I joined a gym in etobicoke in mid january 2004 and went for a three or four days and I had to move to another city and so could not go anymore. I had paid for a year and a half upfront.
I asked for a refund and they said I am not entitled to it and I did not create a fuss over it as I was busy with my new job and never bothered. so i asked them if they could freeze my membership adn they said I would have to come in person to do it and that was the only way. (The freeze would last for max 6 months and there was i think 50 dollars in admin charges to pay.). Needless to say I couldnt go becuase of my schedule and yesterday I get a call from them saying I owe them money from july 2005 to december 2005 amounting 300 bucks becuase I never came in person to cancel although i requested that on the phone a year ago.
They say i had signed a contract saying they can rollover the payments once the contract would expire and would be billed on a monthly basis and also since I had agreed to go on preauthorised payments they dont need to send me any bills.

Since the credit card I had used to sign up and for preauthorised payments had expired they could not get the amounts and called for collection.

My question is what are my options now......

Is there something that I can do and not pay ............are there any legalities in the system to my benefits or just shut up and pay the money.
Is there a specific consumer bureau I could talk to .
What bothers me is the fact that they waited 5-6 months before calling me .........if they had done so the first month the payment was refused I could have paid and closed the account.

Any suggestions!!!!

In essence Iam going to be paying a 1000 dollars for 3 days of excercise.

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"Progress comes from deviation".

On a side note if anybody finds my comments or posts offensive or irritating please ignore it and if that still bothers you; please write to me and I will demonstrate.

Unfortunately, if your contract specifically stated that you are obligated to pay a full year and a half of membership you are responsible to pay it, regardless of how long you actually used the gym.

I dont think you were 'conned'. Most gyms will rollover and continue your membership unless you specifically ask them to cancel your membership. This is all the 'fine print' you need to carefully read and understand.

One thing you can do in the future. If you think you may have to travel a lot or move suddenly to another city, find a gym that has an international association. In other words, affiliated gyms that will allow you to use their facilties because you are a member somewhere in their group of gyms. (make sense?)

I would say: pay the $1,000. Chalk it up to experience and let it go.
You have learnt a valuable lesson - I think if you decide not to pay it may affect your credit rating.

good luck

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~ Morning rain

Please read the copy of your contract with a fine tooth comb. You might be surprised and shocked at what you have actually signed. If the Gym has done everything it says in the contract, then you are liable to pay. Afterall, you would've signed it yourself to give them that authority.

If, however, you find any loopholes, you can surely dispute this.


As a heads up, don't bother joining a gym at all. Just buy some 2nd hand gym equpiment and set up your own gym at home (or in the basement). All you really need to work on then, is your will to use it. Other people using and sweating on ur machines? Zero! Membership charges? Zero!

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Orginally posted by MadammeX


Please read the copy of your contract with a fine tooth comb. You might be surprised and shocked at what you have actually signed. If the Gym has done everything it says in the contract, then you are liable to pay. Afterall, you would've signed it yourself to give them that authority.

If, however, you find any loopholes, you can surely dispute this.


As a heads up, don't bother joining a gym at all. Just buy some 2nd hand gym equpiment and set up your own gym at home (or in the basement). All you really need to work on then, is your will to use it. Other people using and sweating on ur machines? Zero! Membership charges? Zero!

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~ Morning rain

I had this experience before. Since the contract is legally binding you will have to honour that. They can file collection and it will reflect on your credit report. This in turns impacts your beacon score where most of the lenders will base their credit decisions including mortgage. To take out entry in credit report (collection) is not fun.

In a nutshell try to avoid a hit in credit which has far more impact then few dollars.

I talked to a few guys and the result seems to pretty disappointing .....what I mean is that the route taken is wrong.

I have been told to pick up the phone and tell them they can hang themselves but I am not paying. The only thing that can happen is credit rating coming down but then again.......theres always tons of people out there giving credit cards and mortgages at zero credit or bad credit.

I dont need to have a good credit rating coz I am past that........so I am evaluating this option....but given the kind of guy I am I would be paying them but I will negotiate and make the amount lesser.

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"Progress comes from deviation".

On a side note if anybody finds my comments or posts offensive or irritating please ignore it and if that still bothers you; please write to me and I will demonstrate.

Quote:

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Orginally posted by Azazf

I talked to a few guys and the result seems to pretty disappointing .....what I mean is that the route taken is wrong.

I have been told to pick up the phone and tell them they can hang themselves but I am not paying. The only thing that can happen is credit rating coming down but then again.......theres always tons of people out there giving credit cards and mortgages at zero credit or bad credit.

I dont need to have a good credit rating coz I am past that........so I am evaluating this option....but given the kind of guy I am I would be paying them but I will negotiate and make the amount lesser.

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