City Fitness

To Whom it May Concern,
As previously stated, in our initial response, the claimant was not mandated to complete the top portion of the form (which asked for name and personal goals). As a safety measure, to both our staff and our prospects, in order to walk on the gym floor, a prospect must sign the waiver, and acknowledge the assumption of risk that comes along with participating in fitness activities. There is no hidden language (as you can see from the copy of the form I previously sent). This is a standard practice, completed by all fitness facilities, that only promotes safety and keeps prospects informed.
 
Sincerely,
[redacted]

To Whom it May Concern,Please see attached documentation. The claimant filled out and signed the standard cancellation form, and was charged in accordance to her signed member agreement. Also, as a way to avoid any confusion, we specifically outline the cancellation terms, upon joining, which...

you can see, the claimant acknowledged with her initials. Please feel free to contact, at [redacted], should you have any other questions regarding this matter.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

CITY FITNESS - PHILADELPHIA
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF RISK ASSUMPTION OF RISK AND RESPONSIBILITY AND RELEASE OF LIABILITY WAIVER
WARNING: There are significant elements of risk in any sport, activity or training associated with “gym activities” (referred to herein as “activity”), and the use of any equipment.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF RISKS: I recognize that there are inherent risks and dangers in gym activities. These risks may result in serious injury, or death. I also acknowledge that certain foreseeable and unforeseeable events can contribute to the unpredictability of the activity; that personal property may be damaged or lost; and that wearing appropriate clothing and footwear are basic safety precautions. Although you have taken reasonable steps to provide appropriate equipment and/or skilled guides/instructors so I can enjoy an activity for which I may not otherwise be skilled, I acknowledge that this activity involves certain risks, which cannot be eliminated without destroying the unique character of the activity. The same elements that contribute to the unique character of the activity can be causes of loss or damage to my/our personal property or causes of accidental injury, illness, or in extreme cases, permanent traumas, or death.
EXPRESS ASSUMPTION OF RISK AND RESPONSIBILITY: In recognition of the inherent risks, known and unknown, of the activity, which I and any minor children for which I am responsible, will engage in. I confirm that I am (we are) physically and mentally capable of participating in the activity and/or using the equipment. I/We participate willingly and voluntarily, and I assume full responsibility for bodily and personal injury, accidents, or illness (including death), and any related expenses. I also assume responsibility for damage to or loss of my/our personal property. I acknowledge that wearing appropriate clothing and footwear are basic safety precautions.
I assume risk(s) of serious injury, accident, and/or illness, included but not limited to sprains, tom muscles and/or ligaments; fractured or broken bones; eye damage; cuts, wounds, scrapes, abrasions, and/or contusions; dehydration, oxygen shortage (anoxia); head, neck, and/or spinal injuries, paralysis and/or death.
COVENANT OF GOOD FAITH: I recognize that you, as provider of services, will operate under a covenant of good faith and fair dealing, but that you may find it necessaiy to terminate an activity due to forces of nature, medical necessities or problems in the gym; and/or refuse or terminate the participation of any person you judge to be incapable of meeting the rigors or requirements of participating in the activity. I accept your right to take such actions for the safety of myself and/or other participants.
AUTHORIZATION: I hereby authorize any medical treatment deemed necessary in the event of injury or illness while participating in the activity. I either have appropriate insurance or, in its absence, agree to pay all costs of emergency and/or medical services as may be incurred on my/our behalf.
RELEASE: In consideration of services or property provided, I, for myself and any minor children for which I am a parent, legal guardian, or otherwise responsible, any heirs, personal representatives or assigns, do hereby release:
City Fitness
Its principals, directors, officers, agents, employees, and volunteers, and each and every land owner upon whose property an activity is conducted, from all liability and waive any claim for damage arising from any cause whatsoever (except that which is the result of gross negligence).
I have read and understand the foregoing acknowledgement of risk, assumption or risk and responsibility, and release of liability. I understand that by signing this form I may be waiving valuable legal rights.

Review: I've had numerous amount of billing issues since last April at City Fitness. For the first six months of my gym membership (with exception of the first month) I was over charged every month. When I noticed the overage charges last May, I immediately spoke to the front desk and they said they would give my information to Jessica because she is the only one who handles the billing. I received no phone call and therefore had to continuously call during the day while I was at work to contact her. After numerous phone calls I finally spoke to her and she assured me my refund was issued. I waited a month, and their was no refund to my credit card, so I called again. I was overcharges again. She said their was a problem on their end and would be refunded but would take another billing cycle to go through. This happened a couple more times until she realized why I was being over charged. My expiration date on my credit card was incorrectly entered by their staff. This caused my credit card to get declined and every time their billing department tried to swipe it, the fee would increase. I was still never issued a refund for any overages.

In the late summer, I asked to speak to a manager because Jessica wasn't doing anything. Then I was directed to [redacted], which I played phone tag with for a month and never got anything resolved with him directly either. Apparently he is never at the [redacted] location so I was never able to speak to him in person either.

Finally I spoke with [redacted] on September 18, 2013 telling him all my overages and issues. We went over everything and he was helpful and said I wouldn't be charged at all until the month February. I was very hopeful that my situation was finally fixed until I received my credit card bill in October and I was charged again, and the incorrect amount.

A couple days after I received my Oct Bill, I spoke with [redacted], at the [redacted] location and he helped me straighten this out. He passed along my information to [redacted] who called me the next day. After we talked about everything (for over 30 minutes while I was at work) she said I will not be charged for Nov, Dec and part of January- which is nice that it was finally resolved but no one seemed to value my time and effort in this whole matter. A respectable business would issue a credit to my credit card instead to credit to my membership but I did not argue.

On a separate note, I had signed up for a one month training session for $199 with [redacted] and was charged the training fee on April 1st. On May 28th I was charged an additional $199 for training which I never authorized. I saw it on my credit card bill but instead of fighting it through them I went to the billing person at the gym because I used to have good faith in the gym. She said it would be taken care of.

To start, I never even finished my first month of training because my trainer was fired. She was constantly canceling so I never got to finish my allotted 8 sessions for the first $199. I had completed 6 sessions and then after this whole mess I did one session with Sadie- they signed me up gave me a non-private session even though I had been training privately and have one session left that no one has contacted me about.

On Sept 18th when I talked to [redacted] about my billing he set me up with a training session for the following week to finish out my first set up sessions. When I got to the gym, the trainer was scheduled to train someone else, so the session was canceled. Then, that day [redacted] set me up with a different trainer for the following week. He called and canceled the day before and we never rescheduled. When I talked to [redacted] on Oct 29th they said they would have a trainer and [redacted] call me to schedule a session and figure out my billing. No one called me for 2 1/2 weeks.

I talked to [redacted] about my refund multiple times during the month of Oct and he kept saying "let me see what I can do" even though I reported this issue to the gym back in June.

Finally mid December [redacted] called me and said the BEST they could do would be to split it with me and credit my membership $99. That is unfair and unacceptable. I should be getting $199 back as a refund. Not only are they refunding my money as a form of credit, they are only giving me half of it back. Stealing $99.50 from me is disgusting and wrong.

I have never had any trouble with a gym before, or any company about billing. I have two jobs and don't have time to be dealing with this. I have been assured that my monthly billing problem is fixed, even though they stole $99.50 from me. I feel that the professionalism and service I received about this issue during the summer was horrible. Every time I approached someone they made me feel like it was my fault and I was putting them out even though I was out over $300. I would appreciate some form of compensation to my gym membership considering all the hassle, and now I have lost a significant amount of money!

On January 14, 2014, I contacted the gym one final time with my issue in hopes they would resolve it fairly. One minute after I sent them an email, [redacted] called me and said he would look into my issue and get back to me as soon as possible. I didn't hear anything back, so I contacted them on January 22, January 29 and February 5th. Finally on February 5th, I was told to talk to [redacted] (who I already spoke to in December) and she makes the final decision. Therefore, they were not doing anything about it.Desired Settlement: I would like the $99.50 as a form of credit to my gym membership or credited to my credit card.

Business

Response:

To Whom it May Concern,Please see the signed personal training agreement attached. There was no malicious intent on our behalf, instead we were simply abiding by the conditions which were agreed upon when **. [redacted] decided to participate in the personal training program. And despite the terms of the agreement, we still attempted to display an act of customer service, by applying 1/2 of the requested refund amount to **. [redacted]'s membership account.

Review: My wife is ill and has cancelled her gym membership, but they said they are still going to charge her credit card for another month in February.

When I spoke to the assistant manager about this, he called her "dishonest" and was rude. He also said he would call us back but never did.

They would not let us cancel unless my wife came into the location in person, which was difficult because she is ill.Desired Settlement: I would like them to NOT charge her again in February since she already cancelled her membership in January. I think they should also refund charges for January, since she did not use it at all and would have cancelled sooner, but couldn't because they required her to come in, even though she was ill

Business

Response:

To Whom it May Concern,Please see attached documentation. The claimant filled out and signed the standard cancellation form, and was charged in accordance to her signed member agreement. Also, as a way to avoid any confusion, we specifically outline the cancellation terms, upon joining, which you can see, the claimant acknowledged with her initials. Please feel free to contact, at [redacted], should you have any other questions regarding this matter.

Review: I am not paying for these late fees. The only record you have is the one you have here. My account records show no traces of these classes yet every other class appears. How is there a check mark next to my name AND it's marked as a "no show"?

Further, I remained at this horrendous facility for 6 months. Back in April, you said the contract would end in July and only if I cancelled before then would there be a fee. I was NEVER TOLD THERE IS A $25 CANCELLATION fee after the contract ended.Desired Settlement: Lift the debt immediately

Review: I joined City Fitness because of a flyer which stated a $20.14 fee to join and a monthly payment of 59.99 a month would be paid every month thereafter. From the second I joined, my salesmen charged me 21.14 and instead of rectifying the situation, non nonchalantly retorted that he would give me a dollar. His lack of professionalism was really unsettling mainly because of his blase attitude. I have a full time job and I work 60 hours a week as a project manager and I am lucky to say money is not an object for me however what I am offended by is other professionals not upholding their company's policy's to the best of their abilities. I was extremely clear that I would only join this gym if they allowed guests to come with me, which my salesmen said they did, up to 20 times. Of course, the first time I tried to bring a guest, they attempted to charge me $10. They rectified that situation by explaining to me the girl at the desk was unaware that it was free and I let that go. Then they changed to company policies completely and it went against every reason I joined the gym. I even let that go. Next, the gym gives an opportunity to complete a short set of random activities and upon completion of said activities in the given 30 days upon joining the gym, the member is given $10 dollars off their monthly membership. I came in to hand in my signed and initialed card which proved completion of all activities on it and expected the gentleman at the desk to process it or give it to the correct people but of course, this did not happen. He did however take the time to enter in my bank account information so they could directly take my money out of my account. I find their avaricious desire to take money and not complete their end of the deal to be amateurish. I was charged the full $60 and told that they do not do refunds so even though I completed my card on time, the process of it would not go into effect until the next month. Of course, this is not what they told me when they were selling their membership to me and trying to get me to join their gym. Lastly, I went in after the completion of my 3 month contrast to cancel my membership and the woman who was processing my cancellation was friendly and seemed to make the process very simple for me. I left the gym with no hard feelings. I looked today at my account and saw that they charged $113.99 automatically out of my bank account. The lady who canceled my membership never uttered one word about an annual fee, just that my card would be charged the normal 49.99 monthly membership and a $25 cancellation fee. How convenient. When I called to ask why the charged me that ridiculous amount, the woman on the phone said, "That's an annual fee that we charge everyone after 3 months". I was never told about an annual fee. I am so disgusted and sick of this gym taking advantage of having their patrons bank account numbers (because it is a requirment to receive a discount on membership) and charging their card any arbitrary fee they like. They sales people are inexperienced and not equipped with any professionalism and will say ANYTHING to land a sale and make their commission. It's repulsive. I regret ever joining this penny-pinching gym.Desired Settlement: I would like the annual fee refunded to me because it was never explained to me. Also, they have wrongly charged me at every chance they possible could and I feel I am being generous in only asking for this particular fee.

Business

Response:

To Whom it May Concern,

Please see **. [redacted] agreement attached. The portion of the contract which explains the annual rate lock fee is its own separate section, and must be initialed by the member in order for the agreement to be processed. We have specifically isolated areas of the agreement, which we feel may need more explanation, to avoid these type of claims. Furthermore, our fitness counselor are required to follow the same presentation structure, otherwise (like I mentioned above) the agreement cannot be processed. There was absolutely no attempt to "penny pinch", as every standard joining procedure was followed in this matter. Furthermore, below is a screen shot of **. [redacted]'s payment history. Per the promotion we were running, new members pay for their first month at signing, then have 30 days to complete a check list of 8 items, and we in turn, will reduce their monthly rate by $10. [redacted] completed her "tour of the city" within the allotted, and as you can see below, her monthly rate was dropped exactly as the special was stated.

To Whom it May Concern,

Please see **. [redacted] agreement attached. The portion of the contract which explains the annual rate lock fee is its own separate section, and must be initialed by the member in order for the agreement to be processed. We have specifically isolated areas of the agreement, which we feel may need more explanation, to avoid these type of clai**. Furthermore, our fitness counselor are required to follow the same presentation structure, otherwise (like I mentioned above) the agreement cannot be processed. There was absolutely no attempt to "penny pinch", as every standard joining procedure was followed in this matter. Furthermore, below is a screen shot of **. Jololian's payment history. Per the promotion we were running, new members pay for their first month at signing, then have 30 days to complete a check list of 8 ite**, and we in turn, will reduce their monthly rate by $10. [redacted] completed her "tour of the city" within the allotted, and as you can see below, her monthly rate was dropped exactly as the special was stated.

Review: See note to owner below.Earlier today I stopped at your gym to see what the facilities looklike as I am looking to join a gym. However, when I came in and askedto have someone show me around they handed me a "release" form andsaid they could not show me around unless I signed it. I then asked tospeak to the manager and, in fact, [redacted], who said she wasthe manager, supported the requirement that I sign the form or I couldnot see the gym. By the way, she gave me your name as being the ownerof the gym, if this is not true please let me know who is. Both yourstaff member and [redacted] said that the form was only a release incase I was inadvertently hurt while inspecting the gym. Over theyears I have toured numerous gyms all over the country, this is thefirst time EVER that I was asked to sign anything in order to see thefacilities. As you know, the form is not simply a release in case Iwas injured during the tour, in fact I proposed crossing out the partsof the form that did not pertain to a simple inspection, the form wasa questionnaire and agreement prior to USING the gym, [redacted] saidshe could not let me cross out anything. Of course it's your gym andyou can limit access to anyone as long as there is no discriminationbased on EEOC rules and law, however, you cannot mislead the publicby stating that the form is a release to inspect the gym when in factit is NOT. Your staff is misleading the public that comes into yourgym with the content of this "waiver" and I am not going to allow thiskind of fraud to continue. Unless you instruct, in writing, with acopy to me that you have advised your staff to be completely accuratein their explanation of what the person is signing I plan to take thisto the Revdex.com and the Attorney Generals office. If youwant to protect yourself I suggest you have your attorneys draw up asimple one or two paragraph document that ONLY pertains to a release for viewing your facilityDesired Settlement: Have the gym stop asking visitors to sign their deceptive waiver if the person just wants to look at the facilities

Business

Response:

To Whom it May Concern,

Please see our guest waiver attached. You will see that this is a standard assumption of risk for a fitness facility. We are not misleading our guest, or trying to deceive them in any fashion whatsoever. The top portion ask for standard information and fitness goals, to assist our membership counselor. A better understanding of the inquiring guest goals, allows us to focus on the areas of the gym they would be most interested in. The claimant, in this case, refused to even look at the form before rejecting to fill it out. When I ( The General Manager) was ask to assist in the matter, I informed **. [redacted] that she DID NOT HAVE TO COMPLETE THE TOP PORTION, however, in order to walk through our gym, our standard operating procedure requires that she sign the waiver. Erratically, **. [redacted] refused, and so I apologized, and informed her that we could not walk her onto the floor. Again, please see the guest waiver attached. I have also attached a magnified version specially of the waiver portion, so that you may see it more clear. Should you need further assistance in this matter, please fee free to contact me at ###-###-####

Review: More than 6 months after I cancelled my membership, City Fitness charged my credit card!!! They could not even fix it. There recommendation was "call your bank and tell them to unauthorize the charge". 3 months after this it happened AGAIN. City Fitness is simply a FRAUDULENT organization.Desired Settlement: I want my money back again and I personally think Fraud charges should be brought against city fitness....this happens to old customers ALL OF THE TIME

Business

Response:

To Whom it May Concern,

As previously stated, this ex-member's card was charged incorrectly, as a result of an oversight via our outside billing company. Once made aware, not only did we apologize profusly for the inconvience, the member's card was refunded immediately.