Ultimate Fitness Center

I have...

reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
Rob is lying, which is normal, I am not the only student who has been told they can cancel at any time this issue seems to happen more often than not with this company. I was told multiple times that someone would be in contact with me and it never happened so I'm not sure if you are going to receive a response either. Also, a business promises to provide their customers with a copy of a contract if necessary, I waited 5 months and had to send multiple emails and call numerous time asking questions about this before I received one. As stated to the business (which I never received a response to) if necessary I will go through a lawyer. The reviews of this company in the paper and online tell it all and unfortunately when someone promises me that I can "cancel at any time" or "put your account on hold, where we don't charge you for those months until you are ready to return" I believe them. I was lied to and I will not accept another lie as a response to this. An obvious indication that they know they are wrong is that no one has contacted me since November when I was told I would be contacted with billing information.  I have every single email that was sent and received. Also, because I seriously doubt they will send you the contract as promised I have attached the copy that I finally received on November 14th. 
Regards,
[redacted]

Review: I have been a customer of this gym for over 5 years. I opened an account for myself and my son. My son started going to college and his schedule did not allow him to attend the gym so I decided to freeze his account and keep my account active. I spoke to an employee and he froze my son's account. After the freezing period ended the gym began charging the $25 monthly fee again and my son was still unable to go to the gym so I decided to cancel the account. I was told by the same employee that cancellations are handled by the financial company eFit Financial. I was then told by an eFit Financial employee that I needed to fill out the cancellation form, then submit it online to request cancellation. The cancellation form made it clear that I would have to pay a one-time charge of $25 after cancellation. However, even after submitting the cancellation form on 07/17/13 and being charged the agreed upon $25 dollars, this company has continued to charge me $25 a month for this account that was supposed to be cancelled.This has being going on for over 2 months. I spoke to the same gym employee and eFit employee who told me to speak to the owner of the gym about this issue but was never given any reliable contact information, even when requested. I was only given the gym's phone number and email address, neither of which allow me to speak to the owner directly.Desired Settlement: I believe this to be a case of negligence and am only asking to be refunded any charges after the agreed upon $25 cancellation fee.

Business

Response:

Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. Our cancellation process is intended for the convenience of our members, when a cancellation form is received via email it is then processed for cancellation on the next billing cycle. If the form was receive in July the last billing would be in August etc.

Our staff is trained to handle these common issues and we are more than willing to assist this member in any way we can. It is not our company’s procedure to contact the owners for billing or daily operational issues, the owners are not involved in the daily operation of the business, we have managers that can assist in these types of matters.

If this member brings his cancellation form along with his bank statement showing the date cancelled and the dates charged, we will have no problem issuing a credit if he was billed in error.

Ultimate Fitness Center

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.

I was clearly told in person multiple times by the management that the owner MUST authorize cancellations and is not handled by them, yet this response implies that these issues are only handled by management. This is clearly a case of negligence, lying, and unfair billing practices in which I am being referred back and forth between management and the owner. I was given the cancellation form DIRECTLY from the company via email, which I thoroughly read and filled out (the form clearly said "Membership Cancellation Form"), then told it was the wrong one when I showed it to management. This is an error on part of the company, not mine so I find it unfair that I should be penalized for their mistake. I am more than willing to fill out the "right" form and would like to be reimbursed for any unjust charge after the original intended cancellation date of 07/17/13. I am also willing to take this issue to small claims court, as I have all emails, sent and received, and bank statements well documented.

Regards,

Business

Response:

We are sorry that our willingness to assist this member is

not acceptable by him. Our cancellation

forms are a template and therefore could not be sent in error as stated.

We feel that we have attempted to rectify this member’s

issues in good faith. We simply ask

that he bring the cancellation for that he received via email along with his

bank statements showing that he was billed after the cancellation terms and

conditions and we will refund any monthly dues that should not have been

charged.

This matter can be handled by any manager at the facility.

Once again the owners are not involved in the daily operation .