I signed up for a Bally's membership at the springfield mall location about 10 years ago. I did the typical college student thing of glossing through the contract and not paying attention to the fine print, but apparently I have a lifetime contract. It says that the only way I can get out of it is if I'm incapacitated, move more than 25 miles away, or die.

Springfield mall turned to crap, and they closed down that one, but they still have one in Falls Church, so I'm still within the radius.

I looked at some consumer affairs boards, and they all say that if you have them blocked on your credit card, or stop paying, they report you to bill collection agencies. they were/are so aggressive about this, that the credit bureaus have stopped accecpting data from them.

Has anyone been able to get out of a contract with Ballys?

My father got out.

He died.

They actually tried to keep collecting months after his death.

Seriously.

Yeah Bally's is run by a bunch of assholes. They are so aggressive with signing up new members and making it almost impossible to ever leave. I was once a member at the Springfield mall location as well. I moved to Virginia Beach..that's how I got out of it. I remember having to do lots of yelling on the phone to finally get them to leave me alone.

Go to the Bally's and slip and fall in the bathroom, gym area, wherever. Make sure an employee or camera sees you fall. Make a big scene. Threaten to sue. Tell them you will settle if they let you out of the contract because you just don't feel safe there anymore. Make sure you get it in writing.

You can choose not to renew the contract by sending in a renewal payment when you get the notice.

Or you can choose to renew the contract by not sending in a renewal payment. There's a third option which I can't remember.

Bally's is utter scum. If I were you, I'd talk to a lawyer and see what your legal rights are, and how to pre-emptively deal with the collections agencies. You should also talk to your credit card company and see what you can do.

If nothing else works, hire that guy with the "Primerica Sucks" truck from the other thread to camp out in front until they cancel for you.

Sounds just like Golds Gym. These places have very anal contracts because people lose interest in exercise very quickly. A good number of these gym memberships are people that never come back to the gym.

If the collection agency cannot report to the credit agencies because of past unethical collection practices, there is nothing they can do. Simply refuse to pay any outstanding balance.

I successfully got my wife out of Bally's membership, but it involved fabricating some docs showing she permanently moved out of the US.

Try working out in all their local gyms in nothing but a speedo. Then casually walk around in between squats and wild yoga positions hitting on woman.


OOPS- Just noticed your name, above strategy is intended for a 300lbs guy.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/14/2009 03:37PM by Lurker..

Give your membership card to daniel he needs it! BADLY!

We're sorry to hear you want to leave Bally. Since our cancellation policy varies based on the type of membership you have, it’s best to contact us directly so we can fully understand your situation. Please call our Member Support Team at (866) 402-2559 or send an email to memberservices@ballyfitness.com.

We’ll be happy to talk about your options and make sure you’re taken care of.

Beth
Customer Relations
Bally Total Fitness

Beth Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> We're sorry to hear you want to leave Bally. Since
> our cancellation policy varies based on the type
> of membership you have, it’s best to contact us
> directly so we can fully understand your
> situation. Please call our Member Support Team at
> (866) 402-2559 or send an email to
> memberservices@ballyfitness.com.
>
> We’ll be happy to talk about your options and make
> sure you’re taken care of.
>
> Beth
> Customer Relations
> Bally Total Fitness

That's the most sensible post I have seen on here in years.

Lurker. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Beth Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > We're sorry to hear you want to leave Bally.
> Since
> > our cancellation policy varies based on the
> type
> > of membership you have, it’s best to contact us
> > directly so we can fully understand your
> > situation. Please call our Member Support Team
> at
> > (866) 402-2559 or send an email to
> > memberservices@ballyfitness.com.
> >
> > We’ll be happy to talk about your options and
> make
> > sure you’re taken care of.
> >
> > Beth
> > Customer Relations
> > Bally Total Fitness
>
> That's the most sensible post I have seen on here
> in years.

I'm actually surprised that the number isn't for a gay phone sex line or something.

--------------------------------------------------------------
13 4826 0948 82695 25847. Yes.

Lurker. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> That's the most sensible post I have seen on here
> in years.

Really?.. Let me translate it for you:

"We're sorry that you're complaining in a public forum. Since you're the squeaky wheel, we'd like to reply with some semblance that we run a reputable organization and make it look like we care, despite having absolutely no intention of actually letting you cancel.

We call this "understanding your situation" since we'd much rather talk you out of cancelling than just doing what you've already said you want to do -- cancel your membership. Our agents will get a bonus if they manage to make you sign up for MORE memberships somehow.

We'd be happy to explain why you can't cancel, framing the various ways we can continue to bill you as "options". We call this treatment "taking care of you."

Beth
Paid to search the internet and neutralize complaints in well-ranked forums.
Bally Total Scams.

seriously, beth, if the point of your e-mail not to say "of course, we will refund you in full" then go the fuck away. I would never join Bally's now.

She probably found the thread through google.

/ ignore the following

www.ballyfitness.com/

www.ballyfitness.com/

Bally fitness
Bally fitness reviews
Bally fitness sucks
Bally fitness Fairfax


www.ballyfitness.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/14/2009 10:27PM by 4200cc.

Bally's execs are aggressive because they all doing roids.

Yeah, same thing's going on with me too.I'm on a month to month contract, and they refuse to cancel my membership. Have sent them 3 letters requesting my membership to be cancelled. Stupid Ballys folks keep saying they never received any letter from me. I'm filing a complaint with the BBB, and will make sure to pursue this with the attorney general.

if they keep billing your card after you sent in a letter dispute it w/you CC company then send in another notice w/delivery confirm.

if you signed a lifetime contract make a fake lease from somewhere a few states away. if that doesnt work cancel the credit card the auto bill with.

This company is the scum of all scum. They lie over and over again to milk any penny out of you they can. Shame on our government for letting leech entities like this exist. I pretty much had the experience everyone on this board did. I will always vehemently warn against anyone going to this establishment. As a last resort, I have gone ahead and changed my cc as they are refusing to cancel my automated billing after my contract has expired. SCUMBAGS need a class action lawsuit soon.

(866) 402-2559 phone number they've given above = automated renewal line. SCUMBAGS once again.

I was thinking about a gym membership, not anymore.. Thanks for the heads up and this shady practice.

I got out by having my doctor write a letter explaining that it wasn't healthy for me to be exercising.

Thanks for the heads up I was thinking of joining myself until I read this. You need to call that number from Bally 's above and tell us all the BS they put you through. Maybe you can bribe them to let you out of the contract by righting nice things about them on this site

thinking about it Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks for the heads up I was thinking of joining
> myself until I read this.


Fairfax County has some great county-run gyms.

Don't join Ballys! Look them up on review sitees, better biz bureau., etc.

They are bad news, and really suck. Better off with a home gym--or just doing push ups at your house!

I am a fairfax resident and am glad I found this thread, I was going to join a gym for the new year after finally getting some money together but it won't be Bally's now for sure. I'll try to find an outfit that isnt so hostile to its customers and make sure I read my contract or agreement language. Maybe dan snyder runs ballys too so he can sue his customers in two franchises.

Must be a wonderful company to do business with... if you Google Bally Fitness, the second link goes to all their consumer complaints.

Yeah, kind of like doing business with Phillip Leiser.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1T4SUNA_enUS279US326&q=phillip+leiser&aq=f&oq=&aqi=

Never had any trouble with them, but I didn't go into an open-ended finance contract. I paid a lump sum of $1100 for four years with option to renew at $99/yr afterwards. I've since stopped going and let my membership expire since they closed the Tysons Corner branch. They still send me an offer to renew for one year at $99.

When I hear any good words about Bally's I wish I could trust them. But truth is they are lies. How is it surviving even with such a negative opinion out there. When one of friend wanted to join a gym, she was afraid to pay by card, she paid cash on month-to-month basis. After two months they tried to force her to get into contract. I would never ever give my money to such company.

For those of you in California who have had trouble with Bally Fitness, you might find this website useful: http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/legal_guides/w-10.shtml. It’s an Overview of California’s Heath Studio Services Contract Law, dated May 2009. It came in handy for me and it might help someone here. Two of us escaped Bally’s clutches by quitting three weeks into a three month contract. Had they stayed through the entire first month, they would have been locked in. Also, what worked in our favor was there were three of us to start with in the group. The third party joined a week later. An employee in the San Bernardino Bally Fitness accepted cash money for the membership, but never offered a contract for the third party to sign. He was the only employee there at the time and claimed he had no access to the money to make change (or to the contracts apparently). The third party didn’t get a contract or ID the first week due to illness, The ID machine was broken on the next visit, (still no contract). On the third visit we found out there was no record of a payment for the third party’s membership except the receipt in hand and she was only listed as a “guest” in the computer. To make a long story short, the first two members quit citing deceptive practices as outlined in the Health Studio Services Contract Law and the third party recovered all but two dollars of the stolen money after threatening a lawsuit. Bally has yet to return the disputed amount and the refund check has not been cashed. Rule 1: Don’t waste your time talking to Bally on the phone. They lie. Rule 2: Notarize everything you send. It gets expensive but it’s worth it to be free. Rule 3: Certify everything you send. Make sure the certified number appears in the heading of your letter so not only will you have a return receipt card, you’ll also have proof of the contents of the letter that was in that certified envelope. Rule 4: Make sure EVERYBODY who joined as a group writes his or her own letter of resignation. Rule 5: Send certified, notarized copies of your complaint letters to the Attorney General’s Office. Rule: 6: Keep notarizing, certifying and writing letters until you get that letter of cancellation for every account number in the group account. Rule 6: Be prepared to keep that letter of cancellation for the rest of your life. Don’t EVER throw it away. I’ve seen cases posted where Bally waited years, then went after someone they cancelled before. It took a lot of letter writing, but we finally got those cancellation letters. Be warned Bally has a problem with their own recordkeeping. They don’t keep track of what they send out and they barely read what you send in if you don’t draw attention to yourself. They had the nerve to send one of us a new bill for November 2009. (Before we knew how devious they were and started tracking our correspondence, we were told on the phone that both contracted memberships would end the second week of September 2009). With great pleasure I sent them copies of notarized, certified correspondence concerning that account and a copy of their own cancellation letter that clearly states “This letter confirms your health club membership has been cancelled. In turn Bally Total Fitness has relieved you of any further payment obligation.” Oh, and on a final note, make sure your cancellation letter actually says your membership has been cancelled. Bally tried to get over on us by cancelling one membership and sending the other member a letter that said, “Please be advised we have received your request not to renew your membership. However your account remains eligible for promotional reactivation offers.” Note this isn’t a true cancellation letter. They’re only telling you they got your request to cancel your account. Since the word “cancel” is never used, why would you think you’re no longer a member? If you drop the ball and let this stand, I’ll bet reactivation letters won’t be the only thing you’ll be getting in the mail.

Unless you're a 'roid freak or swimmer, it doesn't seem like joining a gym is worth the trouble. Get a decent pair of running shoes, a pullup bar, some dumbbells, elliptical, etc. There are DVD programs (P90X is popular) that work great. My wife uses Fios On-Demand and gets tons of free, constantly changing workouts that work great and don't get boring. Point is, there are tons of cheap, effective alternatives to gyms. Hell, most people who join hardly ever go. The gyms know and count on this.

Gyms are cool, and I've belonged to them in the past, but I hear too many of these contract horror-stories to ever join one again.

I was able to get out by having an old bank account at my previous address that didnt have a Ballys within the radius. I had to jump through some hoops, but I got out of it.

Mai Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> For those of you in California who have had
> trouble with Bally Fitness

We have a Florida poster and a Richmond poster, not sure about California posters here.

Several years ago I went to the one in Tyson's Corner Center and asked for a tour, and they acted like they couldn't be bothered with me. They told me to come back when a sales person is there. Never went back, and I'm glad I didn't.

Saw Phillip Leiser mentioned in this string. Latest.....I hear that there is a VSB complaint coming.

I had no way to get out and they kept harassing me so back in college i paid them out in full. I can apparently keep going if I pay an additional 99 or so bucks a year. Unfortunately or fortunately I haven't lived near a Bally's since I was living in Falls Church back in 2001-2002. Now I refuse to join any health club. I had originally joined because my stupid counselor told me It would help if I worked out. I guess she figured my parents would pay instead of me who had used school grants to pay the bakas off.

They told me nice little lies like when I went back to school I could cancel, but then they wouldn't let me cancel. :(

Sports and Health Clubs require an act of Congress for you to get them out of your bank account also.

Does this really work? Because I blocked them from my credit card. I paid of my membership in full my first months signed on and they continue to keep trying to charge me monthly. I just keep ignoring them, every email hoping eventually they will cancel it themselves because they can't get ahold of me. They. c ant send the cops after me or anything right? That's what I'm most worried about, going to jail!!

We got a doctor's note and got out.

I shit in the hot tub at Springfield that took care of my membership