Screw you Bally's Total Fitness

NYSpeed Automotive NYSpeed Off Topic
1

So, I signed up for Bally’s a while ago - and when you sign up, you sign this contract for 3 years. There are a couple loopholes : if you get hurt, or if you move away more than 25 miles from a Bally’s and some other stuff, you can get out of your contract. So, I have a uncle who is a doctor, and 2 cousins as well, and they can all write stuff for me if need be.

I legitly hurt my ankle on sept 2005, a measly 6 months after I join, and I get a note from my doctor telling them that I can’t go to the gym anymore, and that I would like to cancel my contract. I fax my note to the cancellation dept in California. (1st time, let’s keep count)

All is well until I begin to get harassed by Bally’s and I tell them “look, I faxed it to you guys already, please check your fax machines.” This is when I get “Oh, well the fax machines here are screwed up, can you fax it again?” No problem, I thought to myself. So I fax it again. (2nd time)

Another month goes by with nothing, and I have another Bally’s person call me. Same exact thing. “We didn’t get any paperwork,” blah blah blah BS. So I fax it a 3rd time. (3 now).

Another month. Another call. “Please send it to us since our fax machines suck” - exact words of rep on the other line. So, I send it over to them. Sweet, done deal right? Wrong.

After 3 more months, I get a call from a collections agency, telling me I owe Bally’s $1400 to “buy out the rest of my contract.” I explain the situation to the collections lady, tell her to contact Bally’s and see what the status of my account was, because I have sent them (4 times now) all the necessary information I needed to show them to cancel my account. I gave her all my contact info : my cell, my work number, my house number - to assure her that I’m not running away from any debt, but that I would like to get this resolved as soon as possible. That, and I do NOT want to pay a dime for time that they are charging me for that I never used.

Fast foward to last week. I get a call from this indian guy (nothing wrong with that, I’m just saying, it was funny because his name was “vik” or something) and he starts talking to me about this problem. I can’t believe it. It still hasn’t been resolved. I tell him to call me back and check with Bally’s to see what the hell is going on. My account has been charged off from Bally’s and yeah - they “never got my information.”

I called “vik” back and tell him the situation and that they are working on it, and will call me back tuesday. Vik then puts his manager on, “Lloyd” who promptly persists to make me pay $600 for a service that I legally got out of, that I never used, and he kept saying shit like “It will save you thousands later on in life” and “I understand your situation but you must pay this.” If you understand me situation, you’d give me a couple business days, and you would work with me instead of just telling me to pay it. So dickhole “lloyd” gets a phone call from me after I call Bally’s up, and they pretty much are going to resolve the situation, and he tells me “now I owe the full amount and that I just fucked myself over.”

I hate Bally’s. I also do not have a very good opinion on collection agencies, this is my first dealing with one.

2

Bally’s offers a month to month membership, which is a bit more pricey, but this is exactly why i do that.

edit: sucks though. hopefully you can get it taken care of

3

that really sucks, buncha b.s.

ide be pretty angry, you should bally’s and really start making some demands

4

shitty sounds like we are in the same boat…

5

call them back, jump thru their hoops all over again … audiotape it all…

… then sue them for breach of contract

/troubles

6

ballys is total garbage. my pool at home is bigger than their pool in the building, half of their floor space is just wasted open space, they removed the only ab machine I used on the floor, they had 1 row machine that has now disappeared, they took the only squat setup and moved it into the hallway where some fat employee uses it as a coat rack, they refuse to make it any cooler than 90 degrees in the summer, I need to buy a humvee to negotiate their parking lot potholes, their hours suck, their prices suck, and their layout sucks.

7

Fuck all that shit.

For what a home gym costs, why not just set something up in your basement?

Got a band type weight machine here in the basement, i got in a trade for a computer lcd monitor.

Got an eliptical machine on craigslist for 75 bucks, and picked up a couple excercise mats at big lots for a song.

For 100 bucks total i can go in my basement and workout whenever i want, and don’t have go drive anywhere.

8

I wouldn’t pay it. That sucks though, i’m sure it will all work out considering your numerous attempts to take care of it already.

9

Sounds like this might be headed to court. The worst part is their fucking with your credit score. Got any records of your fax transmissions?

10

I would send them the paperwork again and send it certified mail. That way if they keep this up, you can take them to small claims court and you have proof that you sent it, and they can’t say “oh well we never got it”.

11

Is this affecting your credit now?I had something similar happen like this and it is now a 30 day late on my credit for $42!!!All they want is $$$ they could care less about the situation.Lloyd even backs that up.

D

12

I knew about this…and thought i mentioned this problem w/ Ballys to you before. I didn’t know until after started my 3 year contract, luckily next month is my last month of the contract.

Both of my brothers review credit reports all the time and always see Bally’s as past due accounts. They warned me about Bally’s and to make sure i don’t try canceling my account because, legit reason or not,…they will show up on your Credit Report.

I have had a gym membership with World Gym for the past year and refuse to get rid of my BALLY’s becuase my credit report is more valuable to me.

I would like to find a good way to fuck Bally’s over, but as far as i’m concerned, it’s not worth problems with my credit report

PM Me howie…I may have a good way to take care of this issue for you, through alex.

13

I don’t know how you guys get into these scenarios, lol.

Especially if it’s paid w/ any CC. Usually as long as you don’t have issues every month, they have no problem whipping up that chargeback.

i’ve had my ballys “lifetime” membership for about 4 years (about 15 / month in dues) and i usually hit up the gym w/ bad azz Z. although what he says is mostly true, it is still a better workout than you could get at home. i am baffled though at how they will take away machines at will without plan or desire to replace, and how they can fail to have at least ONE good machine for each body part…

14

and check this out:

http://www.creditinfocenter.com/rebuild/debt_validation.shtml

15

Pretty much if you have a credit card you have them by the balls.

Call the credit card company, they will yank the charges for you.

The last time I had to do this, I bought a business tape on the infomercial. They said it was free, then charged me 199 bucks on the card.

I called the CC company, they yanked the charges. A rep from the tape company called myself and said to keep the tape, and they would credit the charges.

Companies are scared shitless of chargebacks. If you get too many of them, they yank your merchant account. And if you have shitty credit, you can’t get another merchant account.

So trust me, they will take care of you if you bitch to visa or mc.

16

Mine too… fucking homos at Bally’s. We had a verbal agreement that the racket ball courts would be completely repaired… still not done. When I fought with them last year, they said verbal agreements mean nothing to them. I swiped off his desk and left. :slight_smile:

17

:lol:

Howie, don’t pay a fucking red cent. What you should have done after the second time they asked you to fax the information, was MAIL the info certified return receipt. Then every time they call, either don’t answer or tell them to go fuck themselves. Eventually they will have to pursue it in court. Show up in court with your documentation and your certified return receipt, case dismissed; and Bally’s just wasted SHITLOADS of money pursuing you.

The satisfaction of looking at their faces as you leave the courtroom is priceless. Ask me how I know. :slight_smile:

OPTION B: If they ding your CC for the amount, send copies of paperwork and return receipt to Credit Company, they will return the money for you and then they will tell Ballys to fuck off.

The satisfaction of knowing Bally’s wasted money is awesome, but not as awesome as seeing the assholes in court.

18

My hero.

19

Hahahah I WORK AT A COLLECTIONS AGENCY, and what I think he offered you with the $600 was a SETTLEMENT…What a Settlement is, is a savings where they take some of the Interest and Late charges that were originally added to the purchase price…

You could also look into getting a Below Blanket Settlement if you GET STUCK PAYING THE ACCOUNT…Offer them HALF OF THE $ THEY WANT NOW and you will be all set if they accept.

Good luck man but I doubt the shit will go away until you pay especially if they placed you into collections :fyi:

20

trust me, there are ways. :wink: