Washington Sports Club

In April 2007 I signed a 24 month contract with Washington Sports Clubs (WSC). I am their ideal member - I hardly used the club. In July 2008 I visited the club to cancel my membership because I was pregnant. I was informed that I needed a doctor's note and that my membership "ended" in April 2009. In March 2009 I moved out of state. I called the club several times and left messages to ensure that my membership would be canceled. I did not have my "contract" handy as a reference ... and I could not find cancellation information on their website.

After several calls with no return phone calls I assumed it was cancelled. Then I checked my credit card statement ... I was STILL being billed in May and June when I thought it had ended in April. There was a phone number on the credit card which I called. She said that I needed to submit paperwork to cancel the contract (which ended in April) but that she would do me a "courtesy" of canceling over the phone. I suggested that she refund my fees for the June billing since I had called repeatedly in March and that I thought the contract end was in essence a termination ... she told me that she couldn't do that and that she had already extended a courtesy by canceling over the phone. I think they need to have full disclosure and easy access to information on how to cancel a membership.

I was dealing with a sick child and lived out of state ... I did not have an old contract available for viewing. Perhaps that is my error ... however, I believe their lack of returned calls and lack of publicly available information on the terms of their agreements is deceptive. I will continue to fight the June bill on my credit card, but think that others must be getting bamboozled as well.

On 12/28/2008 I sat down with B. Wells to talk about getting a membership to the club for myself and my son who was also there. I specifically asked about the cancellation terms of the contract and was told emphatically that there would be no problem cancelling at any time as long as I gave them 30 days written notice, He explained that on the contract the terms for cancellation under "consumer rights" I could see how to cancel. I decided we would join.

I found that I don't use the club and so I decided to write and cancel my membership. I have since discovered that the way the contract reads effectively binds me to pay for one year unless I pay a cancellation fee of $250. What galls me is the realization that I was lied to so convincingly, and that verbal commitments are worthless. My 20 year old son was there to hear me ask specifically about the ease of cancellation at any time.

I called Member services and spoke to D. Donahue. After she told me my contract could not be terminated without penalty until Dec. 28 I asked her to consider my June request in writing by certified mail to be an official request to terminate in December for myself and my son. She informed me that I had to wait until Nov. to give the 30 day notice and that I couldn't cancel for him because he is 20 years old, even though the membership is on my credit card.

I want out of this but I fear there is no recourse to the verbal fraud perpetrated because I signed the contract for a year. The damages to me are that I can't afford to stay and I can't afford to leave.

I was only in DC for 6 months and told the WSC accounts guy this when he signed me up for a year membership. He said it would be no problem and no cost to cancel when the time came. I made the cancellation verbally at the gym, same as I had when I cancelled NYSC, and thought that was the end of it. But didn't check my bank statements -- dumb! -- and was charged nearly $600 between June and now.

When I called to have the charges reversed they claimed they did not have official proof of cancellation and would not only keep the $600 but charge me $50-$200 to cancel IF I had proof-of-move forms. The woman on the phone was pretty rude and refused to actually hear what I was saying -- that if they had, in fact, mailed concrete proof of cancellation, I had already moved from DC and would not have received it, and therefore couldn't provide her with it. So I'm out around $800 total on this.

I cancelled my gym membership because I moved from VA due to work. I cancelled my membership in May in person and submitted all the documents that they requested. I have stopped by the club twice and called about 7 times since then to see if my membership was cancelled. According to Mike, the first membership consultant that took my cancellation request form and documentation of my move, it should have been cancelled before the June billing cycle. So far I have been billed 3 more times since then. I keep calling the club and asking for the manager, Russell. I have been trying to get in touch w/ him for about 2 weeks now but haven't been able to. What do I have to do to get something as simple as cancelling a membership done?

I had switched my membership to my daughter on 11/27/01 because I am pregnant and due to difficulties with the pregnancy would not be able to use thie membership for some time.

I worked with Lenae at WSC to make the switch of the account to my daughter.

Dec 01 the $51 electronic funds were taken out of my account as usual. January 02 no funds were taken out nor were they in Feb 02. I did not realize this until early Feb and contacted the health club. They asked me to bring in a voided check to send to their corp office stating that it must just be an error with the routing numbers from my bank.

In Mar 02 they took out $80 from my bank account. I called to inquire why they took $80 and not $51 as my contract states.

To sum it up, they did'nt have a copy of my contract that states $51 a month, but had a contract that state $65 a month but that it was not signed. (To me this would mean legally they should not have taken any money out)

On Mar 12, 02 I explained to Lori the manager, that I was pregnant and on bed rest and quite upset about this mess. I admit I raised my voice and was a bit rude but Lori told me to stop yelling at her and that she did not deserve to be treated like that. Well, that only made me more furious and my blood pressure rise.

We went in circles and the end result was that I needed to show her the signed contract and that she would call headquarters to find out what's going on.

I won't hold my breath as she said the same thing a week ago about researching it.