Golds Gym Deceptive contract practices Eldersburg Maryland Maryland

My wife and I joined Gold's Gym one week prior to it opening on 6/29/2013.  The owner Sean signed us up.  We told him that we were not sure becuase we had never joined a gym and did not want to be tied to a one year contract.  Sean told us both that he would give us a special month to month contract and we could cancel at anytime.  We wanted the special month to month no contract, he told us that if we singed the contract he would let us cancel at anytime. Sean gave his speech of how he was raised by his mom and he was a man of his word.  He said he was always there so if there was a problem he would take care of it.  Sean told us that we could go to other Gold's Gyms and work out within 50 miles of this one.  

So we went to the one closest to work out until this one opened.  When we got to this gym the guy told us that we needed to have a pass signed by the other gym in order to work out there.  He was nice and let us work out there two times without charge.  He did tell us that the guy who was running that gym was a problem, it turned out not to be the owner but someone else he was talking about.  My wife called and complained to the manager because we felt like total idiots going into the gym to work out and finding out we needed a pass and it really was only for when you were out of town.  Sean was not friendly to us after this and would not say hi to us but would to others.  

Now, I had surgery to repair my torn biceps tendon in September of this year.  I contacted Jamie and was told to fax her a copy of a doctor or physical theripist note saying I was being treated.  This was done and faxed to her. I checked my bank account and found that September and October had been taken out of my bank account. I called on a Friday and she was not there so I asked for her to call me on Monday.  Monday came and went with no call.  I called and was told she had gone home for the day.  I again asked for her to call me on Tuesday and as of 3 PM no call so I called them.  i spoke to Jamie first and told her that I sent the letter and she told me sometimes it may take up to 30 days to process.  

At this point I am fed up and told her that I want to cancel our memberships.  I told her that Sean told us we were month to month and we could cancel at anytime.  She had our contracts and said we were bound for one year and if we canceled we would be charged.  I then talked to the manager,  Clayton and told him that Sean had given us a special month to month contract and we could cancel at ant time.  Clayton told me that Sean never said that so it was our word against his.  He told me he had a signed contract and there was nothing I could do.  I told Clayton that I signed a contract for a fully functioning gym and it was not functioning when I came there.  Clayton told me that there was nothing in my contract that said I was entiitled to those things.  I researched on this site and found 67 complaints about Golds Gym on 50 pages.  I see a pattern here.  These are taught practices by this corporation.  These are some bad people.