World Gym Tracy

Review: I purchased an annual membership which included free child care. During the course of my annual membership the gym informed me (And apparently all parents who used this service) that they were requiring a $5 per child per month fee for use of the child care services, despite their advertisement that this was included in the membership. My child was turned away from the gym child care after I refused to pay this fee as it is my belief this was a breach of the contract and false advertisement. My annual membership was paid up front and included the child care but I was not able to use this "included" service at a certain point due to this "fee."Desired Settlement: I have 3 small children and was not able to use the gym without finding a babysitter as I refused to pay the fee as it was included in my annual contract. Mostly principal re: the fees being raised under contract.

Business

Response:

Due to increased day care costs we made the decision to start charging $5 per child per month starting September 1st,2014. The internal management decision to move forward with this increase was made on June 15,2014. Notifications of the increase and why it was necessary was posted on July 1st,2014 in 5 locations inside the gym (front counter, day care entrance, both washrooms, and front door), on our Website, [redacted] page, and monthly news letter, thus giving our members a two month notice that starting on September 1st,2014 the $5 per child per month charge will take effect. We also told all new members that signed up for a membership between July 1st and August 31st that we will start charging for day care on September 1st,2014. We pulled all advertising that stated "Free Childcare" from our website, brochures, marketing magazines, and all other marketing media we use on June 15th,2014. Secondly our membership contract does not state anywhere (and never has) that "Day Care" is included free of charge with your membership, thus we believe the complaintant is not correct in stating that there was a breach of contract. Yes, although it is true that we advertised free day care up until June 30th,2014, we however feel that a 60 day notice was fair and ample time in notifying all our members of the upcoming day care charge. Unfortunately businesses are forced to increase their costs periodically in order meet their increasing costs. We beleive false advertising is when a business advertises something for free and then charges you a hidden fee within their contract, we never did this. We have over 3000 memberships with more than 900 members using our day care facilities and this is the only complaint we have ever received. We can furnish our membership contract and the notification letter we posted upon request. Regards [redacted] Owner