WOW! Work Out World, Waterford, Groton, Norwich, New London

Review: WOW Work Out World neglected to contact me to inform me that they stopped receiving monthly payments (set up to be made automatically each month via credit card), had an outstanding balance, and would continue to [redacted] me each month with an additional return fee ($20) per occurrence. To my knowledge, this would have continued indefinitely had I not contacted them to cancel my membership. After numerous attempts to contact WOW to get clarity (an itemized [redacted]) regarding the outstanding balance (approx. $200) and cancel my membership, I finally received letter from "Member Services" (the same folks I spoke to over the phone and in person when I visited their Waterford site) describing the breakdown of my balance and informing me that I could not cancel my membership until the balance was paid in full. Moreover, this aforementioned letter was not actually in response to my previous attempts to gain information about my account, but rather in response to a (postmarked) letter that was needed to cancel the membership. Despite my exhaustive efforts to gain information around and "officially" cancel, or at least put a hold on, my account, WOW would not close/hold the account and continue to charge me each month. In attempt to prevent further charges and hopefully closed the account, I decided to pay the full balance at the moment. However, it wasn't clear to the "Member Services" I spoke with over the phone that paying the balance in full, as I have done, would actually allow for the cancellation to be processed (despite what the letter informed me) and/or prevent further reoccurring charges. They told me that I should call them in a few days to check the status of my account.

Desired Settlement: DesiredSettlementID: Refund

Since they, or any associated billing party, neglected to contacted me, I expect a full refund.

Business

Response:

Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2013/06/04) */

Memberships do not cancel automatically when they are delinquent, however once a members account is more than 4 months in arrears they are taken off of the automatic billing cycle and sent on to further collections. Member account was 4 months delinquent. Mr. [redacted] owed for 6/12, 2/13, 3/13 ,4/13 and a 4/13 annual maintenance fee. The total balance was $173.40. We received a letter postmarked May 3, 2013, asking us to cancel his membership. He was sent a response letter on 5/7/13 stating what his balance was and telling him how much he needed to pay in order to cancel and to call us to resume the cancellation process as we are unable to honor a cancellation request on a delinquent account. On 5/8/13 we received notice that his 5/1/13 dues also did not go through. This would now bring his balance due to $204.04. On 5/28/13 member paid the balance in full. This account was cancelled 5/29/13.

Review: I have been a loyal member of WOW in [redacted] since 2010. During that time, I had a $10 membership which lasted over a year. I was told that price was no longer available and required to purchase a more expensive membership since that one was not available. Had I known the $10 membership was only temporary I would not have even chose WOW as a gym to frequent.

I recently received a bill in the amount of $154.62 indicating my payment is delinquent. My expiration date changed on my credit card. How is it fair to double charge the customer for a changed expiration date? Also, in viewing my contract I see the card I provided had an expiration date of 3/2013. How is it WOW has been able to charge my card $30 after 3/2013 and now with another changed expiration date all of a sudden cannot charge my card? It has been done for the last 2 years without an issue. Other merchants have no issues billing my credit card with a prior expiration date.

Between the misinformation with the $10 membership and now double charged because my expiration date has changed, I am very dissatisfied with the services from WOW. I should not be responsible for these additional payments.Desired Settlement: I will agree to pay the $30 for March and $30 for April with cancellation of my membership. All other fees should be waived. Please advise where and who I should issue $60 payment to and send a notice to me cancelling the membership with no other fees due.

Business

Response:

Member originally signed up for a promotional membership rate of $10.00. On 6/14/2011 member re-signed a new legally binding contract for $29.99 a month for a minimum of 24 months. The contract clearly states in section #2 that this memberships becomes a monthly contract cancelable only upon written request by certified mail. We have no record of cancellation or certified mail on file. Members account started to decline for March 2015 and continued to decline for the April & May billing cycles. Our contract states in section #11 that there is a $20.00 service fee for any uncollected automatic dues. This would bring the members balance to $206.51. As a courtesy to the members so that they do not continue to incur any further service fees we stop the automatic debits after 3 unsuccessful attempts. After 90 days the account will be referred to a collection agency. Please remit payment to: [redacted]

Consumer

Response:

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because:it is not fair to the consumer. If we are sticking to the facts of the contract, the bank card I provided had an

Review: My family and I purchased memberships from said gym. We were told that upon moving we could cancel them as there was no way of going to a gym in another state. We were provided with a point of contact and told to mail a copy of the settlement statement of the new home and the matter would be resolved. We have done this twice and the provided address claims that they cannot help. The personnel at the gym are unable/unwilling to help. The website complaint submission page does not work. We live on the other side of the country now. On the phone we were told that it was a two year contract and would automatically expire. Two years has come and gone.Desired Settlement: I would like a refund going back to when we moved (March 2014) but at the very least cessation of auto withdrawal.

Business

Response:

The memberships in question were 24 month minimum obligations. Our contract does have a relocation clause that will allow a member out of their commitment as long as proof of relocation which is more than 25 miles from our facility is received via certified mail. Our membership contract states that all cancellations must be submitted via registered or certified mail. We will grant cancellations based on relocation if we receive a copy of a new driver license, a major utility bill, or a copy of a lease with the certified mail. We do not have any of these documents on file. The memberships were still active. We will go ahead and close these 2 accounts based off the address that is associated with this Revdex.com document date 1/3/2015. No further billings will apply.

Consumer

Response:

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because it is dishonest. I am satisfied with them stopping deductions and closing the accounts but the record needs to show that the personnel at the facility have no idea how the cancellation process works and the address on the form they provide is for an organization in New Jersey that denies being able to do anything about the issue. There is no way to provide the documentation they request since the address to which it is sent sends a generic form saying they cannot deal with Connecticut memberships. The website has been non-functional for contact for at least five months using any standard browser. Personnel on the phone are unable to help either.

Sincerely,

Review: The Manager of the [redacted] fitness club refused to assist me in correcting a billing issue. The Manager of the [redacted] fitness club refused to allow me to cancel my membership, fill out cancellation paperwork, or assist in any way on my behalf.Desired Settlement: Upon my next visit to the [redacted] fitness club, I am requesting to be allowed to fill out any and all cancellation paperwork on site, and for confirmation of the cancellation transaction to be provided to me in writing at that time.

Business

Response:

Please see attached copy of LEGALLY BINDING CONTRACT. See section #2 that clearly states our cancellation procedure. All cancellation requests must be sent by certified mail to the attached address. This policy is company wide and is for the protection of the customer to ensure timely processing. The address is :

Consumer

Response:

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because:

Review: About four years ago I became a member of this gym. After a few years I left the gym not renewing my contract with them. After a few months I noticed they were still taking money out of the account they had access to. So after SEVERAL phone calls to rude and unhelpful people I reminded them that I was no longer a member and had cancelled months ago and to please stop billing me. SIX months go by of them still charging me. By this point I could have taken legal action because they essentially robbed me for almost a year without any services rendered during this time. Even after multiple calls and requests for them to stop billing me, my bank informed they were in fact STILL attempting to make withdrawals. I had to have the bank put a stop pay on any further attempts because these criminals would not stop. What takes the cake is even after all this robbery of hundreds of dollars. Some where along the line they decided to open a collection account on me! For some $140? First of all these people took months and months of payments that were unauthorized , and secondly they have a monthly bill pay system, the card is charged monthly (I can assure you) . There is no bill issued or anything to get backed up on, if you don't pay that month you don't get gym access. This is a purely manufactured number and they still cant even tell me where or for what its for. Yet, knowing all of this they had the nerve to put this account into collections! The worst part of it is, this has been effecting my credit substantially, and without any contact from them, no explanations, no calls, no bills, for 2 years I would have never even known if I didn't look at my credit and then dig deeper to understand why it was falling. Now I have had to take the time to dispute the collection and fix my credit, all thanks to this scam gym. These people are NOTORIOUS for doing this and have been swindling people in this area for years. Its almost common knowledge that they keep charging your card for as many months as they can get away with after you cancel until you notice or complain, and even then its almost impossible to stop (case in point). I am not the one to file complaints , this is my first, but this business has been doing this way too long without any consequences. Its criminal, and they should be investigated. I am within my right to take legal action against them , I just want the Revdex.com to be aware of them as well. I appreciate any help when it comes to them. Just try yourself, go get a membership and try to stop it. Good luck.Desired Settlement: All I really want is someone to put a stop to their shady practices so that future patrons aren't scammed like so many of us. I also want my collection issued resolved and my credit fixed but I know that is a whole other issue Ill have to deal with. Billing people after they cancel is one thing, but putting phoney bills into collections without ever notifying the person EVER so that it eventually reaks havoc on them is criminal and just plain wrong.

Business

Response:

Member #[redacted] signed his legally binding contract on 12/17/2008. The contract states in section #2. I understand that this agreement cannot be cancelled for a minimum period of 24 payments, except as specifically provided for in this agreement. After that time, I understand this agreement becomes a monthly contract cancelable upon my written request by CERTIFIED MAIL received 30 days prior to my next billing cycle. The contract also states in the billing section #2 that verbal, faxed or telephone cancellation are not accepted. This account would not have been cancelled unless the member sent a certified letter to cancel. There is no certified letter on file. This portion of this agreement is signed by the member.

We have recorded usage for this member up until 7/12/2012 which clearly extended past his original 24 month commitment time. We would be more than happy to provide a copy of his contract and his usages. [redacted] account became delinquent in February 2013 and continued to decline for March and April flagged as a bad account. As a customer courtesy we took him off automatic billing to avoid him incurring an additional $20.00 service fee each month that he declined. His account was pursued until Sept 2013 with no response or communication. It was sent to collections in Sept 2013. No attempt to rectify this account has been made from the member.

Consumer

Response:

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because: Typical response from someone trained in scamming people with fine print contracts loaded with bait and switch tactics. There was zero "attempt to contact me" to explain any of the following: charges (delinquent or otherwise), fees, extended contracts or anything. ALSO, there were SEVERAL letters sent by me to both company and company billing people, plus several phone calls to everyone I needed to call , all of which stating CANCEL. I asked about a million times to cancel, but as many people will tell you this is an impossible task when dealing with WorkOutWorld. This is all a front put on by these criminals, and I will make sure everyone ever considering such a crap hole scam gym to look elsewhere. The contract I signed was for a year, not two, the manager that hustled me stated the montly rate and the contract length. The length stated was a year, this is the normal length of time for ANY contract on earth when it comes to services like this, but WorkoutWorld knows that you can steal a whole lot more money signing people up for years they never wanted or agreed to. I would suggest to anyone crazy enough to patronize this gym to bring a lawyer and a cop with them when signing their contracts. These people steal from you, then damage your credit, then cry victim, then demand re-payment. Something is very wrong here, and you can rest assure I will make sure alot more people are aware of this situation. This gym needs to be investigated from the top down, period.

Sincerely,

Business

Response:

Re: [redacted]

WOW! Work Out World is licensed by the State of Connecticut, Dept of Consumer Protection, doing business since 1984. We operate within complete compliance of all State regulations. Any allegations, otherwise, are false. Your failure to cancel according the guidelines clearly outlined in your agreement is no fault of Work Out World. To cancel you should have provided written request by certified mail received 30 days prior to your next billing date. You failed to submit notice. You also falsely imply you ‘sent several letters to the company as well as the company billing people and made about a million calls’. We have no record of any written or oral communications. Another false statement made by you. WOW has an exceptional member retention rate because of customer satisfaction and results achieved. Your failure to abide by the cancellation guidelines does not entitle you to slander others.

Review: I have a list of complaints.1. WOW is not equally enforcing their "termination" rules. They allowed my cousin to end her contract and did not charge her further fees. I submitted my new address that I moved to and they refused to pro-rate my fee or waive the following months fee. It took me 2 weeks, multiple trips to both [redacted] and [redacted] locations, as well as many phone calls to get a firm answer on how to terminate mine and my daughters contract.2. In the summer of 2013, WOW allowed my 16 year old daughter to sign up for a membership and allowed her to attend the gym for months before I discovered that she had a membership. When I went to the location and had them pull out her paperwork the parent/guardian signature was completely blank.3. WOW has allowed my 16 year old daughter to use the tanning beds at their facility which is against their policy and absolutely against my wishes. My daughter has multiple pictures of herself in their tanning beds.Desired Settlement: 1. I want WOW to tighten up their policies for the safety of our children both related to getting parental permission for memberships but also regarding the use of tanning beds which cause cancer.2. I want WOW to waive my June membership fees.3. I want WOW to waive my daughter's membership fees.

Business

Response:

Membership contract states 30 days written notice by certified mail to cancel a membership. As a courtesy the June dues and service fee on this account will be waived, no further billings will occur.