Gym membership nightmare (not sure if this is the correct section)

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I'm new to this forum. I'm glad I discovered it.

I have a problem. I signed a contract with a new Fitness 19 in my area. I gave them my name, address contact info. But I told them I would give them my bank info a few days after. I did my research and found out the the gym is notorious for charging personal training fees that weren't purchased by members and overall, they're a pain in the butt to deal with. So I decided to not give them my checking account information and call it in to cancel. They agreed.

So imagine my surprise when after 8-12 months, I decided to come in and inquire about the gym once more, I found out that I racked up about $140-150 in membership fees.

Keep in mind, nobody contacted me about this after I cancelled the gym membership. I mean they contacted me before I cancelled my membership but that was only to get my checking account information. I never gave it to them and I proceeded to cancel.

Now, the good thing is that my name in their system is somewhat mispelled. I'm not sure if this is a ploy of theirs or whatever but it is what it is.

In the end, the guy told me that they'd send me to collections after I reach $300 in unpaid membership fees.

I told them I would comeback a week from that day and that I would talk to the manager about this.

Now my question - Am I safe if my name is mispelled? Will they be able to connect my name and have it sent to the collection agency and directly affect my credit report?

Should I just pay the unpaid balance and get it over with or should I dispute or ignore it?

I'm really pissed off right now at myself for even doubting my gut about not signing up with them in the first place.

Hopefully I can find the best resolution for this.

Thanks in advance!

[youdontkillmoney]

Your oprions hinge on whether you signed a legally enforeceable contract or not, if yes, you are likely on the hook, if not, then I'd dispute.

[thom02099]

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@youdontkillmoney wrote:

Your oprions hinge on whether you signed a legally enforeceable contract or not, if yes, you are likely on the hook, if not, then I'd dispute.

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+1 on this.  You should be consulting with an attorney rather than posting on a forum.   Sound legal advice could prevent a lot of potential problems.

[macuserftw]

I had a similar experience with a local YouFit gym. After a year of membership I decided to cancel since I had relocated to an area where there weren't any YouFit's around. I had already signed up with a new (and nicer) gym. I went into the same YouFit branch I originally signed up with and requested to cancel my account. I signed a Cancelation Agreement and that was that. I double checked with the front desk and they assured me my membership would be canceled. Shortly after I had also switched banks for the same reason so, they definitely couldn't keep taking money out of my account.

Low and behold two years later I get a call from my sister - she had tried to sign up for YouFit and due to the same last name, when they signed her up, my name came up as well with over $300 in past due membership fees. Nobody from YouFit ever contacted me about it. I called the local manager to explain that I had canceled two years prior while signing the necessary form, etc. Then the manager gets back to me saying my cancelation was never filed in their system and they can't find the actual paper so, he will not reverse my past due fees. They also threatened to send me to collections.

Ever since then I refuse to sign any long term or annual gym commitments. I just go straight up month to month with the option to cancel at anytime. It's been another two years since the manager of YouFit threatened to send me to collections - and I still haven't seen any new collection accounts pop up on my CR's. Just keep kicking and screaming OP and hopefully they will reverse the charges just to make you go away, but I don't see them sending you to collections - if they do, dispute it regardless.