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Comments:
I want to join the swelling chorus of appalled (ex-) customers of LA Fitness who now find themselves being squeezed for punitive payments by a credit agency. I was not at all happy with the service at my local LAF -- among other things, the showers stank -- and tried several weeks ago to cancel. Local staff in Cambridge were unable to process the cancellation for me and gave me a number to ring. I rang it repeatedly but there was no answer. The number I found on an LAF website was no good either. So I simply cancelled by DD. Result: a demand for 256 pounds from the credit agency they use. Is there any way out of this?
Their staff and premises are appaling. My local club is filthy, staffed by rude and arrogant people who do nothing about members behaving badly. The staff hang around talking to each other whilst gangs of young men insult female members in arabic using the most disguting terms. The same thugs never use bathing caps and crowd other members out of the sauna and steam room.
In response to the apology made on my behalf, I would like to say since sending my comment i saw my mistake both for the 6 month notice for cancellation and the "cooling off" period being 10 and not 14 days. so apologies!
I still stand by what i had said, we can help you and there are options you can take if needed (as stated 2-3 posts below by a fellow colleague)
If you are not sure about any information at point of sale then just ask.
I also have been made to pay for 12 months usage of the gym when I only went once. I was never told anything about a year long contract when I signed up. Ok, it maybe in the small print - but who reads all of that if we're honest? Not me, but I will in future. It should be spelled out to you when you sign up. I feel very hard done by. The staff were very rude to me when I complanied, won't be going there again.
I cancelled my membership after just 9 months because of awful behaviour of a senior member of staff he no respect for me and customers. After some heated exchange, I've had to pay for 12 months. I'll never recommend anyone to join this gym ever.
Well thank goodness an employee has rightly acknowledged the fact that whether you belong to a City club or otherwise, your value as a customer should remain 5*. You certainly wouldn't think it from the way some of you have written, calling us 'you lot' etc. Who do you think you are?
For the record, my club (Southgate) has some superb staff and trainers, Katie, Alicia, Sahar and Lisa Maree to name but a few. The instructors are some of the finest around. Yes sometimes things do not go the way we want them to but that is usually due to Head Office constraints. As for membership confusions, always be aware that you are signing a credit agreement and never feel rushed to do so.
Can i add to this debate. Firstly may i apologise for the previous information given by the LA Fitness Sales advisor. Some of the information given is not true. You are entitled to a 10 day cooling off period if you sign anywhere else other than LA Fitness premises (as stated on your contract)e.g. Over the internet or on the phone
You do not have to give 2 months notice on a 6 month membership, to cancel your membership you need to call member services which is sometimes percieved as head office. If you are outside your initial obligationperiod you can cancel with 1 CALENDER months notice ie if you call after the 1st of the month you will then need to pay again at the end of that current month.
If a member cancels their DD this wont be accepted as notification to cancel, Member Services does need to be contacted.
All the information required is written on members contracts and it is the members duty to read these before signing the membership.
Memberships can be cancelled within the intial obligation period on 3 occasions 1) Redundancy with a letter from your employer on letter headed paper 2)If you moe more than 20 miles away from a LA Fitness club (subject to a cancellation fee dependent upon how many months left of your contract you have 3) If you are medically unfit to use the gym and can provide us with a medical note from your GP.
When you cancel your membership you need to take the nameof the person you speak to, ask for a cancellation reference number and ask for the cancellation to be confrmed in writing.
I am also an employee but take a slightly different view.
Customer Service as standard should be 5* whether your in a City Club or if your in a Residential Club! Whether the member is right or wrong we must deal with each person like they are our favourite customer.
I am a Sales Advisor in a residential club and reading most of your comments about contract length and DD cancellation it comes as a suprise that when you initially became members you were not advised of the sign up and cancellation process!? For each 12 month agreement you have a maximum of 14 days to come back to the club and cancel this is known as the "cool off" period (Bottom left hand corner of your agreements other side)
ALL agreements carry a 1 calendar months notice to cancel unless your on a 6 month agreement of which you must give us 2 months notice to cancel. ALL cancellations must be phoned through to head office 0844 770 7700 option 4, DO NOT cancel your DD from your bank as this will cause letters being sent to you etc.
If you do not pay 2 months membership the FULL value of your contract is applied and your membership is placed as "lapsed" you ONLY need to pay the months that your outstanding and then they will re-instate your DD and all fees will be cleared.
One thing i must add, SOME sales staff DO care about their members and retention is something i do my best to keep up in our club, it isnt always the case when you have an irrate member screaming abuse or perhaps stepping up to me as though he would like to lay his fist in my face (this has happened to me) that is not the correct way to ask someone to help, if you have a problem we can sort it.
Remember our prices ARE set via head office and we cannot banter the price down to your chosen value or if a corner is cut like asking or demanding it has to be a certain period this will cause a bigger issue with cancellation - i hope that you all have your issues sorted, if not then you should have joined my Club!!
i joined la fitness only last monday but want to cancel and have been told i can't as i signed on the premises. i was not told this and after speaking to someone they told me that "this works for the company". can anyone help in advising me what i can do
There are basic statutory rights that are applicable, and that is, any contract that you sign can be cancelled within the maximum of 14 days. The minimum being 7.
I was a member of LA Fitness in Belfast for six years. I decided to leave in November because I had moved house. I tried to get info from the staff about how to cancel and was told time after time someone would get back to me. No-one ever did.
As a result I cancelled my direct debit for £66, buddy membership with a mate. About 8 weeks later I received a letter telling me I owed them £122. I phoned and explained what had happened, they passed me on to the complaints department. I e-mailed and received no response for 2 weeks, despite daily e-mails from me asking for acknowledgment. I then received an e-mail from Louise Northedge telling me she had investigated and found no attempt to cancel. She threatened me with action if I didn't pay.
I accept I should have given notice so I sent a cheque for £66. There was no acknowledgement of this cheque and 7 days later I received a letter from ARC credit telling me I owed £189. They also left a voice mail on my work number, made no attempt to contact me at home or mobile. I phoned Louise Northedge to try to sort this out, 4 days later still waiting for her to come back from lunch!
I have paid the £189 because I don't want my name on a bad debt register but I intend to do everything I can to get £122 back. How can they keep the metre running when you have cancelled and they are supposedly investigating the circumstances? I am disgusted at them and annoyed with myself for sticking with them for so long. The changing rooms were filthy, there were frequently boys aged 10 and over in the ladies changing rooms, the pool was frequently closed, on one occassion a dog got into the pool!
What really annoys me is that the staff were all too keen to phone me on the mobile when they wanted publicity for their Madeleine McCann stuff (I work for local tv company and they recognised me) but when it comes to cancellation, no-one can lift the phone to tell me how to go about it. A thoroughly badly run company. I could go on but hopefully there is enough bad stuff in this to put potential customers off.
Firstly for all you irate LA Fitness employees I will say only one thing. Learn to spell before you join any blogs please. As a rule it would pay all of you to check out the difference between 'to' and 'too'.
Secondly no one has pointed out the LA Fitness T&C that states 'you can cancel the agreement within 10 days where it has been signed off the premises'.
Therefore for all you current employees slating those of us who feel ripped off do you really think it reasonably occurred to any of us to walk outside to sign the contract to ensure we wouldn't be ripped off? I'm defining 'ripped off' as turning up 5 days after you've signed up to discover the gym cannot provide towels and in fact cannot see an end to the problem. I cancelled my membership immediately in writing after my first visit as I felt I had been lied to and they b******s are refusing to let me out.
Aren't there some basic statutory rules that should apply here? I'm sure anyone buying what is effectively a finance agreement should allowed a standard cooling off period?
i am an employee of LA fitness, from reading this you lot slate it alot, about cancelling memberships and being told the manager isnt in, thats a load of bubbles because no one in the clubs has the power to cancel a membership it is ALL delt with via head office. the customer service can be poor in some of the clubs yes but if u visit main clubs e.g city ones you will recieve top service as these are audited most often and have the area managers in them almost all the time. there are improvemnts underway to get the standard of service to top notch in all the clubs and will be happening. also about being told there are clubs in places but u go and there aint LA fitness is bulding another 100 clubs in the next 2 years and we have the locations for most so you would of been told "there WILL be one" not there IS one. and finally about the contracts you should read before you sign, everything you lot have moaned about is clearly stated in the contract you signed so next time pay attention to it and dont just try and get a gym membership on the cheap.
I joined LA fitness in Highgate a couple of years ago to get fit, i was not told it was a 12 month contract until after signing, even though I specified i required a membership I could cancel at any time because i was traveling a lot at that point. I paid the extortionate signing up fee to get a ridiculous la fitness pack and to be made to feel inappropriate by their staff when I started going. Then the week after starting i noticed I was overdrawn by £150!!!! They had decided to take a three month pre-payment without my authorisation. when I went to complain they tried to cover their backs and demanding proof that i was overdrawn and that it was their fault when I demanded the bank's fine back from them I then informed them that due to a breach of contract (them taking money out of my account without prior authorisation) i wanted out of the contract. They refused and I had to endure the next year. When the time finally came round, 3 months prior to my 12 month contract ending I called and told them i wanted to cancel my membership once my contract run out. They said that was fine. Then 3 months later when after my partner's direct debits kept coming out, I decided to contact the gym to inform them that i would be cancelling the direct debit as i had previously said. They informed me that I had to give them 30 days notice, it didn't seem to matter that I had in fact given them 90 daysnotice!!!!! After weeks of rude mail, i finally get the solicitors letter saying i was going to go to court, I called them and was hang up on twice, and informed that in fact you have to give notice once your 12 month contract finished ( making it actually a 13 months contract!!!!) and that all cancellations had to be made in writing. After this I called the gym and they told me that it was a 12 month contract and that cancellations could be made over the phone. The solicitors after some bullying from my law student partner agreed to sending me a copy of the contract I signed and apparently managed to stop all the legal proceedings, but i am fearfully awaiting the date for the court hearing. it is absolutely unbelievable that they can get away with this If you value your sanity, stay away from LA fitness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am shocked to read comments by LA Fitness employees regarding their view on 'customer service'. I manage a chain of very successful Council facilities and we offer monthly memberships for under £40 and our facilities have top of the range kit. Although membership fees are not what you would call expensive this should make absoultely no difference to the service a member should receive. On a monthly basis we operate customer insight surveys and research in order to make sure that we provide the best possible service so we make sure that what we provide should only ever by 5*. The views are shocking from the employees at LA Fitness that just because you do not pay a high monthly fee should make no difference to a members experience. It is this attitude that is giving fitness clubs a bad rep due to employees who do not value customers. Without customers your business ceases to exist, it would do you no harm to remember this!!
Having worked in the private and public fitness industry getting the basics right is key to being successful, maybe this is why LA fitness have so many blaggers! I have also been a member of LA and I will never return...
"if you tell us that you want to sign for a year then thats what we expect!" Lafitnessemployee
Fabulous frase, and what we expect is to be treated as people.
Above all, you advocate for reading, read a bit further, not all the problems people talk about here are about the year contract.It goes beyond that....
LA Fitness is rubbish. I joined a while ago and it was very dissapointing. Really bad customer service, badly staffed, mediocre personal trainers. No interest except for one thing, the money.
My partner and I joined LA fitness 7 yrs ago, following a motorcycle accident in Sept 2006 I was unable to train but kept up my membership as I had intended to return. In reality it was not possible both of us had being paying LA fitness for a period of almost a year without using the gym so we cancelled.
My partner emailed and wrote a letter of cancellation and we cancelled our direct debits.
My partner is now being harrased by a debt recovery agency...... and I'm on their records.
It is absolutely astounding that a nationwide company should act in this manner.....if anything they owe us money as we haven't used the bloody place!
We await an apology and conformation that they have called off ARC (their debt collectors)
Anybody thinking of signing up....DON'T....find a gym run by your Council.
Re the comments from the "employee"- how about all those cases where people signed up for 3 months, which was then changed to 12 months on the company's copy without their knowledge, as was highlighted on Watchdog!!
i am currently an employee of la fitness and i have seen some or all of the problems that you lot have come up with but these problems are usually caused by your lack of the ability to listen to what we are telling you or indeed you are to stupid to read the terms and conditions that are printed in black and white on the back of every single contract.
As for the people saying you got excuses when it came to cancellation ( manager not in, etc.)god only knows where you got that from because all cancellations are handled by head office, not one single person in the club has the power to cancel a contract
if you tell us that you want to sign for a year then thats what we expect!
Hello, I just wondered if anyone would be able to help me in this matter.I joined La fitness in southampton last year in january I cancelled my direct debit at the bank in November after getting a job in Nottingham so although I realise I am in the wrong for not sticking to the 12 month contract I had been led to believe at the time of signing that there was a gym in Nottingham as I said the only thing I was worried about was that I would be moving there (There is no Nottingham gym) Since November I have had several phonecalls from ARC they have passed me over this debt agency and are now charging me more and more money when the original amount was only around 80 pounds I am very worried as they are threatening to take me to court I am not sure whether I have a leg to stand on or not and just wondered if anyone is in a similar situation I have never joined a gym before and am not sure if this is how it works but I cannot afford any money for 2 months and am worried the money is going to go up and up in that time and I am going to keep getting threatening phonecalls :(
Hi
I was hoping I could get a little advice about the situation I am in regarding LA fitness.
I took out a 12-month contract with them last year. After all the payments had been made I cancelled my direct debit, but did not write to the gym to cancel my membership, as I was out of the country. Got back to the UK this week to a phone call from a debt collection agency saying I now owe £80 due to not cancelling my contract direct with the gym plus late payment charges.
What should I do next? If I ignore them will I end up having to go to court or will it leave me with a bad credit rating? I have written to them asking for a copy of the signed contract. If they don't reply in 12 days does that mean anything?
Joined LA Fitness earlier this year. Pressure tactics from sales person, showed me around, rude attitude. Only went in to enquire as was thinking of changing gym from Fitness 1st, where I had been member for 5 years. Saw the swimming pool at La Fitness an sauna etc was impressed is nice gym. Was offering deal for £40 per month 12 month minimum period a big commitment to change gym as I had v good deal at Fitness First £27 per month to use any gym in the country, and one month notice period. Sales Person said as I was having reservations she could offer me use of any LA Fitness in country at same price (which is not brill as they dont have that many anyway). I said to Sales Person cant join up immediately as have to give my current gym 1 months notice, she very underhandedly said just cancel your direct debit with the bank they cant do anything, I said well no thats not good way to go about it. But she persuaded me that if I attend LA Fitness a certain no of times in first 6 weeks get 1 months free membership anyway, so would make up the 1 month I would have to be paying 2 separate gym memberships. Said to sales person would like some time to think and would get back to her, so sat in seating area, thought about it and mistakenly agreed to go ahead. Sales person took my account details, and went to join me up. In the meantime was having second thoughts and said would not like to go ahead anymore, as was thinking if ever want to join up at Fitness First again will cost me alot more as am planning on moving to London in a year or so. She said well all you need to do is sign now it has all gone through and made out as if I hadnt got a choice. BIG MISTAKE. I believe if I hadnt signed obviously wouldnt be committed. Felt badly done by and was half my own fault as shouldnt have rushed into the decision. Called the LA Fitness headquarters to cancel they said as I has signed up in gym was no cooling off period whereas if I had joined up online I would have had 14 day cooling off time. Was annoyed, but had a brainwave to advertise my membership on "Gumtree" to transfer my membership which is something they allow, did so and immediately within an hour heard back from someone who wanted to buy my membership. I advertised as no joining fee, of £25 which I had paid up and offered two weeks free membership, which was already paid up (had already wasted two weeks not doing anything about it). Called up LA Fitness they said could do the transfer, but would cost £25 transfer fee, which I hadnt anticipated and should have advertised online. Then I called later with the person who wanted to by my memberships details and they tried changing transfer fee to £50. I said I was quoted £25 originally and will go to Trading Standards if they try charging me new transfer fee to what originally stated. They then agreed to "honour" their original quote of £25. I did successfuly transfer my membership but did lose out about £90 but was glad to be rid, especially seeing things I read on this blog. You win some lose some. Try and get your money back from some other organisation for ripping you off by writing to Trading Standards, i'm sick of these companies trying to make money out of you. I would reccommend Fitness First especially for women has brill classes.
firstly i would like to say that i have recently worked for la fitness club after both esporta & david lloyd and the basics of a contract are exactly the same!!! it's just like taking out a mobile phone contract.
if people are either 2 stupid or 2 lazy to read the terms and conditions properly then they deserve what happens to them. i would never sign anything i haven't read. i agree that the customer service in some clubs leaves a little to desire but if you are only paying £30 - £40 a month for a gym membership your not going to get 5* treatment. if you spent just 5 minutes extra reading the terms and conditions rather than being interested in what "deal" you are getting then you wouldn't put yourselves in this position in the 1st place, would you.......
My adventure with LA Fitness just won't end. Following on from my earlier post below, you can read about the collection agency getting involved now as well...
http://tinyurl.com/yuu3ub
Part one of my LA Fitness nightmare: http://curiousjames.wordpress.com/2007/09/18/la-fitness-uk-sucks/
Add a comment about this blagger
Visitors to the site are reminded that the details contained within user comments are uncorroborated and as such should not be read as fact but as the opinion of the person who left the comment.
Comments:
I still stand by what i had said, we can help you and there are options you can take if needed (as stated 2-3 posts below by a fellow colleague)
If you are not sure about any information at point of sale then just ask.
apologies again for the 2 mistakes made.
For the record, my club (Southgate) has some superb staff and trainers, Katie, Alicia, Sahar and Lisa Maree to name but a few. The instructors are some of the finest around. Yes sometimes things do not go the way we want them to but that is usually due to Head Office constraints. As for membership confusions, always be aware that you are signing a credit agreement and never feel rushed to do so.
You do not have to give 2 months notice on a 6 month membership, to cancel your membership you need to call member services which is sometimes percieved as head office. If you are outside your initial obligationperiod you can cancel with 1 CALENDER months notice ie if you call after the 1st of the month you will then need to pay again at the end of that current month.
If a member cancels their DD this wont be accepted as notification to cancel, Member Services does need to be contacted.
All the information required is written on members contracts and it is the members duty to read these before signing the membership.
Memberships can be cancelled within the intial obligation period on 3 occasions 1) Redundancy with a letter from your employer on letter headed paper 2)If you moe more than 20 miles away from a LA Fitness club (subject to a cancellation fee dependent upon how many months left of your contract you have 3) If you are medically unfit to use the gym and can provide us with a medical note from your GP.
When you cancel your membership you need to take the nameof the person you speak to, ask for a cancellation reference number and ask for the cancellation to be confrmed in writing.
I am also an employee but take a slightly different view.
Customer Service as standard should be 5* whether your in a City Club or if your in a Residential Club! Whether the member is right or wrong we must deal with each person like they are our favourite customer.
I am a Sales Advisor in a residential club and reading most of your comments about contract length and DD cancellation it comes as a suprise that when you initially became members you were not advised of the sign up and cancellation process!? For each 12 month agreement you have a maximum of 14 days to come back to the club and cancel this is known as the "cool off" period (Bottom left hand corner of your agreements other side)
ALL agreements carry a 1 calendar months notice to cancel unless your on a 6 month agreement of which you must give us 2 months notice to cancel. ALL cancellations must be phoned through to head office 0844 770 7700 option 4, DO NOT cancel your DD from your bank as this will cause letters being sent to you etc.
If you do not pay 2 months membership the FULL value of your contract is applied and your membership is placed as "lapsed" you ONLY need to pay the months that your outstanding and then they will re-instate your DD and all fees will be cleared.
One thing i must add, SOME sales staff DO care about their members and retention is something i do my best to keep up in our club, it isnt always the case when you have an irrate member screaming abuse or perhaps stepping up to me as though he would like to lay his fist in my face (this has happened to me) that is not the correct way to ask someone to help, if you have a problem we can sort it.
Remember our prices ARE set via head office and we cannot banter the price down to your chosen value or if a corner is cut like asking or demanding it has to be a certain period this will cause a bigger issue with cancellation - i hope that you all have your issues sorted, if not then you should have joined my Club!!
As a result I cancelled my direct debit for £66, buddy membership with a mate. About 8 weeks later I received a letter telling me I owed them £122. I phoned and explained what had happened, they passed me on to the complaints department. I e-mailed and received no response for 2 weeks, despite daily e-mails from me asking for acknowledgment. I then received an e-mail from Louise Northedge telling me she had investigated and found no attempt to cancel. She threatened me with action if I didn't pay.
I accept I should have given notice so I sent a cheque for £66. There was no acknowledgement of this cheque and 7 days later I received a letter from ARC credit telling me I owed £189. They also left a voice mail on my work number, made no attempt to contact me at home or mobile. I phoned Louise Northedge to try to sort this out, 4 days later still waiting for her to come back from lunch!
I have paid the £189 because I don't want my name on a bad debt register but I intend to do everything I can to get £122 back. How can they keep the metre running when you have cancelled and they are supposedly investigating the circumstances? I am disgusted at them and annoyed with myself for sticking with them for so long. The changing rooms were filthy, there were frequently boys aged 10 and over in the ladies changing rooms, the pool was frequently closed, on one occassion a dog got into the pool!
What really annoys me is that the staff were all too keen to phone me on the mobile when they wanted publicity for their Madeleine McCann stuff (I work for local tv company and they recognised me) but when it comes to cancellation, no-one can lift the phone to tell me how to go about it. A thoroughly badly run company. I could go on but hopefully there is enough bad stuff in this to put potential customers off.
Firstly for all you irate LA Fitness employees I will say only one thing. Learn to spell before you join any blogs please. As a rule it would pay all of you to check out the difference between 'to' and 'too'.
Secondly no one has pointed out the LA Fitness T&C that states 'you can cancel the agreement within 10 days where it has been signed off the premises'.
Therefore for all you current employees slating those of us who feel ripped off do you really think it reasonably occurred to any of us to walk outside to sign the contract to ensure we wouldn't be ripped off? I'm defining 'ripped off' as turning up 5 days after you've signed up to discover the gym cannot provide towels and in fact cannot see an end to the problem. I cancelled my membership immediately in writing after my first visit as I felt I had been lied to and they b******s are refusing to let me out.
Aren't there some basic statutory rules that should apply here? I'm sure anyone buying what is effectively a finance agreement should allowed a standard cooling off period?
Mikey
mikey75x at 14th Feb 2008, 04:11PM
stan9662 at 12th Feb 2008, 11:54PM
Having worked in the private and public fitness industry getting the basics right is key to being successful, maybe this is why LA fitness have so many blaggers! I have also been a member of LA and I will never return...
Fabulous frase, and what we expect is to be treated as people.
Above all, you advocate for reading, read a bit further, not all the problems people talk about here are about the year contract.It goes beyond that....
My partner emailed and wrote a letter of cancellation and we cancelled our direct debits.
My partner is now being harrased by a debt recovery agency...... and I'm on their records.
It is absolutely astounding that a nationwide company should act in this manner.....if anything they owe us money as we haven't used the bloody place!
We await an apology and conformation that they have called off ARC (their debt collectors)
Anybody thinking of signing up....DON'T....find a gym run by your Council.
richt at 14th Jan 2008, 01:35PM
As for the people saying you got excuses when it came to cancellation ( manager not in, etc.)god only knows where you got that from because all cancellations are handled by head office, not one single person in the club has the power to cancel a contract
if you tell us that you want to sign for a year then thats what we expect!
I was hoping I could get a little advice about the situation I am in regarding LA fitness.
I took out a 12-month contract with them last year. After all the payments had been made I cancelled my direct debit, but did not write to the gym to cancel my membership, as I was out of the country. Got back to the UK this week to a phone call from a debt collection agency saying I now owe £80 due to not cancelling my contract direct with the gym plus late payment charges.
What should I do next? If I ignore them will I end up having to go to court or will it leave me with a bad credit rating? I have written to them asking for a copy of the signed contract. If they don't reply in 12 days does that mean anything?
if people are either 2 stupid or 2 lazy to read the terms and conditions properly then they deserve what happens to them. i would never sign anything i haven't read. i agree that the customer service in some clubs leaves a little to desire but if you are only paying £30 - £40 a month for a gym membership your not going to get 5* treatment. if you spent just 5 minutes extra reading the terms and conditions rather than being interested in what "deal" you are getting then you wouldn't put yourselves in this position in the 1st place, would you.......
http://tinyurl.com/yuu3ub
Part one of my LA Fitness nightmare: http://curiousjames.wordpress.com/2007/09/18/la-fitness-uk-sucks/
James
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