Blogocentric Formulations

Bally Total Fitness

WARNING!

If you try to cancel your membership at Bally Total Fitness, make damn sure you get confirmation in writing! Over the weekend, I discovered that despite canceling my membership to Bally last September, my credit card has been charged every single month since then. When I called to inquire why and ask about a refund, the woman told me that she doesn't have any record of my request to cancel. I told her that I requested my membership be canceled on the last day I was in the gym, that the person at the desk told me he would take care of it, and suggested that I send a letter to Bally's corporate office "just in case." The woman on the phone's response?

"Well I don't have a record of either of those things in your file."

I offered to send her a copy of the letter I mailed to the corporate office.

"Was it sent by Certified Mail?"

No...

"Well without sending it Certified Mail, you can't prove we actually received it."

So what you're saying is, unless I - a customer in good standing who has always paid on time and has been with the gym for over three years - can prove to you with absolute legal certainty that I asked my membership to be canceled, you're not going to do anything?

"We're not required to do anything, no. So unless you can provide documentation proving that we didn't honor your request, we'll be happy to cancel your membership effective this month... and no refund is due."



Apparently, if you want to cancel a gym membership, you need evidence that will hold up in a lawsuit to present when they don't honor your request to cancel. And apparently, speaking with an account rep at the gym and sending a letter to the corporate office isn't enough of a declarative statement to cause Bally to close a membership account.

I mean, we're only talking about $250 or so at this point (and I know I should check my credit card balance more frequently so this stuff doesn't happen), but now I'm pissed off. I'm a pretty laid back person who takes his obligations (like paying membership fees to organizations in full and on time, regularly) seriously. I've been a good customer to Bally... actually the best kind; I paid on time every month and rarely used the gym, never complained, and never received complaints by other members. And to be treated like I'm the guilty party who has to prove himself in order for them to do anything beyond the bare minimum that they're legally required to do according to a membership agreement is just an atrocious breach of customer service etiquette, from a company (like so many) who claim that customer service is a priority.

Or did they mean, a priority just under the priority to make money any way possible, including shady dealings with members who want to close their accounts?

At this point, since they're hiding behind "our membership agreement only requires us to blah blah blah," I'm requesting a copy of the membership agreement, terms and conditions of their automatic bill pay system, and corporate policy on customer service to review. It's more about the principle now than anything else, and they really shouldn't have treated me like I was the criminal trying to get money out of them. I'm well versed in legal agreements and language, and have all next week off from my consulting gig... so I can sit at home and argue with them ALL day.

I hope that $250 was worth it Bally... because between encouraging friends and family not to sign up with a gym that has questionable business practices and no respect for its members, and the sheer number of man hours and paperwork you're going to have to do to close out my file... I may or may not get the refund I'm looking for, but at the very least I'm going to make damn sure you earn every penny of that money and have a massive headache to show for it.