LifeQuest Fitness Center

Dear [redacted], I am responding to the complaint against LifeQuest Fitness Center, case ID [redacted].  This is a membership client complaint from Ms. [redacted].  Ms... [redacted] started a membership with LifeQuest Fitness Center on February 10th,  2014.  The billing department...

at LifeQuest Fitness received a telephone call from Ms. [redacted] yesterday morning , October 20th 2015.  She spoke with one of our billing department staff, [redacted].  She was not satisfied with her conversation with [redacted] and asked to speak with a manager.  I called [redacted] back a few minutes later, My name is [redacted].  I am the General Manager here at the Club.  Ms.. [redacted] stated to me that she called the club in August of this year and asked to put a "different" card on file to pay her bill.  She stated she did not know who at the service desk helpedher, but that she authorized the service desk attendant to accept a payment on her account, but did not wish to have them save the card number on file, as this was not her normal card she wished to pay her account on.  Her complaint was that the service desk attendant did not tell her that there was a balance owing from July.  She stated she did not feel that she should have to pay for July due to the fact that the service desk attendant did not tell her it was due.  I asked Ms. [redacted] if she had requested to speak with the billing department.  She said she did , but that the service desk attendant assured her that they could help her.  Her complaint, that I can understand, is that due to the fact that they did not tell her about a previous account balance, she should not have to ever pay it.  I attempted to remedy the situation that was currently at hand with Ms. [redacted]'s account.  Her balance is 90 days past due and her account was scheduled to be submitted to a collection company.  I offered to make a payment plan with her to clear up the balance due.  She did not want to make a payment plan.  She said she did not have the total amount due.  I offered to make any type of payment plan that she wished to make, she could decide what amount and I would stop the account from going to collections and work with her.  She again stated she did not want to make any payment plan with me.  I explained to her our side of the situation, which is this;  Her account is set up to automatically bill her card on file for her dues at the same time every month.  If the card declines, she is sent an automatic email stating that the membership dues were declined, please contact the club.  Our systems attempts the dues payments for 5 consecutive days from the billing date.  After the 5 attempts, if the card is not honored, the balance due plus a late fee goes onto her club account.  After 30 days we send all accounts with a past due balance a statement notifying her that her account is past due and giving information on how to contact the billing department to make payment arrangements.  The first account delinquency was in July, the last was in October.  That means that Ms. [redacted] receive 15 emails from LifeQuest and 3 billing  statements requesting her attention.  After explaining this to her she simply restarted her statement that she called in August and gave a service desk representative her card and asked them to make a payment and that it was our fault that we did not tell her the balance from July was due.  I attempted a few more times to work with her explaining that we had notified her and that we did not know of the phone call.  She said we had bad customer service and should not have to pay for July because the service desk attendant did not do their job correctly.  Our service desk attendants are trained to accept payments.  Their information regarding client information is limited for our client protection.  We have basic information for our staff to review, but only authorized personnel can get into the client account details.  I explained this to Ms. [redacted] and also let her know this was for our customer's protection.  She did not care that we had sent her 15 emails and 3 billing statements, she just does not want to pay for July and If I don't take July off the bill she won't pay for any of it.  After seeing the complaint I reviewed the account again and have more information to add.  The payment that processed in August of 2015 was not processed by a service desk attendant.  It was an automatic payment.  That means that the card on file that Ms. [redacted] stated she called to use for just one time, was already in our records in August.  It has been the card on file for all of the payments we have received since April of 2015.  Whether or not Ms. [redacted] contacted our service desk and asked them to make a payment, that is not what happened. The account processed automatically, it is logged to that in the receipt information.  I have submitted this for your review.  The second thing that I noticed in Ms. [redacted]'s account is that she has a log-in verified in her personal account.  This means that she has access to go onto our website, log into her personal account and make payment updates, card changes and make payments without the need to call the club.  Why is this important?  Because if Ms. [redacted] wanted to check on her account, she had done this in the past and would have the ability to do it at any point, day or night.  She could change payment types, make a payment, purchase products and services, view her receipts and her purchases.  It is all set up.  This is client originated, meaning we don't do this for clients.  They log in themselves to have access.  She could and should have logged in at any time to change the card on file if that was her concern.  She could process a payment at any time.  I am willing to work with Ms. [redacted] on any payment plan that she wishes to make to clear up the past due balance.  If the account goes past pre-collect then I am unable to work with her and she will incur more fees from the collections agency.  I would like to resolve the matter immediately.  I do not feel that our business has in any way not been forthright in assisting our client.  We are able to work with her.  I do not believe that any portion of her account balance is not due, in fact it is all due.  We have taken great strides to ensure she has been fully notified at all times.  I am unsure about the telephone as it can not be corroborated.  That is not to say she did not call, but I am sure she did not have the service desk accept a payment.  I can answer more questions for you at any time, submit the client membership agreement, show another receipt that has a service desk attendant processing it, so you can see the difference.  Please let me know if you would like to see any further documentation on this account . To recap  we notified [redacted] of the account balance dues: 15 emails3 statementsShe has logged in and has access to her account details and can update her billing at any time and make payments any time. We attempted to make payment arrangements in any fashion the client was comfortable making.  She did not wish to do so. Thank you for your time,[redacted] LifeQuest Fitness Center[redacted]  [redacted]

Review: I called to make a payment in aug 2015. The person that helped me did not take a past due amount and when I asked them to take a payment with a certain card and put another card on the auto pay it was not done. I am now being charged for july 2015 , sept and oct. the company does not want to work with me and said to me " I just don't want to pay my bill" when I am trying to correct this. If its not paid it will be sent to collections which I am trying to prevent . I have explained I am willing to pay for Sept and October but not sure why I am now being billed for something I called to take care of in augustDesired Settlement: I believe that its an issue with in the company they need to speak to there employees they are very rude and kept implying I just don't want to pay .

Business

Response:

Dear [redacted],