Bally Total Fitness Bally's acknowledges forgery on membership contract Norwalk California

On 05 January 2004, I entered Bally's Total Fitness at 1435 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA to review their membership options. The membership consultant explained several membership plans, and I indicated that I was interested in looking elsewhere before committing to Bally's. The membership consultant then said he would make me " an offer [I] can't refuse," and offered me a $35 per month membership with no initiation fee.

Still, I wanted to look at other gyms before signing up. The membership consultant then told me that the offer only stood for the rest of the day, and I would have to sign a membership contract to lock in the rate. He indicated that I could still look around at other gyms, and if I decided I did not want to join Bally's, I could call him and cancel the contract via telephone. I began to read the contract and he insisted that "it [didn't] matter what the contract says," and that I could cancel it by calling him. I then signed the contract in one location and initialed it in another.

At this time I decided that I couldn't trust the membership consultant. I indicated that I did not wish to complete the contract and walked out. A month later a charge from Bally's appeared on my credit card statement. I called Bally's, and they indicated that I had an active membership.

I requested a copy of the active membership contract via phone, in person at the gym, and via certified mail, but Bally's refused to provide it. Only after asking an agent with the Pennsylvania Bureau of Consumer Protection to intercede for me did Bally's send me a copy of the contract.

Upon examination of the contract, I discovered that my signature had been forged at the bottom of Page 3 of the contract. The membership consultant or someone else did a good job of copying my signature from the other part of the contract, but the differences in the signatures were obvious upon close inspection. The Bureau again intervened on my behalf, and Bally's was forced to cancel the contract on the basis of the forged signature.

Tom
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania
U.S.A.