Consumer complaint received 2025-05-26 00:00:00
Product: Debt collection — Other debt
Issue: Took or threatened to take negative or legal action — Threatened or suggested your credit would be damaged
Company: Jim Bottin Enterprises, Inc
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
In between the last week of XXXX & XXXX XXXX of XXXX I went in to finally cancel my membership with XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX California since I called multiple times inquiring how to do so & they said in person works. Mind you they locked me in for 6 months if I canceled pre maturely they charged a {$50.00} cancellation fee. So I waited the 6 months out. 

I tried doing so via phone but they told me to come in * which is hard because I dont have transportation anymore * Anyway I still wound up doing so & doing what I thought canceled my membership? 
* not sure on the exact date because I assumed the employees knew what XXXXheyre doing * I spoke with an employee named XXXX who assured me that everything will be taken care of & I should get a confirmation email. 

A month goes by & I get a charge for my monthly membership still so I call & ask to speak with a manager on duty also realizing that I never got the confirmation email at the time being. I spoke with the guy who helped me cancel that day as he said he was a shift manager Or floor manager Im not sure which one. 
XXXX assured me that it was an error on their end & nothing is popping up for them. 
I didnt have money in my checking account therefore the payment returned anyway. 
A week goes by after that & I got the same charge again except it would double because of the returned payment fee. 

I then stress out & call again & asked for XXXX because he said it would be noted that I shouldnt be charged & that my membership was no longe a thing. 

He says hes not sure what happened but XXXX take care of it & not to worry. 
I trust him & think things will be resolved as he assures XXXX have my full refund within a XXXX business days. 

A week & a half go by & still nothing so I call to inquire about my refund & to speak with management or XXXX. A man named XXXX answered & had told me that XXXX XXXX in & he tried getting me to management but they were all busy I guess. 

He then asks whats its about & if he can help & looks into what I thought is a closed account via my phone number. 
& then he leaves me on hold for 15 minutes & comes back just to tell me that I will not be getting that refund that XXXX told me about back as well as my membership is active & that Id have to come in person to cancel it again as well as pay my past due balance. 

I asked why & was furious claiming Ive been told multiple times that I would receive it & that my membership was canceled. He puts me on hold again comes back & I can hear laughing going on in the background & he was having trouble talking clearly because he was the one laughing. I then just hung up & called my bank told them everything that happened & how unprofessional they are as a business & got my refund from them as well as put a block on my card for them to charge me. 

I email their customer support email XXXX & give them a timeline of things as well as letting them know how upset I am with their business practices. 
They email me back telling me that I am bound to their policies & that they are still going to be charging my account & letting it stack up with fees & that if I dont pay it that they will send it to collections. 

I respond back arguing my case & letting them know that I will be contacting you guys & a pro consumer group to report them for business malpractice. 

They then respond with this Per the terms of your agreement, your account must be current and you must provide a 30-day written notice to cancel. Therefore, you are responsible for any payments that are past due or fall within the notification period. I apologize, but we are unable to waive any scheduled invoice payments. Please send us proof about the cancellation that you've made at the club. 

Which is strange because this is the first Im hearing about a written notice to cancel my membership not only from them but any gym Ive ever been to.

The fact that their managements lack of proper training is now going to possibly be affecting my credit score due to their employees not knowing how to properly do their job doesnt sit right with me. 

I looked it up & they are notorious for doing this to countless other customers & that is something I will not stand for .. So here I am reaching out to you asking for help.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation