Best Fitness

Miss [redacted] came into Best Fitness on 11/26/17 in response to a text stating that she could reconcile her membership balance if she rejoined during a black Friday promotion. Upon coming in she spoke to a Fitness councilor who explained that her  membership balance would be resolved...

but was unsure regarding Personal Training Balance that was as well in collections. Miss [redacted] was  brought to the Membership Manager who explained that this promotion would NOT resolve her PT balance. Miss [redacted] became upset at this and stated then she was not going to proceed with new membership. Miss [redacted] was explained that if she chose not to rejoin on the special black Friday promotion that her membership would stay in collections. miss [redacted] decided to join but expressed unhappiness about PT no t being resolved. Miss [redacted] submitted a workflow to the company on 11/27/17 and was called by Membership Manager regarding her belief that she was to have her PT balance corrected. The Membership Manager again explained that this was not part of the promotion and would not resolve her Personal training outstanding balance. Member became insistent that this was to be done and was repeatedly explained that this was not possible. Member requested 3 day cancel which was done and Miss [redacted] was explained that her membership past due collections would remain in collections.  Member then questioned why she was in collections for membership and it was explained that when Miss [redacted] called abc on September 27th 2016 to be canceled . ABC explained process that it must be in person at the gym or by certified mail as it is stated in her contract  and she had a 30 notice which meant her last payment would be due in Oct. ABC began cancel process pending letter and final payment. Miss [redacted] then began asking ABC to refund her enhancement fee. ABC advised her that was not possible due to fact she was still a current member because she had not gone in and canceled membership as was previously explained to her on a previous call to the club. At this point member asked ABC supervisor to remove her card from file.Miss [redacted] became delinquent in her October payment due to inability for abc to process payment. Miss [redacted] was sent delinquent letter on 10/28/16 and called several times with voice messages left until  01/16/17 when she was sent to collections for delinquent membership dues.

This letter is in response to a complaint submitted to the Revdex.com about Best Fitness of Albany, Complaint ID: [redacted]. On October 16, 2012, member entered into a 24 month agreement with Best Fitness. Beginning in July 2013, member’s account went delinquent for several months....

According to documentation on the member’s account, three attempts were made to resolve this issue at the club through our Membership Department. On November 22, 2013, the account was turned over to [redacted] collections agency for the amount of $978.34. Member has the ability to settle their debt directly with Best Fitness for half of the total amount owed: $489.17. I understand this situation is unfortunate, however Best Fitness attempted to collect the member’s debt numerous times before the account was sent to collections. In addition to trying to settle the issue in club, multiple letters were drafted and more than a dozen phone calls were made to the phone number that the member put on file for their account. If you have any other questions regarding this matter, please feel free to contact Best Fitness at the phone number listed below. Sincerely, Scott M.  Operations Manager Best Fitness of Albany

I was not to be charged. I Spoke with my trainer in person about not extending my contract and simply working out the remaining sessions I had. Jeff assured me that " we will get you taken care of". I continued using my remaining training sessions from the first contract. I did not authorize, sign a receipt nor was ever provided a copy. I followed up with my trainer,Jeff, whom assured me that he would get this taken care of. Meanwhile Best Fitness simply fel the need to just continue to charge me despite me not knowing. They can say contract this and contract that all they would like. I have copies of text exchanges with Jeff stating he would take care of this. I can provide those to you. He is a representative of your company and was a manager of a Best Fitness in Florida.  He assured me it would be taken care of. I have been out of town and traveling so I have not been able to make it in. I have since cancelled the card to assure that you can no longer continue to fraud nor rob me. I was also told that the manager would contact me personally, which he has not. This is robbery plain and simple. In February Jeff assured me Chris would call me ( also have this documented). I in turn called Chris to no avail. This is a horrible business practice. A verbal agreement/conversation and text exchange with your trainer ( whom is a manager, must count for something) despite whatever horrible contract clauses you have set up. This is garbage pure and simple and robbery through deception. I have text records with Jeff to validate this. This is 100% unacceptable and I for one and disgusted that you refuse to chargeback that fraudulent charges that you have bestowed upon me. Simply pathetic and disgusting.

On February 1st 2016, Mr. [redacted] called in the club asking why he was still being billed for personal training. We explained to him that when he signed up...

for personal training, the first signature he signed for on the contract was for the auto renew policy after the 6 months was completed. After the 6 months was over he was able to cancel the training in person with a sales director and a 30 day notice policy whenever he wanted which he failed to do. We then tried scheduling Mr. [redacted] a meeting to come into the club as soon as possible so we could cancel it for him but he failed to do so.

This letter is in response to a complaint submitted to
the Revdex.com about Best Fitness of Albany by [redacted] (Complaint ID:
[redacted]).
On November 13, 2013 Mr. [redacted] agreed to a 24 month
agreement with Best Fitness. Mr. [redacted] contacted Best Fitness on June 1,...

2015
inquiring about our cancellation procedure. Proper cancellation procedure was
explained to Mr. [redacted] by a representative in our Membership Department. Three
days later, Mr. [redacted] cancelled his membership with Best Fitness due to moving
out of the Albany, NY area. He provided proper documentation to Best Fitness to
waive the $100.00 early termination fee due to cancelling before the end of the
agreement he signed back in November 2013.
As stated in the agreement Mr. [redacted] signed when he became
a member, Best Fitness requires 30 days’ notice on all cancellations. Mr. [redacted] was therefore still responsible for his final EFT of $19.99 on June 13, 2015.
Because Mr. [redacted] did not pay his final monthly installment to Best Fitness, we
were unable to process the cancellation of his membership. His account went
delinquent for several months and was turned over to our collections agency,
[redacted], on August 27, 2015 for the amount of $426.99.
On September 5, 2015 Best Fitness of Albany received a check from
Mr. [redacted] in an attempt to settle his debt. The check was returned to Mr. [redacted],
along with a letter from our Membership Manager, explaining that the $40.00
check Mr. [redacted] submitted was not sufficient to cover his debt. Mr. [redacted] has the
option to settle his account with Best Fitness for half of what he owes:
$213.50. 
I understand this situation is unfortunate, however Best
Fitness attempted to collect Mr. [redacted]’s debt numerous times before his account
was sent to collections. Multiple letters were drafted and more than a dozen
phone calls were made to the phone number Mr. [redacted] put on file for his account.
If you have any other questions regarding this matter, please feel free to contact
Best Fitness at ###-###-####.
Sincerely,  
Scott M.
Operations Manager
Best Fitness of Albany

Although I am not aware of signing this document, I have paid the company's monthly charge as I could believe it is something I missed. My complaint lies in the company's charges against me after I requested they terminate my contract. The representative I spoke to on the phone stated that I needed to send them a letter. At the end of June of 2015, I sent the letter to Best Fitness. I reviewed my credit card bill in July and noticed they were still charging me. I drove to Erie, Pa and cancelled the membership in person.The reason I don't agree with the company's statement is because they continued to charge me after I sent my cancellation later in June. When I arrived in August the individual I spoke with allowed me to cancel without an issue. I recently received an email from the company stating I have a new bill due on September 9th, 2015. I have stopped payments on my credit card but I am being harassed from debt collectors daily about this debt. I cancelled in June and feel that the company needs to respect my mailed cancellation letter, instead of ignoring my letter. I paid every month on time for over two years and when I attempt to leave the company because I moved to another state where they don't provide gym services, an issue like this arises. The contract I signed with the company was fulfilled without an issue. I even paid the months afterwards. It is unfair to continue to be charged after I provided the terms the company requested to terminate my contract, in a letter, via telephone contacts, and finally in person contact. The extremes it has taken to cancel my contract has been extreme and outlandish to say the least. 
Regards,
[redacted]
ABC Financial Services, INC.
P.O.Box 6800
Sherwood, AR. 72124-6800
Account Name:
[redacted] J [redacted]
August 22, 2015
Agreement #:
8091-14111
Pay Mode/Account:
[redacted]2192
Notice Reason:
CHARGEBACK
[redacted] J:
ABC Financial Services is the billing company for your Best Fitness Erie membership. Your membership is past due and action is needed on your part to bring your membership current. This will be necessary to prevent interruption of your membership.
Below are the amounts for which your membership are due. If necessary, you may provide ABC with new drafting information by contacting our Customer Care Division.
Past Due
          August 09, 2015           $19.99
                   July 09, 2015             $19.99
                 * July 08, 2015             $19.01
Late Charge
                                 $60.00
                                                   
Total
                                      $118.99
Next Payment Due
  September 09, 2015        $19.99
* Includes any
You may view the status of your membership or make a payment online by visiting our website at:
www.myiclubonline.com
A Customer Care Representative is available to assist you by calling: 1-866-420-0867. Our office hours are Monday through Friday, 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM, Central Time. (ABC is prepared to accept new billing information by  phone upon your authorization.)
If your payment has recently been made, please disregard this notice.
Thank you in advance for your cooperation in allowing us to service your membership.
Customer Care Division
ABC Financial
This communication is an attempt to collect a debt. Any information obtained will be used for that purpose.
ABC Financial Services, INC.
P.O.Box 6800
Sherwood, AR. 72124-6800
Account Name:
[redacted] J [redacted]
August 22, 2015
Agreement #:
8091-14111
Pay Mode/Account:
[redacted]2192
Notice Reason:
CHARGEBACK
[redacted] J:
ABC Financial Services is the billing company for your Best Fitness Erie membership. Your membership is past due and action is needed on your part to bring your membership current. This will be necessary to prevent interruption of your membership.
Below are the amounts for which your membership are due. If necessary, you may provide ABC with new drafting information by contacting our Customer Care Division.
Past Due
          August 09, 2015           $19.99
                   July 09, 2015             $19.99
                 * July 08, 2015             $19.01
Late Charge
                                 $60.00
                                                   
Total
                                      $118.99
Next Payment Due
  September 09, 2015        $19.99
* Includes any
You may view the status of your membership or make a payment online by visiting our website at:
www.myiclubonline.com
A Customer Care Representative is available to assist you by calling: 1-866-420-0867. Our office hours are Monday through Friday, 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM, Central Time. (ABC is prepared to accept new billing information by  phone upon your authorization.)
If your payment has recently been made, please disregard this notice.
Thank you in advance for your cooperation in allowing us to service your membership.
Customer Care Division
ABC Financial
This communication is an attempt to collect a debt. Any information obtained will be used for that purpose.

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
I called Scott at Best Fitness who left me message to call him and I returned his call on 2/8, left a message with one of his staff to call me who tried to get Scott on the phone however I we advised Scott was with a customer in which he stated he will call me right after he finished with his customer but I didn't get a call back.
Regards,
[redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.I point ABC to the "ABC notes regarding BBC complaint"document stating that on 9/27/16 stating " ADV JRA 09/27/2016 [redacted] MEM THAT ABC CAN CNX OVER THE PHONE, " They advised me that I can cancel with ABC over the phone! So I called ABC to cancel. This is the very definition of acting in bad faith. I have also provided screenshots of the texts going back and forth between myself, Dan and Maria proving that Dan stated that personal fitness was included in the offer and my restatement of my interaction with Maria.
Regards,
[redacted]

At this point in time, all communication will remain through the Revdex.com. We feel like we have done everything we could to communicate with you regarding your personal training account being past due prior to sending the account to a collections agency. You acknowledged that you read the agreement about cancelling your personal training account via mail. It clearly states in the agreement to send the letter certified mail. We ask this of all of our members as a safety for them to ensure that the letter they send is traceable. To address the corporate office contact information again, all of our corporate office employees travel location to location. The best and most convenient way of communicating with them for our members is through the contact us link on our website. We will offer to settle the account for 50%, $451.43, instead of the full amount ($902.86). If you do not want to accept this, then the account will remain in collections. You are able to make this payment in the club, send a bank check or [redacted] via certified mail, or you can pay the settlement through our collections agency. Thank you, Best Fitness Management

here are the supporting documents which includes a signed contract and copy of personal info page (birth date and picture). According to this information this previous member is in collections due to non payment. Also included are notes regarding contacting her in regards to billing.

Ms. [redacted] received phone calls starting in July 2015 regarding her account being past due. She was called a total of 8 times before she was actually sent to a collections agency. If Ms. [redacted] can provide a receipt that she sent us a letter to cancel her account, we can honor the cancel...

and remove her from collections. At this time since no documents were received to cancel and none have been provided, we cannot remove the account from collections. Ms. [redacted] was also upset that she could not receive contact information for the direct supervisor of Omar. Omar is correct, he cannot give out that information, which is why he directed Ms. [redacted] to the website to file a complaint. Our directors travel weekly to different locations, so email is the easiest way of communication for complaints. We have a 48 hour response policy which is why Ms. [redacted] has not received a response at this time (we received the complaint yesterday later in the day). If no mail receipts can be submitted, then we will not be able to pull the account from collections at this time. Thank you, Best Fitness Management

Revdex.com:I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.I live an hour and a half away. I would like written confirmation that my account has been cancelled and that I have a zero balance sent to the address I provided the company after I moved. I would like to know the date by which I can expect to receive the documentation in the mail.  I would also like the refund deposited back into my checking account and need to know the date I can expect to have it deposited.Regards,[redacted]

Member [redacted] will be cancelled effective immediately with no further charges due. Annual club enhancement fee of $49 to be refunded as well.

Revdex.com:I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.  Regards, [redacted]

Ms. [redacted] was explained the terms and conditions of our policies. She agreed that starting a membership with our club would be beneficial and cost-effective. She was explained the cancellation process and agreed with the policies. She was also given a copy of her...

original agreement which also outlines our cancellation policy. We will be more than happy to help her cancel her account without charge once she provides one of the proper forms outlined in our membership policy.

The business failed to tell you that I called them in August 2014, prior to my move to Fl.  I spoke to the manager, he told me that I needed proof where I was living. I told him that  it was impossible since the company was moving me and I would be in temporary housing until my house sold in Erie PA, and I was able to purchase a home in FL.  I was then told that even though I was not living in Erie, and I could not provide proof, there is nothing they would or could do.  The manager ( I wish I knew his name)  Told me that I needed to freeze my account for 3 months, then after that if I still don't have proof  regardless, I have to pay, even though I cannot receive the service. I did freeze my account and then I told the manager they weren't being fair to me since I didn't have proof and that I was being penalized for living in temporary housing.   He told me specifically..  " If I do this for you, I have to do this for everyone else"   Yes I waited until December to send them the information since I closed on a house as of October 31st, 2014.   Although I sent in my proof in December,  late.  Trying to unpack and work, while taking care of a ill husband, I thought the business would accept this and cancel me back to October 31st.  Yes, I did stop the Billing, after the three months were up of me freezing my account.   If the business wants me to pay November & December  20.00 per month I will against my better judgment,  other than that, I ask for them to take off the rest of charges because they refused to work with me, more  so against me, no matter what I tried. and they were not very nice about it at all.  They even had the nerve to ask me to give them my new bank information, so they can continue to charge me before they will cancel me?  ( this was in December) Regards,[redacted]

we have provided proof of cancellation for Ms. [redacted]’s membership is cancelled, we are not charging her anymore, and she has a $0 balance. She can also confirm this with ABC.  WE are unable to give her something that shows a 0 balance because she was cancelled mid-agreement so ABC has already generated all of those invoices which is why she was seeing a “balance”. We called ABC… They confirmed for us that they credited her account back the $49 enhancement fee charged, as we proved by showing her the reversal status on our end. At this point, she can contact ABC Financial and speak with them regarding the $49 credit .Tell us why here...

We had asked the member to send us proof of relocation via certified mail. We never received any cancel request in the mail from the member. When he came in to cancel in person in august, we advised him he had one more payment due because of the 30 day notice. That payment never went through, therefore the account is still pending cancel.

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. 
Regards,
[redacted]

The automatic renewal policy is clearly stated in the membership agreement and personal training agreement. The new member or personal training client actually signs agreeing to it. Also, we have plenty of personal trainers on staff with very flexible schedules that are more than willing to find...

the best possible time for the client to be able to use their sessions.