Bally's Total Fitness Scam

YouCannotFoolMe · #1 02-17-2005, 06:41 PM

In an effort to save their sinking ship, they'll send you a note saying you used your expired membership card at some location you never visited, then bill you for it.

On the notice, it says that if you pay the amount due, you automatically renew your membership.

Careful....

eyeknowbetterthanthat · #2 03-04-2005, 10:41 AM

Several years ago, I was in a salon and saw the "fill this out and win a free membership" ballot box for Bally's. I filled out a slip, and surprisingly got a phone call a week later saying I won.
When I went in to discuss things with them, I discovered that nothing was free! They said I'd get 5 free days but had to sign up for 3 yrs and pay the whole thing up front in order to claim my prize. I told them that I didn't have the money on me and really needed to think it over.
They said they'd hold my spot with a deposit of $25 and I could pay the lump sum within 30 days. I told them what I had in my pocket...$5.
They said, "Ok, we'll hold your spot if you give us the $5 now and come back with the other $20 within 7 days."
So I gave them the $5 cash, no recept, but a copy of the contract stating that I gave them $5 and $5 ONLY. I decided it wasn't affordable for me and didn't return with the other $20 within 7 days and figured I'd just let the $5 go.
2 weeks later, I got a bill from them saying I owed them over $300! So I went there w/ my copy of the contract and they showed me what they had in their files... they write in a 2 before the 5 making it $25 and "sealing the deal" as they put it.
DO NOT TRUST BALLY'S EVER!

gina463 · #3 03-08-2005, 08:23 AM

I went into Bally's about 2 years ago after graduating from college. I explained to them that I had no money and that I didn't want to sign any contract for 3 years (since I knew people that had gotten roped into this before).

The guy told me that all I need was to out down 25.00 and that my payment would be like 20.00 a month for the first 3 months and then 40.00 after that and that any time that I wanted to stop going to the gym all I had to do was pay 50.00 and that would be it.

I even asked him if there were any conditions to this 50.00 and your out thing and he said NO that since I was underneath their college student program that I would just be able to call and pay the 50.00 and that was it.

Well a couple of months later when I wanted to stop going to that gym. They told me that I have to live over 10 miles away from a bally's or have a doctor's note stating that I could no longer work out in order to cancel my membership and pay the 50.00 and that I should read my paperwork more carefully. They were extremly rude and would not let me cancel my membership.

They are a bunch of liars!!!

xenopdx · #4 03-09-2005, 10:26 PM

I was on Bally’s month-to-month membership plan that I could cancel at any time. I canceled the membership without any problems back in February. However, I received a “Monthly Statement” in the mail today stating that I owe them the dues for the months of March and April. The “Statement” states that “Late Charges Will be Applied On Payments Received 10 Days after Due date” and that “a negative credit report reflecting on your credit record may be submitted to a credit reporting agency if you fail to fulfill the term of your credit obligations.” Furthermore, the “Statement” gives me several payment options, which include credit card, check and automatic electronic transfer.

I called Bally (on its non-toll-free number) and was told that I do NOT owe Bally any dues, and that the “Monthly Statement” was merely an offer to renew my canceled membership at the old rate. I could simply ignore the “Statement” if I didn’t want to renew my membership.

In my opinion, this is a deceptive practice to get people to buy the services that they no longer want and are under no obligation to buy. Before calling Bally, I seriously thought that if I didn’t pay the amount stated in the “Statement,” my credit would be ruined. They forced me to call them on their non-toll-free number, and I had to endure their sales pitch while paying for the long-distance phone call charge.

Well, I promptly filed a complaint with the BBB. I plan to file a complaint with my state’s Attorney General’s Office. And, being a lawyer myself, I am also going to do some research to see if there are any causes of action under the consumer laws.

My advise: Stay Away from Bally! They will give you more headaches than you can imagine. I certainly didn’t expect a “Monthly Statement” from them after I rightfully cancelled my membership. Stay Away!

Jen · #5 03-22-2005, 07:03 AM

My dad & I wanted to join to gym.When we walked into Bally's,we were taken
into an office to "talk".We were told that we couldn't leave without signing a contract nor did they leave the room so we could talk it over.We don't have much money so we really needed to talk it over first but they didn't allow us to do that.Two stuff people just sat there telling us that we had to sign and glared at us.Now we have pay them for two memberships for 36 months.

Also,I was told by a trainer at Bally's that I needed to weigh 150lbs.I'm only 4'10.How is someone that height to weigh that much?

scambuster · #6 03-22-2005, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jen

My dad & I wanted to join to gym.When we walked into Bally's,we were taken
into an office to "talk".We were told that we couldn't leave without signing a contract nor did they leave the room so we could talk it over.We don't have much money so we really needed to talk it over first but they didn't allow us to do that.Two stuff people just sat there telling us that we had to sign and glared at us.Now we have pay them for two memberships for 36 months.

Also,I was told by a trainer at Bally's that I needed to weigh 150lbs.I'm only 4'10.How is someone that height to weigh that much?

Start eating!

letsplayfair · #7 03-23-2005, 07:25 PM

Jen: You definitely were the victims of high pressure sales tactics. All you had to say was "no", or "I'll sleep on it" (unless they took you hostage). And you should have just walked away. Depending on where you live, there are plenty of gyms around so that you can afford to be choosy. Some don't even make you sign a contract--you just continue on a month-to-month basis after your initial downpayment..

You should have first received a free pass to use the equiptment and consult with a trainer first--not a salesman. Obviously, you were not told correct information for your height/weight. My son works in a gym (Not Bally's) as a personal trainer and this should NEVER happen, especially if you are informed. They give free evaluations and training sessions! Prospects are weighed, measured and told their BMI (body mass index), which indicates the amount of muscle verses fat as a percentage of your body weight. The trainer determines what exercises and equiptment are best for you based on your personal goals and fitness level, and designs a program for you. (Some want to lose weight, gain muscle mass, etc.)
Trainers go to school, must pass a test, and are certified. They are qualified to guide you, whereas salesmen generally are not.
What it boils down to is that you caved in under their pressure...similar to how used car salesmen operate.
Read the fine print of your contract--depending on how much time has passed, maybe you can get out of it for a small fee.
Did you ever hear of www.planetfeedback.com ?
This is an option you may want to consider...especially for a big company that doesn't want to get negative publicity. I used it once for a problem I had with my cable company, and the next day I got a call and was credited one month.

Sorry if I sound so harsh...I have been there before, and learned my lessons well. Life is a learning experience. Good luck, and let us know if you were able to get some recourse.

Gina463: The moral to your story is to always read the fine print---no matter what the salesman says! I also learned the hard way with a used car extended warranty contract. It doesn't matter what the person who is trying to sell you the plan SAYS---what's in writing is the gospel! Yes, I got screwed, big time!

To "eyeknowbetterthanthat":The bait of a prize winning is almost always a ruse. And if your copy of the contract clearly has ONLY $5 written on it, they cannot legally change it (that's why you get a copy).
You need to write to the BBB, state Atty General, Consumer Groups, and planetfeedback.com. Send them copies of your conmplaints and you'll see how fast they change their tune! What they did was illegal.

The moral to all these stories: nothing is ever what it seems--especially if a salesman is behind it. You must take your time, read the fine print AT HOME, never rush to make a decision --even if you are told that the "special offer" will expire that day...and tread very carefully when signing any contract. Many salesmen are sneaky and some are dishonest---they count on you for their livelihood! Don't fall into their traps!

Elaine

sasyed · #8 04-04-2005, 02:17 PM

they are the worst comopany to join for membership and trying to cancel. i would never refer anyone or ever join them again. their customer service unbelievably unfriendly and annoying. try going to their gym as a guest and they will not let you leave until they can get some money out of your pocket. any member trying to join gym go to your local gym it will be lot easier. bally is a scam that most people fall for, why even join a gym for three years and most people only work out for 2 weeks unless they are deveoted. pass it on and let bally go down in business. i would enjoy seeing bally go down.

bpw · #9 04-11-2005, 11:17 AM

Hi, :confused:

Question. My daughter and I signed a Bally's contract. We both read it over very carefully before signing. We then got copies to take home. I looked at the contract a couple of days after signing and was SHOCKED to see on the first page that we had agreed to FINANCE $700 and some dollars. I really don't think we could have missed that part when we were reading it before signing. There is so much commotion with people in and out of the office when you are signing stuff that I can’t remember if the contract we signed actually had that all on the first page. *****Is it possible that when they "print" the copies from the computer they slip in a new first page???***** The first page is back-to-back and the third page is actually where you sign.

Does anybody know? Any former or current Bally employees want to comment?

My daughter and I went to Bally's because of the "Self" Magazine promo that gave you 2 free months at Ballys as part of their (Self)annual weight loss promotions.

I won't go into the gory details, but we ended up signing a contract with my daughter as the primary member and me as an add-on family member. We were told that we could cancel after 30 days (after we had been to the club at least 10 times) and could then use the remaining 30 free days on the "Self" promotion.

We made the manager sign the "Self" promotion stating that we would get our $5.00 downpayment back and get the 30 free days. From what I have been reading on this site it sounds like we will be in for hassle when we try to do this.

Thanks for any help/advice you can give.

YouCannotFoolMe · #10 04-12-2005, 06:55 PM

To answer your question, I would put nothing past Bally's. However, unless you have some clear-cut evidence of a trick, you may be stuck. However, rather than agree to finance the $700 at some crazy interest rate, I would read the contract over carefully and see if there is any penalty for just paying it all now.

NEVER sign a contract without taking it home and studying it carefully in a quiet place.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bpw

Hi, :confused:

Question. My daughter and I signed a Bally's contract. We both read it over very carefully before signing. We then got copies to take home. I looked at the contract a couple of days after signing and was SHOCKED to see on the first page that we had agreed to FINANCE $700 and some dollars. I really don't think we could have missed that part when we were reading it before signing. There is so much commotion with people in and out of the office when you are signing stuff that I can’t remember if the contract we signed actually had that all on the first page. *****Is it possible that when they "print" the copies from the computer they slip in a new first page???***** The first page is back-to-back and the third page is actually where you sign.

Does anybody know? Any former or current Bally employees want to comment?

My daughter and I went to Bally's because of the "Self" Magazine promo that gave you 2 free months at Ballys as part of their (Self)annual weight loss promotions.

I won't go into the gory details, but we ended up signing a contract with my daughter as the primary member and me as an add-on family member. We were told that we could cancel after 30 days (after we had been to the club at least 10 times) and could then use the remaining 30 free days on the "Self" promotion.

We made the manager sign the "Self" promotion stating that we would get our $5.00 downpayment back and get the 30 free days. From what I have been reading on this site it sounds like we will be in for hassle when we try to do this.

Thanks for any help/advice you can give.

2 year contract · #11 02-11-2006, 01:27 AM

I bought a two year membership with Bally Total Fitness on 09/16/2004. The total membership was $805.00 with financing the total came to $1020.96 They have been taking money out of my checking account for over a year. My debit card expired on 11/15/2005 Bally’s finally sent me a letter stating that it needed my updated information.
I went online to look at my balance and it was more than the original balance.
I have called Bally’s and they said it was a three year contract. I faxed them a copy that I kept for my records. After receiving the fax they agreed that it was a two year contract but if I go to the gym it would cost me another thirteen dollars a month. That was not explained to me when I signed the contract. I told the salesman that I was looking at spending $30.00 or so a month he filled out the paperwork. The contract was for $1020.96 they told me that is all I would have to pay. I have never use the gym and I would like to cancel my contract but they are making it very hard. I can’t believe that they could add another $600.00 to my bill. This has to be fraud. If I did something like this I would expect to go to jail. Please help me fight this company not only for me but for people that they are taking advantage of; I’m sure there are a lot of people that will just pay them because they don’t know what to do.

mary01 · #12 03-05-2006, 11:56 PM

Bally's total fitness gym in torrance CA is a joke. they have this reward program were if you refer someone and they sign up you make $15 USD each and if you work out 36 times in a three month period you get $10.50 USD
and if you buy products you also make money. problem is the web site clubballymemberrewards.com is only a sign up page and you can't login in to get your money and i have spent 2 hours talking to corperate office to find out they have no clue of this promo and managers at the gym are so dumb they tell you it's always you failt and they don't know what to say. but i do they are all dumb @#$%#s money hungery. im hoping i can get the money from refers i gave them worth $45.00 i can't touch :mad:

jendev04 · #13 08-22-2006, 08:53 PM

I joined Bally total fitness in march of 06, and the employee who signed me up was at the time, a friend of mine. She quoted that i would pay $19.99 a month on a month to month basis and that i would never have to sign a contract. However, after i was charged $46.01 i looked through all of the documents that she (stupidly) gave me, and found that she had forged my signature on the contract stating that i would pay $46.01/yr. for 3 years.

I spoke to the manager, and he did nothing but offer me "two free sessions with a personal trainer" as if i wanted that.

I have gotten my attorney involved, and they have sent two letters since May (it has been almost 5 months) and i have still gotten no response. They claim that they never received either of those letters.

Needless to say.. DONT JOIN BALLYS.

MTT SCAM · #14 08-24-2006, 03:03 AM

I used to be a personal trainer at Bally's in Long Beach near the traffic circle. I used to work out in North Long Beach and the Bally's in Huntington Park, CA.

All Bally's cares about is making money, they don't care about you! Trainer are there to make money because they get paid by the amount of people they train. If they don't train, they don't get any money.

It is the stupidest business out there. I've met the person who started the bally's, she is a blonde dumb idiot. Total moron.

All staff, managers, sales people, all they care about is making you sign.
Don't believe it when they tell you that you can't leave, they do that to scare you into signing.

Personal trainers are dumb and possess no education.
That's why I quit that job and resumed college full time.

Don't join Bally's, you will regret it.
I didn't renew my membership, and my total costs was 900+ for three years.
It isn't worth it.

Kollektor · #15 08-25-2006, 12:18 PM

I am a current Bally Total Fitness employee. I stumbled across this thread and found it all pretty interesting.

First of all, I am not going to defend the company. I have been at Bally's for about three months, and as companies go, there is a lot of room for improvement. In a lot of ways, they treat their employees like they treat people who owe them money, and I don't plan on being there any longer than absolutely necessary.

BUT ...

All this scam stuff, really, I think most of you are pissed that you didn't take a little more control over what you were getting into. I work in Financial Services. That's collections. So if you owe Bally's money, maybe we'll talk some time. Here are some thoughts that might be insightful...

Now, I'm not a contract guy. I don't want to be bound to anything, and I avoid them whenever possible. The Bally contract is four pages long, four very simple pages that anyone can understand. Assuming they bother to take the time to READ IT, which 99.9% of the people I deal with every day don't do. Think about that. They are signing their names to something, legally agreeing to something, that they are not even bothering to take the time to read. There is mistake number one.

What are on these four pages? Well, I hear a lot of people who say they didn't know they were signing a contract. See the above paragraph for that one. Right on the top of the page it says "Contract," and in the upper right are the words "Contract ID," followed by your membership number. The rest of the front page has spaces for any additional members, and the most important thing of all: the money. The FRONT PAGE of the contract states exactly what you are paying, what finance you are paying, the LENGTH OF THE CONTRACT, all of it.

Page two is where you sign. There is a statement in large, bold font that tells you not to sign if you have not read it or if there are any blank spaces. There are other statements telling the buyer such things as gym representatives cannot cancel memberships, et cetera. Right above the line where you are supposed to sign is a bold statement that says not to sign if you have not read it. At this point, if you are putting pen to paper, there is no excuse for not reading it.

Pages three and four are the terms and conditions. The first of which are all about cancellations (basically, medical and relocation only), and the rest is the typical corporate speak that is in every contract. Without boring you, it basically says that Bally Total Fitness can do whatever it wants and you are still obligated to make the payments.

There isn't a lot of fine print. It's all pretty plain, you just have to read it. If you are presented with a contract and you sign it, how is that a scam? Regardless of what some salesman is telling you, all you are bound to is what is on paper, so read it. These people who say they were told they could cancel any time, that they wouldn't have to pay for this or that, or, like gina463 said, "I even asked him if there were any conditions to this 50.00 and your out thing and he said NO" ... well, like I said, if you READ THE CONTRACT YOU ARE SIGNING, you would not fall for that. Even if you don't read every word, if the salesman says something to you, hold the contract up to them and say, "Show me here where it says that." You are agreeing to what is in the contract, not what the salesman is telling you.

evenknowbetterthanthat said it best: "DO NOT TRUST BALLY'S EVER!" Take that a step further and don't trust any corporation. There is always a catch, always a hook, and if it ain't on the page it ain't on the stage. Once you sign it, you own it. Don't complain.

Some here have mentioned the so-called high pressure sales tactics used by reps at the gym. I don't actually work in the gym, and I don't know anything about their comp plan, but salesmen exist for just that reason: to get the sales. I've worked in that field too, and most sales guys I worked with were smart enough to know that you don't want the first sale, you want the third and fourth and fifth sales. If you bull**** people, you don't get that. Are there shady sales people? Of course, just like there are shady mechanics, shady priests, and shady everything else.

Remember this: YOU ultimately control the sale. YOU have the ***** to sign or not sign. If you're not sure, or you don't like the deal, or if you don't feel comfortable, STAND UP AND WALK AWAY. Jen said, "We were told that we couldn't leave without signing a contract nor did they leave the room so we could talk it over." Were they holding a gun to your head? Were you a hostage? And if they didn't leave the room, talk it over right in front of them. If what the salesman has to offer is really worthwhile, he won't be bothered or intimidated by any of your questions or concerns. If he is, too bad. It's your money, and you're the one who will be responsible for it, not him. They GLARED at you, Jen? Then leave. It's that simple. If it was me, I wouldn't put up with anything like that.

Let's go down the line and debunk some of this stuff:

YouCannotFoolMe said: "On the notice, it says that if you pay the amount due, you automatically renew your membership." Once the initial contract period is up, it is up to you whether or not you want to renew. If you don't wish to continue, don't. No one is forcing you.

evenknowbetterthanthat, with his free membership story, said: "When I went in to discuss things with them, I discovered that nothing was free!" Where have you been? The fact that you took it that far shows how naive you are (were). When the realization set in, why did you continue with the deal?

gina463, come on. You say you graduated from college, so you must have something on the ball. You also say you know people who had been "roped into this" before. Apparently none of that was enough to keep you on your toes. You told the guy you had no money, but there you were in the gym looking to sign up for a membership. Someone with no money wouldn't have the discretionary income for a gym membership. You didn't want a three year contract, but on the FRONT PAGE it says it is a 36-month commitment. To cancel, you need a doctor's note or you have to live 25 miles (not, as you said, 10) from the nearest Bally's. It's all in the contract you obviously didn't read.

xenopdx, I'm sure where to begin. Bally Total Fitness, like just about every other major corporation on the face of the earth, has a toll free number. Several in fact. 800.638.1343, to be exact. Try it out. Late fees ARE applied when payments are more than ten days late, and it WILL reflect badly on your credit if you never pay. What's the problem? It's not a threat, just a statement of fact. It sounds like you went to all that trouble of filing with the Better Business Bureau and state AG's office over something you didn't understand. As a lawyer, you probably have seen a lot of contracts, and ours is pretty simple. Oh, and you didn't have to "endure their sales pitch." You can hang up at any time, or try saying something like, "I don't want a sales pitch, I want you to explain this."

sasyed: "i would enjoy seeing bally go down." [sic] More of the same, it's a scam and they wouldn't let you leave, blah blah blah. Again, YOU are the one in control. If you want to leave, leave. Scam? "why even join a gym for three years and most people only work out for 2 weeks unless they are deveoted." Just because you lack the commitment, don't believe everyone else is the same.

bpw: "My daughter and I signed a Bally's contract. We both read it over very carefully before signing. We then got copies to take home. I looked at the contract a couple of days after signing and was SHOCKED to see on the first page that we had agreed to FINANCE $700 and some dollars." Shocked, huh. Well, if you read it over as carefully as you say you did, you would have seen exactly what you are paying.

Other people have said that all Bally's cares about is making money. Duh. How old are you people? Really, where are you from? That's all ANY company, any business, anywhere in the world cares about. Regardless of what propaganda you see, corporations are designed to generate profit. That's it. If you happen to get something out of it, that's all well and good. If not, well, that's okay too. Companies that don't care about making money don't last very long.

Scam? You can only be scammed if you allow yourself to be. Read the papers, ask questions. The fact of the matter is, most people don't. They SAY they do, but glancing at something before quickly signing your name to it is not, NOT the same as reading. If the salesman makes a claim like you can cancel any time, ask him to point to the passage in the contract that backs that up. If he can't, maybe he's lying to you.

Take some responsibility. Are they lying, or are you too lazy to determine all the facts?

nikita · #16 08-26-2006, 10:14 PM

I went to Bally today to check it out. Before I could even get a tour or any information, I was told I had to sign a waiver. As I was reading it, the two employess present were telling me it was just a standard waiver and joking, making it difficult for me to read it. However, when I got to the line, "You agree on behalf of ourself to release and discharge us from any and all claims or causes of action arising ot of our negligence." Also it includes injuries which may occur as a result of "(a) your use of any facility or its improper maintenance, (b) your use of any exercise equipment which may malfunction or break, (c) our improper maintenance of any exercise equipment, (d) our negligent instruction or supervision, (e) our negligent hiring or neglegent retention of any employee...." I pointed this out to one employee, who took the form to read it, probably for the first time. He said that they maintain the equipment, that no one ever gets hurt, etc. I took the form back and told him I would think it over. Then I left. I am looking for information on Bally and other gyms because I wonder it this is the same everywhere. It seems to me that I should have the right to sue for damages if it was due to their negligence. Does anyone know if this is indeed a standard waiver? I won't be returning to Bally.

Lord_jag · #17 09-01-2006, 06:52 PM

Kollector:

You know you are right. People who are gullible do sign themselves up for scams because of a large variety of reasons.

In general I find that most people give a buisiness the benifit of the doubt. I for one find it hard to believe that a company would rip off a customer. So when a company does try to start a scam, it doesn't occur to me that they shadey.

I for one don't want to go through life in a paranoid haze, questioning every store that I want to patronize. That is why it is important for sites like this to raise awareness that some companies are doing scams or doing buisiness in a less than respectable way.

Now as a consumer I might consider going into Balley, but because of this site, I will not give them the trust that I would normally give any respectable corporation. I will have to don my paranoid haze if I ever decide to go to one of these.

To everyone else, most gyms are ripoffs. I have tried going into Planet fitness and even a local Gold's fitness center. They all do the same bait and switch telling you that is "23 cents per month with no commitment", but in most cases it does say clearly on the contract that it is $5000 a month for 20 years.

Oh and if anyone EVER asks you to sign ANYTHING - that is a contract. You MUST read every line and get a copy. Multipage contracts? Sign every page. make sure you see your signature on every page on your copy.

skiptracer · #18 12-18-2006, 12:06 PM

I go to 24 Hour Fitness, I was thinking about switching because they all get so busy. I noticed that there was a Bally's where I lived, and was immediately interested since it never looked that busy, which was weird because there was only two in our city. Then a friend of mine told me to beware of the contract, but I had no idea it was like this?? Now it's no big mystery why it's not as popular as the other gyms. I ended up doing a lot of research.. I finally came to this site and just had to respond to...

Kollector - who wrote:

Quote:

I am a current Bally Total Fitness employee. I stumbled across this thread and found it all pretty interesting.

Quote:

First of all, I am not going to defend the company

Quote:

I work in Financial Services. That's collections

Kollector: I'm wondering how a collector from Ballys just happened to "stumble across this thread"... While I am open to your claim not to be defending the company, the interesting thing about what you've written is that NONE of it hints in the slightest way that you're surprised about people being lied to by the sales people.

If you are whom you claim to be, you know as well as I that Bally's sales (and quite possible, their billing) tactics are at the very least suspiscous, and may in fact border on the fraudulent. I can't help but wonder what kind of impact it is having on your monthly collections, and if Bally's is employing the same sort of smoke and mirrors in your collections policy to compensate. Obviously, the saving grace in all of this for Bally's is the signed contract; all the liability falls on the customer for having signed the contract, so yes people should always read it.

But you yourself said:

Quote:

Assuming they bother to take the time to READ IT, which 99.9% of the people I deal with every day don't do.

And since Bally's Financial Services is obviously aware of this, it most definately means that your sales staff is also aware of this, and likely use this to their advantage. It is (or it should be) general knowledge that people usually do not read sales & service contracts before signing them. The scheme is simple: since people do not normally read contracts, just lie directly to their face and give them false statements. Because why would anyone think that what the sales person is saying is in direct contrast with what is in the contract? So if that is what is happening, then yes, it's a scam. Using the public's flaws & weaknesses in order to to deceive them and make a sale, is disingeniuous, and immoral at the very least.

emma long · #19 01-13-2007, 11:03 PM

Bally sold my club membership to Crunch Fitness even though I was a Premier member (meaning I could go to any Bally's in the nation). Crunch has been double billing me on my credit card and required me to pay another month of membership before I can cancel (don't know if they they will really cancel me or not - I can only hope). I have been a month to month member of Bally for 5 years so no contract is involved. When I called the credit card compaty to dispute their double billing and explained what happened, the credit card agent who is handling this said it is typical for fitness clubs who are in the middle of an acquisition to "beef" up their numbers by "selling" memberships that they have no right to sell and even reactivating memberships that have been inactive for months. This way they have more memberships "on paper". Since numbers of members is the the largest financial asset in an acquisition, you can see why they need to show large memberships lists. Take a look and see if your fitness club is in the middle of an acquisition. I am now left with a mess since Bally gave these people my credit card information.

crowbar · #20 01-30-2007, 07:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kollektor

Scam? You can only be scammed if you allow yourself to be.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

That's the equivalent of saying:
"You can only be shot if you allow yourself to be shot."

Yeah... because every time someone standing behind my back pulls out a shotgun and blows my brains out, it was my fault all along. Oh, I'm sorry Kollektor... I should have dodged the bullet! My fault.

The irony is that while you concede your employer errs on a number of accounts, your post still boils down to Bally's propaganda. On every 'response' you offered to the posts above your own, you aptly managed to discreetly remove them from their original context. Guess the salesman in you lives on...

Agel32008 · #21 01-30-2007, 01:28 PM

why didn't you's all just save your money and buy a bowflex i'v only had mine bout 2 months and it's doing wonders ( use iso-pro 97%whey protein after work out ) or if your in to mlms Agel pro and or flx..

FedUpBallyEmployee · #22 06-02-2007, 10:29 AM

MUST READ!!!

Hello All,

I am a current Bally employee (but actively on my way out). I probably hate this company more than any of you because they treat their employees worse than their members. I cannot emphasize enough that I can't wait until I am no longer employed by this twisted company. If you think they're a bunch of bastards, just think about what goes on "the inside". I am more than willing to spill their nasty little secrets and tactics because this company does not deserve to be in business. So if you have any questions or need help, please feel free to ask. I am waiting for the downfall of this company.

I started working for this company blindly. I had no idea what kind of crooks these people are. Yes ladies and gentlemen, you ARE being scammed. They knowingly scam you into joining the gym.

They get you into the gym by different sources; by you walking in, passes (this includes internet 2 week passes, they get your information when you sign up for it online), member referrals, telephone inquiries and by the "promotional display boxes" you fill out.

Once you're in the gym, they will do anything and everything in their ***** to sign you up. They make you fill out a waiver of liability and give you a tour of the gym. The tour is actually a ploy to get you to like them and believe that they care about you. This is where they get your objections out of the way so that when you reach the office, they go for the kill and if you have any objections they throw what you say during the tour right back at you.

Once you're in an office, they will try to sell you the most expensive package (the bigger the membership, the bigger the commission). If the poor sap says the membership or enrollment fee is too high, they will go as low as they can. If they have no more room to go, they will call a manager to badger you until they get a "yes".

It doesn't end there people, if they are really desperate for a sale (i.e, if they are under quota for the day), they will ask for whatever you have in your pocket and will even front the money themselves!!! This is not unusual, as a matter of fact, this happens frequently. (I will go to more detail about quotas later). So yes, if they are desperate they will take money out of their pocket to get you a membership. WHY? Because the pressure is unbelievably high. Getting your debit/credit card, bank information is a plus. Their commission is doubled b/c you are fooled into signing an automatic payment plan. Don't be fooled into thinking that you cannot buy a membership without giving it up. Don't listen to ANYTHING they say when they tell you the benefits of using your debit/credit. It is not mandatory.

Back to quotas. Each gym has a goal to meet on a daily basis. So at the end of the month, when you reach your month's goal, you get your commission and your bonus. Nobody's position in BTF is secure (especially in sales) you can be the best employee-punctual, reliable, hard working etc, but if you don't reach a certain #, they will get rid of you so fast you would miss it if you blinked. Again, this happens frequently. I've seen many salesperson come and go. Loyalty means nothing.

Getting out of your contract: Cancelling within the first 3 days is the only way to ensure you will get your money back....that is, if they let you. You see, once you sign up, they will avoid you like the plague for the next 3 days just in case you have buyer's remorse. So if after 3 days, you give no sign of cancelling, they are in the clear. WHY? Because in order to meet the 30 day requirement, the member has to visit the gym 12 times (one of which is with a trainer), and must pay for the first month in order to cancel it. They don't tell members this of course.

They make it impossible for you to cancel. You give you the runaround. They avoid you. They lie. If you tried to cancel within the first 3 days, they can do it in the club. Dont let them tell you they can't. They will tell you that the person who sold you the membership is the only one who can do it (and what a surprise, they are not around)-don't believe it. If however, you are past the 3 days but are still within the 30 day cancellation period, you must do it through corporate (the club can call them for you as well). Make sure you workout with a trainer, visit 11 more times and pay your first payment. Don't let them give you the runaround. Be on top of it and call corporate to confirm. Have some kind of written proof.

There are alot more information but obviously, I cannot give them all at once. I'd end up writing an entire book and this is long enough as it is and it's just the tip of the iceberg!!!!

Please feel free to ask any questions.

BallyHunter · #23 06-10-2007, 01:00 AM

This has been a great source of information. Does anyone have more info regarding the pricing of membership? It seems to me that salespeople "size up" potential clients and tell some people the membership fee is higher than it is for others. Anyone know about this?

FedUpBallyEmployee · #24 06-15-2007, 01:39 AM

Hi BallyHunter,

It's true to a certain degree. Ballys want as much money as they can from anyone who walks in the door. They only drop prices if there is some kind of monetary objection.

The only time they will give away cheap memberships are when they are in desperate need of a sale because they haven't hit their quota for the day yet. Always know that they want the most from you. However, if they know they can't and they desperately need your money, they will pull out their cheap memberships.

However, ther are exceptions to the rule. You will find some honest salesperson (believe it or not) but the truth is, the majority are deceitful. So in a way, an honest salesperson will size you up...not to discriminate but say an 18 year old walks in and wanted to buy a membership, an honest employee will give the 18year old an affordable membership rather than selling him a membership that costs $60 a month that he or she will most likely have a hard time paying for. Understand??

But if a guy pulls up in a Hummer, then obviously the salesperson knows this guy will have money to spend.

So if you run into an honest Bally employee, they will sell you a membership YOU can afford. If you don't, you WILL get scammed.

Recently, two managers got into a huge argument because one was being waaay to aggressive to a 19 year old girl who obviously did not have alot of money but just got paid that day. He wanted all her money and she was in tears because he was just too aggressive and down right mean!

I also witnessed a woman leave the gym in tears because the salesperson told her she was fat and that she will die of a heart attack if she doesn't start exercising.

Yeahh anything to get your money.

master20 · #25 06-20-2007, 09:05 AM

Not only is Bally's rude to it's customers, but it is also unfaithful to it's employees! I was once a trainer for Bally total fitness. I was never pressured so much to sell personal training in all my life! Whenever I didn't sell training, my boss would lecture me none stop causing me to lose motivation everyday. Everytime I did sell training I felt like I was pressuring the client into it. I could see they really didn't care for it or have the money for it. Also, they told me after working there for one year I would get a benefits package to pay for my medication. After that year came around they looked at my records and said I lacked A FEW HOURS from gaining the benefits. Needless to say I didn't stick around to much longer. Nothing but a bunch of money hungry jerks.

mike78 · #26 07-05-2007, 11:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FedUpBallyEmployee

Hi BallyHunter,

It's true to a certain degree. Ballys want as much money as they can from anyone who walks in the door. They only drop prices if there is some kind of monetary objection.

The only time they will give away cheap memberships are when they are in desperate need of a sale because they haven't hit their quota for the day yet. Always know that they want the most from you. However, if they know they can't and they desperately need your money, they will pull out their cheap memberships.

However, ther are exceptions to the rule. You will find some honest salesperson (believe it or not) but the truth is, the majority are deceitful. So in a way, an honest salesperson will size you up...not to discriminate but say an 18 year old walks in and wanted to buy a membership, an honest employee will give the 18year old an affordable membership rather than selling him a membership that costs $60 a month that he or she will most likely have a hard time paying for. Understand??

But if a guy pulls up in a Hummer, then obviously the salesperson knows this guy will have money to spend.

So if you run into an honest Bally employee, they will sell you a membership YOU can afford. If you don't, you WILL get scammed.

Recently, two managers got into a huge argument because one was being waaay to aggressive to a 19 year old girl who obviously did not have alot of money but just got paid that day. He wanted all her money and she was in tears because he was just too aggressive and down right mean!

I also witnessed a woman leave the gym in tears because the salesperson told her she was fat and that she will die of a heart attack if she doesn't start exercising.

Yeahh anything to get your money.

i signed up with bally march 2007 for 3 years but w/o a contract . he said i can cancel if i moved to an area where the closest bally is 25 miles or more and i have to pay 50$ fee. i moved to an area and theres one bally 23 miles away. i wanna cancel because it is ridiculous to do the drive for the next 36 months..i have emailed the corporate and they said that they will reply within 4 weeks until then i still have to pay my monthly bill. do u think they will cancel it? and if they did cancel it do u think they will intentionally ruin my credit score. because i have heard lots of stories regarding them screwing member's credits. thanks

jtrain25 · #27 07-08-2007, 01:28 AM

A few years ago, i thought about joining.. Signed up but didn’t pay any fees.(needed to join) i told the salesperson i wanted to think about it for a few days before i put my deposit down etc.. i ended up changing my mind and never gave the money , he also called my home 3 times in which 2 times i told him NO i changed my mind and once my mother told him the same when he called a third time looking for me.. I also went to the gym to tell them in person. i later received a bill saying I signed up and was to pay the bill.. When i went to ballys the salesperson told me he paid the fee and it was normal business practice for them.. i now received a bill for over 3 thousand dollars.. i know this is not normal business practice. He probably was going to see a bigger commission than my sign up fee was going to be. After I received the initial bill I went back to the gym to speak with him and he assured me it would be taken care of and cancelled, and it would be no problem since I never been to the gym to work out once…….. email me at bosslife@gmail.com if you know how i can handle this

sharonshen71276 · #28 08-11-2007, 05:37 PM

I signed up Bally 6 years ago then I cancelled it. Today I received a letter from " ******son Law Group " (WWW.******sonlawgroup.com) The letter says below: "RE: Your Creditor/Our Client: Professional Recovery System, Original Creditor: Bally Total Fitness Hold, Past Due Balance: $728.34, "including $129.78 attorney fees, Our file number: xxx-xxxx, Dear X:
The above matter has been referred to our firm to represent the claimant. Unless you notify this office within 30 days after receiving this notice that you dispute the validity of the debt or any portion thereof, this office will assume this debt is valid. If you notify this office in writing within 30 days from receiving this notice, this office will obtain verification of the debt or obtain a copy of a judgement and mail you a copy of such judgment or verification. If you request from this office in writing within 30 days after receiving this notice, this office will provide you with the name and address of the original creditor, if differnt from the current creditor. This communication is from a debt collector. This letter is an attempt to collect a debt, and any information will be used for that purpose......."
I found it really weird because I don't understand how this happen. I called the law office then I spoke to a staff, I told them the name is only last name correct but it's my address. I told them it doesnt make sense that we cancelled long time ago already and we paid them already too. She said they don't care if the name spelling wrong because the address is right and we did join Bally before. She said unless you can prove me all the bills that I told her it's 6 years ago and I don't even know how to retrive all the info. She said they can't help me if I can't frind the bill record. She also said the person's social security number and phone number ( is that right to confirm those info ? I doubt) So I told her those info is not ours. Then she asked how to spell my name ( I shouldnt give to them). I got another phone call from them in the afternoon and she said she found some info to fax to me so I asked what information about this. She said there is a paper of Bally shows my first name this time that I am someone's spouse. I said now you use my name however I am never married. Then she said I need to speak to your attorney...(something like that) What the helll is the whole story I really don't know. I called Bally and I asked them about this and they told me you can disregard if that's not your name. I asked them if they can talk to the law office because they collect money for them. However, they told me they cant' do this and said they gave to debt collector. They said maybe they mix wrong information. I am worried if they will do something bad to my credit or whatever stuff I havent found out yet but they just simply told me to ignore it. One of my friend who never joined in Bally before but go there for free trial once. However he got two thousand dollar bill after that and mess up his credit. I really don't know how to do with this. Is there any one who knows how to deal with this?

zefi · #29 08-21-2007, 08:06 AM

At the end of 2006, I got relocated from Seattle, WA to Cleveland, OH for 10 months.
Beginning of 2007, I decided I wanted to join a gym for my short time here and went around looking for different clubs. I first tried to get a membership with
Gold's gym but they were clear that I couldn't get anything less than a 2-year membership. Then I went to Bally's, Westlake and there, after they realized that I wasn't willing to get a long membership, they suggested a "special" membership offer. The membership retailer, Sander Wolfe, told me that I could get a 3-year membership, called "Fitness", which allows me to use only the facility of Westlake. Since the requirement under this plan was that I could only use the particular fitness club in Westlake, I would be able to cancel my contract the moment I would move out of Westlake or at any distance more than 25 miles from Westlake. In the contract I signed, it is written that I can only use the Bally Fitness Club I joined, so I was feeling certain that I could terminate it without problems. I am now moving out of OH and today I tried to cancel my Bally's membership. I first went to the particular club and they told me that I couldn't stop the membership there but I had to call their 1-866-402-2559 number. Still unsuspicious, I called this number and talked to Ron Albania, who was supposed to be the supervisor there. He told me that since I am moving to an area that there are Bally's clubs within 25 miles distance, I wasn't able to break the contract. I tried to explain to him that I had that particular membership that I was only allowed to use the Bally's at Westlake but he told me that he couldn't see anything like that in my contract and if that was a verbal agreement I had with the retailer, Sander Wolfe, there was nothing he could do about. In the contract, I was bound to Bally's for three years!!! I went back to the club in Westlake the same evening and the manager there just addressed me to another manager that covers the Ohio area. I feel I have been a victim of a scam! I don't really know how I should proceed with that and I am afraid I will need to pay for three years for a membership that I won't use anymore. I just wanted to share my experience and warn other people to be very careful when signing a three year contract with Bally's!!!! When they promise to you that you can break a membership similar to my case, please get a written agreement about it!!!!! Or avoid Bally's altogether!

thetruthbetold · #30 08-21-2007, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sharonshen71276

I signed up Bally 6 years ago then I cancelled it. Today I received a letter from " ******son Law Group " (WWW.******sonlawgroup.com) The letter says below: "RE: Your Creditor/Our Client: Professional Recovery System, Original Creditor: Bally Total Fitness Hold, Past Due Balance: $728.34, "including $129.78 attorney fees, Our file number: xxx-xxxx, Dear X:
The above matter has been referred to our firm to represent the claimant. Unless you notify this office within 30 days after receiving this notice that you dispute the validity of the debt or any portion thereof, this office will assume this debt is valid. If you notify this office in writing within 30 days from receiving this notice, this office will obtain verification of the debt or obtain a copy of a judgement and mail you a copy of such judgment or verification. If you request from this office in writing within 30 days after receiving this notice, this office will provide you with the name and address of the original creditor, if differnt from the current creditor. This communication is from a debt collector. This letter is an attempt to collect a debt, and any information will be used for that purpose......."
I found it really weird because I don't understand how this happen. I called the law office then I spoke to a staff, I told them the name is only last name correct but it's my address. I told them it doesnt make sense that we cancelled long time ago already and we paid them already too. She said they don't care if the name spelling wrong because the address is right and we did join Bally before. She said unless you can prove me all the bills that I told her it's 6 years ago and I don't even know how to retrive all the info. She said they can't help me if I can't frind the bill record. She also said the person's social security number and phone number ( is that right to confirm those info ? I doubt) So I told her those info is not ours. Then she asked how to spell my name ( I shouldnt give to them). I got another phone call from them in the afternoon and she said she found some info to fax to me so I asked what information about this. She said there is a paper of Bally shows my first name this time that I am someone's spouse. I said now you use my name however I am never married. Then she said I need to speak to your attorney...(something like that) What the helll is the whole story I really don't know. I called Bally and I asked them about this and they told me you can disregard if that's not your name. I asked them if they can talk to the law office because they collect money for them. However, they told me they cant' do this and said they gave to debt collector. They said maybe they mix wrong information. I am worried if they will do something bad to my credit or whatever stuff I havent found out yet but they just simply told me to ignore it. One of my friend who never joined in Bally before but go there for free trial once. However he got two thousand dollar bill after that and mess up his credit. I really don't know how to do with this. Is there any one who knows how to deal with this?

Stop talking to them on the phone.

Simply write them a letter which states that the debt is not yours and tell them to not contact you again.

No lengthy explanations, just "the debt is not mine, do not contact me again".

The age of the debt suggests it is beyond the statute of limitations. Low life companies buy such uncollectable debt and attempt to scare people into paying it.

eleven11 · #31 09-27-2007, 10:40 PM

Hi, Ive just read over my contract/looked over my contract
the only thing bally has a hold of what's really 'mine' is my full name,
although, in the x's or signature parts of the contract, has none of my signature, well no signature at all ...
and when looking at the SSN part, its not even my SSN, and drivers license, it's nto even my drivers license. The only thing they are trying to contact me by is by my cell phone .... altho im ignoring their calls. So .. does that mean the contract is still in effect when basically i didnt sign it, nor are the other information are mine ?
because I'm planning not to pay ..................... since when I called and tried, of course, they wouldnt let me, and said theres a gym within the 25 miles radius. (from MN, moved to NYC for schooling but I dorm so my address will change from now until I grad. so.. even if they have this dorm info, would it really matter? also im not even getting n e bills from them thru mail, nor can they withdraw from my banking account because the one I wrote on the contract is now gone, since I had some banking problems as well, and I got totally new banking accounts and such.)
any ideas? n e one with good knowledge of contracts/laws that can tell me whats the worse that can happen if I didnt pay since they basically have nothing on me.

EE2000 · #32 09-28-2007, 10:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eleven11

Hi, Ive just read over my contract/looked over my contract
the only thing bally has a hold of what's really 'mine' is my full name,
although, in the x's or signature parts of the contract, has none of my signature, well no signature at all ...
and when looking at the SSN part, its not even my SSN, and drivers license, it's nto even my drivers license. The only thing they are trying to contact me by is by my cell phone .... altho im ignoring their calls. So .. does that mean the contract is still in effect when basically i didnt sign it, nor are the other information are mine ?
because I'm planning not to pay ..................... since when I called and tried, of course, they wouldnt let me, and said theres a gym within the 25 miles radius. (from MN, moved to NYC for schooling but I dorm so my address will change from now until I grad. so.. even if they have this dorm info, would it really matter? also im not even getting n e bills from them thru mail, nor can they withdraw from my banking account because the one I wrote on the contract is now gone, since I had some banking problems as well, and I got totally new banking accounts and such.)
any ideas? n e one with good knowledge of contracts/laws that can tell me whats the worse that can happen if I didnt pay since they basically have nothing on me.

Are you saying that they fraudulently put in some SS #, and DL # on your contract ?

If so then no, since the information on the contract is falsified then the contract would be voided, plus Bally's should face some sort of legal action against them if that is the case.

You will be better off contacting a lawyer to make sure.

Also, a contract would be null and void if there is no signature. Make sure you keep your copy. They might try to forge your signature on their copies.

bunnyhoneyy · #33 10-17-2007, 02:41 PM

I just joined bally's without knowing what I got myself into. All I got was a bunch of empty promises from a guy who said I can cancel if I go 17 times for the first 60 days. I am 100% positive that I did follow that rule, however I was denied the right to cancel because they said that I only went 12 times and one time, when I went in, their computers happened to be broken and made us sign a piece of paper saying they will put it in their system later. WHAT A BUNCH OF LIARS. He was so quick to sign us up, but then was no where to be seen for the next couple of days. These people will do everything in their ***** to sign you up and sugar coat you with their promises. However, once that have you in their trap, they will keep u chained up until they squeeze every penny out of you.

Judging by the stories I read on this forum, it seems like Bally's does participate in quite a bit of illegal activities.

DingusMcStupid · #34 11-08-2007, 12:08 PM

I went and joined bally's and got totally fit for a fat guy and dropped down to 230 lbs of almost all muscle and I thank Bally's for providing the equipment that I was paying for and the tips and tricks that some of the instructors would give me. But, when I signed up I told them I was not interested in signing a subscription and that I wanted to just pay as I go. They said that would be fine and I signed the paperwork.
When I got into a serious relationship I lost motivation to go there and figured that I had paid for the last month I was there and so I said "screw it", and decided to not go back. Turns out the guy who signed me up had signed me up for a platinum 2 or 3 year membership and I got a bill in the mail for $1002.**.
When I tried to talk to them about this they told me I signed the contract and I told them to shove that contract that I verbally told the guy I wanted to pay as I go and he told me that was fine and that was the paperwork that I had agreed to signing. Thats not only shady but just outright fraudulent.
Now I keep getting letters from different collection agencies looking for the first amount then willing to let me give them payments for a smaller amount. I am not paying it and I will write each one of them a letter explaining why they will never see a cent. There is nobody on this planet big or scary enough to bully me into paying it. Sorry, it just aint gonna happen.

Oh, and Kollector, you really shouldnt judge everybody you little forum troll, did we say we wanted a lawyer wannabe in here defending Bally's Scams. Thats what they are, they are scams, do you need to know the definition of a scam? Do you need it in rich dummy terms so you can comprehend? When somebody scams you they are deliberately trying to get you to not read information, or intimitdate you into thinking they will pound you if you dont sign.

Just because not everybody knows how to deal with things the same way you claim to deal with them doesnt mean they need to Grow up as you put it. Not everybody is as informed or as perfect as you, GET OVER IT, your lame! And just to let you know my opinion, it has fraud written all over it.

If you own a business and you have employees scamming people, guess what, those employees, that you hired, well...., they are the face and communication that represents the company, and well, you are responsible for what they do whether you agree with it or not. Those contracts are just something a liar, cough, oh im sorry, lawyer was paid to write up for companies to help take advantage of the weak.

Using logic, you would think that somebody would decide that laws that were written 230 years ago should be read and possibly edited or deleted as they dont work now with people being so shady and imoral. You lawyers(or wanabe's) are not about justice or Morals, your about loops holes which makes all of you a joke. If the people who were passionate enough to write all of those rules could see everybody now I bet they would $#!+ a brick and punch all of you in the nose.

Litigation to me should be about morals, commen sense, logic and rules and if you see a loop hole in the rules the hole should be patched. When you see people saying I need to know if your guilty or innocent so I can build my case out of lies that doesnt give me much confidence if I was handcuffed for something I didnt do. Kollector, I bet this doesnt effect your opinon one bit but that just makes me feel like a better person, but, hey, were all sinners so we all suck and therfore I cannot judge you cause I suck too. You should probably take that into consideration next time you want to try and flaunt your intelligence.

saravk · #35 11-12-2007, 05:29 PM

My issue is a little bit different.

I live in California and work in Illinois. So I travel every week to Chicago for my job. So I signed a membership in Illinois with my CA address since that was my authorized one for the credit card. When I signed the membership, I did tell the sales rep that there are no gyms close to where I live in CA and so I would like to get a month to month. But the rep assured me that when I move back to CA, I can cancel out of my membership stating that there aren't any gyms near by. He also changed my address to my office Illinois address as soon as I signed up. So I signed a 2 year contract.

Now my project in Illinois is over after 6 months and I got a local project. I called to cancel my membership and they said that the address was same as the address I gave during sign up. The change of address never went through and they dont have any records of it, even though the guy at the counter did it in front of my eyes. They say that its my problem that I signed up with an address where there are no gyms. So I am not sure how to resolve this. I think its a negligence on their part to sign me up first without a gym in my neighborhood.

Also they did not send me any confirmations saying that my cancellation request was denied. I am talking to an attorney to file a lawsuit for fraudulent practices. This is ridiculous. I am writing everywhere about this and trying to advertise as much to make people not go to Ballys.

heyitsme · #36 12-06-2007, 06:57 PM

Let me explain something to the ones getting ripped offf.....I am an ex employee with Ballys, I was a salesperson. I understand how all of you got taken for a "ride" and now you feel bad, well......you know what??? its your fault. READ THE CONTRACT. As a Ballys Total fitness salesman you get alot of pressure put on you to hit your monthly goal. For most of the salespeople I worked with,were full time just like myself. If my job depends on hitting my goal and signing you up make me one step closer to my monthly goal then I am going to sign you up, if you dont read the contract and understand the contract then tough cookies. I never ever defrauded anybody when I worked with Ballys at any point. I sold what I was asked to sell and presented the best possible plan that was affordable to the person(s) sitting infront of me. But if I was not asked about specific aspects of the contract then I would not ellaborate on it. I am not the one signing the contract, you are.

Alot of the employees at Ballys are there to just work and make a paycheck without ripping anybody off, but there are some who will forge,lie, and modify a contract after the signing to make a bigger commission. Those are the ones who make Ballys a undesireable company to deal and work for. I would always have to deal with complaints that involved past employees false promises and dirty actions.

Another thing I want to comment on is the infamous "30 day trial". Here is how it work and how sales uses it as a tool to sign you up. Ballys promises you 30 days to "try out" the gym and if you dont see results and you are not satisfied then you can go ahead and cancel, no questions asked. Here is the truth, the thing that most sales reps leave out. After you agree to the low down payment (usually $5 or $25) you start your thirty days, you must come at least 11 time to the gym, that means swiping you card 11 times and you must also use your 1 free personal training session in order to be able to cancel withing thirty days.So in reality you must swipe your card 12 times, so if you sign up and dont get off your ass until the 29th day to go cancel and you never came to the gym, not once, then you are in for a quite a suprise when you try to cancel. Bottom line.......never trust anybody at any gym, not just Ballys. They are there to hit a monthly goal and you are another number to put up on the board. Remember the more you sell the more commission at the end of the month, they take your money to make more for themselves....you have been warned. So if you read this you still get ripped of by a Ballys salesperson then you deserve it. I myself have a membership with Ballys, but unlike some of you I use it and make it work for me. And unlike some of you I read and I knew what I was getting into. Dont think the sale rep is your friend:whip:

mrberl · #37 12-06-2007, 10:58 PM

My family has a membership in one of the Bally (now Goodlife or Good life fitness) in Toronto, ON, Canada. Long story short (after all the pressure tactics, etc), my mom signed up for 8 personal training sessions (she prepaid ahead). She only attended 2 and became ill after. She received several calls from a personal trainer asking her to make an appointment and all these times my mom said she was not physically able and did NOT set any appointments. NOW, she wanted to cancel all the personal training sessions left (6) due to being physically unable to attend them and to find out that THEY FRAUDULENTLY CHARGED HER FOR 3 PERSONAL SESSIONS. More in depth, they said that my mom set appointments and did not show up and did not give any notice! This never happened. My mom would never make appointments and not show up without notice. This is clearly fraud on their side. Nobody there wants to talk to her and she keeps being bounced around from rep to rep while the account manager is either at lunch 90% of his shift and the other 10% in meetings.

What can be done about this ? Should I contact my lawyer as of yet or is there any other recourse ? If any Bally/Goodlife employee from the Greater Toronto Area reads this, please contact me.

Are there any other members of Bally/Goodlife fitness in the Geater Toronto Area (Ontario, Canada) that got scammed in the past or are being scammed now? Lets unite for a class action lawsuit. Please message me in private if you are one of the miserable people they have scammed.

biz4yourself · #38 12-08-2007, 08:30 AM

I got baited by them too. I stopped going because the place looked so seedy and uninviting.

zd87 · #39 01-25-2008, 09:54 PM

They pulled the same B.S. on me! I went one day to try and get a free trial pass just to see what the gym was like. The Sales Rep convinced me to buy a $5 pass for 30 days and I was allowed to cancel the membership at the end at no cost. After the 30 days I went to the same guy and told him I didn't want to stay and he needed to cancel my membership. He then checked his computer and told me I signed up for a 3-month, $45 per month pass. He actually remembered what he told me and said there was nothing he could do to fix it. I then asked another lady to help me with the problem and she told me "People make mistakes, who do you think should pay for it? Us?" This shows the absolute lack of intelligence that exists in the Ballys work force. I then went to the manager for his help and he disappeared for the next hour and a half. I then called back two days later and the Sales Rep who sold me the pass was fired. Hmm, I wonder why he was fired??? Bally's is the single biggest joke of a corporation in all of America. UNBELIEVABLE

Lord_jag · #40 01-27-2008, 09:17 PM

I went into balleys last week. Before they would even let me see the place they shoved a waiver infront of me. I tried to read it but they just kept telling me to sign it and it's really ordinary and everyone does it etc etc etc.

Well I heard all tehri protests to my reading it, but I don't sign anything without reading it first. You know what? It is such a blanket waiver. It's not just liability in the club, its all liability. Everything. You are signing away your right to sue them for ANYTHING. They could totally screw you over 8 ways till Sunday and be scott free if their waiver could hold up in court.

Well I didn't sign it so they kicked me out. They wouldn't even let me see their place. The palce sounds like a horrible scam to me. Be very wary!

candess · #41 02-17-2008, 08:00 AM

I used to work at Bally (not in sales) as a Front Desk Manager. The sales department is under high amounts of competition and pressure from Corporate and most managers don't last more than a year at Bally because of sales numbers. These shady tacticts probably would get them fired but unfortunately someone eles would just come in and do the same. And don't bother trying to talk to anyone in coporate because they don't care about their employees let alone customers. So do yourself a favor and help this company bury itself by not buying memberships. All they care about is contracts and money! Trust me I know.

ballysvictim5000 · #42 02-28-2008, 12:55 PM

Yes. Bally's is a HUGE scam. I understand those saying that it is the customer's responsibility to read the contract. True. But why are you ignoring the fact that it is also the company's responsibility to represent their policies honestly? I went into Bally's, because of the "free" 1-month trial membership which they were offering.

I asked the sales rep OVER AND OVER again if I really had no obligation to the gym after one month. He said yes. As long as I cancelled before the 30 days were up, then I owed them nothing. He then put the contract in front of me and said he just needed me to sign this form.

I signed it, because it did not even occur to me that he would outright lie to me about the contract... After all, how on earth would a business continue to legally operate when its employees were purposely lying to customers? Alas, that is what was happening. I called 20 days later to cancel my membership, and was told that it would not be possible, unless I paid the $1800 upfront for the 3-year contract.

BS. So this is what I did. I read the whole contract and saw that right above where I had signed were the details of the "Promise Program." Basically, it states that as long as you schedule and go to the introductory personal training session, as well as go to the gym 16 more times (for a total of 17 visits. and you're only allowed to swipe your card once a day) within 60 days of signing the contract, then you have 10 days after your last visit to write to their headquarters and cancel your membership.

I had already gone to the gym 10 times. I was so disgusted with the deceitful, unethical practices that I did not want to even workout there anymore. So, for the next 7 days, I walked in, had my card swiped, and walked right back out. I also ran into the sales rep who lied to me and confronted him calmly about it. He had the decency to blush. I guess they are not used to people confronting them about their blatant lies. After I completed the 17 swipes, I wrote the letter, and my membership was cancelled within 2 weeks. Hope this works for some of you!

contractarejokes · #43 03-28-2008, 06:48 PM

Jesus---There are so many scams in the country that are actually protected by our own "LAW" !!! Yes, whenever consumers found out they're been scammed, the scammers can always said "read the contract"....!!! WHY ?? Because the contracts are designed to be confusing and in pages after pages in tiny fine prints to make sure that nobody can actually read through the entire contracts or even understand what it means... so Easy for businesses to trap victims with the LAW on their side, the consumers are always losers... and this is happening all over America... and the government never took part in protecting the consumers --- actions such as requiring that all contracts must be simple and understandable by average consumers, total in less than 3 pages, no fine prints, and No Tricky implications or guessing of any type, everything must be Frank upfront...etc. But too bad the government won't do that for us, they usually don't do anything until enough people have died, then they'll start to look into it... all those fitness clubs are really dumb business practice, instead of paying their sales associates 20% or 30% commission, why can't they just pass on the discounts to consumers ?? By doing this way, everyone pays the same membership price, no sales pressure, no frauds, just hire customer service and trainers and that's it. Everyone's happy. How do you feel if your friend is paying $455 for a 3-year-contract and you are paying $695 for a 3-year-contract...for the exact same thing??! I bet you will be pissed off or angry, and this is what happens to all members, everyone is paying different prices... Stupid practice by all the fitness clubs!!!

contractarejokes · #44 03-28-2008, 06:52 PM

Jesus---There are so many s in the country that are actually protected by our own "LAW" !!! Yes, whenever consumers found out they're been med, the mers can always said "read the contract"....!!! WHY ?? Because the contracts are designed to be confusing and in pages after pages in tiny fine prints to make sure that nobody can actually read through the entire contracts or even understand what it means... so Easy for businesses to trap victims with the LAW on their side, the consumers are always losers... and this is happening all over America... and the government never took part in protecting the consumers --- actions such as requiring that all contracts must be simple and understandable by average consumers, total in less than 3 pages, no fine prints, and No Tricky implications or guessing of any type, everything must be Frank upfront...etc. But too bad the government won't do that for us, they usually don't do anything until enough people have died, then they'll start to look into it... all those fitness clubs are really dumb business practice, instead of paying their sales associates 20% or 30% commission, why can't they just pass on the discounts to consumers ?? By doing this way, everyone pays the same membership price, no sales pressure, no frauds, just hire customer service and trainers and that's it. Everyone's happy. How do you feel if your friend is paying $455 for a 3-year-contract and you are paying $695 for a 3-year-contract...for the exact same thing??! I bet you will be pissed off or angry, and this is what happens to all members, everyone is paying different prices... Stupid practice by all the fitness clubs!!!

dominator8184 · #45 04-28-2008, 02:56 PM

I have to agree with "Kollektor
"

I WORK in Legal Contracts (no not for Bally's) for a very large
Distribution company, unfortunately what he is saying is 100% true. Although some salesmen will try and pressure you into signing something you don’t want to, it does not mean you HAVE to. I 23 years old at 6’2 268lbs (good amount of muscle) and I workout at Ballys, I went in with a friend 5 years ago and we took 2 days to think about it, when we were ready we went back and signed up.

Back then I didn’t work where I work now, but we handed the contract to my friends dad and had him read it over for us, he said it was ok but made sure we understood the amount of $ and time we were signing up for, and we did and were ok with it.

I now pay $15 a month to workout, I go 4-5 days a week and I don’t see the issues you all are having. Ever since I started my job here 2 years ago I have been VERY alert about signing ANYTHING before reading the contract. Now, given my job I do know what to look for and where to look for it BUT my suggestion to everyone else who does not is this, which I find funny the “Attorney” did not already know to do.

IF you do not understand how to read contracts, THEN like Kollektor suggested you ASK the salesmen to point it out to you “How much am I paying, can you show me please” “What are my cancellation options, please point it out to me on the paperwork”. If the salesmen tells you no, or that’s not necessary then you stand up and say “Well then this meeting is over, thank you for your time and have a nice day”. At that point I guarantee you having worked in sales myself, the person will stop you from leaving and answer any and all questions you have.

IF you are not satisfied with the agreement, and they cannot change it, then you say “Well I’m sorry for wasting any of your time but I can’t do this for **reason**, hopefully I will have/do/be able to **reason** in the future but right now is not a good time.” If the salesmen tries to pressure you then HAVE A BACK BONE and say “I said no thank you, I meant no thank you, have a nice day” if they still harass you then at that point for the last time you say to the person “This is not up for negotiation, I am not interested.” And you proceed to WALK OUT THE FRONT DOOR. That’s it, if they put their hands on you then you scream assault and that will end extremely fast trust me.

I agree 100% here, you MUST read before you sign. If you go in to buy a car and the salesmen doesn’t answer all of your questions then you say “Give me a good 30 minutes to read this over and I’ll get back to you”. You take as much time as you need to read over ANYTHING before YOU sign it, as the original poster stated it’s all up to You and you are in control no matter what. No one can make you sign your name to paper, also PLEASE remember one VERY important step, before you sign ANYTHING, after you have read and understand what you are signing you need to ask the employee “will you be making a copy of this?” if he/she says yes then you say “I would like that done in front of me please” and if they refuse to do that then you stand up and say “Well then I am not signing anything, thank you for your time”. Guess what will happen? You will be in the back office before you know it standing in front of a copy machine, they don’t want to lose the sale trust me.

So bottom line like the poster said, READ AND UNDERSTAND before you SIGN. If it feels wrong, it IS wrong. If you feel pressured then you end the conversation then and there, don’t get pushed around and bullied. The most *****ful weapon you have is your mind and body, you use your mind to make your final decision and your body to get up and walk out, or sign the contract. People who get “scammed” LET themselves get scammed, honestly…how many of you are going to send money to Dr. “Ukiyamabatama” in Africa so he can send you your share of the ten billion dollars he found buried under an old mining shaft?. Scams happen to those who are willing to be scammed, if you don’t understand something then ask, if they refuse to answer, then get up, walk out, and get on with your day.

Guriab · #46 05-01-2008, 05:16 PM

I have also been victimized by Bally’s. I intend to report them to the New York Attorney-General’s Office for violation of the Settlement Agreement that they signed. Back in February 2004, Bally’s settled with the Attorney-General’s office and, among other things, promised to institute reforms among which was “instituting a monthly pay as you go option and a 30-day money back guarantee for members who go to the club 12 times in those first 30 days.” Well, my reading of the sad tales of a number of you show that after 2004, Bally’s is back to its deceptive, double-talking and out and out cheating ways. I want to cite the experiences of as many of you as possible to prove my contention – and would appreciate your emailing me to let me know the latest status (as of April/May 2008) of your problems with Ballys.

Benny13 · #47 06-24-2008, 12:26 AM

I am currently a memeber of Bally, but hardly ever go. The reason, I can't cancel my membership. I remeber when I first signed up the guy at the booth told me he was giving me a special deal that I wouldn't get anywhere else (typical salesman scheme). I read through the contract, I he did tell me I could quit and explained the Moving and doctors not thing AS EXAMPLES that is what they sounded like to me. So I paid him the money uop front $27 and the same for every month following for 3 years. They set me up with a personall trainer for the next day. I came in and she barley showed me anything for 2 minutes before she said I would seriously get hurt if I didn't sign up for a personal trainer. She said to sign up I needed $400. I didn't have it and so dispite her pleading I didn't sign on to that. The first couple months I come there semi regularely. Then I call them to cancel they ask me why and I say I don't have a job and they say that's not a valid reason and I must have either moved 25 miles away or have a doctor's note. So I am stuck. Later they do this promotion where if I can bring people in I can renegotiate my contract including cancel it. But of course I can't subject people to the same thing as me and instead warn them. So last summer I was working at a summer camp for 3 months I call them tell them I had moved they ask me where I tell them and they say there is a club 19 miles away. But how am I sapposed to get there if I am working all week except Saturdays and even then it's a problem. I also have auto pay so it deducts it automatically. However I think people are getting wise to them because tghey seem desparate. They now have amazing deals with like $5 a month but there probably strings attached, however I cannot renogtiaste my contract down to that.

tubhmoob · #48 07-03-2008, 12:17 AM

OH MY GOD - I went to signed up a contract at bally fitness (which i didn't know that i was about to signup for a loan and it was a big mistake) on march 2008 i even asked the people at bally about how long i can be able to cancel my membership and they told me that it's a hustle but i could cancel it at anytime but (he should've told me to cancel it within 60 days) so i asked to try the service for couple of months to see if i like it if i don't then i'll cancel it, then a few months later i went back to bally trying to cancel my membership because i was putting alot of hours at my job and also i was having hard time at bally and barley make it there so i talked to the guys at bally about it but they said they couldn't cancel my membership because i aready pasted my 60 day trial. and i told them that i know nothing about the 60 day trial and if they would've told me about it i would've cancel it within. so now i'm stuck with bally what am i going to do!!! how do i get out????

stonestn · #49 07-11-2008, 12:16 AM

Try to get out of the contract with a doctors note they still wont let you out 4 years ago had a serious medical problem that popped up and required surgery wasn't able to work out for 2 years. Their excuse on not accepting the doctors note was in their file "I had a roman numeral at the end of my name" which is true but the doctors note didn't have one so they didn't think it was me and I was trying to scam them.Thank god I had auto draft with american express at the time after 6 months of reversing charges they went away.Bally's sucks bad proud member of YMCA now.

kkgrrr17 · #50 07-30-2008, 09:22 PM

i signed up for the month of July on a month to month contract. My family is joining another gym so I dont need Bally anymore and would like to cancel. I went in today and they said I must pay August and September plus a $25 cancellation fee. I will pay August and the cancellation fee. But september is more than 30 days- the length of notice for a cancellation. why must i pay for sept and wat must I do to make sure I do not get scammed and I am cancelled when they say I am. I feel like I need o be getting lawyers involved. This is unethical and unfair, contract or not. I am agreeing to wat is fair.