Fast forward to a week ago. My wife wasn't using her membership and my kids didn't like their Kids Klub play area. "I'll just cancel the account!" I thought. So I call up LA Fitness. "You can do it online. We can't do it here in the gym."
So I create an account online and go to the cancel option. Here's what I'm greeted by:
I have to mail in a crappy form for each person in order for them to cancel the account.
Fine. Gyms make most of their money from people who don't cancel and don't attend. This just seems like it's a little bit harder than it should be.
So I mail in the forms. A little over a week later I check back at the gym to see if the accounts have been canceled. Nope! Why not? They have no idea, because that's all handled by corporate and they don't even have a phone number to give me (I later found out that they seem to 'lose' an awful lot of mail that isn't sent CERTIFIED). The most they can offer is to have someone from corporate call me.
And call me they did (though not when they said they would). To be honest, I was actually surprised. But the guy had the audacity to require a reason for canceling. Here's your reason: I don't want to give you any more money. It's a good thing my credit card has better customer service than they do. What's more is you have to give them 30 days notice (basically one more time they can charge you) BEFORE they start counting on that "last month" that you paid for when you start up.
Case in point: If you sign up at LA Fitness, be aware that it's going to take World War 3 in order to end the membership. Save your money and your sanity and go ANYWHERE else.
Update 5/6/2008:
In the comments below, Duane pointed us to the BBB page for LA Fitness and called out Aylin Medina (phone (949) 255-7330) as the person to call to cancel your account with zero hassles. I recently called her to cancel my last remaining LA Fitness account. She was very nice and I had my account canceled inside of two minutes. If you call her, make sure you have your LA Fitness barcode handy. Thanks Duane!
Update 1/20/2010:
Apparently there has been a Class-Action Lawsuit against LA Fitness. It looks like you might be able to file claims for post-cancellation charges. More information at www.gymsettlement.com.
259 comments:
1 – 200 of 259 Newer› Newest»Apparently I'm not the only one to write about it. Someone should sue this company.
Here's an idea: just start charging back the company for the subscription fee. ("Why do you want to charge this payment back, sir?" "I want to quit their stupid gym and their cancel policy involves a ridiculously baroque sequence of artificially complex steps. It's easier just to do this.")
Eventually, they'll stop billing you, believe me.
I implied that above: "It's a good thing my credit card has better customer service than they do."
If you just leave it at that though, then they eventually send it to collections and there's that whole mess...
Let's try that again:
LA Fitness at the better business bureau.
I am going through much the same thing. I paid a 6 month personal training contract in full by credit card would not touch my checking account which they had for my regualr membership. But they did anyway taking $272 for the month out of my checking account for traing that was already paid in full. That was 6 months ago i got it straightened out and go tmy $$ back. I decided to continue my contract for another 6 months paid it in full and reminded Zeus in Tustin what had happened before and was assured it wouldn't happen again because it is paid in full.But today they took out another $272; why?? Becasue Zeus decided to enter me under a new contract without telling me and never cancelled my old contract. Why? Becasue it looked like he signed up a new person which gets him closer to his quota.
So now I am fighting to get my $272 plus my paid in full training and am quitting training and going somewhere else.
I have a number of the guy in Pro-Results department if anyone out there needs it.
Tom Grimble(?) 949-970-6573
Also thei nfo for corporate which I got through a Dodge Construction report is
LA Fitness
8105 Irvine Center Drive
Suite 200
Irvine, CA 92618
949-255-7400
you have to push 0 but once you start talking to the person who answers about billing she will send yout oa c/s drone. so best to find a name in the directory and talk to anyone who will answer.
I have a fax of 949-725-0783 but that goes to facilities.
After my last personal training session, I broke out in hives and needed to see a doctor to treat my skin. Needless to say, after stopping my sessions, I had not had an outbreak since...
Hence, after 5 months of personal training, I submitted my cancellation letter via certified mail to Body of Change (LA Fitness). I have also disputed the $200 charge that showed up on my bill a few days ago and replaced my credit card.
After doing research and reading this and other stories, I'm actually glad about what I did. If LA Fitness even touches my credit score, I will simply present my doctor's letter and return receipt and let the litigation begin.
Maybe someone will contract Hepatitis and build an even stronger case when LA Fitness continues to charge them.
12-month contract for skin disease my arse.
thanks for starting this post. I experienced the same pains today when trying to cancel - website not sending me user acct info - faxed a cancellation form with BLACK fields to fill-in - told to mail in a form.
Finally did a search at the Better Business Bureau and found the company contact for consumer issues to be Aylin Medina (pronounced Eileen) (tel. 949-255-7330).
http://www.labbb.org/BBBWeb/Forms/Business/CompanyReportExtensionPage.aspx?CompanyID=41156&sm=
She was a sweet lady that cancelled my account BY PHONE - what a concept! Told me that I would be billed one more time since they bill for the previous month, blah, blah. And promised an email confirming these details. She also promised to call my local LA Fitness and give them a reminder on proper customer service. Good luck.
I just called Aylin Medina and she was very helpful - hopefully the cancelations goes thru. She also said there is a comfirmation letter coming by mail - hard to believe it was that easy after reading so many complaints!
I just called Aylin and it's March 08 right now. I guess she's still there. Anyway, like you guys said, she's nice. She immediately asked for my barcode and started to process the cancellation. I could hear her typing stuff in but who knows what she was writing. She said I would receive an email confirmation within 24 hours so let's see if it happens.
I, too, just put in a call to Aylin and apparently she's still there because I got her voice mail. Left my name and some details and told her she came highly recommended as a person to talk to who would help. Waiting for a call back so we'll see. Will post IF I get that call and IF it helps. Thanks for the info.
Woo hoo! Aylin just called from the corporate office and was, indeed, very pleasant and helpful. We were able to come to a mutual agreement on resolving this. Should be a credit on my card in 3-5 days. I probably won't post again about this unless the credit isn't made. Thanks for the info. Great contact person!!!!
Just spoke with Aylin. She is super nice and all you need is your barcode number. Took under two minutes. Number goes straight to her.
I just called Aylin Medina with the intent of cancelling my Pro Results membership. She answered the phone on the first ring.. the first ring! I was shocked. By the way, nicest woman ever, I highly recommend speaking with her. After being informed that I would have to pay 50% of the fees to do so (a substantial amount of money)I opted to freeze my account per her suggestion. I froze my account for 3 months, paying $45 up front ($15 per month). Anyone looking to cancel their membership, call Aylin! Don't waste your time with anyone else, go straight to the top. She's the best!
After reading all of the horrible posts on the websites about how brutally they tru to make it so hard for you to cancel the membership. I really got scared!
So I called Aylin like 10 times today, but only got her voicemail.
So I just called there 1800 number talked to one of the staff and all they asked was my tag number and said I will receive an email confirmation within 3 business day!
Let's see if I am going to get that email!
After being told that the printer didnt work so they couldnt print me a form to cancel my body change account, and after I was unable to get my online account to activate, I called and left Aylin a message... we will see...
Another big fan of Aylin Medina (pronounced Eileen) (tel. 949-255-7330). I wanted to cancel my Body of Change training and she did it in less than 2 minutes. Real nice and professional. Cancelled with no other fees and she said an e-mail confirmation will be sent out withing 72 hours.
YAY!
Aylin is the absolute best! She was super nice and took care of me right away.
Thanks for the heads up guys!
Thanks for the information guys. I called Aylin (pronounced Eileen) at 949-255-7330 and she was extremely helpfu and picked up on the first ring. She said that since I signed up for Body of Change in Aug 07 that I could not cancel because I have two more payments. I told her I put a stop payment for the charge from my bank and she said to call at the end of the week. This way she can take the last two payments over the phone and be done with it. I asked about being charged late fees and she said she would take care of it. She also said that they recieved my certified letter so that my contract my Body of Change membership will not automatically renew.
Aylin still works at LA Fitness at the number provided as of 2008-06-20 and will cancel the account with no issues.
I called Aylin Medina. She tells me my membership has been cancelled, and I should recieve an Email stating this. She was plesant enough, but I have never received an Email from LA Fitness. I called and left a message about the Email. Still no Email. I has been 5 days now, and still no Email. I can't tell if this is another shady LA Fitness deal or not, but it sure does stink.
I can tell you,.. Yes, I totally agree, LA Fitness is a looser company. I'd recommend no one do business with them.
WELL...Here we go again!!! I have been dealing with L.A Fitness since March 27th 2008. I decided to cancel my membership because I was not going to use it any longer since I was moving to Venezuela with a new job offer and a funeral to go to. I mailed my job offer letter to them because according to their policies, they can not receive any e-faxes. Now the letter never got to them,imaging that??? not to mention that they were aware that our mailing system sucks!!That's not the only thing that it doesn't work here ha!...anyway! They never told me that, I could just fax it to them, I faxed the letter and of course now they are telling me that I owed them $600 for the body of change training sessions and $44.99 for the membership. Tomorrow I have to fax my mailing receipt and Joshua said that I could follow-up with him to see if this would satisfy them and they could finally leave me alone. If I would of found this Website before I would of never been part of this mess that I involved with right now. I left a message for the famous Aylin, she still works there, amazing!! hopefully she will return my call tomorrow..They are a horrible company to deal with!!!
Thank you for the info, Joshua!
I have been trying to reach Aylin since yesterday and she never answered the phone. I left voicemails but she hasn't respond yet. They might stop using her as a contact person???
She finally contacted me after waiting for a full day and left voicemails and faxed cancellation form! She told me I need to mail the cancellation form but since I faxed it she was able to take care of it right away. She sounded nice enough but took a day to get to talk with her. Anyways, they will bill me one more time and that'll be it. Thanks everyone for the info!
Sadly, I am another casualty of the Bogus Body Change program at LA Fitness. Its not a "personal trainer program" and the majority of the 'work out buddy staff members' have NOOO idea what they are doing. After 9 sessions I knew I wasn't getting what I paid for so I made an appt w/mgr to xcl. I was told that I was locked into a 12mos contract w/c couldn't be xcled unless I pd 50% of the remaining balance. Upon signing up for this program I specifically asked if this was a fixed commitment & I was told 'NO you can cancel it at anytime'. While that was a bold face lie, I am still stuck b/c that is hearsay. BUYER BEWARE- The LA Fitness lawyers have written a contract with no loopholes, no cracks, no escape hatch--you are NOT leaving the Body Change bogus personal trainer program without paying for it big time!
I called the famed Aylin Medina and she was absolutely no help! She promised that she would call me back or have the mgr call me back and niether one of them did! I called back again left a VM and 2 wks later still nothing. LA Fitness is new in my town, they haven't even been here a year yet. I have reported their deceptive sales practices to the BBB & state attorney general office. Of course, that won't change my situation, but at least it will ward off others.
I’m having a real problem cancelling my agreement within the 14 day cooling off period!
I joined up with Pru-Healths plan and decided to cancel my membership after visiting La Fitness.
No Pru Health say the membership is cancelled but La Fitness say they haven’t received the email that they require to cancel it. Of course no one will talk to each other so I’m just going around in circles with this scam.
Of course being in the UK we have no legal aid anymore and the law is useless in protecting you!
I'm another one who has tried to cancel. I sent them the cancellation form 3 weeks ago and they claim they never received it, so said I had to send another one again, certified.
I was just getting that ready when I decided to do a search and ran across all the other complaints--your site and others--who have such a hard time cancelling. And, even when they do accept the cancel, apparently, they continue to take money from people's accounts! I will definitely give the BBB rep a call, as you suggest. Thanks for the info!
Signed--disgusted with bad business practices and so glad we can tell others what's going on. I hope they lose their shirts for treating customers like this!
Well let's see if this really works. I just left a message for Aylin Medina. If this really does get taken care of I will let everyone know. I just recently send in the cancellation form, so I have not been thru the nightmare you all have gone thru, YET!! But thank good for the Internet. I was just doing a search to see if I could find a way to cancel by phone, fax or e-mal also, when I came across all of these horror stories with cancellation.
I left a message a month ago and never got a call back. I just left another message today. We'll see.
I'm about ready to take legal action against them to close out my account.
Class action lawsuit for shadiness!!
I'm pissed I cannot get my monthly fees back ( still won't be billed for 2 days), but I'm just hoping this will be cancelled before they require next months' fees to be paid.
What a total bust of a company.
Hi everyone,
I had an issue retriving the "cancellation" form from the LA fitness website. After calling customer service that advised that the site was down and that IT was "working" on it, a week later, I did a search to find all of these contract cancellation issues.
As advised, on July 10th, 2008 I contacted Aylin Medina and left her a voicemail. She called me back the next day (July 11th) and was able to process my cancellation within a couple of minutes. However, in my situation, I was a member of a Canadian own gym that was bought out by LA fitness and my contract terms were met (1 year of service). I have also received my cancellation email (July 14th) as promised.
I have heard stories that they remove you from their list and later to find that they are charging you again a few months down the road. So I will wait and see.
Good luck to all of you.
la fitness is a SCAM.you want to cancel,so you call them,they say come in,you go in they say you have to mail this letter to cali,you mail the letter they say we have no recieved it.PEOPLE LETS FILE A LAWSUITE.if we the people dont stand up for ourselves who will?I paid $300 upfront went 3 days thats it.now they say I owe $300 more dollars.I could use that for gas.
Hello All,
Thank God that I found this page. I am in the exact situation. I did get them to cancel my Gym Membership by sending them the new lease since I moved. BUT they will not cancel my PRO FITNESS (personal training) membership since the clause is "An LA Fitness Club must not be located within 25 Miles". I asked them what other way is there. I extracted from the Woman I called that they will cancel due to health reasons. I will provide them with a doctor's note now. LET'S hope this Works. I have threatened them with a lawsuit also. Is anyone with me?
My wife and I have had a similar experience trying to cancel our L.A. Fitness membership.
In order to cancel, you have to go online and print out the cancellation form. I hadn't used my online account in a long time and couldn't remember my password. Normally, one can reset their password via email, but my online account was apparently tied to a defunct e-mail account of mine. Soo... back to the phone to call the corporate office. Needless to say, it took many calls to straighten this out - all just so I could get the stupid form!
The person on the phone informed us that if they got the form before the 31st, they wouldn't charge us for the next month. Wrong! We were charged anyway! Another call to corporate, and we got a different story - they don't cancel until 20 days later. Oh, and they don't pro-rate the final month.
My advice to anyone considering L.A. Fitness would be to look elsewhere.
Agree with all these comments, they require a 20 day cancellation notice that was not communicated when my gym (epicenter) folded and sold all the memberships to la fitness. Ridiculous, I can quit my cell phone, water bill, cable etc with a single phone call.
Glad I found this. I wanted to sign up for 2 months, just for the summer for my sister and I to work out before she went to school.
I clearly communicated that when we were setting up the account, and they just said to let them know a month before. I went in at the end of the first month to cancel, and they said to come back 20 days before I wanted to quit.
Well, the 30th is the last day, so I called to cancel my membership today (the 10th), and am told
1) I can't cancel over the phone
2) When I try the online service is not sending me my confirmation email - and from what I see here I would just get a form anyway.
3) Even if I cancelled today, it is only 16 days to my next billing cycle, so they would bill me anyway.
4) Once they do that I STILL have another month they already charged me for.
In retrospect, it makes sense that I would have to cancel before the billing cycle - but I made it clear on 2 separate occasions what I wanted to do (just pay for 2 months) and both times were given in correct information by LA Fitness staff.
It seems to me that I would have had to quit the same time I signed up to avoid paying extra months I did not want.
I feel deceived.
I was finally able to get in touch with Aylin after a week and a half of phone tag. Very true, she was courteous and sweet.
I was able to cancel my body for life, but of course, not without paying for half of the remaining balance, which I knew was coming so I wasn't surprised. I was fine with my training but I just could no longer afford it. I decided to not jump through all the hoops you guys did and just go straight to the source, Aylin, so thanks you guys for all your frustration in finding out this information. I hope this post and message helps others!
any new ideas? i tried calling the number provided 949-255-7330 to speek with Aylin and it seems to pick up the call and then hang up immediately. i've tried several times, from 3 seperate cell phone and land line providers. so it's something on their end. so... ???
oops nevermind, I mis-dialed. dialed 949-225-7330 instead of 949-255-7330. oh the little things :). well left a voicemail, hopefully it will get resolved.
I CANNOT BELIEVE HOW MANY PEOPLE AND SO MUCH MORE HAVE BEEN VICTIMS OF THIS "NO WORRIES CANCELLATION PROCESS" AND THEN GOT PULLED IN BY THEIR "CAR SALESMANSHIP TACTICS" BY SIGNING YET ANOTHER CONTRACT FOR THEIR BODY OF CHANGE - OF COURSE ASSUMING IT WAS LIKE THE FIRST CONTRACT THE REGULAR MEMBERSHIP- HASSLE FREE CANCELLATION - AND THE CONSTANT BATTLING BETWEEN CUSTOMER SERVICE AND THE TRAINING FACILITY. HERE'S A COPY OF AN EMAIL I HAD JUST SENT 2 MIN. AGO:
TO WHOM THIS MAY CONCERN:
PLEASE NOTE ON AUGUST 29TH I HAD SPOKEN TO JESSICA IN YOUR CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENT DURING LUNCH HOURS - WHO I HAD VERIFY ON HER SYSTEM THAT THIS WOULD BE MY FINAL PAYMENT TOWARDS MY MEMBERSHIP ACCOUNT AND THAT THIS WOULD BE A ONE TIME DEAL AS FAR AS DEBITING FROM MY ACCOUNT I THOROUGHLY STATED THAT I DID NOT WISH AND DO NOT AUTHORIZE ANY FURTHER DEBIT OF MY ACCOUNT IN THE FUTURE EVER! AND FOR YOU TO DO SO I WILL TAKE LEGAL ACTION AGAINST YOUR COMPANY - AS YOU STATE YOUR CALLS ARE OFTEN MONITORED OR RECORDED I STRONGLY RECOMMEND YOU PLAY BACK THAT CONVERSATION WE HAD. TO RECEIVE THIS EMAIL IS VERY CONCERNING, STATING THAT YOU HAVE RECEIVED MY "ILLEGAL AUTHORIZATION OF FUTURE DEBITS" - I REPORTED A CLAIM TO THE BBB AND WILL CONTINUE TO PROCEED IN FURTHER ACTIONS IF THESE THINGS ARE NOT CLEARED UP - I HAVE HAD THE WORST EXPERIENCE WITH YOUR FACILITY - HAVING BEEN EXPOSED TO SEXUAL MISCONDUCT AND HUMILITY - HAVING MY SCHEDULES FOR TRAINING FREQUENTLY MESSED UP IF NOT FORGOTTEN ABOUT COMPLETELY THAT I HAVE NO DESIRE NOR DO I HAVE ANY COMFORT IN GOING TO YOUR GYM - I HAVE NO DESIRE TO RETURN TO SPEAK TO ANYONE AT THIS FACILITY DUE TO PERSONAL DISCOMFORT AND A FEW UNPLEASANT EXPERIENCES THAT I WAS EXPOSED TO - SO YOU'RE COMPANY HAS GIVEN ME ALL REASON AND MORE THAT I HAVE LOGGED DOWN WITH NAMES AND INCIDENCES THAT I REMAIN TO HOLD OFF AT THIS TIME, BECAUSE SIMPLY I WISH TO CANCEL ALL TIES WITH YOUR COMPANY. I DO NOT AND WILL NOT EVER FEEL COMFORTABLE GOING TO YOUR FACILITY, AND TO FORCEFULLY MAKE ME GO IS HARASSMENT AND VERY UNCOMFORTING. I CANNOT BELIEVE THE LACK OF COMMUNICATION BETWEEN YOUR CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENT AND THE ACTUAL TRAINING FACILITY, AND TO HAVE TO GO BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN THE TWO HAS BEEN QUIET JARRING. I'VE BEEN PROMISED ONE THING AND THEN TOLD ANOTHER SIMPLY BECAUSE CERTAIN FACULTY HAVE NOT PLACED NOTES INTO A COMPUTER SYSTEM. PLEASE BEFORE THIS GOES ANY FURTHER I'D LIKE THIS RESOLVED IN WRITING BY MAIL OR VIA EMAIL IS FINE - SIMPLY STATING THE FACT THAT I AM NO LONGER A MEMBER OF YOUR GYM AND THAT ALL FEES AND CANCELLATION FEES ARE WAIVED I DO NOT AND WILL NOT EVER AUTHORIZE YOUR COMPANY TO DEBIT ANY ACCOUNT THAT BELONGS TO ME AND I DO NOT WISH TO ASSOCIATE MYSELF WITH YOUR COMPANY EVER. DULY NOTE THIS IN YOUR SYSTEM BOTH IN CUSTOMER SERVICE AND CALL YOUR WAYNE OFFICE ON HAMBURG TURNPIKE SO THAT WE ARE ALL ON THE SAME PAGE. I HAVE GOT A MEDICAL REASON FOR NOT BEING ABLE TO CONTINUE MY WORKOUT REGIME NOR WOULD I WANT TO CONTINUE AT THIS GYM. THIS IS A GREAT INCONVENIENCE. LISTED BELOW ARE BUT A FEW OF 100'S OF SIMILAR COMPLAINTS. I WILL BE SURE THAT I WILL DO EVERYTHING IN MY POWER TO RESOLVE THIS ISSUE THAT SEEMS TO BE ESCALATING FURTHER AND FURTHER, AND MAY I REMIND YOU THAT I WANT THIS DOCUMENTED AND RECORDED AS I WILL FREQUENTLY BE UPDATING AND DOCUMENTING MY FILES. ALSO PLEASE NOTE THAT I HAD ASKED TO CANCEL ALL MEMBERSHIPS WITH YOUR COMPANY ON JULY - WAYNE GYM HAD PROMISED ME IN OCTOBER THAT ALL MEMBERSHIPS WILL BE CANCELED IN OCTOBER AND THAT I DID NOT HAVE TO PAY THE USUALLY REQUIRED (50% TRAINING CANCELLATION FEE) - BUT FAILED TO RECORD THIS IN THEIR SYSTEM, SO UNFORTUNATE FOR ME AGAIN THIS IS AN ISSUE I DO NOT WISH TO ADDRESS. AS I ONLY HAD ONE OFFICIAL TRAINING SESSION. I AM HOPING THAT SOMEONE IN YOUR OFFICE WILL TAKE ME SERIOUSLY AND I HOPE THAT THIS WILL BE THE LAST OF THE BATTLE TO CANCEL MY MEMBERSHIP - IF THERE IS ANY LASTING PAYMENTS PLEASE SEND ME A FINAL BILL WITH SOMETHING IN WRITING STATING THAT THIS IS FINAL AND NO RENEWAL WILL BE MADE NOR WILL YOU AUTHORIZE YOURSELVES TO DEBIT MY ACCOUNTS. I CANNOT AND DO NOT HAVE THE TIME TO CONTINUOUSLY CALL THE CUSTOMER SERVICE AND THE WAYNE OFFICE TO "MAKE SURE THEY DO WHAT THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO DO" , I AM PRESSED FOR TIME AND I THANK YOU FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING AND APPRECIATE THE TIME YOU TOOK TO READ THIS COMPLAINT.
I ALSO FORWARDED A COPY TO Aylinm@lafitness.com (Aylin Medina) HOPING THAT I WOULDN'T HAVE TO DEAL WITH ANOTHER FRUSTRATING PHONE CONVERSATION. I AM SINCERELY HOPING THAT I WILL BE REPLYING BACK TO THIS POST WITH A SUCCESSFUL REPLY FROM THIS HORRID COMPANY - IN THE END YOU GUYS CAN JUST BY THE CORE EQUIPMENT YOU NEED AND HAVE YOUR OWN GYM IN THE GARAGE IF YOU WANTED AFTER ALL THE MONEY THEY MAKE YOU PAY. THIS IS RIDICULOUS AND I AM SO DISAPPOINTED IN MYSELF IN EVER GETTING INVOLVED WITH THIS GYM.
hey joshua for the above blog name criss**** can you make that so that its anonymous or more so that not anyone can just click it and im me :) haha sorry about that.
I just sent them 3 cancellation forms all by certified mail. So they should have no excuse why they can't cancel my membership. Will post again when I get the end results. Called Aylin Medina at (949-255-7330). All I got was voicemail and no call back from her. If they don't cancel my membership I will either cancel my membership or I will go up to the sales desk and scare away new potential customers and they will have to revoke my membership
Aileen is the saving grace for this company. I hope they pay her an insane salary.
Friendly - helpful - etc.
It's me again Crissyt--
Well, so far knock on wood all is good - I filed a complaint to the BBB and emailed a cut copy portion to Ayleen. She got back to the BBB and took care of everything as I requested. Great person very helpful. Although when she finally returned my call it was 2-3 weeks later and I was out of the country, so I never really got to speak to her directly, but still she addressed my concerns via BBB (Better Business Bureau)- From now on I'll invest on exercise equipment :D
LA Fitness has a new scam. If you do not send it through certified mail, they WILL NOT cancel your membership and will continuously charge you until you do. I sent it twice to be sure and they will tell you that they never received it, they will not credit you back and will refuse to cancel until you do send it certified. Furthermore, they will accuse you of forgetting to send it in instead of explaining why it will not be cancelled unless you send it certified.
I had similar issues to those listed above and just wanted to thank those that had posted here. I did in fact email Aylin and she called me back about 3 business days later. She has pleasantly resolved all of the problems I had!!
To cancel your La Fitness Pro Results personal training simply write a letter to the Better Business Bureau, and wait. Having an attorney send a letter to their corporate office also helps. These are almost always guaranteed to work if your problems are legitimately concerning (and referencing) trainer no shows, being switched trainers numerous time, harassment, stolen sessions, or misrepresentation at the point of sale (the time of signing up), such as being told you can cancel your contract at any time with no penalty or not being told effectively and directly that your contract will automatically convert to a month to month program upon completion, both of which I'll discuss next.
Very often La Fitness Pro Results sales reps will mislead you by telling you that you may cancel your personal training contract at any time with no penalty, which is completely false, (in some states) such cancellation usually requires a buy-out fee/penalty of 50% of the remaining balance and can total many hundreds of dollars. Some are in excess of a thousand. Also La Fitness Pro Results sales reps will mislead you about your contract automatically renewing. One of their 'gimmicks' in this regard is to use 'fast talk' and refer to this as your "Rate for Life Guarantee", when in effect all of their personal training contracts are set to automatically renew after their initial term (month to month).
In April 2008 (or approximate to that time) La Fitness mysteriously cancelled numerous contracts (and stopped billing) those which had entered automatic renewal, in which members checking and credit cards accounts were being billed for MANY months after their initial term, some for over a year, with payments ranging $100-$400 monthly. These contracts (payments/drafts) were mysteriously cancelled yet to my knowledge none of the funds were ever returned to the clients. This was done company wide, and was not mentioned to upper management or club management. This was a onetime thing. They did not cancel all auto-new contracts. It appears they only cancelled those who had been in auto renew for quite some time, as they let many in auto-renew at that time continue, and they still continue to automatically renew contracts on a daily basis. It may also be possible they've decided to let all contracts auto-renew, yet set a pre-determined amount of time they would allow such contracts to continue to be billed (for example an additional 12 months), then cancel future drafts at such a pre-set time.
It was suggested to the owners of the company and their corporate brass to provide a list of ALL clients not using their personal training. This was suggested as a way of increasing customer service. This was rejected. Why? They feared that if 'non using clients' (but who were still being billed/drafted) were contacted, they would immediately become aware they were still being drafted for a contract they thought was completed and not using, resulting in people contacting their banks in order to stop electronic billing, and this could cost the company millions! As a result, the only list provide to the club is a much shorter (safe) list of members whose accounts were active recently, but who have not used their personal training in the past 30 days. Anyone outside of that time frame is not put on that list due to the reasons I just explained.
I've been told directly by the owner and "La Fitness Top Brass" their fear is having an attorney/attorney general shut down their ability to auto-renew contracts which would cost the company millions of dollars yearly.
Also their clients have had thousands upon thousands of sessions stolen by trainers, resulting in trainers fraudulently getting paid at the loss of sessions to the clients, very often with neither the client nor La Fitness even being made aware, and sessions never being restored. La Fitness is aware of the loopholes which allow their clients sessions to be stolen, but have done little to correct the problem due to cost and inconvenience. Such solutions could include a finger print system, or a signature verification system, or simply locking down accounts which are not being used.
Also all La Fitness gym members need to be made aware that their billing information (while safely hidden) has the potential to used by the personal training department to bill ongoing services for personal training without the main members knowledge/authorized signature. This has also happened numerous times, to unwitting spouses and often by underage children, using their parents accounts even with the sales reps knowledge the child is underage and doesn’t have their parents approval. Sales reps have also fraudulently and intentionally charged accounts of members for personal training services without the members’ knowledge.
If you have had problems in these areas above, you may choose to contact an attorney, the Better Business Bureau and your State Attorney General.
The owner of the company is Louis Welch (LouisW@LaFitness.com)
The owners personal 'right hand person' is Suzzie Horton cell 949-633-8072 (suzzieh@lafitness.com)
The head of human resources is Mindy Stokesberry 949-255-7236 (mindys@lafitness.com)
Rob Bryant heads the legal department. (I'm not sure but his email may be robb@lafitness.com, robertb@lafitness.com)
Some other top brass contact info:
Mike Ulliberry 'Super Duper' Regional VP
cell 480-824-3826 (mikeu@lafitness.com)
Todd McSeveny 'Super Duper' Regional VP cell 954-650-1325
Thank you for posting all this information about LA Fitness. I'm in the early stages of cancelation.... Note* The on-line cancelation form does not exist, it's now just an error code link.
I've done certified/return receipt form and personal letter. Next step is telephoning... I have not received any email as they stated on the form. In person, telephone, fax or e-mail cancelation is not possible according to them.
Pyramid based organizations rely on no one leaving the group. Is LA Fitness Pyramid structured?
I too called Aylin just a few moments ago. She literally canceled my Body of Change (Personal Training) in less than 2 minutes. And she picked up on the first ring. WOW! =)
From the moment I'm cancelling, I will still be charged for an additional 70 days of membership. They charge you for an additional month, then add on your last month's membership. Their First/Last month payment is a scam. This is ridiculous. Did anyone have a any luck getting the last payment waived/refunded?
Also, what happens when you challenge the charge with your credit card company?
Wow! you guys are lucky. I have left her numerous messages and still no return phone call. Tried ending the account before the year end so i wouldnt get charged and just to my surprise no return phone call and i am out 100 bucks.
Aylin helped me cancel my Pro Results membership in about 2 seconds today. Thanks so much for posting her info - I know if I'd tried to go through the manager at my local LA Fitness branch it would've been a nightmare.
NEVER GIVE UP.
I had found this awesome blog post in November/December 2008 and kept trying to call Ailyn (pronounced Eye-lEEN FYI) but always got voice mail. I got a call from her once during all the times I called.
Total number of times called: approx. 20-25 times
Times I called: 9-5 PST
How I finally cancelled my LA Fitness membership: I called every 15 minutes in one day. Seriously. I happened to catch her as she was trying to answer another call. I got through, and it did take 2 minutes. Finally done.
HOW TO CANCEL LA FITNESS:
* Be nice to Ailyn. She is not LA Fitness, she just works there. She is really sweet and nice.
* Leave a message, she will call you back..........eventually.
* Don't be like me and leave 8 voice mails in one day. I thought it would help. It didn't. She doesn't call back on messages from the same day.
* Take one day and keep calling. Leave one voicemail for Ailyn just in case, then keep calling until you get through.
* Be persistent.
* Never give up until it is finished.
And finally.....
* Go find a new fitness program that works for you. Don't let LA Fitness ruin you from going to the gym or getting a personal trainer. Or maybe it is time to try Earth Gym - running outside, long walks by the water, get a big trampoline. Whatever works for you.
You can do it!
~ Heidi
im trying to cancel my membership for pro results since i was a minor with no parent or guardian present...and its such a hassel i get call this number or go here
anyhelp? im a college student who cant afford to pay 160 a month its cleaning my bank accounts out
Wonderful information!
I had same situation as everyone else... guy said 'try 10 day period, then we can figure it out...' signed the electronic credit card pad and 10 days later i was enrolled in program w/o my consent. have filed complaints with Atlanta BBB and Los Angles BBB, spoke with attorney and local 'vp' - marcel babers - marcelb@lafitness.com... today i called eileen and hopefully she can help! thanks again!!!
I just had success - I think - and I wanted everyone to know what I did... I did try to contact Aylin as everyone suggested, but after leaving over 30 messages over a month's time, I lost hope. I finally sent an e-mail to all of the names on the above e-mail:
The owner of the company is Louis Welch (LouisW@LaFitness.com)
The owners personal 'right hand person' is Suzzie Horton cell 949-633-8072 (suzzieh@lafitness.com)
The head of human resources is Mindy Stokesberry 949-255-7236 (mindys@lafitness.com)
Rob Bryant heads the legal department. (I'm not sure but his email may be robb@lafitness.com, robertb@lafitness.com)
Some other top brass contact info:
Mike Ulliberry 'Super Duper' Regional VP
cell 480-824-3826 (mikeu@lafitness.com)
Todd McSeveny 'Super Duper' Regional VP cell 954-650-1325
Within minutes, I received a call from someone named Cynthia. She was wonderful and canceled my membership and reimbursed me for the months in excess of the 6 that I agreed to.
Seems like the e-mail route works!!
I have a slightly different issue with LA Fitness. They are denying me access to the gym; yet they continue to deduct payment from my account. See the letter I wrote below. No response as yet.
Mr. Welch
I am writing to lodge a formal complaint regarding your club located on the East/West Connector in Austell, GA. On yesterday evening (March 2, 2009) I entered the club, swiped my card and proceeded to the women’s locker room as I have thousands of times in the past. One of the young ladies behind the desk ran (literally) up to me and said that there was a problem with my billing. I told her I was sure there was no problem, and that the month’s fee had already cleared my account. However, I followed her back to the desk thinking that perhaps there was a problem with the billing for one of the several member’s that have joined LA Fitness under the Friends & Family plan with me as their sponsor.
As I suspected the young lady found no problem with my billing. At that point another young lady said that she was aware of the problem. She said that my membership had been revoked by order of Marcel Baber (VP of Training – she said) because several members stated I was training them in exchange for money. I told her that was simply not true and to please tell me who had given them this information. She then recanted that claim and said that it did not matter if I was training for money or not – she said that a Body of Change trainer had accused me of training people in the gym and that was reason enough to revoke my membership. I assured her that whomever had made this allegation was mistaken. Further, I told her that since the fees had been deducted from my account for the month that I intended the workout and handle this matter directly with Mr. Babers. She said I could not workout and if I tried she would call the police. I welcomed her to call the police, since I clearly have the right to use the facilities for which I have paid. She ushered me over to a young man that introduced himself as the Assistant General Manager of the gym (Damien Gauge) – my conversation with him would require another letter.
I am a professional female bodybuilder and I have been working out religiously at this facility for more than three years. Last year I became pregnant and worked out up to the day before I delivered. When my child was 3 months old, I purchased a Kid Klub membership for him and began coming back into the gym occasionally. Just like everyone else, at the New Year I resolved to get back to my former shape and began to increase my gym visits. I almost always workout with friends – some that are very familiar with the gym others that are not. I have a full time job managing the wireless network for a major Defense Contractor in the area; I am a new Mom and I have begun training to compete in bodybuilding competitions for the summer of ’09. Therefore, I have neither the time, need and most of all the desire to “train” people at LA Fitness. What I have been told, however, is that it is not in my or any member’s right to show someone that I am working out with a new routine or correct their form while we are exercising.
The “so-called” trainer that accused me of training people in the gym approached me one day after I had completed a grueling full body workout. My fiancé had just come to the gym and I shared the workout (which came out of a fitness magazine) with him and suggested that he also do the exercises. He agreed, so while our son was in the Kid Klub, I remained on the gym floor with him and read him the exercises as he worked through the routine. This trainer ( Vincent) approached us and made some type of comment about me training – to which I replied, “What are you talking about? This is my husband!” Since that incident, the same trainer has made a few different comments and even stopped me one day as I was walking out of the gym soaked in sweat from working out – saying that if I did not stop “training” in the gym I was going to have a problem. His threat did upset me, and I again asked him what he was talking about? He made reference to me “training” my fiancé. I told him he didn’t know what he was talking about and walked out. He continued to make comments to me…even making reference to my physical appearance as a reason for his continuous remarks . I opted to ignore him since it seemed like he was just trying to get a “rise” out of me. Then I step into the gym and am told my membership is revoked….based on this madness? I am confused.
Considering the hundreds of blogs I am seeing from people who are trying to cancel their memberships with LA Fitness – it seems ironic that a loyal member who has continuously brought new members to the gym should be harassed in such a manner. There are certainly people in the club that do train LA Fitness members – most of which are the Body of Change trainers themselves that remove their Body of Change shirts when they are training “under the table”. There are plenty of gyms in the area – some to which I already hold memberships and others that will gladly have me as a paying member. So being denied access to LA Fitness is only a problem in principle. Obviously, I have become comfortable working out at this facility. Therefore, I am asking kindly to have my access reinstated and to be left alone to work out in a stress free situation.
I appreciate your time and your quick response to this issue. My phone call to Marcel Babers has prompted no response at this time. The funds deducted from my account for March membership have not been credited back to my account.
Regards,
I called and left a message for Aylin earlier this morning and got a call back about two hours later. She asked if I would like to place my accounts on hold, and I declined, "Just cancel, please."
I was told I still fall under the "20-day prior to billing date" rule, though I was confirmed as being cancelled. I received my confirmation e-mails almost instantly.
Though I'm not too keen on the 20-day rule, whatever. At least I'm not having the same issues as others here have described.
Hello Everyone!
I am another victim of this hectic 'hasslefree' cancellation policy of LA FITNESS. I found this post yesterday and it helped out greatly! I read everyone's post and moved from there on how I believed I should approach the situation. I want to thank all of you for the information you posted!
As of March 3rd, 2009, I sent a friendly email to each of the following:
Louis Welch - louisw@lafitness.com
Suzzie Horton - suzzieh@lafitness.com
Mindy Stokesberry - mindys@lafitness.com
Rob Bryant - robertb@lafitness.com
Mike Ulliberry - mikeu@lafitness.com
My email was stated like this:
Hi, Louis! I am having a little trouble trying to cancel my account with your company. I have been charged for an account that I was told was canceled for the past year. Is there anyway I can receive my money back for that past 11 months that I was told my account was canceled? Please have someone contact me as soon as you can at (phone number). Thanks for your time Louis!
Sincerely
Mr. ------- -------
March 3rd, 2009
The next morning, I received a call bright and early from a lovely woman named Cynthia who canceled my account in a couple minutes time and refunded me for the past year that I was unaware of my account being charged.
To say the least, if you reach them or if they call you back, I highly suggest to approach the situation with a happy tone and to be thankful they have taken time to call you. This may not be the way any of us would really want to approach it, but in the long run you will save yourself all the more hassle. If you approach it in a hasty manner, whoever you are talking to will feel like they are being attacked and will feel completely justified for their company screwing you over.
I hope this post helps you in your journey through the 'hassle free cancellation policy'.
Thanks again!
I have been trying to call Aylin Medina (phone (949) 255-7330) for a week now. I have been leaving her a voice mail every day. Hopefully she would return my call sooner.
You know, its hard to believe. But consumer power is really the be all end all of any business. Thank you Joshua for this fantastic Blog. I just sent an e-mail to the owner and heads. The e-mail was friendly, respectful and assertive. And Cynthia Called Back!. Wonderful... just as I am writing the comment. It worked. She called me back to say the account was already canceled. They where VERY nice and helpful. Its the system, not the people.And yes... this was very fast and easy. But its thanks to the advice above.
The four main elements of a class action law suit are commonality, adequecy of representation, numerosity, & typicality.
One day, there will be a couple lawyers who will cash out majorly on a class action law suit.
Just so everyone knows, I emailed all the officers as listed by Anonymous on March 5, 2009 8:57 AM today and I got a phone call back within the hour saying that my membership was canceled and I even got a confirmation email!
Thanks for this post!
This blog is amazing. I sent a (as suggested) polite and upbeat email to the officers listed last night, got a very professional and personable phone call today (early too! This morning), and supposedly my membership has been canceled. I was actually kind of shocked. I'm guessing they have a few folks at corporate to deal with "fires" like us...
Aylin sounds like a nice lady, but she will never pick up the phone and she's not going to return your calls. Trust me.
Here's my suggestion to anyone who needs to cancel:
send an email to orlandog@lafitness.com
Tell him you would like to cancel your membership.
Include your name, phone, and member number.
(Optionally) Attach a copy of your cancellation form in PDF format.
They should get back to you within 24 hours to confirm.
I will be moving to the UK in a few months, but made the mistake a year ago to sign up for twice a week personal training!! I just lost my job and will be going back to school... how do I get out of this??? please advise!!
I just signed up with La Fitness yesterday, and came in today to get oriented. There was a male trainer that helped me, and also talked me into signing up with Pro Results, who is not affliated with La Fitness? There are 2 different contracts. My main concern is getting out of the "personal training" program. But it says that you may only cancel after paying 50% of the whole amount for the 12 month period, in addition to sending a written letter. Has anyone had any experience with trying to cancel the Pro Results?? I just signed the contract today, and want out.
Nina, I'm in the same boat. I hope I can get out of it. I just signed up today and realized this was a HUGE mistake.
I cancelled my membership with complete success. I had no problems as of yet. So we will see.
I just recently spent 3 months trying to cancel my membership to this scam as well. I finally called everyone posted here and got no where. I just kept calling the cooporate office till I got ahold of Deborah Turnbow and she waived 1 month of the dues that were in the arrears from the 2nd time I called to cancel and I paid the final that was due. In seconds I got conformation of cancellation!
I did some research online about what I was going to need to do to cancel a few months before I intended to move and found this site and others like it. It was helpful info to know that it was something I had to be on the ball about, so thanks for that. In all honesty though, if you do what they tell you to, it's straightforward and simple enough and I don't think it warrants being called a "scam". A scam is something that happens when people don't do what they say they're going to when you've done what they say you're supposed to...not something that is just against common sense and reasonable expectation. So...stupid, yes. Scam, no. Here's what I did:
1) Cancel 20 days before your billing date which is the same of each month. You have one month of membership after that which is already paid. So if you don't cancel 20 days before the billing, then you'll have that upcoming month that you've just paid for, PLUS the "free" month after that which you paid for when you signed up. So be ready for that, and plan accordingly.
2) Go to LA Fitness, get the form (don't forget, real people are still preferable to websites when you want to get something done. If you have time to bitch about it on the internet, you had time to go in and get it in person the first time and be done with it for sure)
3) Mail the form certified mail
(Ok it's like a buck instead of 47 cents or whatever postage is now. But again, don't you want this done properly for sure?)
3) Done. Good job.
LOL AT ABOVE COMMENT.... MY GUESS IS YOUR AN LA FITNESS EMPLOYEE...
I had only taken one session and wanted out. Talked to Orlando...VERY VERY HELPFUL! i might actually look into taking up the personal training again in the future. It just wasnt right for me right now. Hoping no strange items show up on my credit card bill!
To cancel your La Fitness Pro Results personal training simply write a letter to the Better Business Bureau, and wait. Having an attorney send a letter to their corporate office also helps. These are almost always guaranteed to work if your problems are legitimately concerning (and referencing) trainer no shows, being switched trainers numerous time, harassment, stolen sessions, or misrepresentation at the point of sale (the time of signing up), such as being told you can cancel your contract at any time with no penalty or not being told effectively and directly that your contract will automatically convert to a month to month program upon completion, both of which I'll discuss next.
Very often La Fitness Pro Results sales reps will mislead you by telling you that you may cancel your personal training contract at any time with no penalty, which is completely false, (in some states) such cancellation usually requires a buy-out fee/penalty of 50% of the remaining balance and can total many hundreds of dollars. Some are in excess of a thousand. Also La Fitness Pro Results sales reps will mislead you about your contract automatically renewing. One of their 'gimmicks' in this regard is to use 'fast talk' and refer to this as your "Rate for Life Guarantee", when in effect all of their personal training contracts are set to automatically renew after their initial term (month to month).
In April 2008 (or approximate to that time) La Fitness mysteriously cancelled numerous contracts (and stopped billing) those which had entered automatic renewal, in which members checking and credit cards accounts were being billed for MANY months after their initial term, some for over a year, with payments ranging $100-$400 monthly. These contracts (payments/drafts) were mysteriously cancelled yet to my knowledge none of the funds were ever returned to the clients. This was done company wide, and was not mentioned to upper management or club management. This was a onetime thing. They did not cancel all auto-new contracts. It appears they only cancelled those who had been in auto renew for quite some time, as they let many in auto-renew at that time continue, and they still continue to automatically renew contracts on a daily basis. It may also be possible they've decided to let all contracts auto-renew, yet set a pre-determined amount of time they would allow such contracts to continue to be billed (for example an additional 12 months), then cancel future drafts at such a pre-set time.
It was suggested to the owners of the company and their corporate brass to provide a list of ALL clients not using their personal training. This was suggested as a way of increasing customer service. This was rejected. Why? They feared that if 'non using clients' (but who were still being billed/drafted) were contacted, they would immediately become aware they were still being drafted for a contract they thought was completed and not using, resulting in people contacting their banks in order to stop electronic billing, and this could cost the company millions! As a result, the only list provide to the club is a much shorter (safe) list of members whose accounts were active recently, but who have not used their personal training in the past 30 days. Anyone outside of that time frame is not put on that list due to the reasons I just explained.
I've been told directly by the owner and "La Fitness Top Brass" their fear is having an attorney/attorney general shut down their ability to auto-renew contracts which would cost the company millions of dollars yearly.
Also their clients have had thousands upon thousands of sessions stolen by trainers, resulting in trainers fraudulently getting paid at the loss of sessions to the clients, very often with neither the client nor La Fitness even being made aware, and sessions never being restored. La Fitness is aware of the loopholes which allow their clients sessions to be stolen, but have done little to correct the problem due to cost and inconvenience. Such solutions could include a finger print system, or a signature verification system, or simply locking down accounts which are not being used.
Also all La Fitness gym members need to be made aware that their billing information (while safely hidden) has the potential to used by the personal training department to bill ongoing services for personal training without the main members knowledge/authorized signature. This has also happened numerous times, to unwitting spouses and often by underage children, using their parents accounts even with the sales reps knowledge the child is underage and doesn’t have their parents approval. Sales reps have also fraudulently and intentionally charged accounts of members for personal training services without the members’ knowledge.
If you have had problems in these areas above, you may choose to contact an attorney, the Better Business Bureau and your State Attorney General.
The owner of the company is Louis Welch (LouisW@LaFitness.com)
The owners personal 'right hand person' is Suzzie Horton cell 949-633-8072 (suzzieh@lafitness.com)
The head of human resources is Mindy Stokesberry 949-255-7236 (mindys@lafitness.com)
Rob Bryant heads the legal department. (I'm not sure but his email may be robb@lafitness.com, robertb@lafitness.com)
Some other top brass contact info:
Mike Ulliberry 'Super Duper' Regional VP
cell 480-824-3826 (mikeu@lafitness.com)
Todd McSeveny 'Super Duper' Regional VP cell 954-650-1325
Just called Aylin Medina instead going though the hassle of sending the certified mail cancellation form, worked like a charm. Thanks Duane for that info.
Just got off the phone w/ Aylin. Left a voice message on first attempt. Tried again 20 minutes later and got through right away. As stated she is very nice and helpful. Canceled right away and she sent a confirmation email minutes later. Thank you everyone for your help!
Had a major issue with cancelling my Pro-Results membership. Problem went on for several months until I found this blog. Sent a nice email to all those people listed this morning and got a phone call 3 hours later from an Orlando who said he canceled everything and sincerely apologizes for the inconvenience. He was extremely nice and understood my frustration. I'm so happy I found this blog!
Wow, looks like this has been going on for a while! Makes me a feel a little bit better that I am not the only on this has happened to.
Basically, I joined a gym that won't be officially open until Sept. 09. I was told that I wouldn't be paying a penny until the gym opens. That is until today when LA Fitness charged my debit card a whooping $250 for no real reason.
I was obviously frustrated. So I called the gym office where I was instructed to come down, talk it out and hopefully get my account refunded. When I arrived, I was told the person who set up the account for me had since been fired for giving customers "fake" offers.
They of course gave me the run-around, proceeded to hit on me, try and bully me into a new account set up under a "fake" name. Finally, I just asked them to cancel my account at which point he gave me a random piece of paper and told me "he couldn't help me anymore"
I was completely enraged. I called my bank to let them know of these unauthorized charges and my banker told me she has seen this happy too many times to count from LA Fitness. I called Ailyn per most of your suggestions at the corporate office. She cancelled my account on the spot, I already got the confirmation email and supposedly I am getting reimbursed the money in 3 days. Cross your fingers.
How do you get a hold of Cynthia?
ok i sent email yesterday to synthya and couple other people that i found in this forum about canceling my Personal training membership instead of paying 50 % of remaining balance i ended up paying only 25% which is not bad knowing i had to pay something. I would recommend anybody to go straight to the top dogs when trying to cancel because just regular customer service they dont have that option to make deal with you so email the OWNER and people close by him and you will get phone call. One more thing when you are canceling Personal Training be nice send nice email because they dont have to do anything or make any deals with you.
thank god I found this website! I have tried numerous ways to cancel my account and I took the advice of emailing everyone on previous comments and I actually received a call a few hours later and boom my account is cancelled. Still waiting for the email but feeling much better about it. Thanks everyone-
THANK YOU!!!! For 6 months I have been trying to cancel this account. I sent in a letter in Nov 2008 which I was told they never recieved. In Jan 09 I talked to Fabi in a corparate office and she informed me that if I paid for Nov and Dec she would cancel the account. So I did. In June I recieved an email from their collections department stating I had a balance of $253! I immediately called the manager at the orlando avaloyn park location and tore into him. He basically said there was nothing he could do. I found this site called Aylin and in less than 2 minutes my account was canceled and balance was wiped clean!!! I didnt mention the 2-3 calls i got from LA Fitness employees weekly trying to earn a commission off my account of which all of them said sorry we do see your account is canceled!!
I would like to know from those who called Aylin, if they still had to pay the remaning 50%. I lost my job 3 months ago, and I recently had my membership frozen because my bank account balance is going down to zero. I'm returning to my home country in 10 days, so I want to cancel the membership, but I can't afford to pay that 50%. Please any advise for my situation. (I'm not a US resident and I'd like to return to USA somewhere in the future to study a master, so I don't want to leave debt unpaid here)
Hahahahaha, I just called Aylin and it was so easy I just can't stop laughing at how much frustration I just avoided and money I saved. Thank you guys. This one website just saved me a lot of money.
Thank you to everyone who has posted. I put in a call to Aylin on Monday, but it seems as if she is a very busy woman, especially if those of us having trouble with cancellation call her directly!
As for me, I too found it nearly impossible to cancel my membership! I went into my gym location and they told me go print out the online form, but the online form is actually just a series of broken links. So, I proceeded to call customer service where I was told there was no possible way to cancel my membership.
Thanks to you fine folks I e-mailed Orlando G. at orlandog@lafitness.com last night and he called me back this morning at 9:00AM on the dot. He got everything squared away for me, was very helpful and friendly, and even treated me like a human (imagine that!) So, e-mailing him a concise, friendly e-mail would be my reccomendation. Be sure to include your name, phone number, and barcode number from the back of your gym card.
Lets hope this is the end of it!!!
I was basically scammed into signing up for a 12-month personal training contract. I had concerns about such a lengthy term, but the rep at the gym told me I could cancel any time-I even asked about fees and he said there weren't any.
We weren't even shown a contract or the terms of the agreement on paper, since he had us use the debit/credit pad to sign our documents electronically. I know, I know...we should have read over it after they printed it out. I guess that's what we get for trusting the word of a salesman.
After finding this wonderful blog, I sent an email to the people listed in a previous post and got a call back from Cynthia within a few hours. She basically said that it was my responsibility to read the documents (no comment on their shady practices, naturally), but in the end, she allowed me to apply unused training session costs toward the 50% fee, bringing the cost down to about $250. I still had 8 months on my contract, so, all in all I got away pretty cheap.
Just remember to be nice if you're trying to get out of the personal training. They really don't have to discount anything, so even if you want to yell at them...don't!! :)
Anyone who is highly interested in filing a law suit and writing a series of letters to the attorney generals office regarding the disgusting fraud that la fitness has done to hundreds of members..PLEASE let me know. I was recently charged a fee straight from my bank account even tho i cancelled in March. They are getting away with murder something MUST be done ASAP.
I was unable to get through to Ailyn but when I emailed every email listed on the forum, Orlando cancelled it for me. Thanks for the information!
Dear All
Much in the same boat as yourselves, I cancelled very politely and have been threatened first with paying £46 and now £646 for NOT using the gym for the next 6 months. I've been threatened with a CCJ.
What are we going to do about it? Can we sue LA Fitness collectively?
LA Fitness is An insult to Gym Industry, we should protest to this fucking company or lets write posts every where to spread their greedy disgusting way of scamming customers
thank you thank you thank you!! just called aylin and all is well :)
Wow, I see 97 comments here, glad to know I am not alone. I went in to the LA fitness I go to to cancel. The "manager" told me that I would have to send in a cancellation form via mail. I did so. A month later i still see charges being taken out of my account. Again, I send in another letter for cancellation, no response. I called corporate telling me to send it in via certified mail. I do not have time to keep filing the same mail. Coming from a company that receives copious amounts of mail, and since I am an accountant, I have not experienced missing mail. I do not understand where LA Fitness loses their mail. Perhaps a black hole in their mail box? Or a scam? Something to me does not sound fair. The fact that the cancellation has to be sent in via mail, the fact that you can not cancel on the spot in person at the club, the fact that even if you call to cancel, they can not. This is a delay game and I agree with the other bloggers, I would like to stand up and file a class action against this company for its inexcuseable cancellation policy. The law aside, lets step back a moment and consider LOGIC first. Logically speaking, why can't we cancel? I sent in a complaint to the BBB today, outraged by the customer service and over-the-top cancellation process. I noticed that the report showed at least 600 complaints that were filed this year. I took all of your advice and called Ailin and left a message today. I hope that she can help me out. Thank you very much to the author for this blog and I am very glad to see the comments here. if anyone else is interested in filing a case about this, or have started to collect a crowd, please let me know: seanniceguy@yahoo.com
Just called the number listed in the update and was able to cancel over the phone. Still got stuck with the 20 days policy, but at least I am done and don't have to mail in a letter. Really what century are we in LA Fitness. Should I send a long distance runner with the letter?
After i read this blog, i truly understand i am going to start my third world war with LA Fitness during my cancellation. When I first sign up from LA fitness, i sign up 2 years contract because i plan to stay in US for quite while. I understand if i do not complete my contract, i will pay for the penalty. However, before i sign up, i talk with the manager. He suggest if i cannot complete the contract due to no longer living in US, i don't need to pay the penalty. Beside, i can receive my payment. However, as everyone know "they will not receive your mail FOREVER". Therefore, i directly call Aylin Medina to cancel my account. i am so lucky, she picks up my phone during first day attempt. I tell her about my condition and she asks me to fax my information to her. Nevertheless, after several days, I cannot receive her call. And she also does not pick up my call. After that, everyday i try to call Aylin for 2 hrs and i hope she can pick up my call please... Finally, after 5 days from my first call, she picks up my call and cancel my account within 2 minutes and i receive my money back. Thanks
In here, i just want to share my experiences to those who want to cancel their account. It really really takes a long time to contact with Aylin Medina. However, she is very nice and very busy. So, please be patient until she calls you back or you don't give up your call. Also, i want to thank who make this blog. Its really helpful. Thank you
Just got off the phone with Aylin Madina 949 255-7330. The first time I called and left a message, but forgot to leave my number. I immediately called back and got a hold of her. She is super nice and processed my cancellation within seconds. Told me my last payment would be this month and that's it.
report them to the better business bureau, www.bbb.org, i did after my account had already got cancelled because i was pissed about what i had to go through and please believe someone from LA fitness contacted me after that too, theyre so stupid
Just wanted to add that I emailed Orlando and within 32 hours, I got a response from him as well as my cancellation confirmation!
I am so glad I came across this blog!
Thanks guys!
Yeah, LA Fitness blows. I started there 5 months ago and tried to make the best of it. Personal trainer after personal trainer, unsanitary condition after unsanitary condition. Finally i had enough and decided to cancel. I called the local gym, they said they cannot do anything and to call corp. I called corp and explained what was going on. The guy on the phone sounded nice enough and said they would suspend any billing on my accounts for 2 months while this issue was sorted. he took my name and number and said it could be 3 days before the district manager (the only person who can waive the fee for cancellation) contacted me. I proceeded to wait like a patient little sheep, 3 days go by and i notice that my account was billed for July's contract even though Mr. Customer Service said there was a hold on all billing. After 4 days i start causing a rukus and demanding to speak to everyone's boss. Finally i receieved a call back from the distric manager named Josh something or other. He thought he was slick as hell, trying to convince me how i needed this membership. Once he realized he was not smarter than me and was not going to sucker me into keeping this contract, he got mad. Not until i said i was going to escalate above his head did he start to talk about a refund. He started at refunding me half of what he took for July and cancelling my contracts with no fees. I once again explained how i was sure his boss would like to hear about the things going on at this location like after hours sex parties in the gym, drugs being done in the bathroom, etc...He quickly said he fired all the "bad apples" and things should be good there now. He said he would call me back in 20 minutes. 10 minutes later he calls and says he can refund me JUNE AND JULY's payments as well as waive the cancellation fees of my contracts. The only thing he didnt offer me was an umbrella for my drink. It was obvious i had this punk by his short and curlies and he knew it. Once i threatened to go above his head he got scared that his boss would think he didnt have the negotiation skills to deal with one little customer complaint without everyone in the company hearing about it. Point to my story is dont let them tell you anything, you tell them. If they push, pushback. If they try to act tough make sure you make it clear that you will spend the next week of your life calling every number in the company directory talking about how (place problem employees name here) wont respond to you and how you cant find anyone in the entire company who can help. THIS WILL WORK.
I wrote Orlando at 4:30am and by *8:00am I received a reply say they we sorry to see me go but that my membership was canceled. He also sent a cancellation email as well with a reference number.
Very smooth, very easy. Deal with him.
orlandog@lafitness.com
Just put your name, number and membership number in the email and tell them your done. thats it.
Thank you soo soo much for this blog!! My roommate and i were cajoled into signing up for the Pro Results membership after blatantly stating i did not wish to purchase the package. After intense pressure from the employee, we caved and signed up, no hard copy of our contract was ever offered to us. We did have a 5-day grace period, mandated by california law but, we didn't have an actual "training session" until after the first 5 day period. And then it began...trainers skipping out on sessions, charging our account for sessions we never attended, never doing the measurements, never doing the nutrition session we were promised...among other things. I just felt very betrayed by the whole deal...
Thank goodness for this blog. I've called Aylin and left a voicemail and sent a polite but firm e-mail to orlando, we'll see how this goes. I'll report back when i hear anything.
Well, most of you guys are lucky. I could reach Aylin after 2 days. She kept repeating the same thing which the la fitness people keep saying. I've to either provide proof of relocation to a place 25 files farther from LA fitness or pay 50% of the remaining fee. After going through all the comments, i really wonder if it was her. I told her that i was never given the agreement and the only thing i signed was the POS instrument to swipe my credit card. I didn't knew it was attached to the agreement. Even now, they're not showing me an agreement. She said if i don't pay, it'll be down to collection status. I've given a complaint to BBB. No idea, what happens next.
Guys, Never ever go to LA Fitness or Pro-Results training. joining is very easy. and cancellation is sucking... though they say your account is canceled, they will keep charging your credit card. never ever join LA fitness. Please listen to me, this is my humble request
The trainer lied to me and hassled me to sign up for a 12 month agreement after reassuring me that it was ONLY for the remainder of my membership! now im stuck in a 12 year contract paying a 130 dollars a month! with no gym membership! i went back to the club and all of the employees openly admitted to scamming me! i emailed and called the people listed and today so far no response.. i just want to this to go away! im a full time unemployed student! i loved this gym until they fucked me over
I found this blog after doing a quick search on LA Fitness and canceling your membership. I was lucky enough to come across it and find the contact info for Aylin Medina.
I live in NY and the LA Fitness near me is a pretty big facility. I joined a while back (about 2 years ago) and after several months of going I quit. The gym was pretty dirty (not as dirty as the Wolrd Gym in Hempstead NY was, but not what I expect for a chain gym like LA). There was food on the floor (like half eaten apples), paper towels, bottles, etc... The free weights were a a MESS and none of them (dumbbells or plates) were NEVER where they should be or organized in any order. So, long story short, I quit. I wrote them a letter and that was that.
So, fast forward to this past June/July; I decided to give them another shot. They are SUPER close to where I live and figured they can't still be as bad as they were. I re-join and sure enough it's the same old deal. Some of the cardio equipment was nasty, having crud and other crap caked up and lingering in the bottle holders, in fact I never once saw any of the custodial staff cleaning any of that equipment. The weights were still just as bad as they were and there was still crap all over the floor, only now it was a little worse, since they have a new juice bar. In addition to this, lockers were getting broken into on a regular basis and apparently one of the employees was involved at some level. Also, there was an abandoned car in the parking lot, right near the entrance, which apparently had been there for months according to my friend.
So, needless to say, I felt I could spend my money elsewhere and get out before I sunk anymore monthly fees into this facility. I printed out 2 of their forms. I mailed one the way they suggest (folded, sealed and mailed as is) and the other in an envelope, just to make sure they got it. In addition to that, I called Aylin Medina and left her a voice mail.
Honestly, I'm not one to call someone 10 million times a day. But I called her a few times, and only left 2 voice mails. After a week or so I received an email notifying me that they went ahead and processed my cancellation request. A few days after that, Aylin Medina called me. She was very polite and courteous and wanted to know why I was not pleased with my experience. I basically told her everything I just wrote and she apologized. I asked her if there was any way I could get back my activation fees, which she informed me I could not. However, she did tell me that she would credit my cc account for this last months dues, so that was good.
PART 2
All in all, like anything else, shop around. Work out at different times and yes...be picky! It's your money, your time, your health and overall your experience. But, wherever you work out, please, be courteous and not like the morons who work out at the facility I was speaking of. Put your weights back in their proper spots, clean your mess, wipe your equipment down after use.
I told Aylin that she should pass a suggestion onto the powers that be in corporate. Members should be notified that if they do not adhere to these rules, their membership will be suspended. If the problem persists, the membership will be canceled. this should all be laid out in the contract and signs should be posted throughout the gym. I think a lot of the issues that I am speaking of are 75% the management’s responsibility and 25% the clubs patrons responsibility.
I wont be returning to LA Fitness. 2 times were enough. I may check out Xsport which is a little further from me but it a 24/7 facility and is newer. I'll be sure to work out there a few times before signing anything.
It's a shame that these big impersonal gyms have put the strangle hold on the smaller gyms, forcing many of them to drastically raise their prices or close all together. I have to say the BEST gym I have ever trained at is Bev Francis Power House in Syosset NY. The place was clean as a whistle and everyone that worked out there respected the facility. I think a big part of that had to do with the fact that it wasn't a huge corporate club and the owners, managers and employees enforced the rules and set the standard for the patrons. Last I checked they don't have a month to month payment plan (which I actually like having that option) and they are no longer a 24/7 gym (another option I like having).
Anyway, this was really long and if you read it all, thanks...haha.
BTW, personal trainers are a waste of money unless they are ACE certified.
When I initially joined LA, a trainer was looming around the sales desk waiting to jump on me after the sales rep was done. I told him that I was good and didn't need to have a trainer, nor did I want to spend the money. I was given a free one time work out with a trainer with my membership and he basically said, hey it's free, just try it. So I said OK and made an appointment with him for the next day.
The next day came and I called the gym about an hour before the appointment and canceled. I told whoever I spoke to to pass the message on to the trainer, apologize for the cancellation and to tell tell him that I WOULD CALL HIM when I WAS READY to reschedule (which was NEVER going to happen).
Those guys are looking to earn money, so most of them are going to sell hard. But at the end of the day, if it's a service you really don't need, can't afford or both, say NO!
There is a wealth of knowledge online and there are a lot of good independent personal trainers out there. If you really want/need one, do your home work and be discerning.
I am not trying to cancel my membership, however I wanted those people who use Pro Results to know something. Here in Atlanta, Pro Results trainers are about $35 for a half hour. The trainers receive only $6 for that workout. That means that $29 of the $36 goes to the LA Fitness and Pro Results pockets. Now I knew they took a cut, but that's ridiculous. My wife and I loved our trainer so much, we suggested to her that she train us on the side and we would pay her $15 per workout. That way we all have a better deal-
Who can I contact if I'm a member at a gym in London, UK. Orlando or Aylin can not.
Just wrote an e-mail to Orlando and was able to cancel my membership. No charges were made because it was within 5 days. Thank you to this site!
-E
I am trying to cancel my pro results training contract. I am moving out of state and when told when signing into the program that I will be able to easily get out of the contract. Unfortunately that is not the case because an LA fitness is within 25 miles. What do you think is the best approach and who should I contact.
Has anyone tried to sue LA Fitness? Does the contract state that you give up your right to sue and it goes to arbitration???? Can someone tell me? I have had problems with LA Fitness awhile back and do not have the contract anymore. I will make it a point to get one though... I am thinking about taking this to court or getting it out in the public somehow.
It seems people join LA Fitness without knowing about all the unethical crap they pull. The only reason I can think of that people do not know this is probably bc their is an arbitration clause in the contract...
I as well am trying to cancel my pro results personal training. I have two memberships under that. I purchased the original under a 12 month contract. After about a month or so into it I'm being told by trainers that that is not enough and that I should purchase more. They make you feel guilty and bad about yourself and use that as a method to get you too believe you NEED these sessions, when in reality you obviously don't. Anyway, I purchase and additional 3-4 sessions a month. Well I haven't had a session in over a month and have only had maybe 3 in the last 2 and a half months. They have forgotten sessions and the front desk and trainers do not communicate so sessions get paid for, but not used and I look like a no show. Great. And since school started my schedule changed a bit, I informed them and my trainer and nothing has been done to work around it. So I emailed Orlando yesterday and got an automatted email reply that my contract will not renew after the completed date and that to cancel early I have to pay 50% of the balance and to refer to page 2 of my contract in regards to all of this. Well I looked at my paperwork and I never received a page 2, nor was I ever told about all of this. So I called and left a message for Aylin today as well as emailed her, the owner Louis, his "assistant" Suzzie, and HR Mindy. Let's hope something good comes of this. I just don't understand how people can operate like this and be content with themselves.
Call corporate and they refused to cancel by phone, the lady said if she could for me she would for everyone. THEN I saw this site, just called the phone number listed and hoping to get a call back.
Thanks to this page, I was able to sent an email to Orlando, whose promptly cancel my membership. I honestly think it's bs that you have to mail in form to Texas address via certified mail so they can charge you extra more. In beginning, the gym was cool but it has become bit unsanitary, which seriously sucks. LA Fitness is nothing but scam for real.
Well...I emailed everybody and their mothers. We'll see the results. It is unbelievable that you have to pay 50% of unused services to cancel. I think they get enough money from unused session already! This gym is a scam. I've had 4 different trainers since I started. I tried going to spinning and the instructors suck! I've been told by an instructor that they are not required to be specialized on a certain class to teach it, so most of their instructors are just certified in group classes. Group classes?!!!! Come on! I've been spinning for years and it can be harmful if not properly instructed. How can they still be in business???
You won't believe this, but regardless of our complaining effort, the better business bureau rating for LA Fitness in an A: "very high confidence that the business is operating in a trustworthy manner and will make a good faith effort to resolve any customer concerns".
Additionally, they state: The company generally responds to complaints by issuing refunds, canceling memberships, and clarifying billing disputes. Further, the company explaining the majority of complaints concerning contract disputes occur when customers fail to read and follow contract stipulations.
So it all seems to be our fault!!! UNBELIEVABLE!!!
what happens when people dont use their membership for 4+ months due to, say, pregnancy? will they refund you the $$ they've been withdrawing? or are you pretty much SOL?
I tried calling Aylin but kept getting her voicemail and based on recent comments I didn't think that leaving a message and waiting (possibly for nothing) was worth it. So I emailed orlandog@lafitness.com as others had done and got a cancellation confirmation in an hour. I thought this was going to be absolute hell to cancel but that actually quite easy. Its good to know there are some good people at LA Fitness. Thanks guys!
I decided to cancel my LA Fitness membership today after seeing vomit on the floor of the locker room, for the second day in a row. Simply disgusting. I had heard that canceling was a nightmare, but after stumbling upon this, I feel like it won't be so bad. Thank you all for the info.
I sent an email to cancel my training to all the people listed in the comments on Sunday night. I still hadn't heard anything by Tuesday morning so my husband called the lady from HR (Mindy) who directed him to Orlando.
Orlando said he would cancel our training immediately and we just got the confirmation email today (thursday). It seems like Orlando is the one that you need to get in touch with! He's very helpful as long as you are not annoying and very kind and calm. good luck everyone!!
Just wanted to leave my experience here:
After having an issue canceling over the phone, I found this blog and emailed Orlando (orlandog@lafitness.com) at 12:02pm. I gave him my name and phone number and politely asked to have my service canceled. I also mentioned that I did not know my barcode or membership number.
At 12:21pm (19 minutes later) I received a Membership Cancellation confirmation email with my member number, an email reference number if I had any problems and a final billing date (12/1/09).
Seemed easy enough. I'll check my statement in Jan and make sure it went through.
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My recent experience with LA fitness
I recently signed up on November 1st for a new membership and a year of personal training. A few days ago my husband lost his job. I spoke to the manager and explained my situation. $200 a month was too much at the time. I wanted to keep the membership but cancel the training. They told me I only had two options: pay $15 a month to freeze your membership up to 6 months or pay the buyout which was $800. I tried to explain the $800 was an impossibility and it was silly fir me to pay the 15 dollars a month. I just wanted to end things. I only went to a few training sessions. I am not sure what to do.. I ended up paying $90 upfront to freeze for six months... at he end of the 6 moths I either continue with training or pay $800.....
I just want to end this...... any suggestions
Well I contacted Orlando as specified in this email and I received a a response about 6 hours later, pretty fast!!! I just advised that I love the gym and would like to join again later when my hours at work change back (obviously not true) and that I was thinking about filing a complaint with the BBB but talked to a few staff members and they advised I was just dealing with a few bad apples and to contact you (Orlando). I provided all of my tag information and a copy of the cancelation pdf and he canceled it right away. I received cancelation emails within 6 hours. Great customer service from this gentleman.
I am trying to cancel my Pro Result training contract and they won't cancel it. I don't understand, I CAN'T AFFORD IT! I emailed Orlando and someone else called. She started off nice and the at the end mentioned attorneys. They were going to let me freeze the account and waive the fees and then in 6 months I could pay them the 50% cancellation fee. What a joke! If I could afford to give money away I wouldn't be trying to cancel. I wanted to keep my membership because I am more able to afford that. I can't do both. I wish that I would have researched them before we got involved with them.
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wow - so much whining and crying - I have canceled and re-signed - just follow the steps and think ahead.
I just canceled my account via the orlandog@lafitness.com and received a confirmation email about an hour later that it has been canceled.
When I login to my account on their site I see that it shows my last day as one day before the next billing date. They also state I can use the gym 30 days beyond that date which is where the last month's payment comes into play.
Seems fair to me, although a cancel button in the member's area would be a little more convenient.
I was not able to get hold of Aylin the first time but called after 20 mins and she answered the call. She was very helpful and cancelled my membership on the phone without any cancellation form. I had enrolled in the personal training and want to cancel that without paying any penalty..trying to figure out that...any help is well.
Im just curious, those who have been in touch with Aylin Medina has she been helpful?? Are your matters solved?? I just joined the Gym 2 days ago and knowing full well this was only for leisure and not permanant, I would be cancelling my membership, but since hearing about the cancellation process, Im scared to death. Thats why Im just curious if Aylin Medina has been really cancelling your accounts. Please let me know.
Slap me silly. I thought I'd be able to cancel my Kids Klub memberships by writing a letter to my "home" location. Today, a week after mailing the letter, I got a voicemail from the operations manager saying that it had to be taken care out of the corporate office, and that the PO Box was on the website (I have yet to find it). I also try to print the Cancellation Form, and it just launches back in the My Account page, printing bupkus. This is ridiculous! Thank you for putting this blog together.
I just left a message for Aylin AND an email to Orlando. I'll let everyone know how it turns out.
My mother and I canceled my account back in August, but the company continued to bill us. This, it seems, was because a sales rep lied to us and said that we could cancel at the gym.
When I came back for Christmas, I foolishly took out a new membership after allowing another rep to talk me into not just getting a guest pass (which, ironically, could have cost less). This rep also misled me as the nature of the freezing service, and as to how much I was paying for my "Special Offer" - so, first off, people, READ THE BLOODY CONTRACT BEFORE YOU SIGN IT. This is not a mistake I will make again.
Anyway, after reading all the complaints I decided that it'd probably be best not to freeze the membership (what with the whole "$10/month + you pay a large fee for unfreezing" situation making it less economic to maintain the account) and try to cancel both.
Stuff Learned:
1) Sending certified mail is a rather difficult affair if you're foolish enough to listen to any sales rep telling you that you don't need to use an envelope and can just use staple the form shut. This is because the unique barcode for your cancellation and the address of the company are strategically placed such that you cannot put the Certified Mail Mini-Sticker on without obscuring them.
2) Sending the following to Orlando SHOULD get you sorted pretty much immediately:
"Mr. Orlando,
I am writing to request an immediate cancellation of membership at LA Fitness (if you're canceling multiples, continue with ", on behalf of [parties in question; if you're on the list, "myself" should be in there]").
My Details:
Name: _____
Phone: _____
ID#: _____
(everyone else's details)
Thank you,
[You]
Hi,
So I emailed Mr. Orlando to cancel my membership and I got a cancellation confirmation email almost immediately. This is great b/c I was dreading to have to go through the mailing process. Thanks for posting and all the comments. They are super helpful!
Aylin is the best! Just called her and left a voicemail. She called me back about 30 minutes later and processed my cancellation before I had even finished explaining all the hoops I had been made to jump through. I literally saw the confirmation email pop up on my screen before I was done talking to her.
Update 1/20/2010:
Apparently there has been a Class-Action Lawsuit against LA Fitness. It looks like you might be able to file claims for post-cancellation charges. More information at www.gymsettlement.com.
Hello all!
Last night I sent a courteous e-mail to orlandog@lafitness.com and this morning I got my cancellation confirmation e-mail. He is the man!
The cancellation method of emailing orlando worked for me. Almost instantly I received the cancellation emails. I was able to cancel mine and my wife's this way. I am glad I found this blog and thanks to everyone that posted this information for everyone. Now I got to help my cousin cancel his as well.
The cancellation method of emailing orlando worked for me. Almost instantly I received the cancellation emails. I was able to cancel mine and my wife's this way. I am glad I found this blog and thanks to everyone that posted this information for everyone. Now I got to help my cousin cancel his as well.
I cancelled my membership well over a year and just realized that they have been billing me $37.44 monthly. What a scam!!!
Step 1: Called my home gym and asked to cancel. The rep told me I would have to come to the gym to get the form and that I would have to send it certified mail. He said that if I just sent it normal mail corperate would probably lose it because there is no way for me to prove that I sent it. This was warning flag #1.
Step 2: Googled canceling LA Fitness memeberships. Found this post
Step 3: E-Mailed Orlando based on the comments. Membership canceled in less than 5 minutes...
Thank you everyone!
LA FITNESS = awful and unlawful
Whatever you do DO NOT sign up for personal training. It's an absolute waste of money. First, they will not explain the full terms of the contract so make sure you read over everything before signing. DO NOT take anyone's word because they only tell you what you want to hear just to make the sale. If they tell you that you can freeze the account for as long as you want to make payments more affordable - they are LYING. The max period is 6 months all together to freeze your payments. No, you cannot take 10 years to pay off the sessions (as I was told). Once the sale is made, you are essentially on your own to schedule sessions, and start over with a new trainer every so often because the turnover at this gym is so high. There are no expert assesments, you tell the trainer what body part you want to work on, and half of the time is spent on talking. This is by far the worst experience at a gym I have ever had. I used to love working out regularly and personal training has made me dread going to the gym. It's had the opposite effect on me. I made the mistake of signing the stupid contract, but I wouldn't be as upset if I got some value for the money I am paying. It's really not worth the cost.
I just emailed Mr. Orlando and I received a cancellation confirmation within 5 minutes! Easy-schmeezy! Awesome! Thanks everyone!
Can't thanks you all enough for all this information!
Just emailed Mr. Orlando and got my membership cancelled in 30 minutes. Thanks for all of the great info.
I have one question. You paid first and last months membership. So if my membership was cancelled today, then do I have one more month of membership or not?
Has anyone had any success canceling just the Training part of their membership with Pro-Results?
Unsatisfied customer here. Looking for some help on the membership cancellation. ID# is the little thing they use to check you in when you go to their gym right?
Also did those of you who canceled through Orlando have to pay any fees? Help very much appreciated.
There's a 24 hour fitness nearby I think I'll check out. I know for sure that their methods aren't this bad.
I wanted to say that I was initially worried because this blog post was almost 3 years old, and I thought there might be a chance that the contacts listed here for getting quick results were no longer valid.
I wanted to share that this is completely not the case! I have (had) just a regular gym membership to LA Fitness. I emailed Orlando at orlandog@lafitness.com like everyone suggested, and got an email confirmation of my cancellation back in less than an hour! I am very happy and so glad that I found this thread. Luckily, typing "LA fitness membership cancellation" in google brings up this page on the top results!
Thanks everyone for all your help!
Had an issue with a male trainer sexual harrassing my wife and making inappropriate advances toward her, so I wanted to terminate the remaining term of a personal training contract. To see how messed up LA Fitness is at handing something as serious as this, read on:
First, I spoke to a local LA Fitness training representative who directed me to call the LA Fitness Corporate Number (800) 600-2540 for the best handling of this request. When I called the number, I spoke with a customer service representative, who directed back to the local level and specifically directed me to two individuals who were supposedly regional training GMs. Neither individual made any efforts to contact me in regards to my situation, a message left by me for one of them at another club was never returned, and a phone call to the other on his cell was never returned. Then I spoke to three other GMs (club GMs and training GMs), but never once did anyone of the numerous individuals help.
So after getting fed up with the run around, I finally used the e-mails that I found on this site: LouisW@lafitness.com, suzzieh@lafitness.com and mindys@lafitness.com
Guess what? My e-mail must have lit a fire under someone because within 2-3 hours I received a call from someone in my region who's name was new to me and they obliged in cancelling the contract and refunding the most recent payment under the contract.
I have read your blog and gotten my email cancellation from Orlando. I will make sure to check my bank account to assure they are not still charging me. Thanks for sharing your information, I was ready before I got started. I will post the outcome.
My husband signed up for 3 months of personal training at LA Fitness. We paid for 3 months like we signed up for. We'll now that the 3 months is over with, we discovered a $200.00 charge to our bank account from LA Fitness. My husband went up there and told them that he only signed up for 3 months. When he signed up, he told the trainer that he couldn't do anymore than 3 months because of finances. We'll, LA Fitness tells us that he had to sign some termination form which he was never informed about, so LA Fitness automatically re-signs you back up if you don't fill out this form. Now we are $200.00 short in our account and we can't pay our bills because of these scamers. And LA Fitness won't give us our money back, and the thing is that my husband hasn't even used these extra training sessions. Someone needs to do something about LA Fitness. They need to go to court!!
Praise God, I just wrote the comment above. I emailed a lady by the name of Adrian Aguilar at LA Fitness. (Adriana@lafitness.com) She took care of everything. I even got my $184.00 back.
Send mail to 'orlandog@lafitness.com' or
'adriana@lafitness.com' and all that is needed to do the cancellation...
i just did that and got my cancellation in 30 minutes...
even i was given a form to be hand written and mailed in post.
If they have such a system of online cancellation, they y is that the rep over there in the local club doesnt know this and still ask everyone to send in through post ???
I called LA Fitness headquarters at 1-800-600-2540 and spoke to Eva about my horrible experience with Pro Results and the $70 missing from my refund.
Eva said the missing $70 is the value of the two personal training sessions I used. Since I cancelled within the 10 day satisfaction guaranteed period, I was expecting a full refund, but Eva explained otherwise.
Does anyone know a way to get a real "full refund"?
Why is everyone so bitter, doesnt anyone read what they sign up for. Lighten up!
I love this town.
After I ended my membership I did manage to stop the next mth pmt from my acct. However, the last mth of the "1st and last mth" pmt you make when you start your membership is not recoverable. Translation: you get screwed out of at least one month's dues. Period. Guess you have to take small victories when possible.
how are you screwed when you agreed to it at the beginning, DONT YOU READ!!!!! COME ON
Funny, looks like we have some people from lafitness.com commenting anonymously.
The last comment ("how are you screwed when you agreed to it at the beginning, DONT YOU READ!!!!! COME ON") comes from IP 206.19.190.80 which is within the lafitness.com domain.
More info? Ok. Anonymous is using Windows XP running IE 7 at 1280x1024 from Irvine, CA. And has been posting/visiting the site for several days.
:)
A little math for anonymous #2: workout 2 mths, charged for 3 (luckily not 4) = screwed. Agreed? I did not "agree" to upfront billing, its automatic and the rep said it would be "fixed" when time comes. Yeah right.
Hello, I've read all of your posts. Does anyone know how to cancel the membership of that in UK? Are Orlando and Ayline the helpful people in USA's case?
Hi, I have a couple of questions. I'm wondering if anyone here can help? I want to keep my LA Fitness membership and just cancel the personal training memebership.
Has anyone done this? How?
Did you have to pay and fees or part of the remaining contract?
I'm stuck in the same boat now as the rest of you.. Oh happy day! I read my paperwork and turned in the cancellation letter a week ago. What part of my understanding how to cancel is in question when the company is now pretty much known for scamming their customers and not living up to being a competent, ethical, business?
I just got through to LA Fitness and they said that since I am not moving and don't have a doctors note, I will not be receiving a refund on my two year account that I paid in full when I got it. I cancelled anyway and filed a complaint with the BBB and am now looking for a gov agency with which to file. never again
Does anyone know when is the best time to call Aylin, or if she still even works there when I tried to call it went straight to voicemail.
They completely lie our face At the Sawgrass location in Florida(13999 WEST SUNRISE BLVD, SAWGRASS, FL 33323), when we join the pro results program. We were told by RAMON that we could cancel at any time or lower the frequencies, big surprise only way to cancel is to buy out what ever we have left. We join base on what this person told us. Stay away from this club and specially from RAMON he is a lier and a thief! Won't ever set my foot on a LA Fitness again.
All the inconvenience that this character cause is not worth the gym
WOW I love this post!!!
After reading all the comments, I frantically emailed olando, aylin, and all the email addresses ppl mentioned above. The next day, I got TWO cancelation confirmation emails from olando and aylin (btw, did i spell her name right? ahem)!!! Thank you, people!!!!!
WHAT YOU NEED TO DO RIGHT NOW:
if you haven't payed your credit card bill with the latest charges, you can at least get those credited back for the time being by reporting the case to your credit card company...and make sure to freeze your membership for at least a month or so to avoid getting charged again until you finally get through to someone who can handle this.
I just called the corporate number I googled it. I didn't get a hold of Aylin or Orlando but, another customer service rep cancelled my training contract for me. I had an email confirm the next day.
I just wanted to cancel the training but, not my membership... i saw someone asked that above so yes you can do that.
Orlando canceled my membership and training about a week after I e-mailed him.
Also, my bank was really helpful in charging back the immediate dues.
Even if you did get your settlement, FILE A COMPLAINT with the Better Business Bureau. It's not fair how LA fitness treats their customers and someone besides the readers of this blog needs to know your stories.
After going over this very helpful blog, I called Aylin on the phone and she picked right up. In my case I want to get rid off the Personal Trainer section, they want to have 50% off the remaining balance, still 10 months to go. I did not even signed that contract. I asked for a quote and did not l;iked it at all. The contract states "per verbal agreement"... I never agreed to do this. However Aylin wants to call me back. I will keep you posted, since I think it is not right to force you into something you do not want.
Yes! Emailing Orlando worked! He canceled it right away. Thank you Orlando.
OK, I posted on August 07 about my adventure to cancel my membership. Aylin called me back, missed her call. I have been unable to contact her again. Next step is bank to charge back the charges and then have a lawyre look into this. This is annoying. LA Fitness is not good at all and they use schemes to get money from you.
let me give you some advice, most people are believing all the rabid hysteria that mail is lost and not processed. if you cant downloed the form, check do yuouhave Adobe/pdf, make sure you have your pop up software disabled. check for another tab tat pops up. if you write a letter and not the form, type it, most peoples writing is awfull and give your name on the membership, not your alias, your not theonly john smith in Fl cancelling, all else fails provide your phone number, forget about your ego, look at what your mailing in, would someone else be able to read it, figure it out, find you, your membership number, dont listen to blogs, just take a second and look to see what your going to mail in, you dont hear about the good stories and all the successfull cancellations, this is my 3 cents from a former employee that is tired of hearling all negative, thank you, god bless,
So I cancelled my training membership by calling the corporate number, but I wanted to keep my gym membership.
I talked to someone on the phone at corporate and they "cancelled" my account. I received a "cancellation confirmation" email about a month ago.
So my actual gym calls me now and claims that I need to send a letter via certified mail, does anyone know about this? My confirmation email had a final payment date etc. and said they would stop billing me.
Yeah, I'm cancelling it too. I've been harassed by their phone calls and text message advertisement during work hours. I've asked them three times man.
I've posted my experiences on yelp, eopinion, BBB, and consumeraffairs.
This is my gym branch.
412 E Main St
Alhambra, CA 91801
Neighborhood: Alhambra
review: http://www.yelp.com/biz/la-fitness-alhambra#hrid:pwqIYfMsMqjm8JY3Z32f3A/src:self
Hi
Here is my 50 Cents.
If someone comes to me to get something I provide, and pay for it, I will give it to them. Simple. So if someone decides to not have it anymore provided from me to him, ok no Problem. No more Charges, have a nice Day. Customer happy will give Word Of Mouth positive about my Business, will get more customers.
So why do LA Fitness think they can Charge additional Moth of Membership Fees?? Personal Training Contract only is able to Cancel to not be renewed! and still go for the full Time signed up for with charging every Month for something I do not have received. Just because I was not reading the fine Print? Get lost.
You do nothing for me, You won`t get anything from me. Simple.
I would be interested in a Contact to a Lawyer or representative who handles these Cases.
Please post it in here.
Thank You.
Just wanted to confirm that emailing orlandog@lafitness.com still works as a quick and hassle free way to cancel your membership at LA Fitness.
I did it just yesterday. :)
Just emailed Orlando over the weekend. Responded first thing Monday morning. I am finally free of the moneyhungry machine!!!!
Thank you blog!!!
For those wondering, they will still charge you that last month (first and last when you signed up). If you cancel after the start of a billing cycle, you will end up with two months left. I luckily missed the next start by a day thanks to this email business.
Emailing Aylin Medina [aylinm@lafitness.com] works too in cancelling your membership. She responded within an hour for me!
NO post was a bad as what happen to me! I just wanted to know the price of personal training when I went in to talk to personal training director in Orlando/OBT location. I never joined a gym before and never will again. He knew that I was new to the gym. he kept repeating that the best deal was 12 mths of training for $389. The words "monthy pymts","11 mths", or "$240" were NEVER mentioned. If they had been I would have thanked him for his time and stayed with my mthly membership of $37 a month. I would never agreed If I would have known the the real price that was hid from me very obviously by the trainer when he kept leaving the desk and comming back only repeating the amount of $389 and how I can pay it in 2 payments. This is the worst thing that ever happened to me, 17 mths later I see a charge of $240 that I has been charged every month, thats $4000 I was scammed for!! I get direct deposit and make sure I keep enough in the checking account to never get overdraft fees, cuz of that and just getting online banking I never noticed it. I wil try everything suggested, Im very overwhelmed and hurt. PLEASE, PLEASE check your bank statments close every month!! What if there are other people out there not knowing they are being charged every month becuz it wasnt mentioned! God is good and Im praying for justice. Dont trust these people, beware!!!
I e-mailed Aylin about my problem and she waived my outstanding balance and canceled my account. Thank you all!
I emailed Aylin today about my interest to cancel my membership with LA Fitness. Within the hour she got back to me, cancelled my membership and I received an email saying my fees will be credited in 3-5 business days. I was AMAZED with how quick and easy the process was. Def email her!
I also emailed Aylin. She responded in less than 2 minutes letting me know it was canceled. I was amazed at the quickness.
I e-mailed Orlando and get got back to me within an hour!
*he
I solved this membership problem in less than 5 minutes with Aylin Medina via email. I said I was moving to a place where there is no La Fitness and had a relative give me a piece of mail as proof of relocation to get rid of the personal trainer contract I was tricked into.
Email Aylinm@lafitness.com or call her at 949-255-7330. it worked for me! =)
i got screwed by the alhambra location too.
i signed up for 3 months of personal training and they said i have 12 months...even Aylin (as nice as she was) said she couldnt do anything but make me pay half of what is left ($464.) - yes, theyve charged me for 4 months so far, and i can pay $464 and not get ANY training.
i tracked down and called the guy that signed me up and he said (between me and him) LA fitness isn't a legit company (they dont have your social security numbers or drivers licenses on file) so to cancel the card that is getting billed and they will be "assed out".
he said he would change my address on file (so i cant get mail), which i realize is difficult if you dont have that insider...but otherwise, cancel your card!
...ill let you know how it goes for me
This company is a criminal organization.
I cancelled about three years ago in person. Thought that was the end of it. Over a year later they call saying i owe the $200. Never used the service after i cancelled. Today after months of weekly calls and going there a second time in person to cancel they have a new figure of around $300. This is classic extortion.
JOIN THIS GYM AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Staff at my local LA Fitness was not difficult about cancelling my membership and printed out the cancellation form for me to mail in.
However, I decided to contact LA Fitness via email as described in the previous comments. I received confirmation of my cancellation within the hour!
Nobody at the VA Dulles LA fitness center knows anything about their own policies. I have been trying to cancel out and they throw me from person to person. Please give me details of the class action suite.The manager sent me to the VP. Nobody returns calls or horos any appointments.Liars!! all of them.
I emailed everyone from corporate (look above for emails) and received a phone call the next day. If you go that route you will get a cancellation the same day.
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