The Fitness Edge of Fairfield CT, has the rudest staff and management of any fitness center I have ever been in. The management there has created a hostile and unwelcoming environment.
Has to be one of the worst Gyms ever. There are all kinds of hidden fees that they bill you for. I have been trying to cancel my contract from the moment I joined the gym.
I work for a bank where I see numerous customers with the same problem. The use your debit card as a form of payment and if you have more than one membership they post both amounts at the dsame time. When this happens the system will sometimes reject one of the payments seeing it as a double posting. That being said fitness edge then charges you a "bounced payment fee" and this is a known problem with them and they are aware of it but they will not find a solution to help their client. I think this is poor business and their customer services reps are deceitful and could care less that their company is taking customers money for something beyond their control. the also re-enroll you automatically after ypur contract is up and if you don't send them a CERTIFIED letter telling them to cancel your memvership your stuck for another year of headaches. They will also tell you anything to enroll you and then not stand by their word. We have dealt from employees at the facilities to the head of their marketing department to resolve these issues with no result. I think ther should be some kind of investigation as to how they process payments and what exactly signing that dotted line entails. I think people are being scammed into these contracts and count on the fact that most peoples don't read the fine line.
The cancellation policy is burdensome (30 day written cancellation to ABC Financial in AR - 30 days before your next billing cycle date, so you could end up paying for two months of unwanted membership if your timing is off) and watch out for the "Annual Club Enchancement Fee", that they will charge you if the due date for this fee falls within the 30 day cancellation window. They are very accomodating to sign you up, but make life extremely difficult to cancel your membership.
I have belonged to several health clubs over the past 20 yrs. The Fitness Edge is a total nightmare. I agree with everything here. They make it seem like the "Perfect place. So many classes and friendly people. All day classes. No problem for you get in." Right! I signed up for the spinning classes in October, 2008. Within 2 weeks, they cancelled 3 classes. Then by the end of November, all the college kids start coming in. You can't get into any spinning classes until April. I spoke with numerous employees. They did not care. They were just rude. I spoke with the mgr. Shannon Engel, just as rude.. I mean, what's up? I am a paying client. I pay for this??? This abuse and sarcasm? I am expecting help. A way to get what I signed up for. What am I paying for? Well, they started a sign-up online system and after 3 xs you cancel your reservation (and you cannot go to class without signing up.) You loose your online reservation priveleges. I told them when I signed up last year that I do not have a 9-5 schedule. That I run several businesses and have to go in at the last minute to fill in if one of my employees is sick, etc. This sign up, is not working for me. I called Brianna Ricks, head of exercise classes. And I must say. I thought the other ones were rude. She beat them all.. she told me to cancel my membership. I said I would love to. You tell me how!! She gave me no suggestions. Just rudeness. I said if I ran my businesses this way, I wouldn't have any clients left. She kept getting my first name wrong even though I kept correcting her. She insisted I said my name differently in voicemail. What difference what you heard. I am telling you now..for instance. My name is not Gale it is Dale..anyway. I told her I was contacting the BBB and did and I canceled my credit card. I paid them for one solid year. As far as I am concerned the contract is up as of today. If they try to take me to court of a couple of dollars or ruin my credit. I am contacting Blumenthal, State Attorney's office. They are a bunch of crooks! Attitude filters down in a company I learned that after 30 yrs in Corporate. If the top guy has a certain attitude it will filter down to the janitor. The top guy has no respect for the members, so the middle mgmnt guy doesn't and the 20 yr old girl at the front counter doesn't either. I cannot believe they are still in business. Guess those low monthly fees with the hidden costs keeps them packed to the giles.
Date
577 days ago by S. Martin 
