Hi!  I move to Brentwood in December of 09.  What a great little town!  I was looking for a gym to join and had heard good things about Club One.  I joined, the facility was great!

About a year later, the ownership chose to leave the Club One family of gyms and become Delta Valley Athletic Club.  I had really liked knowing that I could use a Club One or Frogs when I travelled, but with the change, I wanted to reconsider which gym was right for me.

I went into the gym in late November and asked about the change, and was told that I would no longer be able to use Club One or Frogs and asked about cancelling.  I was told that the "form" needed to cancel wasn't available with the name change and all and that I should check back in a few days.

Mind you, I still thought the facility was great - but for my $200 a month, I wanted great plus the ability to use "great" when I'm someplace else.  I went into the gym on 12/3 to ask for the form again.  I was told that no one had the form and I needed to come back another time.  I explained to the girl (is that a PC term?  She was 17 or 18 and I'm 50) that I would be travelling for most of the next month and would not be back to the gym until after the frist of the year.  She said "sorry". 

I went home, composed a letter, and took it back to the gym.  I droped a copy of the letter at hte post office on Oak and went home and even faxed the letter to the gym.

I checked in in January and found out that the club had not processed my request and re-sent everytihng on the 5th.  This time I even included my new membership at another gym (Anytime Fitness - ok facility, but $150 less per month!).

I started getting collection letters next...  So I contacted the gym again and again - by going into the gym and asking if the problem had been taken care of. 

Here's the dates:

Each time it was the same thing - no one could give me an answer! 

On 2/5 I again left messages for everyone, mailed new letters, sent new faxes.  Sure it was the same tired letter I had sent several times.  But eventually they need to figure it out right?

On 2/20 I was notfied that ABC Financial (another good company with lots of good people) that I was in "collections".  I called them, explained the situation, faxed them copies of everytihng, and they said this looks wrong to them and they wont try to collect.  So I tihnk I'm finally done, right?

WRONG!

Big Bully Business vs the little guy...  I pull my credit report this past week - and lo and behold - I still have this collection item showing up!  What the heck?

I called the gym, get the run around and finally call an attorney friend.  Here's the notes from the gym:

What I need from you is a resignation form that shows that you came into the club and filled out the form with a membership representative on December 3^rd as you stated in your prior email or that you sent a certified letter stating you cancelled and we would need proof of the certification. These are the only two ways to legitimately cancel your membership. If this was not done then your resignation will stand as February 19^th when the General Manager Approved to accept your resignation via fax. If the above documentation cannot be produced then the past due amounts will still need to be collected.  Feel free to fax me what you have

925-516-7298

Hmmm...  I had justs faxed you 14 pages of the various letters that I've sent you over the last two years!  The "form" wouldn't magically appear because they were afriad of losing too many members!  So if they won't give me the form, I can cancel?  That sure does not seem fair!

And then they sent this:

I wanted to communicate to you as to why you are still being reported to our collection agency:

As it stands right now per the notes on your account, your cancellation was not officially placed until February 19^th which is when we received your fax. Even though it is not our policy to except faxed resignations we went ahead and processed it for you. This was a 30 day Cancellation which made your cancellation Effective date 3/19/11 during this time you still acquired dues from 1/1/10 in the amount of 190.00,  2/1/10 in the amount of 190.00 and a prorate for the 19 days in March totaling 116.45 which brought your total due to 496.45.  This is what has been reported to the Collection Agency. If you have proof that you placed a cancellation prior to the 19^th of February we would be more than happy to accept it and adjust the dates, however please keep in mind that we do have you as checked into the facility as late as January 25^th. If you have any other questions or concerns please feel free to contact me.

Have a great day,

Have a great day?  Really?  "proof" I tried to cancel?  Really?  How many times do I need to send the same letter to you?  With my dumb little sticky notes remindning me to follow up on these bullies!

I wonder who else these guys have bullied?  Supporting "local" business is great - but should anyone "support" a business that bullies the residents of town?

What are your thoughts?