ZX Fitness

Here is the deal. I spent probably a month, fitting in time in between my work schedule whenever I could, trying to find a gym that was the right size, distance, cost, and had the amenities that I was looking for. I mean after all you have to sign a contract so you want to make sure you get the right place. So anyways, I decided ZX Fitness looked good, heck I even ended up having two tours of the gym before I finally signed up.

It had been 4 days since I signed the contract. I had been to the gym twice, and I hear some rumors about the gym closing down. I was shocked, I went down that day to confront the manager at the front desk to cancel and get a refund. The first thing he asked was when I signed up, as soon as he heard it was over 3 days (which in the contract you have three days to cancel without consequence), he immediately said that if I wanted to cancel my account there would be a cancellation fee and I wouldn't get back my initial membership start up fee.

So all together I would be out over 100 dollars for about an hour of gym time. I told him that I wanted a full refund because I was not told that the gym was planning on closing and that this was vital information that would have completely changed my mind on signing up at all. At which point he didn't care, because he knew I had signed the contract so he gave me the colder shoulder and continued to ignore any questions or attempts to get his attention. At which point I went home called my credit card company and told them to put a stop payment on the transaction.

About three months go by, and ZX Fitness keeps trying to bill me the month payment and continually tries to re-bill me the initial fees. I eventually get the credit card company to call them to get them to stop, but it ends up that all I could do was get them to cancel my account to stop the monthly billing without being charged with the cancellation fee. They wouldn't however allow me to get a refund on my start up fee which was close to 100 dollars. I tried to ignore it, and I actually had moved to another state and they kept trying to get me to pay that start up fee. Then they threatened to report me to a collection agency which could have hurt my credit, and honestly I didn't have the time or the energy anymore to continue to battle them so I regrettably paid them to get them out of my life.

Now although the contract did say that they had the right to sell my membership to another gym, which they did, but I didn't get to pick the gym they did. The gym they picked was another 10 minutes from where I lived, which would of increased my round trip from 18 minutes to almost 30 minutes (probably more because I would have had to go through more lights and heavier traffic to get to the other gym). The gym they picked was also much much smaller, and I actually heard that from the extra members that flooded in that the people had to wait up to 20 minutes just to get on a machine. Exercise is already difficult as it is to stay on top of making it more of a burden on the member just makes it less likely that they are going to go.

As I stated the contract did give them the right to do this, but to me it seems some what unethical to give someone a tour of the facility to try and sell them on a membership and not mention that the gym you are being shown is going to be closing down. Closing a business down is not an overnight decision, they knew it was going to happen and withheld this information from me in order to sell me a membership. This feels extremely fraudulent to me, and honestly I wish I was still living in SC so I could drag them into small claims court over it. At the very least, I would get satisfaction of chewing up their time and maybe it would lead to costing them money or saving others in the future.

This is the payment you have been harassing and threatening me about. I do not agree with it, but I do not currently have the time to battle it. I will be putting in a complaint to consumer affairs and other sites about your business practices. I have also warned dozens of people about your business morals, even people that I do not know but overhear talking about trying to find a gym to join. Good business practice dictates that you do not continue to sign-up members when the gym that you are giving tours of is about to shutdown, or you at least give them that information ahead of time to allow them to factor that in to their decision.

I had already spent days looking into various gyms, weighing locations, pricing, and figuring out what I needed to work with me and my work hours. If I had been told that the gym I was actually being given a tour of wasn't going to be the one that I was going to be able to use, I would have not signed up at all. And after the fact to come in and only be met with rudeness and a cold shoulder attitude from the staff when I'm trying to be positive about the situation and come to a solution that works for everyone.

FYI, the check was cleared without hesitation. I say again, do not do business with this company. There are better gyms out there that don't try to screw you.

I joined Peak Fitness at the Harrisburg location in 2001 and have been a member through the "change" to ZX Fitness. When the Harrisburg location shut its doors, I tried to continue my membership at the University location but the classes became so crowded that I frequently was not allowed in Zumba and the environment was less than desired.

At the beginning of March, I went in to cancel my long time membership. I was currently on a month to month and spoke with Dean about cancelling. He convinced me to freeze my account temporarily so that I could think about my decision before cancelling. I specifically asked if any money would be drafted from my account as I had been down that road in the summer of 2001 before and also heard horror stories from other ZX members about "freezing" but he absolutely assured me that no money would be taken from my account during the freeze period. He lied. I was drafted $25 that month. So I decided at that point to cancel my membership.

I went in again at the beginning of April. I spoke with Dean. He apologized but offered no reconciliation. I proceeded to close my account in which he told me once more that no more money would be taken from my account. I understand now that a 30 day notice is required, per Jonjula with the University location, however, that is not what Dean told me and I specifically and clearly asked so that there would be no misunderstandings. However, on April 27th, $25 was drafted from my account, which was odd in itself considering the money is usually taken on the 5th. I went in to the location again on Monday, March 30th. Dean was not present, so I spoke with Jonjula. He apologized for Dean's mishaps and assured me that we would look in to the situation and escalate to Rachel, the liaison between the location and corporate, according to him.

He even went so far to tell me to please trust him, that he would most certainly call me by Thursday, June 2nd. When I hadn't heard from him on Monday, June 6th, I called and he acted like he wasn't quite sure who I was. He assured me again he'd speak with Rachel and he'd even have Dean call me that day. He lied. I did not hear from Dean. I called back on Friday, June 10th and spoke with Jonjula once more (Dean is shockingly never there when I call). Once more he acted as if he wasn't sure who I was and told me that I needed to speak with Rachel. He gave me 2 numbers. One number directed me right back to the University location, how convenient and the other one is never answered. I have now left 2 messages on the "corporate" number but have yet to hear back.