Internal Credit Systems, Inc Anytime Fitness of Pottsville PA running a scam with a debt collection agency out of Durham, North Carolina!! Pottsville Pennsylvania

You need to have all the background facts leading up to my complaint from beginning to end.  

I joined Anytime Fitness gym in April of 2015 and signed a 2 year contract that ended on April of 2017.  I used the gym for one month in april of 2015 and decided it was not for me.  I did fulfill my 2 year contract and made every payment until the contract ended in April 2017.  However in May of 2017, I noticed that 2 withdrawals to my checking account was made for Anytime Fitness and both withdrawals were for even more money than what my contracted payment was.  I immediately contacted the gym at the Pottsville PA location and spoke to a woman.  I told her I was very upset that my contract ended and my checking account should not have been charged.  She told me that I must have signed up for automatic renewal.  I told her that that was not possible because I NEVER sign up for automatic renewal for anything EVER.  She looked up to see how much I used the gym and said that she could see that I had not used the gym since the April of 2015.  

So I went to my bank and set up a stop payment to anytime fitness and also filed 2 disputes on the Anytime Fitness withdrawals to my account that were made in May of 2017.  My bank told me that they can file the dispute and try to recover the money but could not guarantee a win depending on what Anytime fitness could prove.  I accepted that because I knew I ONLY signed a 2 year contract and signed nothing else and never renewed it.  

In July of 2017, I noticed that I was refunded for the 2 withdrawals that were taken out of my account illegitamately.  So I thought OK, this issue is resolved.   But shortly after this, I started getting all these voicemails from an 800 phone # (which is available upon request).  They would leave these automated voicemails saying to call them back.  I tried calling back to find out what was going on several times but it always rang to an automated line and it would just say to press 1 to verify your account without giving any information, so I would hang up.  I was not verifying an account that, first of all, no longer existed & that I had no information about what I was verifying.  This was red flag #2 (next to the illegitamate withdrawals to my account).  Then, on Saturday August 5, I received a letter in the mail from Internal Credit System, Inc with an address of PO BOX 52088, Durham, NC 27717 with a toll free phone # of 877-405-1900 & a local # of 919-401-1900 saying "Dear Andrea, Internal Credit Systems Inc is a debt collector.  Be advised that Anytime Fitness has requested my office to collect this matter."  The letter said that I owed $239.97.  When I opened the letter, I realized that something was really not right with this.  

On Monday 8/7/17,  I called the phone # on the letter of 877-405-1900.  My daughter's nurse was in the home and I called this guy on speaker phone so she also heard the whole conversation verbatim on speaker phone.  The man answered the phone saying "hello".  He did not introduce the company or say what company he worked for.  He was BEYOND EXTREMELY RUDE and takes the definition of "rude" to a whole different level.  I explained that I fulfilled my contract and made every payment until the contract ended.  He told me that "once the contract ended that it is procedure to go to a month-to-month basis and that I must pay the $239.97.  I told him that once a contract ends, that there is no obligation.  He said that I had to mail him in writing that I no longer wanted a membership.  I advised him that my contract ended in April of 2017 that I fulfilled 48 months of payments as I originally agreed upon.  But that I am under no obligation to pay anything else to them because the contract ended.  He insisted in a very rude way that I must pay the money.  He had me so upset that I was shaking.  I told him I would not be paying the money.  The nurse in my home and I discussed this and she also thought something didn't seem right.  

So I called the 877-405-1900 again.  And again, the man answered the phone as "hello", not identifying himself or the company.  (This is not typical of a debt collection agency).  This time he was even beyond rude & beligerent threatening me to take me to court that his attorney would be contacting me and that I must pay this money.  Then he asked me if I still had the letter he mailed & that he would like the file #.  I told him I threw it out, but I ended up digging it out of my trash and gave him the file #.  Once I gave him the file #, he told me I MUST put it in writing to him that I want to cancel my account.  I told him there is no contracted account at this time.  He was trying to force me to put something in writing that did not exist.  He was so beligerent, that he should be arrested for harassment!  He told me that an 800 # called and I never verified my account.   Then he even said to me "If I hang up on you, do not call me back.  You must pay this money".  What kind of comment is that for a professional business practice?  

I ended the conversation with him by telling him that I would be reporting him to the Better Business Bureau.   I was the one trying to resolve this misunderstanding and after all the facts and events and todays phone calls, I STRONGLY THINK THIS IS A MAJOR SCAM OPERATION GOING ON!  And if for some reason it is not, this guy/business is very very very rude & unprofessional & has a harassing nature.  He intentionally tried to upset me on the phone, he would not listen to the facts, he was very cruel & cold..infact I would go so far as to say he is downright evil.  After all these events occured,  I contacted an Anytime Fitness gym in Philadelphia Area.  I spoke to the manager.  He was ver nice.  I inquired about once a contract ended what happens.  He gave me a very differernt story.  So after he answered my questions, I explained my situation and the reason I called him.  He did tell me that Anytime Fitness gyms are all individually owned & some have their own rules  but if you just tell them that you don't want a month to month basis after the contract ends, there should not be any charge.  The manager from Philadelphia PA was very very nice & informative and honest and said he runs his business straightforward.  He advised me that I should contact the Corporate Office of Anytime Fitness & report this since it didn't seem right to me and didn't make sense and have them look into it.  I have not done so yet.  

So my better business bureau complaint is being made in hope of the following to be done:

1- An investigation be done on Internal Credit Systems, Inc to figure out the underlying scam & the harassing nature, rudeness & unprofessionalism of the company    AND

2- Find out if the Anytime Fitness Pottsville PA location is involved in the underlying scam or if the Internal Credit Systems is the separate scam entity.  Did Anytime Fitness of Pottsville PA undergo new ownership recently that could have caused this.? I am fairly certain  there was a recent ownership change...that maybe needs to be looked into. 

I can say this, I won the payment dispute against Anytime Fitness of Pottsville, which is to say that they illegitamately took the money from my account and woulld have continued to do so if I would not have put a stop payment on them.

Any documentation of all the facts I provided above is able to be provided upon request.

I hope somebody can resolve this issue.  I am an honest person who likes to see business done properly and fairly. Thank you for your time and consideration.