Pivotal Fitness Just Fitness RIPPED OFF TWICE IN ONE WEEK!!! Summerville, South Carolina

After nearly two years of being a member at pivotal fitness, I never thought I would be writing this report.  After the things that have transpired last week, however, I would tell anyone who is considering a membership at a Pivotal Fitness facility to turn around and RUN the other way!

I am going to try and make this as short and sweet as possible.  The first time I was ripped off actually occurred last month.  I had forgotten to transfer money into my "spending" account to cover my gym membership dues, which are auto-drafted on the  24th of each month.  This was the FIRST time I had EVER had a late payment, so when I called in to make my payment on the 27th (I spoke with Neil, who was apparently a "manager") I was told that they would "waive" the $30 late fee (YES, $30 after three days!!!! My entire monthly fee is $39).  So I came in, made my payment, and went along for the next three weeks thinking that all was kosher in Pivotal Fitness land---WRONG! 

I came in last week, swiped my card at the front desk before working out, and was told that I had a $30 balance owing on my account.  To make a long story short, I found out later on that day that it was for the late fee that I was told would be "waived".  I was assured by another Pivotal Fitness employee that the issue would be resolved later that day, but guess what?  A couple of days later when my payment was drafted they took $69 out of my account instead of the regular $39. 

I called Pivotal Fitness back and was told I needed to talk to their corporate office about it (which was never the case before!), so I called "corporate" and left them a message to call me back.  This was last week and I still have not heard from anyone.  In fact I have since then left two more messages and every time I call I get an ANSWERING MACHINE!!!  So apparently their corporate office only runs on ONE phone line.  So I still haven't gotten my money back from that particular incident, and I'm guessing at this point that I probably never will.

But that's not all folks!!  The week BEFORE last I called in and talked to someone about signing up my 11-year-old son as a member on my account.  He was turning 12 in a week, so they told me that he would be able to start coming in and working out with me.  I was told that I could just sign him up over the phone, and that they would have the paperwork for me to sign sitting at the front desk the next time I brought him in.  How convenient, right?  So she took my payment of 40-some odd dollars over the phone to pay for the prorated remainder of this month, PLUS a full "last month's dues", which apparenty go toward paying for the last month of his contract. 

When I took my son in a few days later, I realized very quickly that working out was NOT for him.  He was so upset over it that he was literally crying the whole time.  I talked to the people at Pivotal Fitness about it when I got home and they told me that there was a "3 day cancellation policy", and that he could only cancel within 3 business days of signing up.  Nobody had ever explained this to me, and I hadn't even SIGNED ANYTHING yet, mind you, so I was pretty upset by this.

Luckily, I was told that THAT day happened to be the LAST day of the three business days, so if I sent them a CERTIFIED LETTER postmarked for that day stating that I wished to cancel his membership, then I could take him off of my account.  They assured me it would only cost 2 or 3 dollars at the most, which was a lie,  because it actually ended up costing $9 for the kind that they said they needed (with the signature card).  So I ran around getting all of that done so that I could get it postmarked for that day.  I got the signature card back, so I know that they received it, but guess what?  I STILL haven't been refunded for the $40-something I paid for his membership dues. 

So like I said before, I have tried to contact the corporate office and can never get ahold of anyone, just an answering machine.  I'm starting to feel like they don't answer the phone on purpose so that they can screen their phone calls for people who are pissed off and want their money back.  Unless you enjoy being ripped off and given the run-around, stay away from Pivotal Fitness.  If you find that there is just no other place that you can work out at, at least do yourself the favor of reading through every last detail of your contract, because if you don't I guarantee you will be unpleasantly surprised at some point down the road.