Last week I got an email from Pure Fitness stating my monthly dues were delinquent and that I needed to contact the club to remedy the problem. Here's the problem, my member had cancelled in January and I've not had any further charges since then. I called to club to remedy the situation, and when I got done explaining that I had cancelled this membership and my last payment came out in January they stated they would "fix" the error in billing. Well, they fixed it alright. They reinstated my membership and subsequently charged my account $138. Funny, I don't remember signing a contract. Isn't that what is supposed to happen after you've cancelled a previous contract, sign a new one? Hmmm, maybe I'm missing something. Yesterday when I noticed the charge I contacted the number on my bank statement and they confirmed with the Gym that my account had in fact terminated my membership as stated and that they would refund the money they fraudulently removed from my account. I was told by ABC Financial that they would contact accounting to expedite the matter and get me a reference number that would allow my bank to release the money into my account, as I didn't really want to wait 5 business days to get my stolen money back. I was told to call back later that afternoon at which time I was put on hold for more than 30 minutes. I was finally transferred to a Supervisor at 3:02 my time (5:02 CST), at which time I was informed that the accounting office was closed and I would need to call back tomorrow. So, I called back this morning to talk to that Supervisor (she said she would be there) to find that she was not in that day. I asked to be transferred to another supervisor who told me that they would also try and contact accounting department to acquire the necessary reference number and was told to call back at 11am my time, to find out (surprise, surprise) that this representative was not in the office. I contact another supervisor who told me that they would also try and contact accounting, and was later told that I would have to wait for another tomorrow. They wouldn't transfer me to accounting as "they aren't capable of getting incoming calls". I looked up the company, called their main line and was transferred to their Accounts Receivable office. What? They can receive incoming calls? I was told at that point I would have to wait for their credit card department to receive the paperwork in the morning. Hmmmm, who really handles this? Everyone keeps pointing the finger at someone else. So, I keep waiting to get back money that they had no right to anyway. Everyone agrees that it was in error, but no one seems in hurry to refund my money.
Moral of the story? If you join a gym, go month to month. Pay a little extra to avoid auto draft. Once they have your account information, it's over. They'll charge you indiscriminately for made up fees, etc. Also, if you are joining a gym and still want to do auto draft, make sure their Third-party billing company is NOT ABC Financial.
