Las Vegas Athletic Club ripoff full disclosure Las Vegas Nevada

My girlfriend and I signed a contract which stipulates we abide by the rules of the new club at Rainbow and Vegas Blvd.

A week into using the club, however, we ran smack into a ridiculous rule they never told us about when we signed up -- that you can't work out with free weights on a balance ball.

This is ridiculous. At every club I've ever worked out in in N.Y. and L.A., from which I moved three weeks ago, and at 24-hour Fitness in Vegas, people use balance balls all over the free weight section. I have a bad back and my chiropractor in L.A. prescribed that I do as many exercises as I can on a balance ball.

At Las Vegas Athletic Club, the balls are consigned to the aerobics room and can't leave, the free weights likewise to the free weights room.

If they want to have this ridiculous rule, fine, but they need to disclose it to their members beforehand. The contract states that "under no circumstances shall member move exercise equipment about." But a ball is not stationery exercise equipment, and they never explained (before we signed the contract) that balls cannot be moved.

Needless to say, the club refuses to change its rules and the corporate office refuses to let us out of our contract and refund our money, since it's past the three-day trial date. To cancel our contracts, they say it will cost $525 each.

I called the B of A Visa card I charged the fee to and they said I could file a dispute, but that if it was a contract, I would have to file a dispute EACH SEPARATE TIME the gym makes a recurring charge, and that the current charge is likely to always include the previously denied ones (if they're indeed denied.) Further, the bank said that even if I get a new card (so the gym can't charge it without the new number), they will still keep billing me and this will eventually impact my credit report when I don't pay it. After all, they have a contract.

How do me and my girlfriend get out of this situation and work out in a gym that isn't controlled by fascists who value their customer's needs more than their money?

Corey
las vegas, Nevada
U.S.A.