WOW! Work Out World, Waterford, Groton, Norwich, New London

Conversation between Office Administrator and *** ***: The front desk spoke to *** *** initially when he called about a delinquent balance from March (do not honor credit card on file)He claimed he had cancelled a year agoI told the front desk to take his name and number,
I would go through the cancellations from last year as well as this year and make sure nothing got missed on the Companies endWhen I looked, I did not see any communication from *** pertaining to him requesting his membership be cancelledI called him to tell him we had not received any notification of him requesting his membership be cancelledI explained our policy is to send a certified letter to our Corporate office stating you wish to cancel your membershipOnce received, dues will be stopped days laterI told him if he could provide proof that he sent us a certified letter at the time he was stating he cancelled, he would be eligible for a refundHe said he did not send a certified letterI explained if he would send us a letter right away, via certified mail, with a cancellation letter, we would stop his monthly paymentsIf he could also send proof of relocation prior to March 2016, as a courtesy, we would remove the balance for March and cancel him going forwardI explained to him that our cancelation policy is outlined on the front of his contract and it is the only way to ensure our members account gets canceledI also explained that we do not retroactively refund(also outlined in the contract) and without the certified receipt as proof that he notified us we can not refund him going backwardsHe told me I am just trying to fall back on the policies, and he wasn't going to accept what I told him and he wanted to speak to someone above meI explained he could speak to a manager however, they would not be able to tell him or do anything different because the policies of the company are the same no matter who you are speaking withHe refused to accept that and wanted to speak to someone "above me"Our Regional Director happened to be in the building so I forward the call to him
Conversation between Regional Director and *** ***: I took the call from *** after he finished speaking to our Corporate Office AdministratorWhen I picked up the phone I introduced myself as the Regional Director, and he asked, "director of what?" I explained I was the Regional Director of all Renegade locationsHe informed me that he had sent a letter to cancel his agreement to our Waterford location but he just noticed his billing never stoppedI informed *** we did not receive notice of any kind pertaining to him canceling his membershipWithout a certified letter receipt, he was ineligible for a refundI offered to stop his billing going forward if he were to send in a certified letter of cancellation because we obviously do not want to run into a situation where he is charged for another monthI then asked him why he waited this long to call us when he noticed his payments had not stoppedHe said "I don't pay attention to that stuff"He insisted he wanted his money back and asked to speak to someone elseI let him know, there was no one else who can help him because our policy is in place to prevent these types of situationsWe need proof from the Member to cancel their agreementI further explained certified mail would have insured that your payments stop*** said that it is "complete ***" and that he wanted to speak to the ownerI told him the owner is not in an actual club everydayHe then said "I am going to make this *** *** for you" and don't be surprised if you lose your job within a couple of weeks"I then told him I was sorry he felt that way, however, we need to follow Company policies and I wished him a good day***'s accusations are with regard to the language he claims I used
Status of membership:
Still waiting for certified letter of cancellationIf provides proof that he relocated prior to March 1, 2016, we will remove his balance due for March

Member came into the facility and met with our membership staffThe spin pricing and the terms of her contract were explained in its entiretyMember understood and accepted this and opted to continue with her membership and the terms as is

Member #[redacted] signed his legally binding contract on 12/17/2008. The contract states in section #2. I understand that this agreement cannot be cancelled for a minimum period of 24 payments, except as specifically provided for in this agreement. After that time, I understand this...

agreement becomes a monthly contract cancelable upon my written request by CERTIFIED MAIL received 30 days prior to my next billing cycle. The contract also states in the billing section #2 that verbal, faxed or telephone cancellation are not accepted. This account would not have been cancelled unless the member sent a certified letter to cancel. There is no certified letter on file. This portion of this agreement is signed by the member.
We have recorded usage for this member up until 7/12/2012 which clearly extended past his original 24 month commitment time. We would be more than happy to provide a copy of his contract and his usages. [redacted] account became delinquent in February 2013 and continued to decline for March and April flagged as a bad account. As a customer courtesy we took him off automatic billing to avoid him incurring an additional $20.00 service fee each month that he declined. His account was pursued until Sept 2013 with no response or communication. It was sent to collections in Sept 2013. No attempt to rectify this account has been made from the member.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
I will send payment out tomorrow Thursday June 11 for $60 full and final to the [redacted] address posted in the complaint.  Thank you for your time and assistance.  
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:  Typical response from someone trained in scamming people with fine print contracts loaded with bait and switch tactics.    There was zero "attempt to contact me" to explain any of the following:  charges (delinquent or otherwise), fees, extended contracts or anything.   ALSO,  there were SEVERAL letters sent by me to both company and company billing people,  plus several phone calls to everyone I needed to call , all of which stating CANCEL.  I asked about a million times to cancel, but as many people will tell you this is an impossible task when dealing with WorkOutWorld.  This is all a front put on by these criminals, and I will make sure everyone ever considering such a crap hole scam gym to look elsewhere.   The contract I signed was for a year, not two,  the manager that hustled me stated the montly rate and the contract length.  The length stated was a year, this is the normal length of time for ANY contract on earth when it comes to services like this, but WorkoutWorld knows that you can steal a whole lot more money signing people up for years they never wanted or agreed to.  I would suggest to anyone crazy enough to patronize this gym to bring a lawyer and a cop with them when signing their contracts.   These people steal from you,  then damage your credit, then cry victim,   then demand re-payment.   Something is very wrong here,  and you can rest assure I will make sure alot more people are aware of this situation.  This gym needs to be investigated from the top down, period.  
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:it is not fair to the consumer. If we are sticking to the facts of the contract, the bank card I provided had an Expiration date of 3/2013 written in the contract.  Please advise how you were able to obtain payment successfully from 3/2013-2/2015 on an expired card?  I did not provide a new expiration date to continue charging my bank account to 2015. There is no language in the contract indicating you will continue to charge an expired bank card. Perhaps I should contact my bank for 2 years of unauthorized charges to my bank account. I called to remit payment in March and when advised I would be charged an extra $20 for an expired date, I refuse when in the last 2 years you have been collecting all along. As previously mentioned I will remit $30 for March and $30 for April. You can cancel my membership as you are not consumer friendly and make unauthorized charges on an expired card for 2 years. It does not seem you can follow your own contract when it specifically says the card expired 3/2013. 
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Revdex.com:Thank you very much for your assistance in this matter. I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. 
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Revdex.com:
Thank you very much for your assistance in this matter. I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. 
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Member originally signed up for a promotional membership rate of $10.00. On 6/14/2011 member re-signed a new legally binding contract for $29.99 a month for a minimum of 24 months. The contract clearly states in section #2 that this memberships becomes a monthly contract cancelable only upon...

written request by certified mail. We have no record of cancellation or certified mail on file. Members account started to decline for March 2015 and continued to decline for the April & May billing cycles. Our contract states in section #11 that there is a $20.00 service fee for any uncollected automatic dues. This would bring the members balance to $206.51. As a courtesy to the members so that they do not continue to incur any further service fees we stop the automatic debits after 3 unsuccessful attempts. After 90 days the account will be referred to a collection agency. Please remit payment to: [redacted]

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this...

response because:  I do not agree with them.  I have not paid the additional 20 dollars a month that they want me to pay for the spin classes nor did I sign a new contract like they want me to.  I believe they are in violation of my original contract which does not expire until April 2017.  I expect them to honor their contract.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

A copy of the legally binding contract that states the terms of the agreement is being mailed today 3/20/15.

Please see attached copy of LEGALLY BINDING CONTRACT. See section #2 that clearly states our cancellation procedure. All cancellation requests must be sent by certified mail to the attached address. This policy is company wide and is for the protection of the customer to ensure timely processing....

The address is :
[redacted]

Work Out World's business model is sign up quickly and make it hard to opt out.
I had a year contract with WOW and I knew the end of my contract was August 2015. I called and talked to Joe, their salesman, and he confirmed my contract end date with no discussion about what needs to be done to end the contract.
I also stopped by this spring to put my cancellation in writing and they said no one was there to take care of it and to come back.
Today I saw a charge on my credit card for September 2015 and I called and talked to Jeff. He told me to put it in writing. I told him I would drive over today. After we went round and round he finally told me that I had to write a certified letter and send it to Waterford and it would take another 30 days and I would be charged for October as well. This is unacceptable. They need to make it easier to opt out and they make a boatload of money off this technicality.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:Due to an unforeseeable hardship, this written request must serve as cancellation of my membership, effective immediately. I appreciate your response and anticipated compliance.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Re: [redacted]
WOW! Work Out World is licensed by the State of Connecticut, Dept of Consumer Protection, doing business since 1984. We operate within complete compliance of all State regulations. Any allegations, otherwise, are false. Your failure to cancel according the guidelines clearly outlined in your agreement is no fault of Work Out World. To cancel you should have provided written request by certified mail received 30 days prior to your next billing date. You failed to submit notice. You also falsely imply you ‘sent several letters to the company as well as the company billing people and made about a million calls’. We have no record of any written or oral communications. Another false statement made by you. WOW has an exceptional member retention rate because of customer satisfaction and results achieved. Your failure to abide by the cancellation guidelines does not entitle you to slander others.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:it is not fair to the consumer. 
If we are sticking to the facts of the contract, the bank card I provided had an 
Expiration date of 3/2013 written in the contract.  Please advise how you were able to obtain payment successfully from 3/2013-2/2015 on an expired card?  I did not provide a new expiration date to continue charging my bank account to 2015. 
There is no language in the contract indicating you will continue to charge an expired bank card. Perhaps I should contact my bank for 
2 years of unauthorized charges to my bank account. I called to remit payment in March and when advised I would be charged an extra $20 for an expired date, I refuse when in the last 2 years you have been collecting all along. As previously mentioned I will remit $30 for March and $30 for April. You can cancel my membership as you are not consumer friendly and make unauthorized charges on an expired card for 2 years. It does not seem you can follow your own contract when it specifically says the card expired 3/2013. 
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Work Out World's business model is sign up quickly and make it hard to opt out.
I had a year contract with WOW and I knew the end of my contract was August 2015. I called and talked to Joe, their salesman, and he confirmed my contract end date with no discussion about what needs to be done to end the contract.
I also stopped by this spring to put my cancellation in writing and they said no one was there to take care of it and to come back.
Today I saw a charge on my credit card for September 2015 and I called and talked to Jeff. He told me to put it in writing. I told him I would drive over today. After we went round and round he finally told me that I had to write a certified letter and send it to Waterford and it would take another 30 days and I would be charged for October as well. This is unacceptable. They need to make it easier to opt out and they make a boatload of money off this technicality.

Review: I had a contract with WOW of Norwich for 1 year. Which was explained to me was for 1 year. Now 2 or more years later, I am still being charged for a membership I do not use. I have called numerous times to cancel. I am left on hold so long, I give up. I sent them an e-mail on the web site and have not been contacted. I have now once again been charged a maintenance fee of $30+ today. I am tired of the run around and want to report them for their practices.

Desired Settlement: DesiredSettlementID: Refund

I want to be reimbursed for the last months fee and maintenance fee!!

Business

Response:

Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2013/08/09) */

Member joined on 6/1/2010. The legally binding contract that the member signed states: I understand that this membership cannot be cancelled for a minimum period of 24 months from the eft bill date. After that time, I understand this agreement becomes a monthly contract cancelable ONLY upon my written request by certified mail received 30 days prior to my next bill date. Verbal, faxed or telephone cancellations are not valid. We have no certified letter on file. Member must send a certified letter in order to cancel to the following address:

WOW! WORKOUT WORLD

6 Fargo Road

Waterford, CT 06385

I was and as far as I know currently am a member of this club since the beginning in 2001, this past early July 2015 I brought a typed signed resignation letter to the Groton location and was told I had to send a certified letter to the Waterford location. The club changed name and LLC I assume and I NEVER signed any contract or gave permission for renegade fitness to debit any monies from my bank account.
Last week I went to the Waterford location and was told that I needed to send the certified letter, my contract was an old one and I pointed out that I had no contract with renegade and they did not have my permission to take any money from my account or I would take it as theft. I was told that the Waterford location was still technically work out world even though I had no privileges there, if they steal money from my account I will take legal action based on principle, I have heard about their questionable ethics and practices in the past and will not fall victim

Review: WOW Work Out World neglected to contact me to inform me that they stopped receiving monthly payments (set up to be made automatically each month via credit card), had an outstanding balance, and would continue to [redacted] me each month with an additional return fee ($20) per occurrence. To my knowledge, this would have continued indefinitely had I not contacted them to cancel my membership. After numerous attempts to contact WOW to get clarity (an itemized [redacted]) regarding the outstanding balance (approx. $200) and cancel my membership, I finally received letter from "Member Services" (the same folks I spoke to over the phone and in person when I visited their Waterford site) describing the breakdown of my balance and informing me that I could not cancel my membership until the balance was paid in full. Moreover, this aforementioned letter was not actually in response to my previous attempts to gain information about my account, but rather in response to a (postmarked) letter that was needed to cancel the membership. Despite my exhaustive efforts to gain information around and "officially" cancel, or at least put a hold on, my account, WOW would not close/hold the account and continue to charge me each month. In attempt to prevent further charges and hopefully closed the account, I decided to pay the full balance at the moment. However, it wasn't clear to the "Member Services" I spoke with over the phone that paying the balance in full, as I have done, would actually allow for the cancellation to be processed (despite what the letter informed me) and/or prevent further reoccurring charges. They told me that I should call them in a few days to check the status of my account.

Desired Settlement: DesiredSettlementID: Refund

Since they, or any associated billing party, neglected to contacted me, I expect a full refund.

Business

Response:

Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2013/06/04) */

Memberships do not cancel automatically when they are delinquent, however once a members account is more than 4 months in arrears they are taken off of the automatic billing cycle and sent on to further collections. Member account was 4 months delinquent. Mr. [redacted] owed for 6/12, 2/13, 3/13 ,4/13 and a 4/13 annual maintenance fee. The total balance was $173.40. We received a letter postmarked May 3, 2013, asking us to cancel his membership. He was sent a response letter on 5/7/13 stating what his balance was and telling him how much he needed to pay in order to cancel and to call us to resume the cancellation process as we are unable to honor a cancellation request on a delinquent account. On 5/8/13 we received notice that his 5/1/13 dues also did not go through. This would now bring his balance due to $204.04. On 5/28/13 member paid the balance in full. This account was cancelled 5/29/13.