Bally Total Fitness, Hayward, CA *TOTAL RIP-OFF, Requested & agreed month to month. Cancelled, now they're billing me 3YRS. Hayward California

My wife and I went to Bally Total Fitness in Hayward, CA to hire a "Trainer". We wanted them to get us started on a workout program we could follow on our own after 5 or 6 "training" sessions. Bally's is the closest gym to our home so we thought getting started with this new activity to our already busy regimen we wouldn't be late for appointments with the "Trainer" if we went there as apposed to another gym further away but still in town. (Hayward is the "Traffic Capital" of the Bay Area) Bally in Hayward is less than a mile from our home. They took us in and said "No problem" they could set us up. When they went over the paperwork they told us we needed to pay for membership to have the "Trainer". We told them again we just wanted the "Trainer" to get us started and would only do a membership if it was a month to month agreement. They said it was. After several sessions I brought my 12 year old son in to get some instruction from the same "Trainer". At the end of my sessions we found that they were still billing us for membership fees even though we were not using their facilities any longer. (We started working out at 24Hour Fitness since the monthly cost was less expensive and that they have nicer facilities including pool, spa, basketball court, etc.) We called Joe Pitts, General Manager, in Hayward (510) 727-6778 and explained what happened and what is still happening. He apologized for the inconvenience and said he would take care of it for us, that is cancelling the membership & fees. We continued to be billed for all 3 memberships month after month. Joe moved his office to Pleasant Hill (925) 687-6931. Joe will not return any of my 20-30 calls. I've spoken to Sergio in Pleasant Hill, CA I don't know how many times. He's taken my number and message to give to Joe, but I still haven't heard from Joe. This has gone on for WAY TOO LONG. The calls from their Collections Dept are steady and very annoying. I'm filing a complaint with Consumer Affairs.

Does anyone have advice that works with getting Bally to "stop the madness"?

Terry
Hayward, California
U.S.A.