by what I have managed to find in a matter of hours.
My gym, Xcel Spa and Fitness, I signed up with last year in Bountiful, Utah was sold to Gold’s Gym. I hadn’t been to the gym for about a month and in that time never received a notice, phone call, or email about the sale. So imagine my surprise when I get there and there are Gold’s Gym symbols and trademarks everywhere on my gym. I have been told that my two year contract is valid at that Bountiful location, however I would not be allowed to continue going to the other two Xcel locations near where i currently live. If I want to visit the other Gold’s locations, I have to sign a new contract with them.
This is the thing, maybe some of you can help, if anyone reads this blog anymore…Having no authorization from me to be billed by Gold’s Gym, can they legally take my billing info off my contract from Xcel Spa and Fitness, bill me, and then bar me from the gym because I refuse to sign the liability form? Shouldn’t the original Xcel contract/membership that was sold, hold up as binding, including the liability waiver I signed as well?
I’ll bookmark this page for further comments and advice.
James
SLC, Utah
I have just received a collection notice from an expired contract with Gold’s. I signed up for a year long contract and at the end of that year they say that you also sign up for continued monthly billing forever or until you give them 60 days written notice. I would like to see a class action law suite against them for bad billing practices.
its actually 91 days …
I just recently opened a new bank account. I used my debitcard to pay my Golds Gym dues. I always pay at the location. Not trusting automtic debit for many reasons. And sure enough they on their own took my new debit card info and automtically debited my NEW account. Without my authorization. I am canceling my account along with my daughters and husband. I am dissapointed in GOLD’s ethics when I have been a member for years
Stick it to the man! Even if the man is solid gold. You should have CC’d your blog too!