Gold's Gym Beware of cancelling membership!!! Altamonte Springs Florida

Me and my girlfriend's membership was due to end on February 5, 2007. That would complete our full one-year membership. (You can cancel anytime after that without being charged a cancellation fee).

So, on January 14, 2007 my girlfriend went to the front desk of Gold's Gym to confirm when our membership agreement was coming to an end. They told her February 5th. They gave my girlfriend a cancellation form to fill out (WITH BOTH OUR NAMES ON IT) to end our membership on February 5th.

However, never did they mention to us that by cancelling on January 14th this would technically extend our membership thru mid February (they require a 30 day cancellation), thus making us owe for another month - plus, we also stopped our bank draft at this time because they led us to believe we had made our final payment.

Now, four months later my girlfriend and I both get letters from a collection agency for $149.76 and $128.36!!! (I guess 4 months of interest is being tacked on to what we owe, and they said I didn't cancel, just my girlfriend - although my name is clearly on the cancellation form). We never once heard from Gold's Gym about oweing them this extra month.

When we contacted the gym they said they had tried to call me, but my number had changed. Not once did they ever send me or my girlfriend a written notice that we still owed them for one more month!!

Now we're stuck hashing it out with a collection agency (for a ridiculous amount of money!) when it would have been so much easier had Gold's Gym done us the courtesy of letting us know of this situation. And, I'm sorry, the, "I called but their number changed" excuse is poor! If that's the case, you take the next step and mail out a letter!!

This is the thanks we get for joining Gold's for a year. Never again!! Oh, and watch some yearly maintenance fee they'll throw at you ($26) during your membership. We were told when we signed up it was a small fee, but never given the price. Hmmm. To me, $5 or $10 is small, not $26!!

Step up to the plate and do something about this Gold's!! You sold us on how great your gym was when we signed up. Where are you now? Where's the customer service? It's your poor handling of this situation that has led to our dilemma. Me and my girlfriend await a response.

Raymond
Altamonte Springs, Florida
U.S.A.