California Family Fitness THE OLD THREE MONTH SUSPENDED MEMBERSHIP INSTEAD OF DROPPING SCAM Orangevale, CA Corporate Offices California

A NEW TWIST ON AN OLD CON...NOW YOU CAN'T LEAVE UNTIL YOU PAY YOUR BILL IN FULL?  

EXECUTIVE SUMMANY: THE OLD SUSPENDED MEMBERSHIP CON  

The CON GOES LIKE THIS:  Instead of dropping you as a member as you request, you are asked to SUSPEND your membership for three months (MGT is debating joining Senior & Fit program...so be patient). You agree as it sounds reasonable at the time. You are told simply call in and cancel your membership before 01AUG2017 and you mark on your calendar you are doing so. They re-activate your membership in JULY, you get a 'Push Notification' in JULY that your MEMBERSHIP of $52.00 is past due for JULY and you receive a bill for same. It isn't JULY yet.

You go down in person and cancel it. You get a CONFIRMATION NUMBER and throw it go away. AUGUST comes around and you get a second bill. YOU STORM DOWN to another club and have it cancelled. They give you another CONFIRMATION NUMBER but it is not entered into corporate's data base. YOU now get a a letter informing you that you are now TWO MONTHS PAST DUE. Again, you go down and tell them its a mistake, you cancelled your membership TWICE before.

The manager NOW DEMANDS YOU PRODUCE YOUR CONFIRMATION NUMBER AND YOUR WRITTEN WITHDRAW NOTICE which you do not have because they never gave you one. YOU are now informed you are late for your SEPTEMBER DUES and will not be allowed to leave until you pay your bill in full---THREE MONTHS DUES. YOU find yourself HERE!!! Sound FAMILURE? 

1. Having qualified for SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS, I applied for KP's SILVER & FIT PROGRAM. KP pays 100% of your gym membership if you select a vendor on their list. I Chose to go to 24hr Fitness. California Family Fitness wasn't on the list.

2. That meant I now needed to drop CALIFORNIA FAMILY FITNESS as they insisted were not members of SILVER & FIT. Although I liked FAMILY FITNESS, $0.00 month vrs $52.00 is a huge stumbling block.

3. I went to the Greenback Blvd location (ORANGEVALE, CA Corporate Office and informed the staff that I wanted to drop my membership. The manager pleaded with me to just suspend my membership for three months.I was told I wouldn't be charged. I was then told Corporate was in a meeting and could join the SILVER & FIT program. Put that way, it seemed prudent to suspend,not drop my membership. I was WARNED to simply call CALIFORNIA FAMILY FITNESS before 01AUG2017 to withdraw. I agreed.

4. LATE JULY 2017, I received a bill for $52.00 in the mail for my JUL DUES (Dropped in MAY---01AUG was my final drop date) and I immediately went down to CALIFORNIA FAMILY FITNESS ORANGEVALE and cancelled my membership. They gave me a Confirmation number which I did not keep. Appearently, my withdraw confirmation wasn't entered into the CORPORATE COMPUTER.

5. Allegedly, California Family Fitness sent me an EMAIL informing me that it was now REACTIVATING MY MEMBERSHIP. Under the rules of Federal RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE, Rule 5 email service must be followed up by some other form of PROOF OF SERVICE. Since my firewall has SPAM BLOCKING set to high and did not receive the e-mail. NO MATTER. I received a 'PUSH NOTIFICATION' in JULY reminding me that my JUL dues of $52.00 was due which caused me to physically go down to the Laguna Club and drop my membership. I was given a CONFIRMATION NUMBER but no other paperwork. I threw the CONFIRMATION NUMBER AWAY.

6. 23AUG2017 approximately, I received a STATEMENT on Account #46192360 that I am now TWO MONTHS BEHIND on my CLUB dues. I raced down to the California Family Fitness Bond Road location and again DROP my membership and was again given a confirmation #. This time, I am suspicious...

7. I called Corporate and wanted to see if I was dropped yet and I wasn't. Corporate then demanded I produce the letter of withdraw (none was given) and my CONFIRMATION number (didn't have one). I was told there was nothing they could do

8. I immediately returned to the BOND ROAD location and asked to speak to the MGR. SHe not only reiterated the same speach (We have no record of your withdraw of membership) BUT I WAS NOW INFORMED I COULD NOT LEAVE UNTIL I SETTLED THE BILL IN FULL.

I understand HOTELS & APARTMENTS can block a tenate from leaving but there is no precident for a GYM MEMBERSHIP blocking a member from leaving. 

WHY I BELIEVE I'LL PREVAIL:

A. ITS IN ERROR: IF I HAD MY MEMBERSHIP SUSPENDED IN MAY FOR THREE MONTHS, why is my AUGUST BILL showing two months past due when 01AUG was the last day to drop before the re-activation took place?

B. NO RECORD OF USING GYM I haven't used the gym since MAY2017 and now never will.

C. HEALTH CLUBS ARE NOT INN KEEPERS; THEY CANNOT CONTINUE TO BILL YOU UNTIL YOU SETTLE UP. Although Inn Keepers may prevent patrons from leaving without settling up, HEALTH SPAs are not Inn Keepers. They can not force me to pay AND KEEP ACCRUING MEMBERSHIP DUES THAT I AM NOT USING.