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I treated myself to a massage at the local Massage Envy because it was close to my house last January. There was another woman who was waiting and while the both of us were checking in, the sales pitch started. The employee said that the membership guaranteed a massage every month, but NEVER said that you couldn't cancel the membership in the first year. The employee never said that it would be a pain to cancel or that you were locked in, nothing. It is a TOTAL SCAM! She just went on and on about how great it is and what a treat for yourself, blah, blah, blah...
Then the woman customer and the employee got into a conversation, so I read over the contract and I SWEAR I don't remember reading in the fine print that you can't cancel in the first year. So like an idiot, I signed up and here I am. Stuck with a lame membership I don't want for bad massages I can't afford. So I called and asked what I needed to do to cancel, and they said I couldn't cancel until my year was up. I argued with the peon on the phone then asked to speak to the manager, but they wouldn't let me. Finally I put my account on hold for six months.
Now the six months is up and I am at it again arguing with Massage Envy about canceling my FRAUD membership. I have changed my credit card number so at least they can't charge my card anymore and I have written them a cancellation letter, but they are being total jerks about it and I am afraid that they will hurt my credit. I have also contacted the BBB, but I am surprised that Massage Envy is being so rigid about a customer that hates them so much. What a horrible, horrible company. DON'T EVER DO BUSINESS WITH THEM! THEY ARE THE WORST COMPANY!
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Massage Envy FRAUD and THEFT
Massage Envy does not provide service you pay for in Georgia. I have gotten them to stop taking money out only to have it start again months later without my approval.
In Georgia there are many complaints on them in the BBB for the same thing. Taking money and never providing the service you are paying for. It takes months to get an appointment and they won't let you schedule ahead but they continue to sale new memberships. Employees have told them they are required to keep openings for "New" Customers while they cannot service the current customers. Isn't this theft and fraud? I wish to be part of a class action lawsuit I am certain there are more of us in this boat than not. I called their corporate office and they said they have no legal obligation to the independent sites and were extremely rude and dismissive.
This place is scam ! I was giving info with no text, but all verbal. I was sold that if I signed up I could get 2 massages a month. Turns out not true and monthly charge doesn’t cover anything you still have to pay for each session and have to tip your person. I tried to cancel and they said I couldn’t until a year. I don’t know any other subscription you can’t cancel ! I was scammed and paying overly high prices for mediocre messages.
It is very difficult to get a deep tissue therapist at the location I go to. The turn over and schedule is prohibitive to say the least. Futher, the first two appointments went fine, but the past two have been shorter than their "50 minutes of hands on". Additionally, I settled for a firm pressure becuase they are not able to have enough staff with deep tissue and I told the therapist to start on legs then back, shoulders, neck and arms. I tense up in my neck when my legs are done so that is the reason for my request. I also told her that I had to lay face down then entire time due to plates and rods in my neck. I was told "that is not my technique" AND she did my legs last. Waste of time and my massage. If you sign a contract BOTH parties should uphold their parts respectively. Spoke to manger and was told that I could not get out of the contract because it is in the introductory period. She offered to make it right by finding me an appointment with a deep tissue therapist - in 5-7 days and would throw in an add on for free. Funny part is the only appointment is 1.5 hours and thus I will have to pay $33 for the half-hour AND this takes up my appointment for October - not a replacement for the crap massage of September - her reasoning is because I did use that time. WOW!
they are the people that stole the money
I have just had this same thing happen. I was not told that I was locked in for a year and cannot afford this service. They tell me you have a contract. Yes, that your employee lied about.
these are people that scammed with envy
Massage Envy has the scummiest of business practices. I am also a business owner, yes I am a member of a gym, and yes I understand 'fine print'. They are not upfront with their membership terms whatsoever. In fact, the girl who helped my husband and I said "just try it today and if you don't like it you can cancel at anytime." So we tried (terrible experience), we cancelled, they did not accept the cancellation. 2 years later, we still get calls from the collection agency hoping that we will "settle" with them. They're disgusting manipulators of the system.
People, you are signing a CONTRACT! You are adults and make your OWN decisions. Their job is to sell memberships. When you join a GYM and you sign a one year contract, guess what? When you want to cancel you still have to end up paying them usually about $100. Most companies do business this way with memberships. I signed up for LA Fitness and at one point canceled my membership and yes it is a pain in the a**, but that is business. If you have a health issue, all you have to do is go to your doctor and get a signed letter to cancel your membership. The contract is there partly for people like most that complain, is that they sign up to get the cheap rates and than when they don't want massage anymore they want to cancel. SORRY! Too late, you signed a CONTRACT!
You don’t seem to understand that people are, in fact, protected from signing unfair contracts where YOU pay someone else for a service regardless of if you use it. They are not legally binding contracts for this reason. If they paid you (like sponsorships and licensing deals or sports contracts) it would be another matter.
You can and should try to play by their rules and follow the [censored] cancelation process bit if they keep charging you just cancel the card and file a complaint with the BBB.
Memberships are not legally binding contracts. If it was pitched to you as a membership, then it is accepted that is a thing that you have paid for already and can cancel any time. You CANNOT be forced to pay a company money if you are not literally in debt with them.
If someone has filed a class action lawsuit, i'd be glad to join in. Let me know. suzipuzi2001@yahoo.com
I mirror all these complaints… Covid shut me down and they refuse to give back my credits unless I re sign up. The manager is a bullish and just says “ take me to court”. I avoided conflict my entire life but feel it’s time to fight unethical business.
Massage Envy seriously needs a suit against them...if you plan on filing one or have filed one let me know and maybe we can join forces... If not I plan on filing a suit ASAP. I already talked to my lawyer about it and essentially Massage Envy can be sued for credit card fraud due to their dodgy practices...
Been a member for over a year, had 6 prepaids, went to cancel and had 30 days to use my prepaids, paid an additioal $60 for this now they will not let me use my already paid for prepaids and are requesting another $60 to unsuspend my account. Why would I pay another $60 to use $420 worth of services that I have ALREADY paid for? Complete scam, they do this to everyone, if someone has had a good expericence with them it is only bc they have probably not tried to end their membershipe yet. Filing a class action lawsuit. There are thousands of ppl out there ready to sue these ppl.
As I'm going threw the same right now was told I have to pay $140.00 more to be able to use the eight sessions I had already paid for. This has to be illegal to take money from your account to not have the staff to get a massage then want you to give them more money this is fraud.
Massage Envy is the worst SCAM we have ever seen
SCAM Alert!
They lie when ther lips move.
Tooks us for our hard earned $$$
I agree! This is happening to me right now! I am so upset and cannot medically use this service! I am very sick pregnant and are taking money out of my account! Even after emails, cancelation letter, phone calls, doctors note! Please help! I cant work and have no money! These people dont care! Anyone up for a class action lawsuit?! These people need to be taught a lesson
funny thing is if people like you would actually read the FINE print then you would actually understand what you were signing up for than you wouldnt be complaining in the first place. If you dont understand what you are signing why would you sign it? If you are an adult and have any intelligence at all you wouldnt just sign a contract at will without reading it and understanding the terms and conditions. Pure stupidity is what it is.
Memberships are not contracts. You are under no legal obligation to continue paying if you no longer want the service.
Fine print is rarely legally as binding as people think. Those practices are a relic and one any decent lawyer will het you out of and a legal battle this sort of company will not fight you over. They are not going to spend the legal fees to keep your monthly $60.
Stop telling people they were idiots to fall for something pitched to them at a point they were clearly vulnerable (they went in for a massage so they are not likely to be in their normal state of mind).
funny thing is if people like you would actually read the FINE print then you would actually understand what you were signing up for. The members
Well folks, I joined my local Massage Envy for me and my wife and oldest son. I read the contract BEFORE signing up. I knew I was in it for a year. I set a calendar reminder at 11months and faxed the cancellation form for my son per the contract. I called today and sure enough, his account is set to end on June 2, 2010 and he has until then to use his two prepaids. My wife and I are continuing. We love the place. Much less expensive than other spas and we tried 4-5 different therapists and found several that we like.
As with all businesses, you have to read and understand the contract. It wasn't complicated to me compared to some. They do contracts to ensure business continuity. If you don't want to sign up, you can simply pay as you go though you pay more. That's the benefit of the membership but as with all in life, to get a lower price you have to agree to be a longer term customer.
Get over it and stop whining about a contract that you signed. Now if service was poor or you were defrauded, that's a different story.
Stop referring to memberships as contracts. They are not the same thing. The “contract” might as well just be a TOS. You cannot be forced to pay for something you don’t want regardless of what you sign. You can be made to pay a fee for canceling if that was in the terms, but that is as far as it goes.
I honestly think something needs to be done about the practices of some of these Massage Envy franchises. Maybe not all Massage Envys have misleading business practices, but there appears to be too much "wiggle room" for this franchise to behave unprofessionally and unethical. I feel that when a customer signs a contract, they feel they can treat you anyway they please should you need to bow out of the contract. They behave like bullies. I was given a gift certificate from a friend to Massage Envy. If I knew then what I know now...I got the persistant sales pitch to join. The first visit I said no thank you. They gave me another visit at the discount rate as a means to "think about joining their membership program." I have had cronic back problems and welcomed the return visit. On the second visit they once again hit me with their best shot to get me to join for a year. I said it is not possible. My income is too unstable to join for a year. That is when they offered me 6 months. Even then I balked but their rebuttal was that I could always put my membership on hold if I should experience financial problems. So I broke down and joined. After a few months of paying my membership, the inevitable happened. As a single mom I was blind sided by unexpected debt on my part time income. I called to ask to put my membership on hold. They only allow three months total on a 6 month membership so after the three months they tried to draw $59 from my credit card. To make a long story short...I paid a total of 5 months. They told me I had paid 6 months. I went to use the 6th month massage and was told that the payment (which I thought was my last) did not go thru as they had thought. I was going to make arrangements to pay them the last month payment when the manager of the Norwell office told me that a 6 month membership actually requires 7 payments and that I also owed for the following month because I initialed auto renewal (which no one was more surprised than me when I was informed of this). The manager/owners method of dealing with this was to threaten to send me to a collection agency and credit bureau if I did not pay up. This so infuriated me. I could not believe a business would deal with a customer like this! Keeping with her promise sure enough she sent me to a collection agency and I assume credit bureau. I sent the collection agency a letter regarding my position on the collection. Massage Envy is now trying to get 3 payments of $59 (a total of $177) from me. Now I can expect NEVER to get the massages for these payments! I tried contacting the manager/owner again and she was near impossible to get a hold of! I asked to make an appointment to see her and she told me if I came to Massage Envy she would get me for trespassing! ? I asked her how am I suppose to resolve this when you will not return my calls, allow me to make an appointment to go over the bill? She said I needed to contact the collection agency. The collection agency said I need to contact the office listed on their letter which was the Massage Envy in Newton, MA. The Newton Massage Envy said I need to contact the Norwell office and round and round we went. This has yet to be resolved. I have contacted the Better Business Bureau as well as the Mass Attorney General's Office. I think it is absolutely ridiculous to try slap additional charges on customers who are already experiencing financial difficulty! All they have to say to me is ...you signed the contract! Believe me I am eating crow. I will NEVER EVER sign a contract like this again. What should have been a treat for me turned into an incredibly stressful situation! I am telling everyone to STAY AWAY from MASSAGE ENVY. I know it is a matter of time before they get caught with their pants down! Signed "Seriously Stressed and in Need of a Massage! Moral of the story I paid $90 twice a year for a massage at a small local Day Spa. That's the way I'll roll from here on in.
File with the BBB that they are being beyond unreasonable. Pay them nothing. And move on. The contract is not legally binding as it is what is called unenforceable. Because it is so clearly made difficult to simply cancel payment even after the 6 or 12 month non cancelation period (requiring a WRITTEN request to cancel 30 days before next billing on a monthly bill is unreasonable). Because it is made difficult to cancel, it is considered to be something that you would never have signed if you knew it would be this difficult to exit.
This isn’t a sponsorship or sports contract. You agreed to pay them for a service, if you no longer want that service or cannot make use of it (for any reason) you no longer are under the originally agreed upon terms. The contract is then invalidated because the elements of the contract that made it binding are no longer true so it becomes non-binding.
I am having a similar experience. When I joined a year ago, I had a really good job. A few months later - lost that job and had to take another making MUCH less. M.E. would not let me out of the contract. I asked what I could do to get out of the contract, the girl on the other end of the phone said "nothing". Refusing to believe that, I looked online to see if I could find any upper management info. I found some owners that I thought might be over the location I went to - they were not, but forwarded my email to the correct owner who then called me. I explained my situation, and she put a 'freeze' on my account - would not have to pay each month, but would have to submit a 30 day written notice to prevent auto-renewal and to cancel my membership at the one year mark. I did just that. Today, they called to say they extended the freeze for another 30 days on voicemail. I called back and said "no, I was told that I must give 30 day written notice to prevent auto-renewal and to cancel membership altogether" - the girl said "there is no way to cancel unless you move 30 miles away from a massage envy location" - - oh really? Why wasn't I informed of this when they pitched the sale a year ago? Why wasn't I informed that, according to them, even an act of Congress would not get me out of this contract?
Honest to God - if I HAD known ALL of this up front, there is NO WAY IN HELL that I would have signed up for this. It is utterly ridiculous for M.E. to think that they can dictate to me how and on what I should spend my money on. Especially since now, even that much lower paying job is gone - I was part of a massive lay off and have not been able to find work. Have no idea when I will find work... and they are going to tell me that I MUST continue to pay for a non-necessity luxury expense? HELL NO.
I have written the BBB re: this and if that does not result in termination of any and all ties to M.E. I do fully intend to seek legal counsel - even though I cannot afford it. Though honestly, If the BBB does not result in membership termination, I don't know that I could afford NOT to seek legal counsel. One time need of legal services may well prove to be less expensive than monthly charges from this ridiculous company who apparently want to be able to charge me every month indefinitely, until my death or even beyond.
WE NEED A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT !
Kevin, I completely agree with you. This is a horrible, horrible company! They have no customer service. I experienced the same situation as you but to make matters worse, they hacked into my second account (which they knew nothing of) and took the money out. I have been trying for months to cancel and no success. I am contemplating a lawsuit. Do you think I have a fighting chance?
Listen guys, you don't need to get into these scammy contracts to get a massage! In fact, I would stay away from free-standing massage places! They do not care about your medical well being! They are out to just make $$, and do not have a medical doctor that monitors their practice. Do you know that most medical doctors had massage therapists on staff! Sometime your insurance will cover it too. If not covered by insurance, they charge about the same amount as placed as mentioned above.
Massages can make people ill! Do it under medical supervision. Don't get massages when you are nursing, as the toxins will go into your milk and then to your baby! There are so many precautions that you must take! Also if you are pregnant, it is best and more safe to go to a massage therapist that works w/ your medical doctor or one that your doctor recommends, as you can cause stress to your baby, which in turn can cause bradycardia, tachycardia, and even meconium staining (baby to have his/her first bowel movement in the womb) that can be devastating to your babies health!
It is worth paying the extra few dollars to see a message therapist who is monitored by a medical doctor or recommended by a medical doctor or your chiropractor.
they suck, reason being is i had 2 sessions, the first one sucked and i told that person i needed a more deeper massage so she said she would hook me up with some one who did that kind of massage on my next visit, i said cool thank you that would be nice. so the next time i go for my massage the visit was worst then the previous one. so now they are saying i have to go because of this membership well i have bad news for them i will not lay down and let this kind of practice run me over, i am going to get the law involved, this kind of customer service can not keep going on, would you keep going back to get the same lame treatment i would say probably not right. i pay for service rendered well i did not get that so i will not keep going back
well, massage envy is a corporate run business. I have been a member for over a year and i love it. not all massage envys are the same i have learned this in my time of travel. I originally signed up ion florida, and i never had a problem, the staff was wonderful, and almost too happy to be at work. The massages were all awesome, and each therapist i tried was different but good int here on technique. With any membership agreement you usually agree to something, and they shouldve clearly explained what you were signing before you signed it. The massage anvy i signed up for did. They printed off both copies of the contract right in front of me as well, so i know i had the same one. also it does say how long you agree to be a member for, and that you can cancel "as soon as your term of the membership is expired" also as far as the 59 a month thing, the proces are differnt, up north, ny nj, cali even are all 59 a month, were as were i joined it is only 49. as well, if you also read into your contract more, you might also find that you can have an add on to a membership which only pays 39 a month. additionally to that, 39 bucks is what you pay for all your "inbetween" massages. so you pay the monthly fee, and you get a one hour massage with that monthly payment. now if you come in more than that once a month, your additional one hour massages are 39. like i said this is in regards the the contract i agreed with the florida massage envy. and all of these people have obviously not run a succesful business. not only that, but kevin you have to keep in mind, that your a cancelling, or trying to cacel your membership, what makes you think any business is gonna want to be pleased as punch with you for not doing business with them anymore? cmon ...seriously? well, other than all of that, it isnt a "fraud" membership, you get a copy of your contract, you agree to everything you sign, which is why you signed it, if you didnt get a clear explination you shouldve asked for one! quit blaming companies for your neglagence to read over a contract your agreeing to. they are ap leasent company, and give a good service for the price they charge. if you plan on getting massages a lot, its a great idea. :)
I have been with Massage Envy for over a year, close to two years. I had to have a surgery, and then my brother passed away, then it was the holidays, then my job changed - anyway I was not able to use my prepaid massages. When it got to the point that I had seven prepaid massages, I went in to cancel my membership. They handed me the form for my signature - but I read the paper which stated that the next months fee would not be taken from my account, but I would LOSE my prepaids. If I stop paying the monthly fee - I become a non-active member and will not be allowed to get the massages that I have already paid for!
Also, after discussing this nonsense with some co-workers, I found out that among the six of us talking, five of us had memberships, but I was the only one paying $59/mon, everyone else was paying $39/mon on their contracts! When I comfronted the manager about this I was told that this was not possible and I must be mistaken - but why would anyone lie about this. When I gave them the names of the others, they verified that a "mistake" had been made on their contracts and would be corrected.
I just joined Massage Envy today. They had me sign a contract and said "Your copy is enclosed in this envelope"
Since my "copy" was in the envelope before I signed the original, it is possible that it is different than I was
shown in the office. This could explain what happened to Kevin above
didn't you keep a copy of your agreement?
They conveniently don't give you one.