LA Fitness - Personal Training Scam help?

penngarcia

So I was tricked into signing up for a 12 month contract with LA Fitness for personal training. One really good salesman talks to you about changing your life and all the things he's going to do for you- he even does a practice session with you to show you how great it's going to be. Once you sign on the dotted line, he passes you off to other trainers who don't know you and don't care about you.

Oh, and the ONLY reason I signed up for the 12 month contract was because they expressly told me that, if I wasn't happy, I could cancel after 6 months with no penalties. Of course now that I'm at 6 months and am completely unhappy with the "personal" training, this suddenly isn't true? I even called the corporate "customer service" and she just kept giving me the same line. The only option is for me to do a "buyout" for 50% of the remaining contract which is over $500! I don't have $500 lying around... I'm a student who recently moved to LA.

Anyway... I went ahead and canceled my cards in a panic because I'm going dead broke and can't afford this ****ty fake training anymore.

My question is... has anyone battled this? Could I get in serious legal trouble if they start calling for updated payment information and I ignore it? I just don't have money to pay them and certainly don't have money for a lawyer... I just don't know what to do.

ctgrl1

PennGarcia,
I was in the same boat in when I lived in North Carolina. They will send it over to collection and put on your credit. There is a reason why they ask for social security on those forms.

My advise to you is to keep fighting. Tell them you have to move, try looking up an area they may not have a location there. Most likely if they do a location outside the 30 miles radius of your new spot, you can get out of it. Best of luck.

Aimee

rml_16

Do you have a copy of the contract you signed? What does it say?

jess7386

Don't ignore it. Call your credit card company (I hope you didn't put it on a debit card) & explain the circumstances. Most of the time they will do the work for you.

Commander_Keen

It depeneds.
they could put a lean against you.
It will ruin your credit score.
I woudl call them, let them know that you can no longer afford it, and what other payment options they have.

dym123

You could threaten to report them to your state's Attorney General's office. Most local news station have a consumer affairs person, contact them see if they would put in a call on your behalf. Then there's always the Better Business Bureau. Most companies don't want bad publicity so they'll let you out of the contract just to be rid of you.

ETA: Though this could be moot, since some gyms have "bait & switch" scams, especially when it comes to contracts (probably why I don't belong to one) and threats may not get them to do the right thing.

DavPul

LA Fitness has year long personal training contacts? News to me. That might be an industry first. Usually big box gyms are 1-3 months and even then they sell by number of sessions. Even private trainers rarely sell more than 4-6 months.

And both the first and second person on this thread have just one post? How did the second person on this thread even find the forums?

SkinnyFatAlbert

Could I get in serious legal trouble if they start calling for updated payment information and I ignore it?

The non-payment could show up on your credit report eventually and worse you could even be sued. If a judgement is won against you it stays on your credit report for years and in extreme cases a lein could be put on your property, bank accounts, or even your wages. It really depends on how aggressive the company is with debt collections. My advice would be to find a way to make payment arrangements and consider the whole thing a learning experience. It's flat out not worth the risk over only a few hundred dollars.

DavPul

^few hundred? Personal training at LA Fitness would run $600 per month, so 6 months left would be several thousand dollars. That's why it seems so unlikely.

penngarcia

Thanks everyone. I checked in all my paperwork from the gym and they didn't give me a copy of my contract. I feel very stupid... but I suppose I have to chalk this up to experience. I just can't believe a company would take advantage of a customer like this. Well. Yes I can, I guess I just wanted to believe that a GYM cared a little more about people's health and well being.

I was on the verge of tears with this woman in "customer service" and she just didn't care. I kept saying "I don't have $500+ dollars, what are my other options?" and she just goes "I could help you take better advantage of the program and set you up with a trainer for the remainder of your contract."

I think I'm going to balance transfer my credit card to one that has no interest rate for the first year so I have a chance to catch up on the payments and just promise myself never to fall for a slimy salesperson again.

People that are trying to change their lives/get fit/get healthy are so vulnerable and I think that is what makes me the most angry. They are taking advantage of vulnerable, desperate people.

JoRocka

You're screwed.

6 months and you are unhappy?
And again- 6 months? I call BS- you should have known better.
And the trainers who don't care about you? really? you're going to blame them for you bad decisions? You could have switched trainers- you are not locked into ONE trainer.

So I was tricked into signing up for a 12 month contract with LA Fitness for personal training

what did they say- here sign this it's for the smoothie bar? They cannot TRICK you into signing up for 12 months of personal training.

It's your money you should have backed out sooner- and you absolutely could have. This is your fault.

If you have paid for sessions- use them and cancel the sales. They can't charge you for a service you aren't using.

LA has some shady buisness for sure- but you can request a new trainer- or go to a different gym. I have no sympathy what so ever- Personal Training is elective- you are not in a high pressure evniornment- you can just say no thanks any time- they are selling you what you want to hear- but the reality is you have to show up and do the work- Ultimately you purchased the sessions- you knew what you were signing up for- this is like buying a truck and driving it for 6 months then realizing you pay 80$ a tank to fill it up- then get mad that the dealership sold you a gas guzzling car and now you're bank doesn't want to give you your money back.

Nope- no sympathy. none.

^few hundred? Personal training at LA Fitness would run $600 per month, so 6 months left would be several thousand dollars. That's why it seems so unlikely.

well- depends on how many sessions a week you book I suppose- but it's easily that or more. There is flexibility with what they charge you.

rml_16

I checked in all my paperwork from the gym and they didn't give me a copy of my contract.

Go to the gym and ask for a copy that has your signature on it. Then read it.

jwdieter

Get a copy of the contract at least.

JoRocka

I checked in all my paperwork from the gym and they didn't give me a copy of my contract.

Go to the gym and ask for a copy that has your signature on it. Then read it.

this

some where someone has a copy of it.

And they should have given you a copy. Legally there should be for you and one for them.

SkinnyFatAlbert

^few hundred? Personal training at LA Fitness would run $600 per month, so 6 months left would be several thousand dollars. That's why it seems so unlikely.

Just going off the $500 figure the OP stated was the buyout.

penngarcia

Not asking for sympathy, just advice on my options. So thanks.

ItsCasey

When it comes to contracts, don't pay attention to what people tell you is in it. Read it, ask questions if you don't understand something, and if they verbalize terms (ESPEICALLY cancellation terms) that aren't actually in the contract, get them to put those terms in writing before you sign. There is only one reason a company would fail to include cancellation terms in writing, and that's because they are essentially planning to fight you tooth and nail if you try to cancel. People who sell these contracts get a commission, and many, if not most, of them will say anything to get your signature, even making promises they are not authorized to make.

Unfortunately, if they have your signature on a document, you are bound to the terms in that document. As to whether you can get in legal trouble for not paying, it depends on the debtor/creditor laws in your state. Some states are very debtor-friendly, and the laws pretty much don't allow a creditor to do anything other than report you to the credit bureaus for nonpayment.

If you can't afford a lawyer to read the contract and advise you on whether you have any legal grounds for getting out of the contract (and if your situation is that dire, you may qualify for free legal aid), then my advice (I am NOT a lawyer) is to go in person to whatever center you signed up at, ask to speak to the manager, explain that your financial situation has changed and that you can no longer afford the monthly payments, tell them you were under the impression that you could cancel after 6 months with no penalty, and politely ASK them to work with you on it.

Report them to whatever consumer protection groups you want for unethical business practices if they truly promised you something and are refusing to follow through, but nobody can trick you into signing a contract. Unless they held a gun to your head, the responsibility for reading the agreement and making sure that you understand and are willing to comply with it is on your shoulders.

JoRocka

Not asking for sympathy, just advice on my options. So thanks.

then perhaps you shouldn't have written a whiney potentially slanderous post about a large company who has a lot more legal leverage than you do.

just asking for advice is completely different than what you did in this post.

jonnythan

they didn't give me a copy of my contract.

Ask them to produce the document you signed. Review it yourself and see what your options are.

Also: don't sign any more contracts without both reading them and getting a copy.

DavPul

I'm still trying to figure out what the scam is

SofaKingRad_II

Not asking for sympathy, just advice on my options. So thanks.

then perhaps you shouldn't have written a whiney potentially slanderous post about a large company who has a lot more legal leverage than you do.

just asking for advice is completely different than what you did in this post.

`

YEAH U TELL HER GIRL! THIS IS WHY I LOVE YOU! THEY CAN'T HANDLE UR SNARK! SCREW HER FOR ASKING HOW TO DEAL WITH A MISTAKE LOLOLOLZ

JoRocka

herm.... my sarcasm meter is going off... blink blink.

I'm not saying "screw her because she/he made a mistake"- but "just asking for advice" was not what the original post read- it's whiney and smacks of someone who can't take responsibility for their own actions. Signing up for elective training isn't a scam. it's not a "trick" it's a service.

Simply saying- hey I made a mistake- I signed up for something I can't afford and I"m completely unsatisfied with my service and now I'm having this issue would have been way more adult and logical than this initial post.

I'm still trying to figure out what the scam is

sigh.

I can't today- I just can't.
... let's just say I agree- but with a lot more sarcastic comments in the back of my head.

DavPul

I stand corrected. LA Fitness does sell 1 year contacts. And they sell by month, not sessions. Well, live and learn. Still, not a scam, but I wouldn't buy training that way. Too many variables over the course of a year.

VegasFit

I signed up for LA Fitness years ago and I changed my mind within the allotted time. Might have been three days but I can't remember specifics. I do remember that to get out of the contract I had to drive to their corporate office to do it and I was in a waiting room with a ton of unhappy people in the same or similar situations. I was able to get out of the contract with no loss but my time but it taught me a valuable lesson. I've been a member of 24 for about 13 years. They take my money out of a account that is only set up for auto withdrawals from 24 and a couple other entities and I keep just enough in there for those purposes in case a billing error, etc., none of these companies have access to screw up my primary account.

I once dated a person who worked at a gym signing people. His tactic was to talk fast and throw out a ton of information. He said people were more likely to sign up cause they don't know what hit them.

Good luck.

Bry_Fitness70

I would just try to get the 50% of the remaining contract forgiven and chalk it up as a Contracts 101 learning experience. But first, I would get a copy of the contract to see what you actually signed; if he mentioned some sort of opt-out clause at 6 months, hopefully it is also written into the contract. Otherwise, his verbal commitment regarding this is meaningless.

If you are on a tight budget, why did you think that spending thousands on a personal trainer is a good idea? You could have just joined a small, non-corporate gym, and researched your fitness program on your own to figure out what you wanted to do. Having a personal trainer isn’t really a logical expenditure if you are “going dead broke”.

kfj3

You're screwed.

6 months and you are unhappy?
And again- 6 months? I call BS- you should have known better.
And the trainers who don't care about you? really? you're going to blame them for you bad decisions? You could have switched trainers- you are not locked into ONE trainer.

So I was tricked into signing up for a 12 month contract with LA Fitness for personal training

what did they say- here sign this it's for the smoothie bar? They cannot TRICK you into signing up for 12 months of personal training.

It's your money you should have backed out sooner- and you absolutely could have. This is your fault.

If you have paid for sessions- use them and cancel the sales. They can't charge you for a service you aren't using.

LA has some shady buisness for sure- but you can request a new trainer- or go to a different gym. I have no sympathy what so ever- Personal Training is elective- you are not in a high pressure evniornment- you can just say no thanks any time- they are selling you what you want to hear- but the reality is you have to show up and do the work- Ultimately you purchased the sessions- you knew what you were signing up for- this is like buying a truck and driving it for 6 months then realizing you pay 80$ a tank to fill it up- then get mad that the dealership sold you a gas guzzling car and now you're bank doesn't want to give you your money back.

Nope- no sympathy. none.

^few hundred? Personal training at LA Fitness would run $600 per month, so 6 months left would be several thousand dollars. That's why it seems so unlikely.

well- depends on how many sessions a week you book I suppose- but it's easily that or more. There is flexibility with what they charge you.

do you work for LA fitness or something? why are you being such an *kitten*? and did you even read the post? she clearly said that she was told she could cancel at 6 months- and now she suddenly can't. definitely shady **** happening there. if there's a contract where they mentioned that she would have to pay to cancel yeah that's her problem, and it sucks, but there's no need to be so rude.

Lauren8239

Thanks everyone. I checked in all my paperwork from the gym and they didn't give me a copy of my contract. I feel very stupid... but I suppose I have to chalk this up to experience. I just can't believe a company would take advantage of a customer like this. Well. Yes I can, I guess I just wanted to believe that a GYM cared a little more about people's health and well being.

I was on the verge of tears with this woman in "customer service" and she just didn't care. I kept saying "I don't have $500+ dollars, what are my other options?" and she just goes "I could help you take better advantage of the program and set you up with a trainer for the remainder of your contract."

I think I'm going to balance transfer my credit card to one that has no interest rate for the first year so I have a chance to catch up on the payments and just promise myself never to fall for a slimy salesperson again.

People that are trying to change their lives/get fit/get healthy are so vulnerable and I think that is what makes me the most angry. They are taking advantage of vulnerable, desperate people.

Hah! I see what you did there. Good trolling because of the other gym threads, lmao. :laugh:

JoRocka

do you work for LA fitness or something? why are you being such an *kitten*? and did you even read the post? she clearly said that she was told she could cancel at 6 months- and now she suddenly can't. definitely shady **** happening there. if there's a contract where they mentioned that she would have to pay to cancel yeah that's her problem, and it sucks, but there's no need to be so rude.

because I'm a cranky pragmatic *kitten*. That's why.

And I DID say LA does shady stuff- Almost every box gym has some sketchy stuff- the bigger the gym the harder it is to get out of the contract.
I've dealt with them before- there is no denying that- but I get annoyed with people who whip up this "oh woe is me" posts when a lot of it could have been avoided with some common sense.

tricked? Scam? take advantage?

it's personal training- not a pyramid scheme or an elaborate hoax.
I just have no patience for the internet today. I should have gone home to go work out

uconnwinsnc

So I was tricked into signing up for a 12 month contract with LA Fitness for personal training. One really good salesman talks to you about changing your life and all the things he's going to do for you- he even does a practice session with you to show you how great it's going to be. Once you sign on the dotted line, he passes you off to other trainers who don't know you and don't care about you.

Oh, and the ONLY reason I signed up for the 12 month contract was because they expressly told me that, if I wasn't happy, I could cancel after 6 months with no penalties. Of course now that I'm at 6 months and am completely unhappy with the "personal" training, this suddenly isn't true? I even called the corporate "customer service" and she just kept giving me the same line. The only option is for me to do a "buyout" for 50% of the remaining contract which is over $500! I don't have $500 lying around... I'm a student who recently moved to LA.

Anyway... I went ahead and canceled my cards in a panic because I'm going dead broke and can't afford this ****ty fake training anymore.

My question is... has anyone battled this? Could I get in serious legal trouble if they start calling for updated payment information and I ignore it? I just don't have money to pay them and certainly don't have money for a lawyer... I just don't know what to do.

My friend got screwed over in a contract with a gym once, and he just said "I'm not paying anything, bye." They called him over and over again until finally they gave up.

snikkins

For what it's worth, a personal trainer at my gym tried to do this, too. I go to Blast! Fitness, which is advertised as $10/month (it's really around $15-20 when you add in the multiple gym fee, the yearly fee, and the sign up fee) for the basic membership. I was by myself and she came around asking if I'd like some pointers. So, I said yes. With my membership came a free personal training session, which I cashed in about a week later. It was a good thing I already knew that they were a little bit sketchy from my sign up experience and that I had some knowledge about fitness from MFP before I went to this session because from the start to the finish, the trainer was trying to pry on insecurities. If I hadn't gone in knowing that this was likely where it was going to end (thanks class on persuasion and manipulation in college!), I could easily see feeling forced into signing up, which, yes, still would have been my fault, but psychological factors do play a role in decisions and psychology is a strange thing. I feel for you, OP, I really do. I've seen a lot of people, women especially, put into the same situation and I wouldn't be surprised to find out that many of them sign up without knowing how they're going to pay for it.

The session started with her "measuring" my BF% and then telling me how dangerous it was. Next was the actual training session; I was sore from that 20 minutes for an embarrassing amount of time. It was clear that the end was supposed to be me signing up. I started by looking through all of the things I couldn't afford and politely saying just that. However, this wasn't an acceptable answer. Next, I was offered a payment plan, which I politely declined. At this point, it was clear that the trainer was becoming agitated. I said I might consider it closer to September, which was when I would have a job (this was June and I'm an adjunct) but right now it was out of the question. I went through all of the motions, like saying I'd have to talk to my husband about it. Yet, this wasn't enough, either. At this point, she schedules an appointment for me with her supervisor a couple of days later to see if he can "make me a deal." I told him the same thing I had told her. He told me that their DM was in the gym today so there wasn't anything he could do for me. I said that I understood and that was fine. He gave it one last half-hearted attempted before handing me a Post-It note with the options available to me. I thanked him for his time and went to do my workout. On my way out of his office-cubicle, the original trainer woman saw me and told me, "Well, when you want to get serious about your weight loss, come see me." I gave her a very non-committal, "Will do," while trying to keep my snarky comments down (at this point, I had already lost 30lbs) and was on my way. It was a seriously high-pressure situation, using a lot of the same things other salesmen do to close a sale, because that's what they are. It's hard to take that away from an online post, so I suppose you'll just have to take my word for it. I'm honestly surprised that I wasn't contacted about this in September, since that was information that they took down as well.

I hope you're able to work this out, because it's a terrible situation to be in. I do know that ignoring it and hoping it goes away is probably not the best plan, but I think that's become apparent.

TL;DR: I've been in a similar high-pressure situation as the OP, but was able to say "no" to the pushy trainer because I was expecting it and hope you can work it out.

WalkingAlong

I sympathize. I won't use gyms, period. I did a 30-day trial at one once and didn't read the contract. I called them and told them I decided not to proceed with joining. They said 'ok'. Turns out there is fine print that says you have to bring a written notice of not joining into the place and get the GM to sign it or something. When I asked the accountant, "This is how you make your money? By tricking people into year memberships?" She said, "Yes." I should've known better. I have a finance degree. The salesmen are slick.

Legally I was bound by the contract but I told AmEx that if they gave those slimeballs one red cent I'd cancel my account with them, and they LOVE me because I charge a lot so they make a lot of money off the retailers I shop at. So every month for about a year the fee hit my card and I hit "dispute this charge" and AmEx removed it. Finally AmEx asked me if I would be ok if they gave the gym $100 of their own money to go away. I said sure. End of story. I don't know if the gym put a black mark on my credit report but I had enough positive to never notice it, if they did.