ABC Financial Gold's Gym Debit service ABC Financial has used deceptive practices and bullying to extort money from clients Internet, Arkansas

Mr. Mena,

While I can appreciate the fact that you have your employers best interest in mind, I must state that you have a few facts about my situation mixed up. I did not choose to discontinue my membership, it expired. To me there is a difference, regardless, I chose not to "renew" my contract and I maintained my contract in good standing until then.

I did not contact ABC to discontinue my contract; I did that through my gym, (as my contract stated). However, I did contact ABC to get a physical address for the certified letter I was sending because all the contract had was a P.O. Box and I wanted to guarantee a signature from an ABC representative. As far as me "choosing not to follow through with the necessary steps", you are very mistaken. First of all, my contract only states that I notify the gym management in writing that I do not wish to renew my membership; nowhere in my contract does it state that I notify ABC Financial. I happened to get lucky and an employee of the gym advised me to do that at the time I turned my letter into him. Otherwise, I would have been screwed by ABC.

So, after turning a letter into gym management, sending a certified letter outlining my wishes not to renew and faxing the same letter to ABC, you guy's (ABC) not the gym, send a bill collector after me. The bill collector advised me that he was contacting me on behalf of ABC Financial, not Gold's. He comes up with an extremely inflated amount of money I owe and threatens to put a negative mark on my credit history if I didn't pay it. Sounds like bullying to me. This comes two months after my contract expired. The amount he comes up with is $180, not even close to the $75 I would have owed for those two months if I legitimately did not follow ABC procedure. The bill collector advised me that the additional money was for late fees, collector fee's etc. None of which I should have been held accountable for. This guy was a rude p***k. He told me I didn't send in the letter to ABC financial and that it was clearly stated in my contract to do so. I advised him that it was not in my contract, he stated it was and that I signed it. I asked him if he had a copy of my contract in front of him with my signatures and he avoided the question by continuing to badger me for the money.

The bottom line Mr. Mena is this, you can defend your employer, which I completely understand but a quick Google search of ABC Financial will turn up thousands of complaints on your employer. You cannot convince me or the public that ABC is not guilty of the many many claims of intimidation, fraud, theft, deception, concealment, bullying, unethical practice, false billing, scamming, and racketeering. These crimes or incidents that ABC is accused of are not from my own opinions or frustrations, they are detailed on the internet in a multitude of complaint boards, forums and reports. I personally think it best fits racketeering, at least by definition. I am sure that ABC is not always at fault when a complaint or accusation is made but the amount of complaints and accusations against your employer are alarming. You have to agree, secretly of course.

My hats off to you Mr. Mena, you have a very tough job as the poor sap that has to try and smooth over public opinion of ABC. Make no mistake about it; I understand ABC has a great relationship with many health clubs across the country. Your company ensures those gyms are making money and simplify the collection process. It is a great tool for gym owners everywhere that rely on steady income. Also, you were correct in stating that I have been with health clubs in the past that used ABC Financial and I didn't have any problems then. You see, my wife ran one of those gyms, so I had her to ensure there would not be any problems. She ultimately left that gym for a good reason. The owner explained to her that when a member cancelled a contract, she was to put it off for a payment cycle if she could. That would allow him an extra debit or two before the customer came back to complain. And then, almost every time, the customer didn't follow the proper procedure in the cancellation or expiration process (a note on that later). This would allow for a few extra debits from the customers account. How convenient. She did the math and the money really adds up for a gym owners bottom line every quarter. Her gym only had about 1500 members so it was relatively small but it was still enough to help keep the gym afloat. She ultimately could not deal with the deception of that owner and face the clients. But that's business, right.

Ok, about the cancellation process. ABC has some very experienced guys running the show. Former gym owners and financiers. Undoubtedly, they know the health club industry. No matter how you slice it, ABC has made the contracts to be deceptive and difficult to cancel which leads to an overwhelming amount of improperly cancelled memberships. You, I and the world know that is a cash cow for ABC. Hey, I can't really dispute the fact that some people do not follow all of the tricky guidelines placed in ABC's contracts. It happens. But you have to admit, it can be deceiving. I do not place the entirety of that issue on ABC; I blame slick gym owners and sales staff for that too. I guess if a customer goes for the "sign here, here and here, initial here, there and here", then it's the customers fault. I just wish the gym staff had more integrity than that and ABC would insist that they do. I'm sure that would chop your bottom line though.

Thanks for your interest in this complaint but I am not satisfied with the way ABC handled my situation. I did as required to cancel and you guys still sent a bill collector (who was a d****e bag) after me and attempted to defraud my family out of unnecessary funds before making sure I didn't cancel properly. I wonder how many people just roll over and pay without verifying that they truly cancelled the membership correctly. Some people are weak, I am not. I have a voice and the internet and I plan on using both. Speaking of that, I will post copies of my contract, USPS certified letter receipt signed by an ABC representative and fax confirmation on my website abcfinancialsucks. These items will show that I followed procedure and then some.

I have no interest in speaking with anyone from ABC Financial about the situation because I really don't feel like arguing over the phone. What good will it do. I did notice someone from ABC Financial left a voicemail for me advising that my account was reviewed and I was being released from my debt and my account has been placed in good standing. Thank you for doing what was right in that situation. I couldn't help but notice that the voicemail was left just a couple of days after I bought my website titled abc financial sucks. I'm not sure if it was coincidence or not, any rate I appreciate you guys making it right, I just wish you did it before the d****e bill collector threatened me.

Thank you Mr. Mena and good luck in your job. You have a difficult task in trying to keep the reputation of ABC Financial looking good. I imagine it would be like trying to convince someone that a turd would really taste good on bread.

Mr. Ansbro,

I personally have made several attempts to speak with you regarding the issues you feel ABC Financial Services has caused you.

You contacted us to discontinue your membership and were advised of the necessary steps. You chose to not follow through with them and the business you agreed to receive service from turned your account over to an institution to collect the funds owed to them.

As a courtesy we have contacted this institution and asked that they close your account in good standing. We are looking for a resolution - we have been billing without any problems since early 2008 for the various club you have joined.

Please feel free to contact me at alex.mena@abcfinancial.com or at 1-800-622-6290 Ext. 1804.

Alex Mena

Data Research Analyst