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Bally Total Fitness

Poor Maintenance & Service

Bally • Sales Practices, Contracts • The 12-Day Rule • "Lifetime" Contracts • Moved Away • Maintenance • Child Care • Opening Late • Headphone Policy --- News • Bally's Customers Hope To Exercise Their Rights

Dori of Newport News VA wrties (1/12/02):
The Ballys that is less than 5 miles to my home was a filthy, disgusting place. Not only was it tiny, both the ladies and mens locker rooms were dirty and nasty. The facility was terrible but it was the closet to me. The other gyms in my area were 15 and 30 miles away from me. I paid too much for my membership for my husband and me to have to go through such inconvenience.

As I drove by that facility (on my way to the better one) I noticed it had been closed down. I'm glad it's closed, but I would like to think they would build a new one that is up to date for those you are in this area. Because of the distance of the other gyms, I find it hard to keep up my exercise regimen and I'm not able to get what I paid for, I wasting my time and money by travel so far away.

Rea of Brooklyn writes:
I have been a member for many years, since before it became "Ballys", when it was Jack LaLanne's. From the beginning it was a pleasant and enjoyable experience to go to the gym. There were always staff to assist with either questions or to actually show you the proper way to use the equipment. I had started a swim progam not long after I joined, and that was extremely beneficial to me (as I had recently had back surgery). Swimming was also an enjoyable experience as the pool was well maintained and the area well staffed.

Since Ballys has taken over, not only is the pool filthy, but some very stupid manager has decided to take out all the ropes, which were originally used to define the lanes, so that leisure people used one area, moderate swimmers another area, and of course fast/ speed swimmer used yet another. Now there are no ropes, no definition, so everyone swims into everyone else. No structure whatsoever. It is extremely dangerous.

For the past few years, everytime I attempted to swim I had gotten sick with a respiratory infection. I am now on medication that I take before and after I swim to help twart off any infection (I hope). The temperature is kept much too warm for swimming. The pool now is treated more like a bath area than an excerise area. Most times there is no staff in the area and even when there they do absoutely nothing to ensure that the pool is ran professionally. The shower rooms are completely filthy. Most times there are at least 2 or 3 shower stalls not in working order.

I've complained over and over, and this is what I was told -- that since they only make money on "new members," not renewables, they really don't care what my complaints are. Since I am currently again having back problems, it is important for me to keep excerising, especially swimming. Unfortunately, there are no other gyms in my area that have a pool. So I'm kind of stuck.

But I am so tired of being treated as a joke, that I would imagine that the Board of Health would be interested in this situation.

John of Pittsburgh, PA, writes:
I've been a member of Bally since 1990. During the past 10 years, I've witnessed a decline in the quality of the facilities and equipment available in the Pittsburgh area. The locker rooms are FILTHY, the equipment not mqintained well, and several of the weight machines I've enjoyed using have been removed, even though they were in good condition.

Complaints made to site managers were received with an almost condescending attitude and action to correct the sitions was not taken.

My major complaint is related to the annual renewal process. Each year, my renewal fees have been increased significantly. After 10 years of membership, (I originally pre-paid for a 3 year membership) my renewal fee is $233 per year. It would be cheaper if I would just discontinue membership and re-sign under one of the several membership promotions offered each year!

Renewal notices are sent a good 6 months in advance to encourage early payment. Last year, I waited until the last month of my membership to renew and was autimatically sent a renewal rate that was $100 cheaper than previous notices. I find this practice to be unethical.

Steven of Broken Arrow, OK:
I arrived at Bally here in Tulsa after 6 pm to work out. About 6:45 pm I finished working out and returned to the locker room to get dressed, finding out that my lock was gone. I had locked it before starting my workout.

Someone picked my lock and took the cash in my wallet ($60.00 approx.) This all happened within a short time. Bad thing is, nobody saw anything. A police report was filed. And I look around and it seems like nobody cares. Bally here in Tulsa has had a history of theft problems, their lockers are very cheap and easy to break into.

I think they need to refurbish the locker room and install lockers which you need a key to open. Instead, they spent a lot of money installing 6 tv's to watch in the workout area. They say leave valuables in car, but I still have to use Bally lockers to change clothes. Luckily, my credit card wasn't taken from my wallet.

Leaving valuables in the car is very bad advice. Gym parking lots are notorious for car thefts. A good health club will face up to the problem and install decent lockers.

Richard of Beverly, MA:
The lockerrooms are gross, the showers are worse. There are no papertowels, the hot tub is closed almost every other week, and the machines break and they leave them for weeks before fixing. They advertise how great they are when in reality they are mediocre at best. I would never refer this place to anyone.

There are any number of gyms in Richard's area -- including several Gold's and a World Gym and quite a few independent gyms. He should look around.

Darlene of Hampton, VA:
In 3/94 Bally Total Fitness was having a special promotion for 30 days trial basis w/$25 deposit down if you were anticipating to join. So I put the deposit down and started the trial basis the following day. After 7 business days I took the membership card and paperwork back to Bally and told them I wish to discontinue the trial basis because I did not like the facilities because in order for you to get to the ladies locker room from the pool and sauna area, you had to go outside with your wet body into to entrance of the ladies locker room, which was very inconvenient because one could easily get sick, which I did.

The odor in the workout area was so bad that when you steped into the area you automatically smelled "funk". The facilities was in bad condition. Anyway, when I took this information back to the facililty and informed them that I wish to cancel this, I was informed that it will be taken care. OK, I thought, everything was taken care of like the gentlemen told me at the Fitness Club.

On 8/00 I received a call from a collection agency stating that I owe Bally Total Fitness $1050.00 but she can settle this up for $350.00. I informed her that I cancelled the membership back in "94". She informed me that the membership had not been cancelled and that I need to pay this off or this will be placed on my credit as a bad report. I told her that I do not owe anything and I was not going to pay. So I called the Fitness center where I had the trial membership from and I was informed that I needed to call the home office in Maryland. So I called the home office, which was a long distance call for me, waited on hold for 16 minutes until the next representative was able to talk to me. I informed the rep (Amanda) that the membership was suppose to be cancelled and so why am I receiving calls from a collection agency. She informed me that the membership had not been cancelled and that the account has been referred to an collection agency.

So then I asked to speak with the manager and that's when she put Tina Randolph on the line and I explained the same thing to her and she informed me that I or someone called on 6/28/ 94 to cancel the account because of finanial hardship and the person was informed that the membership can not be cancelled under those circumstances. It either had to be from moving or medical reasons in order to cancel a membership. I informed her that I do not recall making that call since it had been so long ago and what can I do to rectify the situation.

She stated to me that Bally can not recall the account because it had already been referred to an collection agency. Here it is 6 years later that I hear from a collection agency about a delinquent account from Bally Total Fitness that was referred to them. What can I do from this point?

Darlene should send a certified, return-receipt- requested letter to the collection agency stating the circumstances, just as she has here, and informing that she is contesting the debt. They will probably drop it. If not, she can refuse to pay, wait for them to sue her and then defend herself in court, if necessary.

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