World Gym - Cancelling Membership
a_mandolin_
Posts: 336 Member
Has anybody had to cancel a W.G. membership and how was the process? Easy? Awful?
I have heard stories of various gyms being absoutly hellish to cancel memberships. I just went through a huge pain to cancel my current membership (though we will wait and see if they actually stop billing me next month!)
So it is sad to say that I now consider the ease of cancelling a selling point in finding a gym.
I'm thinking about joining the local World Gym, but the last gym I was at said it was very easy to cancel and that was a lie. So I just want real people stories, not people trying to sell me stuff stories.
I have heard stories of various gyms being absoutly hellish to cancel memberships. I just went through a huge pain to cancel my current membership (though we will wait and see if they actually stop billing me next month!)
So it is sad to say that I now consider the ease of cancelling a selling point in finding a gym.
I'm thinking about joining the local World Gym, but the last gym I was at said it was very easy to cancel and that was a lie. So I just want real people stories, not people trying to sell me stuff stories.
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Replies
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Don't rely on what people tell you, read the contract and make sure you understand fully the cancellation clause. Many of these contracts (kind of like software EULAs) are written in a way that is (intentionally?) difficult for a lay person to understand.
It doesn't matter what the sales rep tells you, it's what's on the piece of paper you sign.0 -
I don't mean about the contract - I'm more questioning about the atmosphere of cancelling. For example, I've read several stories on here from gyms that contiue to auto charge for months. Not taking your call or calling you back when you try to sort things out, and fighting with your cc card company when you take the issue up with them.
In my current experience, it was about the gym just being a DB about the whole thing. The policy is to come in, in person, cancel and you'll be charged for one more month. What they don't tell you about is how they make you wait for an hour to talk to somebody when you can "cancel" that they send you to somebody who is too sleazy to work for a used car lot, that they then make you talk to several other managers "just to let them know what is going on" and that they all talk down to you and treat you like crap... and then treat you awful when you come into the gym for the remainder of your time there.
And while I know that type of situation would be by the gym, and not as a company whole, I find that the various locations of the same company will have the same atmosphere.
I'm a very soft spoken quiet person and quite frankly, I've been quite putt off going anywhere for the fear I'll have to go through this again. I just wanted to hear other peoples experiences cancelling with that certain gym.0 -
I told them I was moving to another city, they couldn't argue with that.0
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I told them I was moving to another city, they couldn't argue with that.
ditto.. (i actually did move to another city)
just called in, gave my membership # and canceled..
Edit: you must make sure that city you say you're moving to, doesn't have that same gym though.. haha0 -
JUST did it! I have to say OMG KILL ME NOW! Ok, first of all THEY won't talk to you about it at all. They make you speak to ABC Finance who does everything "financial" for them. ABC is rude and the most unprofessional organization I've ever had to deal with in my LIFE! We did talk to WG first. They said to write a letter to ABC stating our intention to cancel. We did. We got an auto response from them saying "we got your intent to cancel, but just because you say you're going to doesn't make it so". And yes, that's what they actually said! More back and forth....blah blah blah....We had had our membership for years and my husband got it through his work. They had a deal that it would be month to month after the initial contract. That contract was up in 2008!!! Since that time we've been month to month. Talking to ABC on the phone, as we were forced to do, they said "impossible, they haven't had month to month contracts in YEARS". We explained we signed the contract YEARS AGO!!! They said "nope, we're still going to take it out". We went to the bank and stopped the payments. We requested a copy of our contract as we couldn't find it because it was so old. They refused saying "you stopped payment and now we're going to do whatever it takes to get the money". Again, we asked for the contract. They FINALLY told us to sign up on thier site and view it online if we wanted to see it but they weren't going to send it to us. I logged on, got the contract, sent an email to them and CC'd my local WG and said FINALLY PAYMENT HAS BEEN RECIEVED....WE'RE DONE! They came back and said Ok.
Bottom line, they're serious jerks and you have to go online and get your contract and shove it in their face.
a. Go on WG site and read their cancelation policy and do what it says.
b. prepare to have your contract ready and prove that you are DONE with their sorry arses and
c. Go to your bank and stop the payments because unitl you do they'll just keep taking it out.
Here is the ABC Rude financial site: http://www.abcfinancial.com/
Here's where you can see and download your contract: www.myiclubonline.com
best of luck and may the force be with you!!!0 -
Document document document. If you talk to someone make sure you get their name, be it on the phone or in person... if you send a letter REGISTER it, they can't then say they never received the letter as someone has to sign for the registered letter and you know by the signing / registering when it was received.
I was at a gym and wound up paying the full year though i used it for 6 months and tried cancelling.. they wanted me to keep using their other locations in the city I was working in... wasn't going to happen, camp is an hour out of town and there is a free gym on-site at the camp.
Even moving doesn't always work depending on how new the contract is. If you can find a gym that is month to month rather than an annual commitment then giver.
Not that my experience was with the WG the OP asked about but cancelling a membership at a gym in general. Easiest one was a city-run gym just went in gave them a months notice and account was wrapped up.1 -
Buy a prepaid credit card at Wal-Mart or whereever, put a months worth of membership fees on it, then change your method of payment to that prepaid credit card. Cancel the contract. If they go to bill your credit card, it will be the prepaid card that you don't put anymore money on.0
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JUST did it! I have to say OMG KILL ME NOW! Ok, first of all THEY won't talk to you about it at all. They make you speak to ABC Finance who does everything "financial" for them. ABC is rude and the most unprofessional organization I've ever had to deal with in my LIFE! We did talk to WG first. They said to write a letter to ABC stating our intention to cancel. We did. We got an auto response from them saying "we got your intent to cancel, but just because you say you're going to doesn't make it so". And yes, that's what they actually said! More back and forth....blah blah blah....We had had our membership for years and my husband got it through his work. They had a deal that it would be month to month after the initial contract. That contract was up in 2008!!! Since that time we've been month to month. Talking to ABC on the phone, as we were forced to do, they said "impossible, they haven't had month to month contracts in YEARS". We explained we signed the contract YEARS AGO!!! They said "nope, we're still going to take it out". We went to the bank and stopped the payments. We requested a copy of our contract as we couldn't find it because it was so old. They refused saying "you stopped payment and now we're going to do whatever it takes to get the money". Again, we asked for the contract. They FINALLY told us to sign up on thier site and view it online if we wanted to see it but they weren't going to send it to us. I logged on, got the contract, sent an email to them and CC'd my local WG and said FINALLY PAYMENT HAS BEEN RECIEVED....WE'RE DONE! They came back and said Ok.
Bottom line, they're serious jerks and you have to go online and get your contract and shove it in their face.
a. Go on WG site and read their cancelation policy and do what it says.
b. prepare to have your contract ready and prove that you are DONE with their sorry arses and
c. Go to your bank and stop the payments because unitl you do they'll just keep taking it out.
Here is the ABC Rude financial site: http://www.abcfinancial.com/
Here's where you can see and download your contract: www.myiclubonline.com
best of luck and may the force be with you!!!
Somebody's mad. Here :flowerforyou:0 -
I told them I was moving to another city, they couldn't argue with that.
ditto.. (i actually did move to another city)
just called in, gave my membership # and canceled..
Edit: you must make sure that city you say you're moving to, doesn't have that same gym though.. haha
Same here! It was my only time cancelling a membership, it was month to month anyways. She looked like she wanted to argue but gave up and we filled out the paper work right away.0 -
I'll never join a gym again for this very reason. Slimy. Frikkin "financial corp" . Right.
The City Rec Center works fine for my needs. Pay-as-you-go.0 -
I don't mean about the contract - I'm more questioning about the atmosphere of cancelling. For example, I've read several stories on here from gyms that contiue to auto charge for months. Not taking your call or calling you back when you try to sort things out, and fighting with your cc card company when you take the issue up with them.
In my current experience, it was about the gym just being a DB about the whole thing. The policy is to come in, in person, cancel and you'll be charged for one more month. What they don't tell you about is how they make you wait for an hour to talk to somebody when you can "cancel" that they send you to somebody who is too sleazy to work for a used car lot, that they then make you talk to several other managers "just to let them know what is going on" and that they all talk down to you and treat you like crap... and then treat you awful when you come into the gym for the remainder of your time there.
And while I know that type of situation would be by the gym, and not as a company whole, I find that the various locations of the same company will have the same atmosphere.
I'm a very soft spoken quiet person and quite frankly, I've been quite putt off going anywhere for the fear I'll have to go through this again. I just wanted to hear other peoples experiences cancelling with that certain gym.
Take someone with you?0 -
Buy a prepaid credit card at Wal-Mart or whereever, put a months worth of membership fees on it, then change your method of payment to that prepaid credit card. Cancel the contract. If they go to bill your credit card, it will be the prepaid card that you don't put anymore money on.
Thats a great idea!
We signed up the YMCA, they never gave us any issues with canceling. Now i will say when we signed BACK up a month ago (last time we had a membership was 2008) we did have a past due balance of 1 month because they had billed that month when we canceled. We simply paid it and moved on. NO issues canceling or paying off the debt.0 -
ABC Financial would piss off the Pope!
Somebody's mad. Here :flowerforyou:0 -
You mean to tell me that ABC Financial is a real company? I keep getting woken up in the wee hours of the morning (4 am this morning) by a voicemail from "Eric Riley of Evolve Fitness Cambridge" telling me that my gym membership is in jeopardy because they don't have current billing information for me and that I need to call ABC Financial at 1-866-420-0769 or go to .myiclubonline.com.
BUT I DON'T HAVE A GYM MEMBERSHIP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I thought this was a crank call. I was getting ready to have my cell phone carrier block this caller. When I did a google search, this topic came up. I'm going to file a complaint with the state of Washington and with the Better Business Bureau. This has to STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!0 -
my mom was charged for almost 6 months after she cancelled her membership and that was with a doctors note saying she could no longer exercise - first they lost the note, then they lost it again, then they procrastinated on filing it with the correct person. It was a huge hassle for her.0
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my mom was charged for almost 6 months after she cancelled her membership and that was with a doctors note saying she could no longer exercise - first they lost the note, then they lost it again, then they procrastinated on filing it with the correct person. It was a huge hassle for her.
Everyone needs to REPORT these scammers and get them shut down!!!!!0 -
Buy a prepaid credit card at Wal-Mart or whereever, put a months worth of membership fees on it, then change your method of payment to that prepaid credit card. Cancel the contract. If they go to bill your credit card, it will be the prepaid card that you don't put anymore money on.
Be careful doing this. If you've signed a contract, they can still hold you accountable for the balance due and you could be sued.0 -
Train at home.0
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Moving or "moving" to another city is the way to go, I think. Not much they can say to that, though whether they continue to bill you afterwards is another matter, I guess. Might want to have a non-local friend's address available that you can give as your "new" address.
I've stopped and started a month-to-month membership at 24 Hour Fitness a few times (don't use the gym for 8 months of the year when I mostly run outside and do free weights at home) and have had no problems cancelling with them, so there's a no-hassle gym recommendation for you if you have them around.0 -
They're real...and they're evil!You mean to tell me that ABC Financial is a real company? I keep getting woken up in the wee hours of the morning (4 am this morning) by a voicemail from "Eric Riley of Evolve Fitness Cambridge" telling me that my gym membership is in jeopardy because they don't have current billing information for me and that I need to call ABC Financial at 1-866-420-0769 or go to .myiclubonline.com.
BUT I DON'T HAVE A GYM MEMBERSHIP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I thought this was a crank call. I was getting ready to have my cell phone carrier block this caller. When I did a google search, this topic came up. I'm going to file a complaint with the state of Washington and with the Better Business Bureau. This has to STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!0 -
Buy a prepaid credit card at Wal-Mart or whereever, put a months worth of membership fees on it, then change your method of payment to that prepaid credit card. Cancel the contract. If they go to bill your credit card, it will be the prepaid card that you don't put anymore money on.
Thats a great idea!
We signed up the YMCA, they never gave us any issues with canceling. Now i will say when we signed BACK up a month ago (last time we had a membership was 2008) we did have a past due balance of 1 month because they had billed that month when we canceled. We simply paid it and moved on. NO issues canceling or paying off the debt.
Agreed, great advice! I went to a few different gyms that weren't YMCA and never liked them. Sales were pushy and the atmosphere sucked.. I would honestly get a prepaid card or go to the Y. They always let you cancel, no problems, no hassle.
Also a word of further advice, read up your local provincial/state laws about cancellations. Here in Ontario, you have 10 days on any contract whether it be a cell phone or gym membership to cancel no matter what the contract states. Other places may be different or may work in your favour. It's always good to know0 -
Not sure about canceling, but I go to World Gym and don't have a contract so I'm sure it wouldn't be too difficult. Ours is running specials for pre-paid years and no contract month to month memberships. Maybe yours is too?0
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I used to belong to X-Sport Fitness, but when I canceled, I just wrote a letter to the company stating that I wished to cancel my membership and I sent it via certified mail.
After that, I haven't had any issues and they even refunded the amount that they pre-charged me since I canceled mid-month or w/e.
I bet if you look on world gyms website, it has their cancelation policy on there.0 -
I moved back home to CO in august from CA back in august.... gave them the 30 days they required, and they are STILL pulling money from my account. Tried getting them to stop repeatedly, and they haven't. Just called the only number I could find online, again. Worst experience I've ever had with a gym0
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