Healthtrax, Inc.

Review: The Membership Director called me on 9/30/13 saying that they had an end of month special going where if I sign up for 1 month, I'll get 1 month free. I told him to sign me up as this sounded like a great way to try out the gym. My wife and I went to the gym a few days later, and they said they just needed our signatures and we'd be good to go. I regretfully skimmed over the form which stated that payments would be made monthly for 12 months and thought that this was related to us being on a month to month plan since I never indicated wanting to sign up for a year. We signed the form and didn't think much about it for a few weeks. I realize the wording should have caught my eye, but never was it expressed to me that we were signing up for anything but a month to month plan.After trying the gym for a few weeks, we decided it wasn't a good fit for us. I emailed Jason on 10/24/13 how to view my account information online or who I should call to get information about my membership account. We said he'd ask his VP if there was a way to check online, and they he said to try the member login on the website. I followed his instructions and tried the website, but the member area of the site does not contain any account specific information. The next day I called HealthTrax and asked to speak to someone about my account. I was transferred to a lady who took down my information and said that she'd call me back. She never did. Fastforward to 11/19/13. I go into Healthtrax and ask to speak with someone about discontinuing my membership. They say they are unable because it is past the 30 cutoff. I then speak with the Membership Director again and GM, and explain to them that I signed up verbally for a month to month membership, and also that I made a good faith effort to close my membership within the 30 day limit. They were brutally cold in there response, brushing off the details of the verbal agreement and of me being unable to access my information. It was a bait and switch.Desired Settlement: They have already charged my credit card for two months of membership, about $160. I just want them to stop charging my credit card and discontinue my membership.

Business

Response:

The Sales Director toured member on 09-06-13 and went through all our membership and billing options in depth for him and his wife to become new members. The member did not enroll that day because his wife had not moved here yet and he wanted to get the move done first. The Sales Director followed up a few times after and on 09-30-13 the member enrolled over the phone with our October free special. The Sales Director again explained that he has a 30 day guarantee and if he goes past 30 days he is committing to 12 months. The member agreed and I filled out his agreement to match the type of membership he wanted, which stated the: price, date, billing start date, initial term of 12 months, anniversary month of 09-30-14 and the type of billing he wanted to use.

On 10-25-13 the member emailed the Sales Director saying both him and his wife were enjoying everything so far and asked if there was a way to see his membership or billing information online. The Sales Director told him he was not aware of any system that enabled you to view this, but glad things were going well for him and his wife.

Member came in and asked to cancel, but I told him he was unable because he's passed his 30 day guarantee and into a 12 month agreement. I obtained the member's paperwork and reviewed every section with the member. After answering his questions for he said I guess I did sign up for a 12 month membership, but is there anything you can do? I offered to freeze or downgrade his membership, but again told him unfortunately we cannot cancel it.

The General Manager met with the member on Nov 20th when he called and wanted to meet to go over his agreement. THe member came in and the General Manager went over this with him. The General Manager asked the member if he read this before signing he said he did. The member used the center 12 times and never went to see the General Manager to see about canceling his membership. The members says he lives down the street but does not want to be billed any longer.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted]. I disagree that contract options were properly explained to me. I was under the impression that by signing up for one month, I would get one month free. In my email to the membership director, I explicitly stated that I was inquiring about my membership where I signed up for one month and got one month free. In the brief response I got back from the director, he made no attempt to correct me in my misunderstanding about the terms of my membership. When I called the organization to make a similar inquiry, my call was not returned.

Review: I've been waiting over 3 months for a refund!

Account_Number: [redacted]

Desired Settlement: DesiredSettlementID: Refund

$75.51

Business

Response:

Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2013/04/25) */

Refund was mailed to member 4/19/13. A representative of Healthtrax did call the member to let him know the check was on the way

Review: My children (2 dughters ages 8 and 10) and myself and my babysitter were treated very poorly on at least 4 different occasions at the Healthtrax facility pool. There are 3 lanes in the pool and even when there is plenty of room for the kids to stay in one lane they are made to get out of the pool since it is "adult swim time". During kids swim time over the weekend I have seen the kids happily share the pool with adults who want to do laps, but adults always seem to want the pool all to themselves and cannot seem to be able to share the pool. The healthtrax staff is very rude and on one occasion (6-26-14) asked my children to get out of the pool and then waited there and escorted them out. Both my children were traumatised by this behavior. My baby sitter was also very upset. I complained to the director earlier this year when I faced similar issues when I would take the girls for a swim on the weekends. I actually watched an adult swimmer and a staff member do a hi-five after throwing all the children out of the pool. No action appears to have been taken. In each of these four instances there have been only 1-2 adult swimmers and there has been plenty of room to share the pool with members of all ages, so long as kids stayed within one lane, which they would do anyhow. Lastly this appears to happen only when diverse children are in the pool and non diverse adults want to swim.Desired Settlement: 1) Have clear signs regarding rules for pool usage. Treat all customers of all ages and backgrounds fairly.2) Have more pool time for kids throughout the day. Family swim time is between 7 and 8 pm. Shouldn't kids be getting ready for bed at this time?3) Rules should allow pool sharing and be fair to all age groups. Pool schedule is too granular and very skewed to adult swimming and swim lessons. 4) Provide Customer Service and diversity training for all office staff.

Business

Response:

We work very hard at Healthtrax to balance the needs of all our members for the use of our pool. Therefore, we adhere to a clearly posted pool schedule which designates certain times for families, adults, classes, and lessons. Over half of our members are adults so we balance the hours the pool is available for our adult members and our families. There is family swim time in the afternoons and evenings during the week, and afternoons on the weekends. It is important for us to maintain the integrity of the schedule to create the best customer experience for all our members. This eliminates any confusion.

Review: Good afternoon,here is in a few lines my personal complaint addressed to Healthtrax:I have requested via email addressed to [redacted] on 4/30/2014 to cancel my Healthtrax membership. On 5/16, after sending several email I finally received a confirmation from [redacted] that my membership was cancelled. Yet on 6/3/2014 the membership fee was withdrawn from my bank account. From 6/3 to 6/12 I have sent several emails with my request to have my membership officialy cancelled and June fee refunded to me,to to [redacted] and [redacted], no reply has been received. What is more concerning is that none evern acknowledges my request, and at this point I feel completely disgusted with the level of indiference and irresponsability with which this fairly simple request is being handled. I have gone so far as to reach out (via email) to company's owners ([redacted]) and still no reply.Desired Settlement: At this point all I need is to make sure that the June membership fee is refunded and no future withdrawals are processed from my account. Any attention that is paid to my request is appreciated.Respectfully,[redacted]

Business

Response:

Healthtrax staff has attempted several times to contact the member and resolve the June charge, but has been unable to reach the member. We have since processed the refund to her credit card on 6/19/14. We apologize to the member for any inconvenience. There will be no further charges seen on her account.

Consumer

Response:

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

Sincerely,

Review: I have been receiving private training from Core Fitness, which had been located in the Healthtrax facility in North Haven until this past August 1, 2013. Although I accrued separate charges at Core and Healthtrax, Healthrax made it a requirement for me that if I were to train at Core, I had to become a member of Healthrax. I complied with this arrangement with the understanding that Core would be a part of my training program at this site. Unfortunately, I have a current membership with Healthrax, which I pre-paid until May 1, 2014--another lengthy 9 months. When Healthtrax refused to allow Core to remain at Healthrax on August 1, 2013, I am now stuck at Healthrax without access to Core Fitness and its excellent trainers.

Product_Or_Service: Renewal Healthrax Contract

Account_Number: North Haven Healthtr

Desired Settlement: DesiredSettlementID: Refund

I would like a refund of the money that I have laid out from August 1, 2013 to May 1, 2014 or a refund of 9 months of money that I pre-paid to Healthrax. I established this contract in good faith and was even told that I would receive a refund when in July Healthrax made the decision not to renew Core's lease. That verbal statement is not being honored and, as you can imagine, I'm very upset about how Healthrax and its corporate management are handling this for me and many others at Core.

Business

Response:

Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2013/08/20) */

At the time of the renewal of your Healthtrax membership, it was not the intent of Healthtrax, that Core Fitness would be moving out of North Haven center. To be clear, the Core services contract expired at the end of July 2013 and Healthtrax engaged in good faith negotiations to continue the relationship upon reasonable business terms but the parties were unable to reach a mutually acceptable arrangement. Beginning August 1st, Healthtrax began offering personal training services by nationally certified trainers with the same specialty certifications as Core Fitness trainers. Healthtrax understands the personal connection made between yourself and your trainer and respect your choice to continue to train with them, however; the services you joined Healthtrax for are still being offered at a significantly lower price.

Healthtrax would be happy to provide you with a complimentary training session.

Review: Healthtrax recently terminated contract with the 3rd party provider of trainer services which my wife used. Healthtrax required membership in order to use the services of the 3rd party, [redacted] Their contract with the service required 6 months notice to them of contract cancellation which did not happen. Within that 6 month period,Healthtrax came to us to renew our membership, never mentioning that they were planning to terminate the contract with the 3rd party provider, [redacted] We, in good faith, renewed our family membership for 15 months, through Aug 2014. Shortly thereafter, [redacted] announced they were being forced to leave effective Aug 1, 2013. Healthtrax is refusing to refund any portion of our membership, and returned initial call, but has not followed up as promised in first call.

Desired Settlement: DesiredSettlementID: Refund

Full refund.

Business

Response:

Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2013/08/16) */

At the time of the renewal of your Healthtrax membership, it was not the intent of Healthtrax that [redacted] would be moving out of North Haven center. That decision was made in July of 2013 (mutually by [redacted] and Healthtrax). [redacted] was not "forced out" and their services were not "terminated"; to be clear, the [redacted] services contract expired at the end of July 2013 and Healthtrax had previously engaged in extensive good faith negotiations to continue the relationship upon reasonable business terms but the parties were unable to reach a mutually acceptable arrangement. Beginning August 1st, Healthtrax began offering personal training services by nationally certified trainers with the same specialty certifications as [redacted] Fitness trainers. Healthtrax understands the personal connection made between yourself and your trainer and respect your choice to continue to train with them, however; the services you joined Healthtrax for are still being offered at a significantly lower price. Healthtrax would be happy to provide you with a complimentary training session.

Review: On 4/15/13 I called to this Healthtrax to see when my membership expires. I spoke to I believe [redacted] who had difficulty looking up my membership. She transferred me to her manager who was able to tell me my membership expires the end of March 2014.She wanted to investigate further as to why it wasn't showing up for Avon but Glastonbury. Later on the same day I received a call from [redacted] saying that my membership was a promo and that they could no longer honor it at their facility. I was never notified that Avon Healthtrax couldn't honor my membership until this time. This is unsatisfactory and I believe it may be racial based and I told her that. I then received a message from [redacted], the site director saying that it was a promotional membership and since I am not paying for the membership and the employee that gave it to me no longer works for the company it cannot be honored and I would need to convert to a paying membership.

Desired Settlement: DesiredSettlementID: Other (requires explanation)

I would like my membership to remain through the end of March 2014 as I was told.

Business

Response:

Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2013/04/23) */

Member had a promotional membership as part of her son's company benefit package. Her son left Healthtrax in 2012 at which time his benefits were discontinued including any and all promotional memberships associated with his employment. We tried to offer her an incentive to remain but she declined.

Consumer Response /* (3000, 7, 2013/04/25) */

(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT ACCEPT the response from the business.)

There was no settlement offered. The contract I signed at the Avon Healthtrax did not state in any way that this was a provisional contract. I believe this is deceptive practice based on clientele and biases at this facility. I was not offered any incentive to continue what I has signed nor was I told at the time there were specific stipulations. I received a call from a staff member stating that my contract was good through March 2014. Then several hours later the same person called me back to say that "my contract could not be honored at the Avon Facility"

Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2013/04/30) */

Healthtrax has no record of member signing a contract in its Avon facility and is unable to locate this executed contract. Through this response, we are requesting that the member kindly provide us with the written contract so that we may respond further. Complainant's initial promotional rate was provided to her in Glastonbury because her son worked for the Healthtrax center in Glastonbury but there is a question as to whether this promotional rate extends beyond the immediate family members to a mother of an employee (and there does not appear to be a written contract in this location either). Healthtrax is willing to look at the signed contract to ensure that the terms are being complied with but the complainant is not entitled to a promotional rate as her son is no longer employed with the company. The allegation that Healthtrax engages in deceptive practices based on "clientele... biases" is without merit and Healthtrax unconditionally denies this aspect of the complainant's response.

Counsel, Healthtrax, Inc.

Consumer Response /* (4200, 11, 2013/05/02) */

(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)

The signed contract was left with the person at the desk in Avon. At the same time that person gave me an appointment to meet with a trainer named [redacted]. Please check your records on who scheduled that appointment with [redacted] as they had the paperwork.

Business Response /* (4000, 13, 2013/05/14) */

Healthtrax, Avon does not employ a trainer by the name of "[redacted]". The General Manager at Avon, attempted to discuss a discounted membership with the Consumer, despite the fact that she may not have been technically eligible for such a discount but she was not interested in discussing this option. The club remains willing to have the Consumer become a member of the club on terms and conditions applicable to all members.