Las Vegas Athletic Club LVAC Las Vegas Athletic Club is a schiesty company. I was given a gym membership as a gift and 5 months later i have a bill from a collections agency for over $500. I don't even live in Las Vegas. Dade City, Florida

"I signed it under buyer signiture."

   Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner!   Did you bother to read what you were signing?  Gyms are notorious for getting you to sign a long term contract while telling you you're signing for something else.   The fact that you signed up as the "buyer" would lead me to believe that's exactly what you did.   Didn't it seem strange to you that you had to sign a contract even though you weren't "buying" anything?

What doesn't make sense is that why would she need to provide a Credit Card Number and have you sign a contract if she was allowed to have one free guest.  I would imagine that she would be able to "sign you in" or give you some guest pass without a a contract.  A wild thought is that Gyms are known to be very high presure and perhaps this was a really weird way to get you to actually sign up for a membership.

Anyway as for the collection agency, the best thing you can do is send them a Debt Validation letter.  Request that they provide you with the contract that states you are responsible for the debt.  There is a very good chance that they will not be able to do this, and until they do they can't legally collect the debt.  Just one note what ever you do DO NOT sign the letter, only type your name.  Because one thing that collection agencies are known to do is take your signature and put it on documents you never signed.  For actual formats of a Debt Validation Letter just do a search and you will find dozens of templates.

If they are able to prove that the contract you signed does make you responsible, you are pretty much stuck.  Your last "out" would be trying to go after the one who signed you up stating it was a "gift".