LA Fitness - Leesburg, VA Total Rip Off Leesburg, Virginia

At the beginning of the summer, my daughter and a girlfriend decided to join a gym for the summer while home from college.  Unfortunately, they decided on LA Fitness in Leesburg, VA   They were told that a membership for the summer was $79.99 from the beginning of June until August 10th.  They visited the gym regularly and were approached by the manager/personal trainer Carl Mitchell.  Carl suggested that the girls might enjoy some personal training sessions with him and told them that they could pay $120 for 8 sessions to be used at any time before the end of summer when they both would be going back to school.  They did sign electronic pin pads for both of these transactions, but were never shown a contract (I know, not smart, but they are young - they've learned their lesson).   Unfortunately, they were trusting and were not given anything to review.  

When she accessed her account around at the beginning of August her debit account was debited $39.99 three times and $244.00 two times. At that point, she immediately contacted the Leesburg, VA LA Fitness and was told that the $39.99 for the fitness club dues and the $244 was for the personal training and was also told that she had a 12 month contract for both.  She was also told that the $244 per month for the "personal training" was for her and her friend.  They were charging her for her personal training and her friends.  She immediately began texting Carl.  Carl did return her text messages several days later and told her "don't worry about it - I've taken care of it," but when she contacted the office, she was told her account was "frozen" not canceled and that they would need to discuss her account with Carl.  She tried to call several times was continually told they needed to speak to Carl.  No one would return her calls.   She is busy with school and not able to get anyone to return her calls, so I intervened and called LA Fitness and spoke to a Allison K. who assured me that the club membership would be canceled (it was, she got an email confirmation) but that she would have to speak to Carl and her corporate office and would be back in touch with me the next day.  I called Allison and spoke to her and she said she was working with corporate but that my daughter does have a contract and a copy had been emailed to her. 

While I dont expect a refund and suspect that they will try to get the "cancelation" fee of $1000 (they will never get that, but will probably try to ruin her credit), I want to be sure that everyone out there is warned to not let this happen to them.  THIS HEALTH CLUB SHOULD BE SHUT DOWN BECAUSE THEY ARE CROOKS!