Results Fitness, Inc.

Review: I currently have a gym membership with Highland Fitness in Eau Claire. In March of 2014 I got a new bank card and when my card number changed and my monthly payment did not go through in March I was put into collections. I was not made aware that my payments were not going through. They have my address, email and phone number. Yet I was not made aware of this fact until June 30th of 2014 when I called to cancel my membership and was told that I had been in collections for some time. I had been going to the gym and checking in at the desk. No employee or representative at Highland Fitness let me know that I had in fact been put into collections. I spoke with the collections agency and they claim that I must now pay out a full year's contract; over $600 within the next month of July, or I will remain in collections. I recently moved and my rent has doubled, but I am also told that I am unable to remove myself from the gym membership until 2015. Even with a proof of address change and the obvious fact that they have put me into collections.Desired Settlement: I would like to be taken out of collections and get out of my gym contract due to the way in which my billing has been handled. I would like to be charged for the months that I did in fact use the gym, but not to be charged through the following year to a toll of $600+ in collection fees. I feel it is ridiculous that I am being told that I must pay for my entire two year membership within the next month. I am very upset and frustrated that I was not contacted about my bill going into collections, neither by mail, email, telephone, or face to face at the gym. Thank you for your consideration and I hope that some of this may be resolved! I unfortunately do not have any information as to my exact start date of the membership, nor the initial charge that was made as an entry fee. I asked for a record of my account and was only redirected to their collections agency and not given any information specific to my account. I did ask repeatedly for more information on this matter and made a calm and concise complaint. I also filed a formal complaint with a Highland Fitness superior on 6/30/2014 via the Highland Fitness website to which I have had no response by phone or email.

Business

Response:

This has been Resolved.

We were looking for a gym membership and this gym had a good location for us. We called to get a price since one is not listed on their website. They told us we need to schedule an appointment to stop in so they could present all of the benefits of the facility. They would not provide a price over the phone.
We stopped in for our appointment, and we were told to fill out a form which was to provide all our personal contact information and reasons why we would want to join. At the bottom was a liability waiver, from what we could interpret, it was not explained.
We were told the monthly price and enrollment fee, which she would waive if we would sign a 1-2 year commitment right there and then. The "various options" she said they had to offer, which was the reason she cited for not being able to quote a price over the phone, was only that they offer a 1 year contract or a 2 year contract. She made no mention of the "free trial" from their website. No presentation was made, and we never were given a tour or explaination of facility benefits. In short, the only reason to schedule an appointment was to get a face to face meeting which makes it uncomfortable to say no.
We decided against signing and did more research. We found out they will charge an additional fee twice a year for maintenance that was not presented to us at the appointment. This was confirmed in a follow up call we made to them.
We want to share our experience with prospective customers to empower them with information that Highland Fitness is unwilling to provide to customers. They are not considerate of your time or intelligence and are underhanded in their fees.