Need advice for cancelling Gold's membership

[imjimmylin]

So I wanted to cancel my membership so I thought that I could go in and just tell them that I want it cancelled but when I got there the lady at the front desk said that I had to actually write out a letter that said I wanted to cancel my membership then send it to the GYM via mail for some reason?

My membership is with Northland and I had to send a letter in the mail TO the Northland location to cancel it. Doesn't make sense at all, but I did it regardless.

I believe I sent the letter in early October then I got an email on November 12th saying:

"Hi,

I am writing you this email to notify you that we have recieved your cancellation letter. In order for the cancellation to process there is a 31 day notice that is calculated started the day the letter is registered. That would have made the final payments to the end of Oct. As they did not go through we are unable to process the cancellation until we recieve them. Please feel free to contact me by email or phone ASAP.

403-338-4653"

I have NO contract commitment at all, my contract was up about a year and a half ago I have just been paying bi weekly.

I get a "ASF International" letter in the mail this week (Gold's Gym) saying that I owe 172.05 because they still haven't cancelled my membership.

Is there anything I can do about this? Has anyone had problems with these gym cancellations?

Anyone have any ideas as to what I should do?

[chathamf]

Yea, I have had lots of problems with Golds. One time I forgot to have enough money in my account to take it out, and they called me and told me and I was like yea just try again it's all there now. Well within like three days they took out about four months of membership dues.

Golds was actually decent about it. I called Northland and they got it taken care of right away, all the money went back into my account with 24 hours.

Then I canceled this fall like yourself, same thing had to send a letter, and they charged me the extra month because of the 30 day cancellation thing. Finally in November sometime I mad my last payment to them and am done forever.

But for you I'd say just call them and they should clear up your account problem as the accountant was pretty willing to help me when I had issues.

[trieuth]

Originally posted by imjimmylin
So I wanted to cancel my membership so I thought that I could go in and just tell them that I want it cancelled but when I got there the lady at the front desk said that I had to actually write out a letter that said I wanted to cancel my membership then send it to the GYM via mail for some reason?

My membership is with Northland and I had to send a letter in the mail TO the Northland location to cancel it. Doesn't make sense at all, but I did it regardless.

I believe I sent the letter in early October then I got an email on November 12th saying:

"Hi,

I am writing you this email to notify you that we have recieved your cancellation letter. In order for the cancellation to process there is a 31 day notice that is calculated started the day the letter is registered. That would have made the final payments to the end of Oct. As they did not go through we are unable to process the cancellation until we recieve them. Please feel free to contact me by email or phone ASAP.

403-338-4653"

I have NO contract commitment at all, my contract was up about a year and a half ago I have just been paying bi weekly.

I get a "ASF International" letter in the mail this week (Gold's Gym) saying that I owe 172.05 because they still haven't cancelled my membership.

Is there anything I can do about this? Has anyone had problems with these gym cancellations?

Anyone have any ideas as to what I should do?


If you read the fine print of the contact, if you dont cancel after your contract runs up; you are automatically renewed +10% of your rate

[4doorj]

What sucks about the contract is that it's electronic.
Yeah I know people are going to say I'm dumb for not reading the fine print. But it sucks that they also didn't give me a copy of it. Dont know if that's the way everyone else signed their contract.

Like on my one year re-newel I had no idea about the $50 something upgrade fee for the machines.

But I'm not one to complain, I hear horror stories of people trying to cancel their memberships. I love my membership and don't plan on canceling.

[bigbadboss101]

I choose to pay the whole amount so they don't have my finance info.

[zipdoa]

Originally posted by imjimmylin
So I wanted to cancel my membership so I thought that I could go in and just tell them that I want it cancelled but when I got there the lady at the front desk said that I had to actually write out a letter that said I wanted to cancel my membership then send it to the GYM via mail for some reason?

My membership is with Northland and I had to send a letter in the mail TO the Northland location to cancel it. Doesn't make sense at all, but I did it regardless.

I believe I sent the letter in early October then I got an email on November 12th saying:

"Hi,

I am writing you this email to notify you that we have recieved your cancellation letter. In order for the cancellation to process there is a 31 day notice that is calculated started the day the letter is registered. That would have made the final payments to the end of Oct. As they did not go through we are unable to process the cancellation until we recieve them. Please feel free to contact me by email or phone ASAP.

403-338-4653"

I have NO contract commitment at all, my contract was up about a year and a half ago I have just been paying bi weekly.

I get a "ASF International" letter in the mail this week (Gold's Gym) saying that I owe 172.05 because they still haven't cancelled my membership.

Is there anything I can do about this? Has anyone had problems with these gym cancellations?

Anyone have any ideas as to what I should do?

fuck that shit, mine just ran out and I got a call saying that I would be paying $10/month EXTRA now. fucking scammerjees!!!

[trieuth]

Originally posted by 4doorj
What sucks about the contract is that it's electronic.
Yeah I know people are going to say I'm dumb for not reading the fine print. But it sucks that they also didn't give me a copy of it. Dont know if that's the way everyone else signed their contract.

Like on my one year re-newel I had no idea about the $50 something upgrade fee for the machines.

But I'm not one to complain, I hear horror stories of people trying to cancel their memberships. I love my membership and don't plan on canceling.

They asked me if I wanted a contact, but I said nope. Most people don't even read them anways.

[zipdoa]

FYI for anyone getting a Gold's Gym contract:

You must send a REGISTERED letter to them with your membership # and reason for leaving the gym. what a bunch of shit. You must then wait 31 days for your membership to be fully cancelled. If you had a contract and it expired, they will AUTOMATICALLY RENEW YOU for the same term unless you remember to cancel your membership exactly 31 DAYS before it ends.

if you try and cancel during a contract, you must wait 91 (ninety-one) days before it expires.

what a load of shit.

and they will sell your debt immediately to a credit bureau if you don't pay. no warnings, no phone calls, nothing like that. I can't believe how sleazy this place is.

[Masked Bandit]

Originally posted by bigbadboss101
I choose to pay the whole amount so they don't have my finance info.

This.

I've heard so many complaints about gyms and cancellations being a giant PITA. I just pay mine a year at a time.

[Criticull]

World Health Club is the same way. Health Club management are cold-hearted bastards. I just don't get that if they piss you off, how can you refer people to them? They are trading all that future potential business for an extra month of cash flow. Ridiculous.

[bignerd]

I use to work at a bank and Golds/WHC was NOTORIUS for payment issues-mostly people's who contracts were over or had cancelled and they kept taking payments. I can't count how many stop-payments or blocks I put on people's accounts to stop them from auto-debiting monthly dues.

[TimeAttack]

It's your responsibility to call the gym after that 31~ day period and confirm that it is canceled.

[spankingmonkey]

I also had the same problem 2 years ago and went that road as well & there is nothing you can do about it, because we didnt read the fine print.

And this was also at gold's gym northland

All I can tell you is do what they say and don't refer people to any of those gold's gym because they are cold hearted bastards.

*Give the letter of cancelation in person & tell the gym representative that you have advised your credit card company to cease all payments to gold's gym as of today and they have agreed.

* Contact your credit card company "visa/mastercard" and explain to them that you have cancelled your account with them but still billing you bi-weekly after canceling your contract.

*Pay the remaining balance and don't go back. I tried getting my 7 months back that I had no idea I was still paying for and they refused to give that money back even if I didn't go to the gym and use my membership.

[TomcoPDR]

Originally posted by TimeAttack
It's your responsibility to call the gym after that 31~ day period and confirm that it is canceled.

Exactly, gyms have committments and margins to fullfil. Those big gyms aren't exactly cheap to run (building lease) let alone equipment lease and maintainence, employees.

But yes, on the other hand, gym membership contracts are the longest and most annoying legal documents us common folk deal with in everyday life. :whipped:

[gmoney82]

Best way to "cancel" is to advertise your membership on Craigslist, Kijiji, beyond etc for someone to assume. Maybe even sweeten the deal and pay them one month of dues or etc.

You meet this person at the gym and they bring a void cheque and a few signed forms later you are off the hook

[dandia89]

I think gyms are forced to do this just to make money. Think about all the people who register for a gym, go for a month and quit. They end up trying to cancel their membership and the gym is losing a "client". I don't agree with it, but I do get why

[Neil4Speed]

This is the kind of thing that I hated about Golds, WHC etc. YMCA is really nice in that way, Join if you want (no high pressure sales), Cancel when you want, no contracts, reasonable price, good facility/parking and they are non-profit and help out those less fortunate in the community to their programs.

[Thomas Gabriel]

YMCA and school gyms are the only ones to use. The rest are all run by scumbags. Get very aggressive with them and your problem will be solved.

[Abeo]

World gym (not WHC) did the same to me, I was glad that I had it on my visa... did a stop payment and now I am waiting to be reimbursed

fuck gyms, I'm buying my own equipment from now on

[sexualbanana]

Originally posted by Criticull
World Health Club is the same way. Health Club management are cold-hearted bastards. I just don't get that if they piss you off, how can you refer people to them? They are trading all that future potential business for an extra month of cash flow. Ridiculous.

I actually had an amazingly simple time canceling my WHC membership a few years back. I went in, told the front desk girl I wanted to cancel. She gave me a form to fill out which was quick and easy, and I never had a problem.

I still think it's a little weird I had such an easy time canceling compared to all the horror stories I've heard about WHC and other gyms, and I don't know why I was the exception.

[KrisYYC]

There's a small gym about a 5 min walk from my place offering memberships for $250/year.

I'm thinking of cancelling my WHC membership and going there instead though the nightmare stories I'm hearing about WHC cancelling memberships is making me nervous.

The little gym is on Elbow Dr. in Haysboro if anybody knows the gym.

[BMS]

Originally posted by gmoney82
Best way to "cancel" is to advertise your membership on Craigslist, Kijiji, beyond etc for someone to assume. Maybe even sweeten the deal and pay them one month of dues or etc.

You meet this person at the gym and they bring a void cheque and a few signed forms later you are off the hook

I actually did this and they still charged me 4 more payments after it was "transferred" to the other person. I talked to the person who handles this at Golds Gym and after emailing and phoning about 10 times just finally did a dispute with the CC company.

[gmoney82]

Originally posted by BMS


I actually did this and they still charged me 4 more payments after it was "transferred" to the other person. I talked to the person who handles this at Golds Gym and after emailing and phoning about 10 times just finally did a dispute with the CC company.

that sucks. I will be transferring my membership eventually due to location proximity. hopefully my bank account transfer goes smoother

[roll_over]

I got a membership one year ago, same shit I asked the trainer doing the paper work ( mike ) "so after a year I'm done no more money will be charged to my account" he replies " yes " one year one month later I check my visa I got charged $25 I go in seems they charged me another $25 because by the time I noticed payment for the next month was due so $50 dollar down the drain. But I'm a player I ain't stressin they tell me to send a letter to northland, I call And talk to a Chrisilda she asks why and offers to put my account on freeze for free this is after i was on hold for half an hour !!! Not only that this was the third call because each retard there asked my why I wanted to end my membership and put me threw to the wrong person but finaly I got somone compitent. The story dosent end there now six months later I am still trying to squash this bullshit, Golds Gym Mckenzie and all are scam artist PAY CASH! no banking info should be given to them. I'll finish the story later as its the never ending story

FYI I paid in full over $700 up front and still got charged after and now I'm told you much cancle 90 days inadvanced

[l/l/rX]

Hey guys my contract with gold's was done on Feb 20th. I just sent my registered letter off today. Do you think they already automatically renewed my membership? I also actually JUST noticed today that they are charging me $40 bi-weekly since January. :facepalm: I'm scared, soo many horror stories!

[turbotrip]

no you go month to month thats why the payments might have gone up slightly. if u re-sign the payments remain the same.
but its gonna take 1-2 months from when you sent the letter to cancel

[zipdoa]

I'm looking to re-join golds, but will definitely be going CASH ONLY this time. Fucking scammerjees.

[~Leah~]

I used to work there and have heard hundreds of horror stories. The company they use for payments is ASF and they scam the hell out of people, it's not Gold's but they should also realize how terrible of a name they are getting.

My contract was up in October and I was willing to transfer to someone but now they have implemented a $200 person to person transfer fee. So I just cancelled. I made sure I had a good relationship with the Administrator, as ASF double charged me when my membership rolled over, so I am only getting one more payment taken out instead of the usual 2... BUT I will be keeping a close eye on it that's for sure.

[LollerBrader]

Originally posted by imjimmylin
So I wanted to cancel my membership so I thought that I could go in and just tell them that I want it cancelled but when I got there the lady at the front desk said that I had to actually write out a letter that said I wanted to cancel my membership then send it to the GYM via mail for some reason?

Gyms are among the seediest racket out there. I got ripped off by "World Health" in one of its various incarnations years ago. Told them to shove it. Went to collections.

It was my only credit-rating black eye for years, until it eventually expired off of my record.

[zipdoa]

So I tried to just pay cash for a membership @ Golds... they still take direct deposit information so that they can sell you off to collections if they so choose. Fucking ridiculous.

[looker8]

so can anyone help me with this one: I canceled early Dec. they said the $200 cancellation would come out March 4. On March 4 they charged me $200 plus my $25 bi-weekly, then March 9 the $50 club enhancement fee charged to my CC. Is this correct? or have they possibly not canceled my membership fees through ASF??

[sexualbanana]

Bit of advice:
I tried to cancel my Gold's membership awhile back because I found another gym. I figured it wouldn't be a problem because, like my WHC membership, I chose to pay a slightly higher rate so that I can go month-to-month, rather than make a multi-year commitment. It turned out however, that at some point my membership had switched over to a 3-year contract. So at the time, I still had a 2 years remaining. I thought this was incorrect since I would never commit to a 3-year gym membership. But since I tossed my copy of the contract, I have no evidence to the contrary. So keep that in mind when you sign up. My case may have been the exception rather than the rule, but ya never know.

[looker8]

Originally posted by sexualbanana
Bit of advice:
I tried to cancel my Gold's membership awhile back because I found another gym. I figured it wouldn't be a problem because, like my WHC membership, I chose to pay a slightly higher rate so that I can go month-to-month, rather than make a multi-year commitment. It turned out however, that at some point my membership had switched over to a 3-year contract. So at the time, I still had a 2 years remaining. I thought this was incorrect since I would never commit to a 3-year gym membership. But since I tossed my copy of the contract, I have no evidence to the contrary. So keep that in mind when you sign up. My case may have been the exception rather than the rule, but ya never know.

maybe you forgot what you signed up for.

[sexualbanana]

Originally posted by looker8


maybe you forgot what you signed up for.

I never sign up for a gym for a set term. I know it's strong wording, but its true.

[looker8]

Originally posted by sexualbanana


I never sign up for a gym for a set term. I know it's strong wording, but its true.

Right. But you could easily ask the gym for a copy of your contract and see what you signed up for. This is a ridiculous accusation - unless you had proof. Many times I've done the same thing - such as a phone contract, and then a year later thought it was over and saw I actually signed up for a 3 yr not a 2 yr.
my bad.

[zipdoa]

FYI - If you do month-to-month with golds, they need 90-days notice and a registered letter to cancel.

[BMDUBS]

Thanks guys for all to horror stories. I feel bad for you guys but it has taught me to say Fuck Golds! Like another poster said on page one, I also got out of a WHC membership years ago very easily. I wont be joining either golds or WHC ever again and I will ensure I tell everyone I know about this kind of racket they are running to ensure they dont either.

I also understand the reason behind the contracts to pay for the business overhead. But automatic renewal and the registered letter to cancel are BS fine print tactics to make it that much statistically harder for the average joe to cancel their plan easily. By implementing this kind of a road block, it is easy to see that they will get *months of extra fees out of a members.

Any input from good life members about getting out of their contracts????

[ArjayAquino]

Originally posted by BMS


I actually did this and they still charged me 4 more payments after it was "transferred" to the other person. I talked to the person who handles this at Golds Gym and after emailing and phoning about 10 times just finally did a dispute with the CC company.

Yeah similar thing happened with my GF's account. We did a transfer in January to someone else and this week I saw that they were still taking money out :banghead: I called and the admin said they had no record of any transfer... FUCK they are stupid. I'm going in tomorrow to get a refund on the money I paid for the transfer.