Gracie Barra San Diego

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
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Dear [redacted],In response to Complaint #[redacted], filed on February 6, 2014 and a follow up of [redacted] email to you early today..Here I have included a screen shot of an email I sent almost a year ago (top) and [redacted] response (bottom). As I stated I would like to "Terminate" NOT "Suspend" like they followed up with. I will never resume training martial arts there ever again especially since they are trying to rip me off. I feel soo helpless I can't believe a business can do this. I havnt stepped foot in their gym in close to a year and they are still trying to take my money. I keep getting emails saying "your payment has failed" because I cancelled my credit card due to them, and they relentlessly keep trying to charge me. I have been a member there for 4 years, my first year of training there I signed a one year contract, my second year I signed my last one year contract. Since that year I have never signed anything binding me to stay a member there, they base it off the premise of a "computerized auto enrolled contract" I had no whereabouts of, which actually sounds like a bunch of bologna, for them to attempt to gain my credit card information so they can keep charging me which I refuse. I actually think I paid 2 months longer than I should have paid because the last two months I paid dues there I did not attend class because I was on vacation/away (by the way gym membership there is about $140/mo so it's not cheap!) Please and thank you soo much for your help, I just want to be far away from them with nothing to do, and they keep trying to keep me binded to them. This has to be illegal!!!
Regards,
[redacted]

[redacted]Dear [redacted],
 
In response to Complaint #[redacted], filed on February 6, 2014:
 
 
The student originally sent an email requesting that we place a hold on his membership, which we honored as customer service courtesy due to his extenuating circumstances. However, he needed to contact us periodically to extend his hold since we can only apply a hold for a maximum of 3 months at a time. There was one successful extension, at the end of October, but no further requests to extend his hold have been received. Now that the hold has expired, his account must be in good standing to reapply the hold, so it was requested that he pay the one outstanding charge and then the hold would be reapplied until his schedule allowed him to resume training with us. A credit would be issued for the payment(s) made so that he would not forfeit the paid membership time.
 
According to the terms of the Annual Enrollment Agreement, the membership automatically renews on the enrollment anniversary date, unless a membership cancellation request form is received 30 days prior to the renewal. There is also a 30 day grace period after the renewal date, in which the student can terminate the automatic renewal. This was not an option in this situation as the student had 5 months remaining on his current annual membership at the time he made the request to place a hold on his membership.
 
I can be contacted via the information in my signature, should further communication be necessary.
 
Sincerely,
[redacted] 
Gracie Barra San Diego 
5269 Linda Vista Rd 
San Diego, Ca 92110

Dear Ms. [redacted],
 
Regarding the claims made in the last email from the complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr. *, I submit the following:
 
Termination of Membership: I did receive a request at the end of July 2013, to "temporarily terminate" his membership, however the terms of his Enrollment Agreement do not allow such a thing. A membership freeze was applied, though Mr. * forced a payment freeze as well by rendering the payment information we had on file for him obsolete. In consideration of his circumstances and in the spirit of providing good customer service, we accepted this. This arrangement did/does not release him from the remaining 5 months on his contract.
 
Number of Contracts Signed: Mr. * stated he only signed 2 contracts. There are 3 on file, scanned copies of which are attached to this email.
 
Computerized Auto Enrolled Contract: Each contract signed by Mr. * contains a self renewing clause. The Contract signed on February 13, 2012, contains said clause as the first line of the Term Membership Cancellation section, which bears Mr. *'s initials stating that he has read, understands, and agrees to the cancellation policy, terms, and conditions. Copies of contracts signed are provided at the time of signing, as well as any other time they are requested.
 
As a courtesy to Mr. *, I have cancelled the automatic renewal that commenced on March 1, 2014, without requiring him to submit the standard paperwork. He may buy out the remaining 5 months of the contract that commenced on March 1, 2013, for $392.50, per the terms of the agreement.
 
Please do not hesitate to contact me if further clarification or negotiations are needed/desired.
 
Sincerely,
[redacted] 
Gracie Barra San Diego

Review: I have been a member at a martial arts gym since 2010, in June of 2013 I had to leave because of a change in my work schedule and my new schedule would not fit with the training schedule provided at this gym. So in June I requested to have my membership terminated (not suspended) which has not yet happened fully, and I keep getting email notifications of them trying to bill my credit card.August 2013 I wrote a email to the business that stated exactly: "with all do respect with the recent notice (billing attempt) I got from you guys I would like to terminate my membership as I am out of contract (no longer able to train due to schedule). please fulfill my request entirely as soon as possible"only to get this response (shortened): "I was able to successfully suspend your membership but we have had an automatic enrollment agreement...so your contract is in fact still in effect. I will need to update your suspension every few months so you can expect to hear from me periodically"to this day they keep trying to bill my credit card which remains unsuccessful because I have put a hold on it. When I joined in 2010 I physically signed a 1 year agreement saying I would be a member for that amount of time, in 2011 I signed another physical tangible 1 year agreement. In 2013 I had no written tangible or physically signed papers that binded me to this business as a member and only claimed my contract was in effect only because of some automatic computerized enrollment system not in my knowledge I did not agree to.Desired Settlement: All I want to do is for them to stop trying to bill me and get rid of my information, I want them to completely terminate me out of their system not suspend but terminate my membership. The last thing I need is for them to try to illegally put me through collections and ruin my credit. Please help, thank you.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

Dear [redacted],

In response to Complaint #[redacted], filed on February 6, 2014 and a follow up of [redacted] email to you early today..

Here I have included a screen shot of an email I sent almost a year ago (top) and [redacted] response (bottom). As I stated I would like to "Terminate" NOT "Suspend" like they followed up with. I will never resume training martial arts there ever again especially since they are trying to rip me off. I feel soo helpless I can't believe a business can do this. I havnt stepped foot in their gym in close to a year and they are still trying to take my money. I keep getting emails saying "your payment has failed" because I cancelled my credit card due to them, and they relentlessly keep trying to charge me. I have been a member there for 4 years, my first year of training there I signed a one year contract, my second year I signed my last one year contract. Since that year I have never signed anything binding me to stay a member there, they base it off the premise of a "computerized auto enrolled contract" I had no whereabouts of, which actually sounds like a bunch of bologna, for them to attempt to gain my credit card information so they can keep charging me which I refuse. I actually think I paid 2 months longer than I should have paid because the last two months I paid dues there I did not attend class because I was on vacation/away (by the way gym membership there is about $140/mo so it's not cheap!) Please and thank you soo much for your help, I just want to be far away from them with nothing to do, and they keep trying to keep me binded to them. This has to be illegal!!!

Regards,

Business

Response:

[redacted]Dear [redacted],