Gold's Gym

I worked for my brother-in-law's company and a man came in and wanted to talk to me about a gym membership. I had been interested in getting one but I knew that I didn't have the motivation to follow through... I was lazy! There, I said it!

Anyways, he assurred me that for being a new member, he can arrange for me to have a "personal trainer" and that person would be him. I thought, "Okay, this sounds great." Because I was a college student, I could also get a 12-month membership instead of the normal 24-month one and as an added bonus, as long as I remained a student, I could cancel at anytime with no termination fees applied. This was perfect for me. So as I was signing, I noticed that the term on the membership was 24-months. I asked him about it and he said, "Oh, don't worry about that... I have to put that to get the paperwork rolling." So, like a fool, I sign. After the 2nd session with the trainer, my legs and arms were killing me. I couldn't lift my arms and the pain in my legs shot from the bottom of my butt to the base of my heel. I literally had to walk on my tip-toes with my knees bent because of the outrageoulsy pulled muscles down the back of both of my legs. I went back to the gym 8 days later (it took that long to recover) and my trainer said that was normal! I was THAT out of shape. After my 5th session, my trainer wasn't there and I was told that I wasn't supposed to have a trainer after the 3rd session. If I wanted one, I had to pay for one. My trainer was fired, by the way, for a reason I later found out. I went back here and there for the next several months then found out I was pregnant. I decided to cancel my membership. SORRY! Can't do that because I signed a 24-month contract! The man telling me this was so nice. When I explained what I was told, he said that the trainer was fired for lying to customers to get them to sign contracts and also for making sexual remarks to some of the female clients. The guy helping me said he'd see what he could do. So a few more months go by and I'm fed up with calls not being returned and being turned away because the "person to speak to isn't here" so I stopped the payment from coming out of my checking account. THAT was the point when they finally wanted to talk to me! They didn't give a crap about me when I was giving them my money, but now they can't get enough of me! So I went in AGAIN to speak to a manager (the nice genleman from before no longer worked there... go figure) I spoke with a manager and I was told that I signed the contract and there was nothing I could do about it. When I asked to speak with the owner of that franchise, I was told that there was no reason for me to speak with him and that he would not put me in touch with him. I called the next day and asked the girl who answered the phone who the owner of the franchise was and she gave me the husband and wife's name and was just about to give me a number when she paused, put me on hold, then returned and asked who I was. I told her who I was and immediately, the rude man from before jumped on the phone and chewed me out. He said, again, that I signed a contract and I'm legally responsible to pay for what I agreed to. The name and number of the owner was none of my business and he then hung up on me. You can imagine the wrath I was feeling at the time. So I later gave birth and forgot about the whole GOLDS GYM experience...

Until I got a letter in the mail from a collection attorney saying pay or go to court. I paid more than $600 to get Gold's Gym out of my life. I know it's a big place, they have lots of clients, lots of money coming in... but I tell my story to anyone who mentions "gym" to me. It's been a while since then, but it still pisses me off the same.