In '04 I was injured, flying out of the turret of a Humvee in Afghanistan, leading to a permanent…read morelower back disability since the age of 21. It's been a challenging journey of recovery, surgeries, and physical therapy. Although it has improved over time, my back remains delicate.
I joined 7 months ago with high hopes, but it turned out to be a bad fit. The workouts often aggravated my lower back issues, despite the excellent form corrections from Shakira. She was great, but I couldn't always attend her class. Additionally, half of each of the classes involves treadmill work, which isn't suitable for spinal cord injuries. I initially looked forward to using the rowers but they weren't used in the programs as often as I'd hoped.
My membership allowed for cancellation at any time (so I thought), and my billing date was the 13th of each month, paid in advance. To cancel, I visited the gym on 8/28, where Marielle was professional and provided the cancellation form. She mentioned I'd be billed again on 9/13. While I was fine with paying for the period from 8/13 to 9/13, I disagreed with being charged $109 on 9/13...weeks after cancellation. I requested Mark, the GM, to call me. Time passed, but Mark didn't call. On 9/17, I spoke with Abby at the front desk and asked her to relay my message to Mark, but still, no response. The following week, I talked to Marielle.
These are the games they play. There is no other logical reason for the extra hoops, other than to rip off their members and grab an extra couple $$$ from them. It is estimated that Americans pay $400,000,000/yr in unusable gym memberships and unreasonable cancellation fees. The gym industry as a whole normalizes stealing money from hard-working families as part of their business model, and OTF Lakewood Ranch is no better than joining in on the same unethical practices.
That being said, I've run and owned businesses for 19 years, and the first sign of a toxic manager is an inability to address customer issues or return calls. It's a simple yet crucial aspect of building goodwill and should be a top priority for any manager.
Anyway, Mark finally called me back after nearly a month and was immediately defensive and condescending. He insisted I should have read the contract, which he said required 30 days' notice given 30 days before cancellation.
Confused, I asked, "So, 60 days' notice?"
"NO! 30 DAYS! READ YOUR CONTRACT!" he snapped.
I responded, "Mark, that math doesn't add up. I canceled on Aug 28th; why should I pay for almost 50 days I can't use?"
"Well, you can still come in, so you're not paying for anything you can't use," he mocked.
"I can't use it. I suffered a severe lower back injury in the Army when I was 21. It's not suitable for me," I explained.
He cuts me off "Well thank you for your service." He replies like a sarcastic teenager. I picture him holding his nose and sticking out his tongue as he says it. "But you should have told me about your injuries before you canceled, but I think you're just trying to scam me now."
"So...I'm required to tell you private medical info?"
Mark carries on about contracts...
The next day, Mark emailed me a copy, but the cancellation policy he described was nowhere to be found. After reviewing it with my wife and an attorney friend, we couldn't find anything remotely resembling what Mark had claimed. I've attached the contract he sent to this review.
After several emails and calls from Marielle, I was told I had signed an old version of the contract, and the new version had the cancellation policy Mark described.
"So, you should refund me based on the contract I signed, right?"
"I'd need authorization from the actual owner to do that," was the response.
That was five days ago
At this point, I don't expect a refund. If OTF needs the money so badly that they resort to ripping off disabled veterans upon cancellation, they can keep it. My experience with Mark was the worst interaction I've ever had with a business. From the moment he called me, he chose an ego battle over doing what's right.
