Lifestyle Family Fitness LFF Cancellation Nightmare st petersburg, Florida

My job moved to a different location that was not near the center I signed up at. I continued to pay for a few months because I thought that I might get a chance to stop by the gym but I never did. Then my dad ended up in the hospital and passed away and calling LFF was the last thing on my mind.

I finally got around to calling them in February 2011, while they were piloting their new cancellation policy that I found out about by going into the gym. The phone number they give you never picked up and they offer to leave a message and someone would get back to you, when it's convenient for them. No one I know can sit on hold for 30 mins or more a day to try and get a hold of them. Well by chance I did finally get a hold of a cancellation rep around the middle of February and they told me that I'd be receiving an email and that I am to respond to that email to confirm my cancellation, which I thought that I was doing by calling them in the first place. I continued to check my email and even my junk mail but I never received a message from them. I tried calling the same phone number back that I originally called and had the same problem as the first time, I could never get a hold of a rep. I finally did get a hold of someone, almost a month later, and explained what happened and they said that they would resend the email and to follow it's instructions. I received the email the next day and responded immediately after receiving it. During the month's time I was billed after the first time I called them as my "last payment" and billed after the second time I called them again as a "last payment."

This was very unsettling to me that it was not my fault that I didn't receive the original email so I decided to call the number that was within the cancellation email they sent. This number gets you almost directly to a representative without the long wait times. I spoke to this representative explaining what happened and that if they would be so kind to refund my last payment of $16.04 due to the circumstances that I had to go through to cancel my service and they told me that they do not refund. I asked to speak to a supervisor and they said that they were a supervisor, apparently everyone over there is a supervisor because I heard that through my next couple of conversations. Finally I asked to speak to the person that oversees them and their department, basically their supervisor, and that manager was unavailable at the moment but that they could set up a call back and I agreed.

I spoke to this manager when they called me back and they were just as rude and unforgiving as their floor supervisors. After hanging up with them I went directly to my bank and disputed the charge. My bank disputed the charge and about two days after I got a call from LFF, believe it or not yes I actually got a call from them, and they explained to me about the dispute that I already knew took place because I initiated the whole thing. I wish I remembered this lady's name because she was the rudest out of all those that I spoke to, she continued to cut me off mid-sentence and basically told me that if I do not pay the disputed charge through them that my account would be sent to collections. I laughed at her and hung up.

A few days after that I got a letter in the mail stating that if I do not send in my $16.04 payment that my account would be sent to collections and that a $15 chargeback would be applied to each dispute initiated because my account is considered past due. I finally gave in and called the number on this form and spoke to the lady for a few moments explaining what I had to go through and that I will pay them the messily $16 because I didn't want my credit ruined over this poor situation and company. I continued to explain to her that their customer service is the poorest to deal with and that I will never recommend this company to any of my friends or family members.