Planet Fitness

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
 Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
The response of Planet Fitness is not entirely correct.
Planet Fitness' representation of the dates is not accurate.  I did indeed ask for my refund within three business days of signing the contract.  Their security footage would show me interacting with one of their employees to make this request.  The employee said that he could not process a refund, only the manager could, and that I needed to talk to the manager, Nate about this.  Since Nate was not there that day when I made the initial request, I spoke to Nate about the refund the next time I saw him at the Gym a few days later, still the week of January 3rd.  The security tapes will show this if in fact they have them.
When I spoke to Nate, I did not request a Silver Sneakers membership.  I said I wanted to put my wife on a month to month membership for 5 months, until May.  Then in May my wife would get a silver Sneakers membership since that is when she would first be eligible.
Any email referred to by Planet Fitness on this matter is entirely internal to Planet Fitness.  No email was sent to me or my wife.  The date of January 18th they reference has nothing to do with when I requested the refund.  It may only be when Nate first communicated with his manager, I do not know.
Nate did offer to cancel my wife's membership and extend mine for an additional 18 months, but I explained to him that I would be eligible for a Silver Sneakers membership 4 months after my own 18 month membership finished, and extending mine by 18 months was not an acceptable solution.
I have been interacting with Nate regularly since the first week of January on this issue, and at no time did he indicate that I would not receive the refund.  He always seemed surprised when I told him that I had not yet got the refund check in the mail, and that he would contact his regional manager again to follow up on the matter.
My last discussion with Nate was in mid April, and he told me that the owner would be visiting the facility on Wednesday, April 13th, and he would speak to him about it.  I told Nate that I have been more than patient, and that I would file a Revdex.com complaint the following week if I did not get the refund that was due me.
Regards,
[redacted]

After looking
into this case further we found that Mr. [redacted]’s billing was reactivated due
to a systematic error that occurred while...

switching our billing software
companies back in 2013. We spoke with Mr. [redacted], explained the situation, and decided
to refund Mr. [redacted] the $382.60 that he requested. Mr. [redacted] is satisfied with
the outcome.
 
Thank you,
Planet Fitness
Connecticut Management

Company responded by phone. **
Cancellations are not done over the phone. Cancellations are not done through corporate.  There is no 18 month membership.  The company did get a new computer system that does not allow...

expired cards to be run.  Calls are being made to update customer records.  The consumer is a active member of the gym. There is a balance due. The company is willing to waive fees if consumer seeks to cancel membership.

Hello,  I have attached all correspondence and documentation for your review.  This member was notified of the specifics of the billing when she signed up in the club. I have attached a copy of the agreement for your review. In the billing portion of the agreement it states that...

the annual fee will be assessed on 12/01/2017 and that annual fee is non-refundable. Miss [redacted] initialed that she fully understood the billing procedure on the [redacted] in club.  These are common issues when members sign up online, however Miss [redacted] was fully informed on all the details regarding the billing of the membership by the assistant manager on the date she signed up.  As for the not addressing the cancellation, Miss [redacted]'s account was cancelled on 12/08/2017. I have also attached the cancellation paperwork and confirmation email that was sent to her email she added to her account.  I have added all correspondence, regarding this issue to this email.  Please let me know if additional information is needed.  Thank you,    [redacted]Regional Manager|Burlington Fitness, Inc d/b/a Planet Fitness VermontFax: ###-###-####| [redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response...

submitted by the business and have determined that the response does satisfy my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint #[redacted]. I understand that by choosing to accept the business response that my complaint will be closed as resolved. 
Regards,
[redacted]

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
 Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: I feel that I need to reimbursed, I was told it didn't matter what date I canceled I was not getting my money back, so when I got in town I went and canceled my contract. I contacted them on the 1st of June. But because I 1 day late I would not get it back? that is poor business 
Regards,
[redacted]

I have reviewed the members statements and here is what she is actually dealing with and what she needs to do. 1) Member claims that she is trying to cancel before her agreement “auto-renews” – In her agreement it clearly states that during her first 12 months she is contracted to make all payments...

and that after those 12 months the membership does continue, but it continues on a month-to-month basis. This means that if she was to cancel before 4/20/16 she would need to pay the $58+taxc buyout fee as stated in her agreement. 2) Member states that she was told to send a certified notarized letter – In members agreement it goes over the two ways to terminate her membership. The first way is to come into the club and fill out cancellation paperwork, and the second is to send a certified letter (this does not need to be notarized). She stated that by the time she did this her membership would have auto-renewed and she would need to pay a buyout fee. Again there is no auto-renew and we always go by the date that the letter was sent. This means that if she was billed before we received the letter that we would issue a refund if necessary. In this case it did not matter because the billing date of the 17th is within her contract period, so she was going to be billed anyway. 3) Member asked why she could not do this over the phone and was told it was because there was sensitive information – I personally have never heard of anyone giving this as an explanation, but the reason it needs to be a letter or in person is because we require a signature, and we obviously cannot get a signature over the phone. Again this is clearly outlined in her agreement. 4) Member says that this was a complete waste of time and said she was told to call back when a Manager was available – The reason she was asked to call back to speak with a Manager is due to her now accepting the requirements of the cancellation process. We provided her with all of the information that she needed, but due to her own actions this process had been dragged out. 5) Lastly the member said that she just wanted to cancel her membership so that she would not be charged for the month of April and that she did not want to be charged with an early termination fee due to this prolonged process – If in fact the member was trying to cancel before she was billed in April she would have needed to cancel by the 10th of that month in order to avoid the draft. If she did this she would be terminating her membership early since her contract runs until the 20th, and this would require her paying the $58+tax buyout fee as stated in her agreement. Nothing about this process, that again she herself has prolonged due to not wanted to follow the instructions of her agreement, has done anything to cause her to b billed in April. She was billed because she was still in a contract and she did not cancel by the 10th of the month which would have included the payment of her buyout fee. I am including a copy of her agreement which she signed on day one stating that she fully understood all of the policies, procedures, and details of the membership. She was given a copy of this agreement on day one as we do all members, and nothing that she was instructed to do falls outside of what is included in said document. Please also be aware that she has not cancelled as of this date. She will still need to send the letter of cancellation or she will continue to be billed. Her contract is up so she is able to cancel without penalty. Please let me know if you need anything else. Thanks!Sent on: 4/18/2016 12:03:04 PM

Hi [redacted],
 
We have actually been in constant contact with Mr. [redacted] on the issues he is having with his account.  Mr. [redacted] signed up on 4/24/13 for a 12 month agreement which then went month to month until he cancelled. As a courtesy we put Mr. [redacted] on a 3 month...

freeze over the phone because he moved and stated he was moving and would be back in February (Attached.) When a membership is put on freeze it then extends the contract for the amount of months the freeze was for (3 months.) Mr. [redacted]s contract is now not
eligible to cancel until 7/24/13.   Mr. [redacted] states that he sent a letter
to cancel, we have no record of his cancellation nor did he send a "certified letter" to insure a receipt of delivery for both parties. IF Mr.
[redacted] did send a letter in March like he states, then he would have cancelled his membership pre-maturely before his 12 month contract was up, which would have resulted in an early termination fee of $58+tax.  His agreement states that there are two ways to cancel, either person or by certified mail, which wasn’t done.  To this day Mr. [redacted] is cancelled in our system, but remains to have a balance of $147.32.  I have attached a copy of his agreement and also his check-in icon that states his balance. 
 
In order for Mr. [redacted] to stay cancelled in good standing, he would have to pay his past due balance.  We would be more than happy to waive $40 off of this balance which would take him to $107.32 owed.  Please let me know if you have any questions and have a great day!
 
[redacted]
[redacted]  |  Planet Fitness [redacted], [redacted], [redacted], [redacted], [redacted], [redacted] www.planetfitness.com

This member had signed an agreement for the Black Card membership. Our policy, that is written out in the agreement and initialed when a member is signing up, is that cancellations must happen by the 10th of the month for billing on the 17th in person or by Certified Mail. With the blackcard...

membership, which Bertha had signed up for, there is a 12 month agreement and a $58 buy out must be paid in order to cancel the membership before that time. This was explained by our Manager to Bertha over the phone on 4/12/17 and she refused to pay it, as a result we were not able to cancel the membership.

Attached is a copy of the agreement that was electronically signed by [redacted]. Highlighted on page one shows our cancellation policy that requires written notification by the 10th of the month delivered in person or preferably by certified mail. It also states that if you have a commitment and wish to end the membership early, a $58 buyout fee is required with cancellation.

To Whom It May Concern:
 
Member [redacted] will be refunded in full in the amount of $40. There seems to have been some misleading information provided to the member at the fault of the front desk associate. This matter has been brought to the attention of the...

General Manager and the staff will be retrained on the matter. Any questions, feel free to contact me at ###-###-####. Thank you!
 
[redacted]
Planet Fitness
Regional Manager
Greater [redacted] Area

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
When I called the first week of January to inquire about canceling my membership I only signed up for in December, I was only told to send in a letter via certified mail and was not advised to send it asap because the annual fee will be charged 2/1. The employees are not providing good information. This is not good business practice. This is not good customer service to treat clients this way. I am a student with limited income. 
Regards,
[redacted]

Please see attached. Membership signed up with the member agreement was for 12 months. After 12 months then month to month cancel anytime. Membership is still active and member recently updated billing info.

We have reviewed Mr. [redacted]'s response regarding his membership with Planet Fitness. Planet Fitness never collected his $39.00 Annual Fee, it was returned as an unpaid item. So far, we have only collected September monthly dues and October monthly dues. His Annual Fee and November monthly dues were not collected. Planet Fitness has cancelled his membership and Mr. [redacted] will no longer be billed.We hope this has resolved Mr. [redacted]'s concerns.

I did contact the manager of Dewitt location and put into place the refund request to Mr. [redacted]. We always welcome back any prior member and hope one day he returns to Planet Fitness. Per membership agreement member would need to cancel by 9/25 to stop the Annual Fee billing and to not be billed...

the Annual Membership fee. Mr. [redacted] did cancel on the 10/1 expecting a refund. Please note that the staff did no wrong doing in this cancellation and member is responsible for upholding agreement terms. I put the refund in place to hopefully have him back at Planet Fitness one day soon. Refund will come in check form usually 7-10 business days. Please email [redacted] with any questions

Good Morning, This case was taken care of on Wednesday February 21st, 2018. This is the date [redacted] and [redacted] cancelled their memberships. Thanks, God Bless. Bryan [redacted]

In response to the initial complaint filed by [redacted] regarding his membership with Planet Fitness of [redacted] a resolution has been reached as of October 27th 2017. [redacted] recently relocated to [redacted] with the intentions of transferring his membership to a location owned by a separate...

franchise group. To successfully transfer his membership the membership needs to be in good financial standing. Due to miscommunication with the transfer process a payment was missed and the account was in poor standing.  The management team for Planet Fitness in [redacted] waived his balance as a courtesy and cancelled his account. [redacted] can now rejoin for any membership type or any Planet Fitness location he chooses. [redacted] was pleased with the solution provided to him. The management team acted quickly to provide a solution and to ensure the quality of customer service provided by all associates of Planet Fitness. We look forward to his continued loyalty to our company and hope that this scenario shines a positive light on the values of our ownership group.  Thank you,  Planet Fitness Connecticut Management

We have looked into this account and do not have a letter, or cancellation on file for [redacted]. Attached is [redacted]' agreement with our cancellation policy is highlighted. Normally, the Black Card Membership does have a $58 buyout fee if cancelled within the first 12 months. [redacted]'...

agreement shows a 0 month term, even though signing up on June 29, 2016. Therefore, we would not charge the buyout fee."To cancel your monthly membership and stop the billing of the Monthly Membership Fee on the 17th of the month, the club requires written notification by the 10th of the month delivered to the club in person or postmarked via certified mail to the club address listed above."At this time, we have cancelled the membership but will not be giving a refund.

We have reviewed Mr. [redacted]’s complaint and looked into this issue. Our records show that this location is not part of our franchise group. It is our hope that Mr. [redacted] gets his issue resolved.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: I do not have an issue with the initial Buy-out my issue is with the additional 10.60 monthly fee I was charged and to say it is policy does not mean they aren't able to refund that fee to me. My god what and where are your customer service skills? I have never seen or had any issues with any company not wanting to go the extra mile to satisfy the customer - so what this means is even though the buy out shows "0" Balance and the system added an extra 10.60 to its BuyOut I really did not have a 0 buyout as indicated. And I am aware of the contract.Well I am still requesting that I am refunded the additional 10.60 -
Sincerely,
[redacted]