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I joined this club in Folsom in December. The sales guy (Leigh) who registered me in the club waived the fee for my son, and he said that it was good for only 2 months, but he said, he will work with the club manager to get the waiver extended. I was happy on the offer given to me, and I got all the club cards from him on the day, and everything was fine for the first few days.
The problem started for me after the first week. My son's name was not on the system, and apparently Leigh gave only a temporary membership for my son since the fee was waived for him. To my surprise, I also realized that the he did not work at the place any more.
However, after I explained the situation to someone else in the office, he (Chris?) helped renew the membership for my son, and told me that I should not have any more issues. He also told me that he will speak to the club manager and get the waiver extended for me.
Unfortunately, a few days later, the people at the reception would find that my Son's name was not on the account. It was very frustrating, and I had to explain the situation to another guy (Steve?) who was in their office - this time, the guy fully assured me that he will speak to the "back office" and fix the problem.
However, that never happened. A few days later when we went to the club, I was stopped at the reception again, and asked about my son's membership - this time, the guy who spoke to me previously (Steve?) was present in the office, and when I went to ask about the issue, he referred to me to the General manager who was in the office - I was certainly disturbed by all the pains I was going through. The GM was not helpful at all. No apologies, nothing. Never felt sorry for the issues I was going through in-spite of collecting 2 months of membership money in advance. After some heated discussions, he simply agreed that I can use the gym until the first 2 months that I paid for, and after that I will be charged at the regular rate, or I have to sign a 2 year contract to get the special deal. With all the issues I was going through I was certainly not interested in signing a 2 year contract. So, I gave my 30 day notice to cancel the membership.
When I went to the club a few days later, I had the same original problem that I had after the first week - my Son's membership was not on the account, and I had to explain at the reception on what happened. Even the GM did not fix the problem ! Now, that explains why all of his staff was like that - extending offers that should not have been extended to me, and never bothered to fix my problem permanently from day one!
To my surprise, a few days later, on Jan 18th, I got charged for the month of Feb 18th - March 17th, even through I gave my 30 day notice on Jan 12th. When I went to club today to ask about this (to the GM again), he said that the notice I gave on 12th was for 30 days after March 17th. I had no idea on how their 30 day notice works. It apparently needs more than 60 days! And, also he said that My son cannot use the Gym, and that he would escort me out if I were going to talk any more.
I was very disturbed by these events, and the treatment meted out to me by this club.
Now, I dont know about other places, but the Folsom Club is horrible. Their sales staff never tell you the truth, and have complete disregard for customer satisfaction.
I must tell that the rest of the club staff were very friendly though (especially the folks at the kids club).
So, please be aware of what you are signing up for, and get everything in writing. Of course, I would never go this club again.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
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I had this same treatment from them when it came down to me ending my membership... In my eyes they are no better than criminal committing crime against another person. I feel very violated by CFF and its staff.
My situation is very similar to yours - my teenaged son wanted to join CFF because his lacrosse team practiced nearby. We were offered (verbally - on the phone) a month to month membership for the whole family for $99 - since the amount of a membership just for the two of us was close to that amount, we opted for the family membership. They were running a "special" and waived the sign up fee. From the beginning, they never could find my sons membership info, and questioned him like he was trying to trespass every time he tried to use the club. After several weeks of this, a manager told me they had lost my contract (even though I showed them my copy of it) and he said no problem, all we have to do is sign a new contract and that will clear things up. I went down to sign it and it was for a year, not month to month as it had been. This manager said this was the only way I could get this price, so I reluctantly agreed and signed up - we all want to be more healthy, right? Not long after that, my son's season ended and he was offered full time employment in another city, and it was no longer convenient for him to use the club. I spoke to the manager that had upsold us to the year contract and he said no problem, he could change the membership to an individual one just for me and I would not have to start over at the beginning of a year contract. Then I started having issues with this new membership, being stopped every time I tried to enter the club in the early morning hours. I finally stopped going and contacted corporate and asked to cancel my agreement. With the hassles, the bait and switch tactics, and the (for me) inconvenient location and hours I just was no longer interested in working out there. I received a letter before the holidays stating I had to either pay off my contract (even though it was for months that I had asked to cancel and had never set foot in their club) or they would put me into collections. My only other alternative was to re-up my membership with auto-payments from my checking account for another year. I really did not want any bad credit so I called them up after much thought and said ok to their offer - even though it felt like coercion. They said their offer to renew and forgive my debt to them was no longer available. They project this image of a wholesome positive club, but practice these tactics of bait and switch, promising they will work with you if things change but then being completely uncooperative - enticing us with a fair price on a monthly renewable membership but then saying the price is only good if we commit for a year. The bottom line is this - they just want to be your creditor, to get your bank account number, not to be your health club. They want contracts, not patrons.
Yes, I had similar issues with them. I tried to lower my membership level with few people on the membership and and it took me 3 months to do it and even them the only way to stop them from taking money out of my account was to call my bank and block them from any further withdraws. Worse fitness center and membership program ever. beware before joining!
I've had a very similar experience and will be writing my own complaint about the Folsom Cal Fit. They completely lied to me about how much my membership was going to be and then won't fix it! I feel very taken advantage of and ripped off. Why would they treat their customers like that when there's a brand new gym down the road? They should be trying to get people to stay, not treating them like crap.