I needed to join a gym - things were wobbling that shouldn't be so I had a scout around my local work area and thought LA Fitness was suitable as it was a few minutes walk from my office and of decent size plus it wasn't full of muscle-bound, sweaty grunting weightlifters (OK if you go for that kind of thing I suppose!). You have two payment options per month - these vary from gym - but I paid an extra £5 a month for a free towel as it frees up gym bag space. There are lots of those join now and get blah blah type promos going on all the time so no doubt if you were to join, you'd be offered something totally different.
Anyway, I was shown around and liked the look of the place (clean changing area, enough machines for my use and a small free weights section) so I joined in August 2004 on a six month contract. When I filled out the Direct Debit form I was told I'd be making the standard payment that day of £39.95 and £25 'Admin' Fee, then 5 monthly installments of £39.95. I asked about ending the contract and the chap said "no need, it's just 5 monthly payments - that's it".
Something odd must have happened over the course of a few months as each time I went there was less and less staff and as a result the changing rooms were not being cleaned as regularly and had dirty towels strewn about the floor. Gym equipment would jam and not be fixed promptly, there would be one lone Instructor roaming around although they would mainly stand watching one of the small TVs which was regularly tuned to football and lots of muscle-bound, sweaty grunting men descended upon the free weights section and as the air-con wasn't that great the air had a constant lingering odour of B.O. and general nastiness.
After one gym session in January when I was unable to use hardly any of the machines I needed due to them being jammed or switched off (?!), I fired off an email terminating my membership.....
In March I opened a letter from my bank, it was my bank statement and on the 28th Feb, LA Fitness took £39.95 from my account. "That's odd" I thought, "My membership ended 11th Feb - I'll call them as they must have made an error". I was then met by the most obnoxious Administrator ever who said they never received my message and it was my fault for not chasing them on the matter. I went through the whole 'it was just a 6 month contract, you only have my permission to take 5 payments' only to be told it was a Rolling Contract and they'd carry on taking my money until I told them to stop. Needless to say as soon as I put the phone down I rattled off an email cancelling my membership.
Later on in the evening I contacted my bank who stopped March's pending Direct Debit and then on Wednesday, rang the Head Office of LA Fitness and spoke to another charmer in Credit Control. I was told that it was my fault, I should have read the small print on the contract (be 100% honest now - if someone tells you a contract is just for 6 months, and you sign for 6 months, do you believe them or am I just too trusting/naive......stupid?), and if I didn't make March's payment I'd be taken to court and made to pay over £90 and possibly be credit blacklisted. I was also told that it wasn't the responsibility of their staff to explain about the whole 'contract should be terminated' situation.
I rang my bank back, petrified. I'm a home owner and can do without Black Listing, whether it be an empty or genuine threat. My bank immediately sent off a claim form to LA Fitness refusing to make the payment and if for whatever reason, LA Fitness try to, Virgin'll get the money back from them for me. I have been told to contact Virgin Thursday to find out what's happening.
In the meantime, I have paid £39.95 for a gym I refuse to go back to, plus I cannot even hand my remaining membership over to someone else for them to use (not that I'd want to wish that place on my worse enemy).
I have been a member of a few gyms and have never experienced the problems above, when I signed for 6 or 12 months, that was it - no need for termination costs.
Join LA Fitness Aldgate if you must but don't forget that letter of termination or you'll be paying until you're 90!
More details
Price
£39.95 a month but varies branch to branch
Size
Small
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