National Fitness Center Reviews

She then advised me that she would stop the billing and if we couldn't work out the Oak Ridge location then I could still always pay my fee, the back membership (1 month I believe) that was due, provide my documents and cancel. I agreed that I would let her check on that. Approximately 3 weeks had gone by and I had no calls or emails from them. I then called to check the status and was advised by someone other than her that management was looking into it and she would leave a note on the account for the account rep to get in touch with me. Another month goes by and nothing. I called in to the central office again in October and nothing again. I advised that I was supposed to get a return call and wanted to cancel my membership and forego any other arrangement. She advised that she couldn't speak on the matter, I would need to talk to the rep that handled my account. I advised her that I did receive the cancellation packet and would just pay the fees, send in the requested documentation of living arrangements and we could part ways.

Less than a week later I received a notice that my account was past DUE nearly $500.00. How could this be? I understand that I didn't pay for a month and did legitimately owe it, and I would owe a cancellation fee and would gladly pay both to fulfill my contractual obligation.She advised the rep would have to return my call much to my dislike. I called the central office one last time. They advised me that they never sent the email that my account was available for cancellation, "uh'um... I have the email ma'am." She then put me on hold for about five minutes then stated that they had sent the email but that was before they realized that I worked in Oak Ridge. I advised that I did not work in Oak Ridge, I am an independent contractor and lived closer to Oak Ridge than Knoxville, I HAVE NEVER WORKED IN OAK RIDGE!!! The conversation became very heated as I was obviously being lied to and things that I said were being manipulated. SO basically everything that was told me was a misrepresentation based on known facts.

Did she at least keep her word and act in good faith about checking on discounting the perks to a normal price in Oak Ridge? Doubt it, she never got back with me, ever... Did they send me a cancellation email?Yes I have it... Now I haven't worked out there in almost 6 months, apparently owe them 750$ as of December and can't even cancel a contract that they emailed me confirmation that I could cancel three months ago. I'm not an attorney nor am I giving legal advice. That being said, Googled the definition for fraud. Here is what i got: "wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain." Fits like a glove for these people. I have turned this over to my family attorney, filed a complaint with the BB and will be filing with the State Attorney General and the CFPB. ABSOLUTELY DISGRACEFUL!!!

Well, today JUAN (which I had to ask for his name, he never actually introduced himself to me) informed me that I owed $69 because of the lifetime fee, plus a debt collection fee, plus the fee for a bounced payment. Juan even stated that "it's common sense to call them back when they called about my account." Why would I? They were addressing my old last name about a gym I left over a year ago. Common sense would not making a rude statement like that to someone. When I asked to speak to a supervisor I was told that they didn't speak to customers. When I asked who to speak to supervisor to complain about his offensive comment, he told me I'd have to WRITE the company.

NATIONAL FITNESS IS A WASTE! When I tried to explain that I'd pay whatever fee I guess I was SUPPOSED to pay, he told me he couldn't take off the additional $30 of fees they'd tacked on. I'm offering to pay and cancel completely, but he couldn't work with me? He only offered to take $15 off that price and AGAIN would not let me speak to a supervisor. When I asked him who I originally signed my contract with, since this was never explained to me, he couldn't give me that information either. VERY POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE!

I called the gym, I physically went on site, I called National Fitness. Both locations blaming the other for the policy. It took NFC 14 days to process so that was added to the time. I have no guarantee I won't be charged again. In the year 2014, I should have a means to cancel service or get my money back for bad service other than Pony Express. I hold NFC accountable if they choose to continue to be associated with an organization and enforce policies that extort money from customers. I will be sure to make it known that NFC and Club Fitness have no ethics.

In any case, I complained to Results and to them on the phone. I was told that then that I need to get a letter from Dr. and I did and sent it to the fax number as instructed with a lengthy letter and cc'd Results owner John Gauthier, and LOA Fitness Corporate emails. NO response from either! Ten days later, again, National Fitness called to say that the Dr. had to fill out "their" form. So, I had take this to the Dr., leave it for their process and now it is 9-8-2014 and I fax in the form. I followed up with National Fitness by phone today, 9-18-2014 and the membership was finally "deleted" (their term) on 9-12-14. I had to request written acknowledgement and requested a cancellation of automatic payment. They would not give a confirmation on the automatic payment because it does not fall into their pre-authorized, pre-written documents.

I could not elevate my request to anyone higher than the Member Customer Service Supervisor. I have three months left on the contract when it should have been at least 5 from my original notice, if someone would have told me about their form upfront, etc. Yippeee. This company needs to be reviewed for its predatory practices and the affiliate members of this company ALL need to be reviewed for its predatory tactics and improper training in reviewing a contract in all ways with a new contract execution! A class action suit should be filed as well for all of those that lost money. I plan to report this to the new National Consumer Protection Board as well.

When I contacted National Fitness, I was referred back to the local Powerhouse location. The staff at Powerhouse stated that there was nothing that they could do because I did not fill out the proper form although they did have a record on file of my request to cancel. I was given the form to fill out, which I did, and I promptly left it with staff the following morning. Three days later I received a phone call from Powerhouse stating that they could not accept a hand delivered copy of my cancellation and that I would need to mail it to them. I mailed a copy that day. My credit card company was made aware of my problems with the organization and has removed your charges from my account which is why this amount is showing past due.

I have also reported this situation to the Better Business Bureau which will also be receiving a copy of this email to add to my complaint. I don't know how much clearer I can be with this organization but I hope that those I share my experience with, both personally and on the internet, will be less likely to use Powerhouse and National Fitness.

I am sick of dealing with these people. As of right now it is going to cost me over $1000 to cancel my contracts, due to having to continue to pay the membership/training fees even though I'm not using either of them and live an hour from their nearest location. Every day I wait for their approval of my paperwork is costing me money. They are scam, plain and simple. The manager at the Oak Ridge location is absolutely useless. His exact words to me were "yeah, that sucks but I can't do anything about it, I report to them." They are SO unbelievably unprofessional. Stay away if you don't want to throw away your hard earned paycheck!

I thought everything was taken care of but then in May I realized that I had been charged in March and in April for my gym membership. I called them again and they told me there was no record of my fax and that they suggested I upload the proof to their website. Being that in my last conversation I was informed to send in the first page of my lease, I uploaded just that to their website because I was not informed anything different. I received notification that my upload was received and was being processed.

Never did I receive notification that there was a problem or that I was missing anything. In May, I was charged again and saw this on my June statement. I called them again and the person I spoke to this time said that valid proof was not received and even though I sent in the first page of my lease, they also needed the signature page. I uploaded again the first page and the signature page of my lease along with a letter telling them that I expected to be refunded the amounts that were mistakenly charged to me and received notification that they were received and being processed.

I heard nothing from them until yesterday when I received an email stating that I needed to pay them $75 and that my account was in collections. I called today to get this resolved and spoke to two individuals. Each of them were rude and nasty and would not let me get a word in edgewise. I asked to speak to a manager and the second person I spoke with proudly stated that the managers have nothing to do with them. When I mentioned that they had mistakenly charged me these past few months, she stated that that was between me and the membership department.

I asked to be transferred to the membership department and she told me that she could transfer me once I paid the $75 that she has noted that I owe them. They are holding my ability to resolve this situation hostage and want me to pay a ransom of $75 when they owe me money. I am not a fool and I will not pay something I do not owe. I will never deal with these thieves again and I recommend that everyone think three times or more before doing business with a gym that uses their services.

I am ending my account with Rush and if I get the urge to join a gym again I will make sure it is LOCAL. For anyone still wanting to join and think the $19.99 is great please note they charge a yearly upgrade fee which equals out to you paying around 25-27 dollars a month (unless he stopped this fee) the same as the other gyms and 24 hour is not automatic. They wanted $5 more dollars to upgrade my key card since the owner decided to go with a different system than he original charged us for. It might only be $5 but if he wanted a system that cost more than I original was charged for he should eat the cost not me or take it out of the upgrade fee he charges.

I met with the trainer who was a nice gentleman and discovered that his degree was in biology and he really had no specific training with individuals with back injuries. I worked out with him for about two weeks and noticed that my back symptoms were getting worse and just attributed it to being out of shape. I then tried to get out of bed and could not move. I missed an entire week due to my back, and being a disabled veteran I made an appointment with my local VA and spoke with my physician about my issues and was instructed to stop the personal training aspect immediately. I was given some medication to deal with the pain and spasms and a letter to the facility explaining that due to disabilities the personal training portion would have to stop. I assumed that once a presented the documentation reason would rule or finance and the company would understand.

I went to the gym spoke with one of the managers and he explained the process to me and what steps needed to be taken and I followed them. I recently received a letter stating that they were sympathetic to my situation but my request was denied. The only way out of the contract was to move 20 miles from the nearest facility or die. They do not have a disability clause that would afford for legitimate medical conditions. The only other option was to buy out my contract at a 30 percent discount. I know see that this company is all about money. They don't seem to care about the true health of their individual members. I will be seeking legal counsel and using every media and social outlet to expose this company for what it appears to be predatory.

A month ago, I get a call from National fitness about a bill that has went to collection because it was never paid. 142$ I asked the guy how that could even be possible since I paid in full. He said that the month of September was not the end of my contract it was October and now the account has had fees added for two years. I told him I had never received a call or a letter or anything of this. He said, "Well we have so & so address on file." I told him that wasn't even my address. I do not believe they ever tried to contact me. I believe they wanted to get all these fees and then call me and tell it is on my credit report which is upsetting. It would be nice to join a gym that would actually let you know when your contract is up AND if you would like to renew or not. It's all a scam to get more and more money out of you!

National Fitness had ALL of my current and up to date contact information and so did the gym itself. I did not receive a SINGLE MESSAGE from them informing me my payment was not processed and would begin incurring fees. There is no reason to NOT CALL ME! The only reason they would not call is so they could tack on additional fees. I have not been late or had ANY issues making my payments in the 2 YEARS I've had the contract with them. When I went into the club to update my card information, the girl took my card and told me it was taken care of. When I called National Fitness to request my membership not be auto renewed at the end of my contract, they informed me I still have a balance of $50 in late fees. WTF!!!!!

I have worked in billing and collections for Fortune 500 companies and this is not how you treat a customer and a supervisor's job, especially in customer service, is to take angry customers and make them happy (I know from experience)... I have never been late on any fees with them, just didn't want the late fee charge because it was not my fault. I told her that this is ridiculous and will cancel the card so they will not get any money from me, and she put me on hold for a few minutes, spoke with the "supervisor" and said they will waive it as a courtesy... courtesy? This is the right thing to do and should have been a no brainer to waive the fee. This company should not try to take advantage of customers. Obviously they're sharks when it comes to money and I will be filing a civil suit against them because this is not how paying customers should be treated!

Later in the call, the person stated two notices were sent. This was day 29 after the due date. I received an email with the statement as if nothing happened. Went to the club on day 31 after due date to be told I had to also pay a $15.00 late fee. I was willing to pay the enhancement fee but not the late fee due to the late of notice. National Fitness refused and threatened with sending my lateness with the credit agencies. A fitness center is supposed to help with stress not create it. I pay my bills and have not problem doing so but I should be treated justly.

The person from National Fitness, Josh, tells me he's put the request in and that the $64 charge had not come through, so they wouldn't need to charge it because it wasn't set to process until a few days from then. Well, a week later, I checked my account and they'd charged me the $64, but didn't credit it. I called them and I was told that they are waiting for corporate to respond, it could take 7 - 10 business days. A week later, I called again and they told me, "A new request was put it on January 3 so it will be 7 - 10 business days from that date." January 13, I look at my bank statement and not only have they NOT credited me the $64, but they've also charged me $29.99 for another month! Which doesn't make sense because the $64 (had I not canceled the entire membership) covers TWO MONTHS.

It's only been a month since I stepped foot in the gym, which means If I were planning to continue, there shouldn't have been a charge until February. I called again today and she said, "We're still waiting on them to answer us." I asked from whom was she awaiting a response, and she said, "They gym. They have to confirm it." REALLY? The letter of cancellation was sent to them from the gym, so what more did they need to confirm. These people are RIDICULOUS!!!! So now, I've spent 5 days in their gym and I've been charged $93 for it! This wasn't a matter of not reading the contract because I read and asked several questions before I did anything. I will never join any gym where this company handles the billing. Nor will I recommend it to any of my several friends that are entering the fitness industry.

On the 15th we were charged for his membership and I just let that one go because I know it takes time for things to process. But when October rolled around we were charged again. I called National Fitness, they first wanted to give me hard time because I was calling and not my husband, even though I signed all the paperwork and the money comes from my bank account. After informing the representative that I also had POA and that it was almost impossible for him to call due to the time difference she agreed to talk to me. She told me that they could not put it on hold because his orders did not have a return date. This I don't get because he still does not know his return date. I also don't understand why we weren't contacted about this issue.

We were told that they called my husband’s number, which they may have but it has been cut off. Why they didn't use the backup number (mine) or send email I also do not understand. I then asked if I could cancel the account and after some double checking I was told yes and that I would be sent an email with the cancellation forms. No email. So I had my husband call with just by luck he was able to find time and get through with his MagicJack. He was also told that there was no way the membership could be put on hold and was given the process of canceling the membership.

Now once again the cancellation process takes 30 days so we will be charged yet another month of a membership that is not being used. And I have a feeling by some of the reviews I have read this issue won't be resolved in a month. I am very aggravated that we were not able to put his membership on hold like we were told we would be and that we have had to waste over $70 on a gym membership that he is not able to use. If it weren't for it being the least expensive option for me I would also cancel my membership as well. It is very frustrating when you are told one thing and then when it comes down to it that does not happen. As much as I love Gold’s, they should really consider who they accept their payments through because this company is giving them a bad rep.

When I talked to National Fitness in May I was told I would not have any more drafts out of my account and once again I was not told that I needed to submit any request online through the National Fitness website. Seeing today that the drafts are still coming out of my account I called National Fitness. I now have been told by Kyle **, ext. **, that there isn't even documentation that I have called inquiring about this situation prior to today. I asked to speak to a supervisor and of course because your customer service and lack of ability to inform the customers of the proper procedures the supervisor was too busy to take my call. I was informed that I would be contacted by the supervisor Sam **, ext **, by 7pm tonight (this means she/he has 3 hours to contact me to resolve this situation before I contact the Better Business Bureau).

Kyle **, ext **, who refused to give me an employee number, confirms that Sam would call me before the end of the business day. I am requesting that my fees of $19.99 USD per month (June-September) be returned back to my account, due to the fact that I did what I was told to do by both Gold's Gym and National Fitness in reference to canceling my account.

I will never recommend Gold's Gym or National Fitness to any of my friends or family and I do intend on making this story known. I am hardworking teacher in a military town. I will inform Fort Braggs JAG and Inspector General's Office of the mistreatment to residents of both Fort Bragg and the Fayetteville community (which caters to more than 40,000 military members). Investigation by JAG and IG may result in Gold's Gym and National Fitness to be blacklisted and thereby off limits to military personnel and their dependents. My voice will be heard.

I have observed many other situations like mine where people of this community have been taken advantage of by both National Fitness and Gold's Gym. In case you have not realized this by the information above I am officially demanding that my membership be canceled and my fees from June to September be credited back to my bank account or I will take further legal actions against National Fitness.

Original Review: July 9, 2013

I was a "founding member" of my gym, Kinetix Health Club of Bonaire, GA. Everything went well until I hurt my shoulder and my doctor said he didn't know how long it would take to heal and forbade me from using the gym. After a couple of months, I decided to cancel my membership. The horror begins. National Fitness personnel are always cheerful and sound helpful on the phone, but this is a ruse. They have no intention of helping you. Their job is to give you the reason NF can't cancel your contract, refund your money, etc.

A word of advice: do not talk with them on the phone. Simply get your contract out and follow it to the letter because anything else is just a waste of time. And guess what? They will still give you excuses. I sent a letter, certified mail, return receipt requested, to them and included their form (they will not accept anything else; a letter from your doctor is not good enough) and they STILL had the nerve to call me and claim that they got my letter, but not the form! How do you prove that you included a form? What do you have to do, video yourself enclosing the form and sealing the envelope?

So, even though I did everything they demanded, down to the letter, they are still claiming that they didn't get the proper paperwork. Avoid any company that is associated with National Fitness.