Bally Total Fitness/LA Fitness takeover

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  • protect_your_rights
    protect_your_rights Posts: 17
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    Heidi1558

    Where did you logged in at the Bally Fitness site or the La Fitness site? I tried to log in at LA Fitness site and cannot log in. The Bally Fitness site is still Bally, they did not sell all the clubs just in some areas. So where exactly are you logging in into?
    They sold 171 of 271 clubs so depending where you are...there's a good chance yours is one of them (I'm in Michigan and they were all sold out). I went to the LA FItness site, then clicked on the announcement in the middle of the home page and followed the "verify your account" link., but if you go to the Bally's site and click login..it will also direct you to the LA Fitness login, then you have to put in your info (there's no place where you're agreeing to any fees or anything).

    http://www.lafitness.com/Pages/Announcement.aspx

    Thanks!!! OK, did that and was able to register, and now I also see the amount due in 6/2012 is $49.00 in billing info, but under payment and prepayment 0....wondering if I should pre-paid this now to try to lock in another year? Does anybody have any info if pre-payment now would lock in another year. Thanks
  • kwadguy
    kwadguy Posts: 12
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    I am getting screwed by this takeover.

    I have an old "Gold" membership, originally sold by Jack LaLanne, before they were taken over by Bally's. Good for $60/year membership for a lifetime, use any club, any time. Now, that card was originally purchased at a club in New Brunswick, NJ. But I've been using Bally's in Massachusetts, where I live, for the past 18 years. That's where my bills for Bally's come. That's where I attend the gym.

    I just notice that my membership is transferring to LA Fitness because my "Home Club" is turning into a LA Fitness. Great. There isn't a LA FItness anywhere near me that's convenient--none of the Bally's in my state are changing to LA Fitness.

    I emailed Bally's to tell them I don't want to be transferred--but of course I'll never get a reply.

    This totally sucks.

    I can't seem to log into either Bally's today (site doesn't respond) or LA Fitness (doesn't seem to accept my name/phone/zip info).

    Double suckage.

    It seems like Bally's shouldn't be able to transfer you to LA FItness if your defacto "Home Gym", the one nearest to your billing zipcode and the one you've been attending for years, is not changing. But even if I have a case, I am assuming it'll never be worth the hassle...
  • Hellbent_Heidi
    Hellbent_Heidi Posts: 3,669 Member
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    I am getting screwed by this takeover.

    I have an old "Gold" membership, originally sold by Jack LaLanne, before they were taken over by Bally's. Good for $60/year membership for a lifetime, use any club, any time. Now, that card was originally purchased at a club in New Brunswick, NJ. But I've been using Bally's in Massachusetts, where I live, for the past 18 years. That's where my bills for Bally's come. That's where I attend the gym.

    I just notice that my membership is transferring to LA Fitness because my "Home Club" is turning into a LA Fitness. Great. There isn't a LA FItness anywhere near me that's convenient--none of the Bally's in my state are changing to LA Fitness.

    I emailed Bally's to tell them I don't want to be transferred--but of course I'll never get a reply.

    This totally sucks.

    I can't seem to log into either Bally's today (site doesn't respond) or LA Fitness (doesn't seem to accept my name/phone/zip info).

    Double suckage.

    It seems like Bally's shouldn't be able to transfer you to LA FItness if your defacto "Home Gym", the one nearest to your billing zipcode and the one you've been attending for years, is not changing. But even if I have a case, I am assuming it'll never be worth the hassle...
    Be sure to stop any auto payments you might have coming off a credit card or something. I'm concerned about the home club issue too actually. I'm getting the feeling that the run-down old 'home club' is the only one I'm going to be allowed to use, (unless I pay more to join LA) because that's where it was bought, even though the location I've been using daily is closing and is right near a brand-new LA Fitness..ugh! Of course, I'd rather hit the new one than be limited to the old nasty place.

    I'm shopping around a little already, and trying to keep an open mind, but have a feeling they're going to screw me out of my cheap membership one way or another!
  • kwadguy
    kwadguy Posts: 12
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    Be sure to stop any auto payments you might have coming off a credit card or something. I'm concerned about the home club issue too actually. I'm getting the feeling that the run-down old 'home club' is the only one I'm going to be allowed to use, (unless I pay more to join LA) because that's where it was bought, even though the location I've been using daily is closing and is right near a brand-new LA Fitness..ugh! Of course, I'd rather hit the new one than be limited to the old nasty place.

    I'm shopping around a little already, and trying to keep an open mind, but have a feeling they're going to screw me out of my cheap membership one way or another!

    I, fortunately, never did the electronic auto-payment thing. Actually, a couple of months ago, they made me some sort of offer to try to induce me to go that route--but I didn't bite. Actually, the offer they made was pretty good: They'd upgrade me to a Bally <whatever they call their premium clubs> membership if I went electronic. But I heard so many horror stories about electronic payments that I declined.

    I wish that the Home Club associated with my membership were just run down. It might be--I've never been there, and it's about 8 hours and several states away, so I'll never find out. But I'd take a run down club over no club (of use to me).
  • Hellbent_Heidi
    Hellbent_Heidi Posts: 3,669 Member
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    I, fortunately, never did the electronic auto-payment thing. Actually, a couple of months ago, they made me some sort of offer to try to induce me to go that route--but I didn't bite. Actually, the offer they made was pretty good: They'd upgrade me to a Bally <whatever they call their premium clubs> membership if I went electronic. But I heard so many horror stories about electronic payments that I declined.

    I wish that the Home Club associated with my membership were just run down. It might be--I've never been there, and it's about 8 hours and several states away, so I'll never find out. But I'd take a run down club over no club (of use to me).
    Yeah, if I can keep my rate for a while, I'll do the run-down club for now...better than paying $60 a month somewhere else I guess..ugh! It just sucks in general when you're used to a certain club and like the people and everything. Nothing I can do about it though...
  • kwadguy
    kwadguy Posts: 12
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    It seems to me that if you have a Bally's membership, your membership agreement is with Bally's, not with the club at which you signed papers. If your membership offers use of ALL Bally's clubs, then the sale of the club at which you purchased the membership does not void the contract you have with Bally's. The closure/sale of a particular Bally's club merely means that "all" refers to a less extensive list.
  • Hellbent_Heidi
    Hellbent_Heidi Posts: 3,669 Member
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    It seems to me that if you have a Bally's membership, your membership agreement is with Bally's, not with the club at which you signed papers. If your membership offers use of ALL Bally's clubs, then the sale of the club at which you purchased the membership does not void the contract you have with Bally's. The closure/sale of a particular Bally's club merely means that "all" refers to a less extensive list.
    Well, that's the argument I plan to use..because my LA Fitness account shows the 'home club' and says something about that being the one I can use my membership at. There's an LAF person on site my my preferred location this week though (they're closing next week), so I'll try to find out more tomorrow.
  • Elyssa_38
    Elyssa_38 Posts: 36 Member
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    if you go to l.a fitness website it states that all members contracts will be honored. for both l.a and ballys. i would suggest you read more details on their website. i was planning on signing up today lol so lets see what the new deal is.
  • kbarry64
    kbarry64 Posts: 2
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    I have the Bally's Gold Charter membership with $5 fixed annual renewal that was paid until 1/15/2014. My "HOME" club was sold to LA Fitness, so supposidly so was my membership. Logged into LA Fitness and it says my membership will be cancelled 2/2/2012. I called LA Fitness, and they said too bad, they would not be honoring my contract. Robert (employee ID 1836353) actually said "Does you contract say LA Fitness, then too bad, we're not honoring it." That's verbatim. I tried to explain to him that I have an actual written and signed contract but he actually just kept saying "Does it say LA Fitness" like a mantra. When I asked to speak to his supervisor, he said he's a manager and there's noone else I can speak to. When I insisted, he refused.

    I called Bally's, and they just said that even though my contract said I could use any club, it is transferrable, and because my "HOME" club was sold, my contract was sold with it. He didn't know why LA Fitness wouldn't be honoring the term of my contract, but there was nothing they could do.

    So, I've filed complaints with the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office and the Better Business Bureau. I'll update if I hear anything.
  • Hellbent_Heidi
    Hellbent_Heidi Posts: 3,669 Member
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    if you go to l.a fitness website it states that all members contracts will be honored. for both l.a and ballys. i would suggest you read more details on their website. i was planning on signing up today lol so lets see what the new deal is.
    Here's their statement:
    "Our objective in general is to make this transition as easy as possible for both the members and employees. We will be servicing all of the membership agreements that were acquired from Bally. The majority of the acquired clubs will remain open, but some will be closing before the end of the year. If we close a facility, we will transfer those members’ agreements to a nearby facility, either an acquired Bally or an LA Fitness. We plan to add new equipment to many of the clubs, and we also have plans to remodel, expand or relocate a number of the clubs to larger and newer facilities"

    It says they are "servicing" the agreements, which IMO, leaves some gray areas...especially where they say if your location is closed, they'll transfer your membership "to a nearby facility"...not into the general "use any area club" type of membership. If you were with Bally's and login to set up an LAF account it says a lot more. Here's the disclaimer at the top of my account page:

    Your Membership Access:
    - If you hold a One Club Bally membership the club you can use is shown at the bottom of this page
    - Local Club access is still local club Bally plus the club listed below (home club - where membership was purchased)
    - National Club access is still national club Bally access
    - Whether local or national, it’s only to the Bally clubs acquired by Fitness International

    Additional Membership Access In December
    We want to welcome you by inviting you to use all of the LA Fitness clubs across the country, including our Signature clubs, during the entire month of December. This will give you an opportunity to see and experience what we have to offer. Your regular membership access will resume in January.

    So, once January comes around, we can only use the former Bally's (acquired) locations, and if they all close..I'm willing to bet they'll try to make us pay more.
  • Hellbent_Heidi
    Hellbent_Heidi Posts: 3,669 Member
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    I have the Bally's Gold Charter membership with $5 fixed annual renewal that was paid until 1/15/2014. My "HOME" club was sold to LA Fitness, so supposidly so was my membership. Logged into LA Fitness and it says my membership will be cancelled 2/2/2012. I called LA Fitness, and they said too bad, they would not be honoring my contract. Robert (employee ID 1836353) actually said "Does you contract say LA Fitness, then too bad, we're not honoring it." That's verbatim. I tried to explain to him that I have an actual written and signed contract but he actually just kept saying "Does it say LA Fitness" like a mantra. When I asked to speak to his supervisor, he said he's a manager and there's noone else I can speak to. When I insisted, he refused.

    I called Bally's, and they just said that even though my contract said I could use any club, it is transferrable, and because my "HOME" club was sold, my contract was sold with it. He didn't know why LA Fitness wouldn't be honoring the term of my contract, but there was nothing they could do.

    So, I've filed complaints with the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office and the Better Business Bureau. I'll update if I hear anything.
    WOW..what a jerk!

    I'm sure your $5 fixed annual renewal is 100% WHY they aren't honoring it. My suspicion is that they'll eventually close all the former Bally's locations in my area and then they'll use that to push us "lifetime members" out, or try to get us to sign on for high monthly rates. There are a lot of people paying very low annual fees at Bally's, and from a business perspective, it makes sense they don't want us...but still sucks!

    Good luck with your complaint. Unfortunately, I've read a lot of complaints about LA Fitness in the last couple of days (then again, there were a lot about Bally's too, and I never had an issue there).
  • kwadguy
    kwadguy Posts: 12
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    I have the Bally's Gold Charter membership with $5 fixed annual renewal that was paid until 1/15/2014. My "HOME" club was sold to LA Fitness, so supposidly so was my membership. Logged into LA Fitness and it says my membership will be cancelled 2/2/2012. I called LA Fitness, and they said too bad, they would not be honoring my contract. Robert (employee ID 1836353) actually said "Does you contract say LA Fitness, then too bad, we're not honoring it." That's verbatim. I tried to explain to him that I have an actual written and signed contract but he actually just kept saying "Does it say LA Fitness" like a mantra. When I asked to speak to his supervisor, he said he's a manager and there's noone else I can speak to. When I insisted, he refused.

    I called Bally's, and they just said that even though my contract said I could use any club, it is transferrable, and because my "HOME" club was sold, my contract was sold with it. He didn't know why LA Fitness wouldn't be honoring the term of my contract, but there was nothing they could do.

    So, I've filed complaints with the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office and the Better Business Bureau. I'll update if I hear anything.

    That bites. It doesn't seem legal, either.

    Here's a question for you: Have you tried to use your membership card today at a Bally's? Are they turning people away who have these memberships?
  • Hellbent_Heidi
    Hellbent_Heidi Posts: 3,669 Member
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    Here's a question for you: Have you tried to use your membership card today at a Bally's? Are they turning people away who have these memberships?
    Yes, I worked out this morning. The usual Bally's front desk guy was at my location along with a chick from LAF. They didn't scan our cards at all...but the guy there knows most of us by name. My location is closing, so they were talking to people about being able to use the LAF down the road for December, and were posting the hours for the last few days of my club. They did tell people just to use their Bally's card at the LAF for December (after which point, I'm sure they'll be working on selling us new memberships)

    I suppose it all depends if your club is closing, but I think for now at least, the Bally's cards will be fine in all locations.
  • kbarry64
    kbarry64 Posts: 2
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    I have the Bally's Gold Charter membership with $5 fixed annual renewal that was paid until 1/15/2014. My "HOME" club was sold to LA Fitness, so supposidly so was my membership. Logged into LA Fitness and it says my membership will be cancelled 2/2/2012. I called LA Fitness, and they said too bad, they would not be honoring my contract. Robert (employee ID 1836353) actually said "Does you contract say LA Fitness, then too bad, we're not honoring it." That's verbatim. I tried to explain to him that I have an actual written and signed contract but he actually just kept saying "Does it say LA Fitness" like a mantra. When I asked to speak to his supervisor, he said he's a manager and there's noone else I can speak to. When I insisted, he refused.

    I called Bally's, and they just said that even though my contract said I could use any club, it is transferrable, and because my "HOME" club was sold, my contract was sold with it. He didn't know why LA Fitness wouldn't be honoring the term of my contract, but there was nothing they could do.

    So, I've filed complaints with the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office and the Better Business Bureau. I'll update if I hear anything.

    That bites. It doesn't seem legal, either.

    Here's a question for you: Have you tried to use your membership card today at a Bally's? Are they turning people away who have these memberships?

    Oh no, I'm quite sure it's not legal. That would be like a bank selling your mortgage to another bank, and having the new bank say they were not going to honor the terms of the contract, and raise your rate on you. I think they figure most people won't bother with the hassle of pursuing it.
  • protect_your_rights
    protect_your_rights Posts: 17
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    I have the Bally's Gold Charter membership with $5 fixed annual renewal that was paid until 1/15/2014. My "HOME" club was sold to LA Fitness, so supposidly so was my membership. Logged into LA Fitness and it says my membership will be cancelled 2/2/2012. I called LA Fitness, and they said too bad, they would not be honoring my contract. Robert (employee ID 1836353) actually said "Does you contract say LA Fitness, then too bad, we're not honoring it." That's verbatim. I tried to explain to him that I have an actual written and signed contract but he actually just kept saying "Does it say LA Fitness" like a mantra. When I asked to speak to his supervisor, he said he's a manager and there's noone else I can speak to. When I insisted, he refused.

    I called Bally's, and they just said that even though my contract said I could use any club, it is transferrable, and because my "HOME" club was sold, my contract was sold with it. He didn't know why LA Fitness wouldn't be honoring the term of my contract, but there was nothing they could do.

    So, I've filed complaints with the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office and the Better Business Bureau. I'll update if I hear anything.

    Wow that does suck for you...I guess they will honor the $49 per year member but not the $5.00, so you are right in reporting them. I suspect that although they are not yet cancelling the $49 a year, at one point they will try to squeeze more money out of us....you should try to get a bunch of others in your position to fight them.....as if you have a binding contract with Bally's and LAFitness buys the contract, then they are bound by the contract. Keep us posted. Thanks
  • protect_your_rights
    protect_your_rights Posts: 17
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    I have the Bally's Gold Charter membership with $5 fixed annual renewal that was paid until 1/15/2014. My "HOME" club was sold to LA Fitness, so supposidly so was my membership. Logged into LA Fitness and it says my membership will be cancelled 2/2/2012. I called LA Fitness, and they said too bad, they would not be honoring my contract. Robert (employee ID 1836353) actually said "Does you contract say LA Fitness, then too bad, we're not honoring it." That's verbatim. I tried to explain to him that I have an actual written and signed contract but he actually just kept saying "Does it say LA Fitness" like a mantra. When I asked to speak to his supervisor, he said he's a manager and there's noone else I can speak to. When I insisted, he refused.

    I called Bally's, and they just said that even though my contract said I could use any club, it is transferrable, and because my "HOME" club was sold, my contract was sold with it. He didn't know why LA Fitness wouldn't be honoring the term of my contract, but there was nothing they could do.

    So, I've filed complaints with the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office and the Better Business Bureau. I'll update if I hear anything.

    That bites. It doesn't seem legal, either.

    Here's a question for you: Have you tried to use your membership card today at a Bally's? Are they turning people away who have these memberships?

    Oh no, I'm quite sure it's not legal. That would be like a bank selling your mortgage to another bank, and having the new bank say they were not going to honor the terms of the contract, and raise your rate on you. I think they figure most people won't bother with the hassle of pursuing it.

    Exactly...they don't want to deal with the $5 a year deal....but they may legally have to.
  • protect_your_rights
    protect_your_rights Posts: 17
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    So, once January comes around, we can only use the former Bally's (acquired) locations, and if they all close..I'm willing to bet they'll try to make us pay more.

    They are not going to pay $550 million and then close all locations. That would not make any sense. They may close a few if close to an existing LAFitness, but if they do, they would have to transfer you to a home club of their own. that is what they are saying...So far the only people that are getting screwed are the $5 per year lifetime. ...I would not worry about them closing many locations, they are paying $550 million to acquire them.
  • siameez
    siameez Posts: 2
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    I joined Bally's (originally American Fitness) in FL in the 80's, so my "Home" club is in Tampa, and that was sold to LA Fitness. I moved out of FL and I'm currently in western NY using one of the un-sold Bally's. Will my card work anymore?? :frown: Will Bally's let me in, now that my "Home" club is a LAF, even though I've been going to this Bally's for years? There are no LAF in this part of the state... And I'm paid up with Bally's to 12/2012, $48 per year... ****, I guess I'll have to go to Planet Fitness for $10/mo or can I transfer my "Home" club to the Bally's I'm using here in Rochester??

    I always thought that $48/year was too good to last forever...
  • Elyssa_38
    Elyssa_38 Posts: 36 Member
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    ahh this really sucks for everyonee i hope l.a fitness rates improve dammit
  • Hellbent_Heidi
    Hellbent_Heidi Posts: 3,669 Member
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    ahh this really sucks for everyonee i hope l.a fitness rates improve dammit
    I'm not sure they're too bad compared to some other places. I'm looking forward to checking one out next week after my club closes...its supposed to be nice. I guess its $30 a month average, which is a huge increase for us $50 a year or less folks, but some of the other good full-service clubs in my area are getting around $59 a month...yikes!

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