Bally Total Fitness
reviews and complaints

I am writing this due to the fact I keep getting phone calls from a Litagation place saying I am being sued by Bally's for 1079.00 for a gym membership from 2012. First I paid monthly on my account.Secondly they just up and closed. They never alerted anyone via a letter in the mail or anything. We went there one day and it was gone. So how can you owe money to anyone when the business up and closed. At the point no one should owe anything. If anything was owed they never sent a letter never said my account was in collections. The lady said LA Fitness took them over. How would anyone know that? How can you cancel a membership when there is no gym to cancel it at. This is ridiculous that 10 yrs later I am just hearing about this.

To who this may concern,

My name is Megan Wilson (Hewitt). Ive been receiving calls regarding my account from 2008. When I was a member for this gym I paid normally. Then got married and gave the Marbach location my deployment papers because I was moving to Alaska where there is not one Bally's. Ive been dealing with these people for years calling about me owing money to them. Which in fact I do not due to deploying with my former husband. Its now been 11 years ago and im still getting harassed by people about this. I've told them a million times I DO NOT this company anything and they still keep calling. I've asked them to stop and wont. Next step will be a lawsuit for harassment.

Unable to be found at either La fitness or 24 hour fitness. What is my recourse ? What can I do to get my membership transferred over.

Name: Carol Klein.
Hollywood II

Member no. [protected]. The missing no. Is either a 5, 3 or 6.
Enrollment date is 121578
The card has a bar code

I thought that there was a law that required health club memberships to be taken over by the acquiring company. Why would neither of the acquiring clubs have a record of me. I am so glad I did this checking from the comfort of my own home, as I would be very cranky if Imhad gone to the clubs in person .

Shopping For a New Gym? My Summer 2014 BallyTotalFitness
Experience

Spending the summer in Thornton, Colorado, I had to
temporarily join another gym. For convenience, I joined BallyTotalFitness. I
originally joined Bally in 1984, in New Jersey. During the 80's and 90's Bally
WAS the place to be. I cannot speak for Bally across the country, but I
can speak for the Thornton and Westminster, Colorado clubs. The condition of
the clubs is poor. Maintenance seems non existent with a number of machines
that either do not function or function roughly. The Thornton club has the strangest
shower heads that spray the water so wide, it becomes a dance to get the water
to actually hit your body. The Westminster club has maybe two showers that
function correctly with pressure that is so low at times you question whether
you turned the water on at all. The others showers are like spinning the
wheel on Wheel of Fortune trying to find where the hot and cold water flows. The
Westminster club also has the largest men's steam room I have ever seen,
BUT it operates when it feels like it, so you may sit in there for 15 minutes
before it turns on.

On the positive side they have some very good class
instructors although when an instructor stops teaching a class, the online
schedules don't seem to be updated. Arriving at a club for a class that is no
longer there can be disconcerting.

The final straw to my dissatisfaction with Bally is there
payment policy. When canceling a membership you MUST cancel within the 10 day
deadline or else. I wrote to Bally and requested a refund for the month I was
not going to be in Colorado and they stuck to their policy, no exceptions.
Granted I was late on the cancellation and maybe I should just be kicked in the
###. It was around Labor Day weekend and I was distracted. Shame on me.

So when shopping for a new gym be sure to inspect the club,
check the machines you know you use often and make sure to check out the
showers to be sure the faucets work properly. With so many more choices
today like LA Fitness, Gold's, Planet Fitness, Life Time Fitness, Anytime
Fitness, 24 Hour Fitness, Pure Fitness, there is no need to settle. In
addition, some of these gyms have temporary membership options for travelers or
those who are working in the area temporarily. If you want to skip fees all
together look up Recreation Centers. While traveling through Albuquerque, I
joined one that has numerous locations all over the city for $13 a year!

Best of luck with your fitness
goals!

I bought 48 session with prvate trainer. This was most offal lessons. I was dong the same exersize all the time call plank. Not having a lot of experience with private trainning I went along with lyies he was telling to do what trainer told me to do. Before I know all my lessons were used up and I was in worst shape then when I started. I ask to give me money back and they refuse me. Never by private training session from Ballys. Also I have to say how dirty this plase is. I actually saw huge spider webs on the big windows upstairs. I saw writing on the dust on the rails saying clean me. I knew peopel who got terrible infactions on their skin from going to the pool. my email [protected]@hotmail.com

This company erroneously started two accounts in my name back in 2009. I wrote in cancelling both accounts when they told me they had made the mistake. However, they only cancelled one. Come their sale to LA Fitness I get a letter in the mail saying my account is being transferred to LA Fitness. I haven't lived within a 100 miles of a Bally's in over two years! Of course, they have since lost my cancellation letter that listed both accounts. They charged me over $200 in one sum last year! I am a body builder and feel like this gym completely robbed me. Terrible experience.

I will never recommend or use Bally's Total Fitness again. On August of 2009 I signed up online to Bally's on a 30 day month to month no contract for $30 a month. I had a toddler and figured I could take the baby and work out however I found out Bally's child care schedule didn't fit my schedule and wasn't always available. Then I cancelled after 3 months via phone and email. Bally's continued to deduct/draft $30 for over a year out of my account after my cancellation and now I am owed a little over $400 dollars and they refuse to refund me. Why should I pay for a service I didn't use? All because they are saying I didn't put a cancellation in writing. If and when you sign up via email it never states that. I have written several letter to the Refunds Dept & Corporate Office and still no response. I would never recommend Bally's to anyone or do business with them again.

This is a complain concerning cancellation of Ballys total fitness gym membership back in 2008. i was a member of ballys by my work in new york. i was unfortunately let go and couldnt keep the membership anymore as i live in CT and the gym is in NY and i was in a plan that i couldnt use my membership elsewhere. there was also no ballys by me and I WAS UNEMPLOYED. i sent bally's a written notice of cancellation as soon as i was let go from my home address. i explained the situation. i never heard from them again or this membership until i got a letter from a collection agency stating i owe them money. turns out they received my cancelation notice and needed more info but sent it to my WORK address not my HOME address. naturally, i never received it as i dont work there anymore. the letter went back to them as undeliverable. instead of contacting me on my home address or my phone, they just decided to let 2-3yrs pass and give my account to a collection agency. Now. i have spent soo many times on the phone with them and the CA to finally cancel this membership that should have been cancelled 2yrs ago and is still getting nowhere. please help me. please suggest ways on how i can finally clear this issue. this is also hurting my credit and finances. please send me any information that can help me finally get this issue resolved and i also want to file complaint against bally. thank you! [protected]@yahoo.com

I'm wondering if I could find someone in the US to advocate for consumer justice. I walked in a Bally Total Fitness club in Jersey City, New Jersey, back in February 2009. The Management team asked for my Driver's license + my Social Security Card + Credit Card. Without paying attention on the foot print notes, I've signed a paper work that ties me up with Bally for 3 years.

Later on, I found out that I was scammed by Bally company. To cancel the contract, Bally is asking me to pay the balance of 3 years even though I'm not going to the club. If they check the punches, they will the handful times I've been at the Gym club. It won't be 12 times since I started in February 2009.

I've been paying every month, no matter what, $42.78.

I just don't understand how such scam and abuse can be legal in the US.

I got my membership on 8/14/2008 (account # [protected]).The manger told you can cancel your membership at the first 10 days, My doctor advice me not to do that, because I have heart failure according to Fairfax hospital 2004 and Arlington hospital 2007, Icancel my membership three days later with the manger of Ballys landmark VA (8/17/2008) .I call the main office and I E-mail them more than three times, And I dispute the first payment with Bank of America, Because I never attend Ballys even one time and Inever used their facilityes, But they still harassing me on the phone over hundred times They asking me to pay $ 2400 for what Idonot know why, They missup my credit, , one collection in CA, call me names on the phone, please I need your help can you correct that, or you can take me to the court in Fairfax, please stop harrasing me.

I'm back and hopefully for the last time to warn everyone about all the dark secrets that hides within corporate Texas. Please note that corruption only resides within certain individuals and not everyone is involved.

Please let me begin by presenting you the basic package of what a regular sales employee (that's me) endures. Your mandatory training throughout your employment will be provided by a lunatic known as Wendy A. Tilley along with a few sales managers that specializes in thuganomics and old school street hustling.

What is it we are supposed to be hustling? The answer is membership sales or often referred to by employees as units. How we were trained or taught to achieve these units is what made me quit my job.

I would require dozens of red bulls laced with crack in order to stay up all night to list every forbidden detail about their sales pitch painfully embedded in my memory banks but a brief summary will suffice.

Know that while you're branding Bally's uniform, every single visitor entering our fitness facility to inquire about pricing or simply trying to utilize a free online guest pass is supposed to leave with a membership contract. No excuses. Period.

It's your job to sell them a gym membership no matter what the circumstances are. If anyone...ANYONE leaves without a membership, you screwed up. If they leave empty handed, that means you couldn't present properly, deliver properly or close properly. If you were conducting your job appropriately, people will never decline our memberships. So when anyone rejects our offers, prices, services and equipment, there is only one person to blame. YOU. IT IS ALWAYS YOUR FAULT IF ANYONE WALKS OUT WITHOUT A CONTRACT. Brilliant.

Every day while I was employed was like an episode of The Apprentice with Donald Trump in the boardroom. Treachery, backstabbing, deceit, disloyalty and war is frequently exhibited for all to despair.

One name easily comes to mind whenever I mentioned those words above. The infamous WENDY A. TILLEY. She's actually Bonnie and Clyde goes by Devin Verdon. Devin is another chapter which I'm debating to post or not.

The climax started when my sales manager Ryan Colin was suspended over the weekend for forging signatures on contracts. Very illegal and subject for arrest if anyone didn't know. I kindly volunteered to fill in on my day off that Saturday. Big Mistake.

That afternoon, I had the pleasure of being under surveillance by a woman who was in fact a mystery secret shopper. These customers are actually visiting to rate their overall experience back to corporate based on HOW we deliver our services. PLEASE keep in mind that how we deliver our services is HOW we were trained by corporate!

Inquiring about our memberships, I firmly presented the System 30 plan which was the best overall package that included supplements for dieting and 4 personal training sessions. Of course this hefty membership comes with a hefty price.

She loved the plan but hesitated on the price and inquired if there were anything cheaper. I replied, "No, not for what your specifically looking for. If I dropped the price to a lower value membership at a lower monthly rate, you'll indeed pay a cheaper monthly due but lose all your privileges such as your supplements and personal training sessions."

I applied logic atop of reason and firmly stood my ground and finally convinced her that what I presented IS the best choice. After she joined, I felt relieved knowing that the past 45 minutes I spent with this lady was not in vain. The commission check for what I just sold is $98.00 so I guess forfeiting my Saturday day off was not completely in vain.

After their secret shop visit, they're instructed to participate in a brief customer satisfaction survey provided by Wendy A. Tilley and corporate. The purpose of the survey is to rate how much we employees learned from Wendy's class and whether or not we utilized her teachings during the undercover shop. A spy if you will.

A few of her teachings along with Devin Verdon's philosophies ultimately resulted in the same thing. To be aggressive and close the membership no matter what. I remember them saying, "Sometimes they don't know what they want. That's why you're our sales counselor. So you can present what is best for these potential members. Of course they'll show concern and reluctance towards our higher priced packages. Who wouldn't? Anybody would! But it's your job to ultimately convince them that our prices ARE affordable by breaking them down. $50 bucks a month is only like $1.66 a day!
You're telling me they can't afford that in a single day when they buy cigarettes and $5.00 Starbucks Coffee every morning!? Ridiculous! If you can't start closing these big expensive deals, your clients are simply closing you instead of you closing them. They convinced you they can only pay a certain amount instead of you convincing them that our deluxe packages are easily affordable. They won and you've lost. DO NOT DROP the prices and stay focused! You have to show them who's boss by putting your feet down. If they give you a "no", your job is to flip that around to a "yes". Be aggressive and DO NOT GIVE UP! Cause when they walk, that's saying you gave up. You didn't try hard enough and they took control of you instead of you taking control of them. You dropped the ball and we lost another potential member because you failed. Understand? BE AGGRESSIVE, GO OUT THERE AND START HUSTLING AND DON'T TAKE NO FROM ANYONE!"

Believe it or not, I actually failed that shop based on the survey because the lady reported primarily that I was too aggressive and I did not drop the price to a cheaper membership. Uuh Ooh. It appears that Wendy Tilley and Devin Verdon's advices to be tough and aggressive throughout their lectures have backfired. Gee, who would've imagined?

Here comes one of the best parts. Shortly after, Wendy approached this mystery shopper and tossed me right under the bus. Ready? She expressed, "We are so deeply sorry for your horrible experience. Are you absolutely certain this sales counselor never bothered showing you our many other convenient and cheaper membership options? He ne..ne..never bothered dropping the price to a more affordable membership plan for you? OH. MY. GOD. How dare he?! Please believe me when I say this, that is NOT how we train our employees. Where does he get these ideas from? I am soooo speechless. Ma'am, on behalf of Bally Total Fitness, we like to extend our most sincere apologies and please rest assured, we will discipline this employee to the fullest extent. Here, in the meantime, please accept this free membership on the house as a token of our gratitude and appreciation for your honesty. We could not be a better and stronger company without your honest input. Thank you so much for your cooperation and once again, forgive us for any inconveniences that our employee has caused. He does NOT represent the rest of us and it just breaks my heart knowing that the people we trust to present our memberships in our uniforms could do something so inappropriate. We will get to the bottom of this incident immediately without further delay. Okay now, give me a hug. It was a great pleasure meeting you. Have a great life and God Bless. Buh bye."

Hey Wendy, you honestly didn't think I knew about that?

So let's realize the enormity of the situation here. They force feed you with their asinine garbage on how to sell properly. It doesn't work and easily backfires and when the bullet riccochetes back, they grab you as a bullet proof vest while plunging a kitchen knife deeply in between your shoulder blades while conveniently tossing you under the bus.

In a way, they're rather similar to the Italian mafia. A "job" is ordered to be fulfilled according to their specifications and when something goes wrong they'll clip you off so no traces could lead back to them.

Throughout this whole ordeal, I was written up twice within that same week and Wendy even went out of her way to make a special request to the finance dept. that I do not get paid for this shop. FYI. It's company policy to pay employees even if the deal sold was a secret shop. That $98.00 that I thought I earned during that excruciating 45 minute timeframe was denied to me by special requests of Wendy A. Tilley. Wow. Conspiring and breaking own company rules to screw someone. Not only is she evil, she's a thief as well.

You thought the worse was over? It just barely begun. We had another class after that incident the following week and Wendy decided to make me the ultimate sacrificial example. Throughout the entire class filled with 35 employees, she would casually call me out every five minutes or so like some ###ed kid back in the fourth grade who apparently forgotton his homework and fell asleep in class. She would bombard and ambush me with pop quiz questions involving principles and fundamentals of Bally's Total Fitness expecting me to bark upon command like some pet lapdog whenever she pleased in front of everyone for her personal amusement.

Here's a brief example. What does retention mean? What does attrition mean? How do you calculate the resting heart rate? Do you know this? Did you know that? What's two plus two? Do you know how to spell your name? Etc..well, you get the idea. She'll viciously embarass and deliberately humuliate you like a slave. If you don't play along or have a problem with how she's conducting her class, you can freely leave or she'll simply kick you out. Here's the thing, you need to finish her class in order to retain you employment so tolerating her lunacy was a common requirement.

She made a complete fool out of me where the instant she mentioned my name, people would giggle. Even when she wasn't calling me out and someone else was responding with an answer to whatever was being discussed, she'll come up to me in front of everyone and ask, "Did you know that? Are you sure? Really? OKAAAY."

It was one of her finest masterpiece setups or traps if you will. Here's the thing. If you don't know the answer to her pop quiz question, you'll instantly look stupid in front of everyone but if you know every single answer she throws at you, you will just eventually look like her pet dog. It will now look like there's a dog collar around your neck attached to the leash she has in her hand.

So you have the convenient option of looking stupid now by not knowing how to respond to her ambush or slowly crash and burn the other way and appear just as foolish but in a entirely different manner all together eventually later on. It makes no utter difference whether you know the answer or not. Due to her hidden alterior motive, you'll going to burn regardless. Remember the painful Katie Couric and Sarah Palin interview? Imagine fours hours of that.

After Wendy disrespects you throughout class by treating you like a slave, she'll cleverly try to avoid looking like a jerk by pulling this manuever right before she dismisses everyone. She'll playfully ask using a innocent tone, "Who did I pick on today? Hmm? Who did I pick on today? Okay, I was "playing" with him because we're very good friends and I like him. Who else? Who else did I pick on today? Who else?"

Wendy, you're so clever. Gee, it appears I may have learned something from you after all. But I bet you wished I hadn't picked this up, eh? Hope you don't mind me picking on you this time.

Next time you screw..excuse me. Next time you "pick" on someone, better make sure they're not capable of picking back.

Hello to EVERYONE that have had a Bally's Total fitness problem related to consumer fraud and deceptive business practices. I am in the process of collecting as much information on consumers that have been mislead and abused by those thieves and fraudulent company, ruining consumers credit reports, using tricks and fraudulent promises to make you responsible for a fitness contract you never agreed to. They were reporting me negatively to the credit bureaus for 7 years affecting my credit score and history terribly since I was 18 years old and now they resold the fake debt to an other collection agency after it fell off of my credit report, trying to ruin my credit again.

Please write me to angelusms3 AT yahoo.com if you guys are interested in taking part of this law suit with a brief story about your experience with Bally's (If you don't have the time for right now at least copy and paste it from your consumer complaint website enclosing your contact information such as telephone # and or email address so I can contact you as soon as I have everything ready) This is so I can put a case file together and take it to a few different attorneys I know since I am gonna at least be seeking financial compensation for all the damaged they have done and emotional stress caused. If you are in CA is even better since that's my state. The more people willing to join the bigger, powerful and credible the case will be. I have so much free time right now and I can do this for you! I am just really upset at this company because they also target young adults and teenagers...The vulnerable consumers with no experience and I was one of them.