From: Ripped-Off@cup.portal.com (Eric J Rainbolt)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: Bally's Health Club SUCKS Read this...
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 92 18:02:57 PST
Organization: The Portal System (TM)

To whom it may concern,
 
I am writing to resolve a very hectic, and sticky situation that
I feel partially guilty for.  I am a college student and I attend
Southern Illinois University in Carbondale during the months
of August through May.
 
Last summer, when living with my parents in Evergreen Park, a
suburb of Chicago, I decided to improve my self-image and the like by
joinging Bally's Health Club in the neighboring town of Oak Lawn.
 
I was led in by a manager named Jim.  He told me all the benifits of
membership, and made me feel as much at home in the Center as possible.
He even told me that I can join at this "special time" and receive the
"Premier-Plus" membership for a low introductory fee.
 
He took me into his office, and pulled a contract out of his desk.
He spent most of his time trying to gain my trust by asking what I was
interested in, and tried to relate these things to the Center's activities.
In short, he was doing his job effectively.  He used his ball point pen
to point out important facts of the contract, and he circled the ones we went
over.  Most of the circles highlighted the benefits of membership.
 
I told him exactly what my situation was.  I said I was only going to be in
town for the next two months, and I didn't want to be liable for a full
year's membership.  ( $600.00 odd dollars ).  He said that was "no problem",
because if I showed proof that I moved more than 30 miles from the
Center, I wouldn't be held liable for any additional payments.  Now
I realize that he just told me a lie.  Or he was displaying his lack of
knowledge of the contract.  The trouble all started because I didn't
read all the 'fine print'.  One of the "un-cirlcled" portions of the contract
refered to a $50.00 cancellation fee.
 
Being a typical college student, and with little experience in dealing
big corporations, and contracts in general, I neglected to send the
required documentation to Bally's Headquarters in Dearborn Michigan.
The paperwork requires at least 2 utility bills with my
distant address on them, proof of changing the address on my driver's
licence and/or a copy of my current lease, and a letter from my landlord
stating that I do indeed live in a trailer park in Southern Illinois.
 
Well pretty soon into the new semester, a recovery service, N.R.S.
( National Recovery Service ) was paying my mother some calls, threatening
her to reveal my present location, or my credit would be ruined and
they would seek legal action.  Not intimidated by losers of that sort, my
mother kept my phone number confidential.  Via my mother, I found out
about this problem, and within a week's time I was talking to somebody
in Dearborn Michigan about my account.
 
the first conversation went something like this:
 
"Well, sir...  Let me check. ( Long Pause )...  Yes sir, it is a state
law that you pay the $50.00 cancellation fee.  It is required in
your state."
 
"You have to be kidding, I never heard of anything so preposterous.  I was
never informed of this.  The manager at the Club never told me."
 
"Yes, but it IS in the CONTRACT, in plain black and white."
 
"Can I talk to someone a little higher up in the organization, like
the people who train Club manager's for instance."
 
"Sorry, sir, I can't give out that information."
 
So I said thank you, and called Jim at the health club.  I told him
him of my misunderstanding of the contract and asked him for assistance.
He told me directly that he was unaware of any $50.00 dollar cancellation
fee, but he has heard of other problems like this in the past.  He thought
it was probably a percentage of my unpaid balance.  He seemed like a very
nice guy, but all that excercising might have jumbled a few of his
marbles around.  Knowing that he could offer me nothing but more confusion,
I called back Bally Headquarter's again...  Again, I got nowhere.  The
operators simply didn't have the knowledge or the authority to help me.
 
Being reminded of the situation by having a conversation with a worker
at my trailer park.  I needed to talk to someone at Bally's again.  She
was telling me of her sister getting screwed over by Bally's Health Club.
Apparently, her sister got in the same mess I was in, but she just
didn't move out of town - she moved to IRELAND, and was still forced
to pay up her contract in full.  All $600.00 odd dolars of it.  That
concerened me...
 
Also being constantly stressed out by those credit bandits at the
N.R.S., I decided to call the Club again at 1-800-448-4993.  This time
I talked to a guy named Mike.  He seemed very knowledgable, willing
to listen to my situation.  I was so fed up, and even though I am
broke, I decided it would be worth my while to pay up the 50 big ones.
 
He said everything would be cool if I sent away the $50.00 bucks right
away in certified mail.  Feeling a tad bit relieved I gained the
confidence to call the N.R.S. myself.  With my account exceeding the
30 days the N.R.S. gives its bad creditors, I was transfered up the
ranks of money bullies.  This man was incedibly manipulative, and
offered me no sympathy, and he tried to control my actions and make me
pay up immediately or suffer great conseqeunces.  He also said, I now owe
$162.54, and the $50.00 bucks wouldn't cut it anymore.  I asked him
who was going to get the extra $112.54, and how did they come up with that
huge some of money.  He kept evading the question, and kept trying to
snake charm my credit card out of my wallet.  I figured he was trying
to rip me off, and keep the extra cash himself, or at least get a cut
of it from the N.R.S., so I decidied to think it over.
 
I hung up on him, and called Bally Headquarters.  After a long wait, I
was talking to Mike again. This time he checked with his superiors, and
told me that guy was just trying to scare money out of me, and that Bally
would take care of everything once "they" received my fifty bucks.
 
I am now sending the letter out, and the fifty bucks to Bally in
hopes of clearing up this matter for once and for all.
 
I hope that I haven't been misled again, and this will clear up
matters once and for all.  I also hope that snakes who work at
recovery services burn in hell, but that is a longer story...
 
Eric Rainbolt
 
If you want to blow some steam, the guy's name at
NRS is Mr. Carpel....  1-800-638-1007

Any similar experiences out there?