L.A. Fitness rip-off. What options do I have? (flat fee, credit card) - Dallas - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum

abpat2203 · 08-22-2011, 08:40 PM

Hello everyone.

Today I realized that I am in a jam with L.A. Fitness and need your views on what option do I have to get out of this situation.

Me and my friend joined L.A. Fitness about a month ago. During joining, we specified that we dont want to be in a contract because of which we ended up paying a higher fee.

After joining, we were offered a free training session. After the session, the trainer offered us a training program package. We decided upon taking one ($149 joining fees and $320 p.m.)

After that, the trainer gave us two introductory session which was supposed to be followed by a evaluation session followed by regular sessions but that never happened. We showed up on the scheduled dates but the trainer was never around.

After almost a two week gap, we got caught hold of him. Imagine our surprise when he told us that we have signed a 12 month contract and getting out of it will cost us $1600! On top of that, he claimed that the scheduled dates on which we showed up but he was not there are no-shows against us as there was another trainer who was supposed to take over from there and train us.

On the system it shows that we checked in on those dates. The trainer who was supposed to train us couldn't recognize us because we never had a session with him. The head trainer says that he cannot do anything about this and we will have to pay the termination fee to get out of this.

We say that:
1. We were never told that this is a 12 month contract.
2. We were never told that another person will be our trainer.
3. Our training never proceeded beyond the introductory sessions.
4. We were charged our first bill 15 days after joining when it should have been after 30 days. He claims that it was a mistake.

So now I want to know what can I do about this? What are my options? I don't want to get in a case because I am here on work-permit and intend to return to my country in a year or two. I want it be as less messy as possible. What do I do?

stan4 · 08-22-2011, 08:43 PM

Have you heard about a law in Texas regarding deceptive business practices?

Look it up. Print it out. Take it into the facility. Find your contract. Make sure you didn't sign something that says everything they told you...if you didn't, explain to them that you will be taking this to the authorities, because it is a crime.

If you did sign the contract...well, you gotta read that stuff before you sign.

abpat2203 · 08-22-2011, 08:58 PM

Thanks Stan4. I am pretty sure we did not sign anything for the training. We signed a document for the general fitness membership and that too after we had made sure that we do not want a contract.

For the training, we did not even swipe a credit-card. They automatically pulled the CC data from our previous transaction for the fitness club membership and charged the training sessions to that.

Tomorrow we are supposed to meet the manager. I would be surprised if he pulls out a contract that we signed. I want to go into the meeting armed with the knowledge of what I can throw against them.

Trae713 · 08-22-2011, 08:59 PM

They won't tell you everything out-load and only hope that you won't read the contract thoroughly. Looks like LA Fitness got you.

abpat2203 · 08-22-2011, 09:21 PM

The fact that he did not pull out a contract and shove it into our face today seems to point in the direction that we did infact not sign a contract. He claims he showed us a sheet of paper that says the plan that we were opting for a is a 12 month contract but we are 100% sure he never showed it to us.

On top of that his claims that we took two sessions with different trainers was refuted as well when the trainers were called in and they said that they have never given us any training. Plus the fact that he claims that he has no idea how we were charged on August 10th when the actual billing date should have been August 24th.

There are many facts working against the guy and all seem to point towards him having bungled it up. Hopefully tomorrow the manager would be more sane in admitting his mistakes or proving that we were the one who did not read the fine print rather than blame and counter-blame.

Squirl · 08-22-2011, 09:33 PM

Contact their corporate office and the Texas Attorney General's office.

TX75007 · 08-23-2011, 10:20 AM

And the Better Business Bureau, too.

LQQKOUT · 08-23-2011, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by abpat2203

Tomorrow we are supposed to meet the manager. I would be surprised if he pulls out a contract that we signed. I want to go into the meeting armed with the knowledge of what I can throw against them.

Would love to know the results of this? I am not a big fan of gyms and contracts. I faught with 24hr Fitness in California for two years over this type of stuff. I finally had to file a lawsuit it or to get my money back. I will never- and yes I will say NEVER sign up with a gym again.

stan4 · 08-23-2011, 01:48 PM

I never sign up with gyms. I buy time. Like, "Hey. I want a year. How much is that?" And then pay a flat fee. I don't even care if it's more (it's usually less). I am not every letting those vultures near my credit card.

abpat2203 · 08-23-2011, 02:13 PM

@LQQKOUT: A lawsuit is the only thing I dont want to get into. If it comes to that, I would probably pay up and be wiser the next time. Worst comes to worst, I am planning on negotiating for the three month contract with higher per hour fees.