Comments on: Bally Fitness (BallyFitness.com) – The Worst Fitness Center Ever!

By: zedomax

zedomax — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 19:52:16 +0000

Yes, my credit card is STILL getting charged now after 6 months of canceling. Talk about fraud.

By: samwilson112

samwilson112 — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 11:59:17 +0000

Yes, they are criminals. They will lie shamelessly to get you to sign a contract, then immediately peel off the friendly and helpful mask once you're in, and lie shamelessly again and again to keep you from terminating the contract under the guidelines they spelled out. This is not an isolated customer service problem, it is their business model.

By: zedomax

zedomax — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 22:56:39 +0000

Regardless of whatever, Bally is going down right now as we speak because they don't treat their customers right. There's nothing they can do to stop that.

By: zedomax

zedomax — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 20:56:39 +0000

Regardless of whatever, Bally is going down right now as we speak because they don't treat their customers right. There's nothing they can do to stop that.

By: Darren C

Darren C — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 03:11:15 +0000

I used to work for Ballys in seattle. I've always thought it was a poorly run company. It amazes me that they haven't gone out of business yet. It also amazes me that there hasn't been stronger consumer legislation put in place to protect consumers from abusive sales and billing practices from large companies like these. Ballys isn't the only one. LA fitness and 24 hour fitness have the same attitude of squeezing every penny they can out of members and not providing much value or quality of service in return. They also don't treat their employees very well. If I was you, I would try a chargeback on your credit card. If that doesn't work, you might sign up for prepaid legal services, and have the law firm send a letter to Ballys corporate, as well as the general manager of your location. I think your strategy of only buying one session at a time is a bit shortsighted. Most personal trainers will charge you a lot more per session if you don't pre pay for a month or more of sessions at a time. We do have to make a living. What I would recommend you do, is get personal training from a privately owned small personal training studio. If you buy training from a trainer that actually owns the business, they probably have a proven track record of success, plus they are tied to the business and won't disappear on you. Actually what you really might want to look into is one of the Crossfit locations in San Francisco.

By: zedomax

zedomax — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 05:53:06 +0000

Yup stay away period.

By: DJ

DJ — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 05:34:39 +0000

OMG! I just signed a Bally's contract on 31 May in San Antonio, TX. I have till tomorrow to cancel. Although it's a month to month contract on the national level, I'm scared to start a relationship with a company filled with unsatisfied consumers. Everyone can't be wrong. So, I will be headed to the post office later today to certify my letter to cancel my contract. I don't need the hassle. Just recovering from a transplant and want to start regaining strength, not creating unnecessary problems. Thanks for the heads up.

By: zedomax

zedomax — Fri, 29 May 2009 04:25:59 +0000

That is a relief to hear, it wasn't just me.

By: Joe Siggi

Joe Siggi — Fri, 29 May 2009 03:36:48 +0000

Ballys will close down over 100 clubs in June of 2009 and possibly shut down like Circuit City. I have some friends working at Bally in Orlando which is not far from my house. Ballys bankruptcy didnt get approved by the bankruptcy judge in May of 2009. They are lying to their employees, not paying commissions out and have kept cutting because the company has only $54 million in the bank. The debtor of Bally dont even want thier money.

spread the word, BALLY WILL SHUT DOWN. Dont join. They suck

By: shelly

shelly — Fri, 15 May 2009 14:18:57 +0000

I just moved to Duluth GA and I have to say, the Bally’s there is the worse I’ve ever seen! Nasty, dark, dingl, old, are just some of the words I will use to describe. I took a spin class Monday and it sucked so hard. The Group Exercise room is carpeted! Dingy, moldy carpet I might add. Like seriously…who has a carpeted Aerobics room? I took a yoga class in there and everytime I touched it I cringed.

I am sooooo disappointed at Bally’s. So much that I decided to join to LA fitness nearby. IMO Bally’s can kick rocks.

By: max

max — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 01:52:09 +0000

Oh thanks for the info, highly appreciated!

By: Bally Sucks dicks

Bally Sucks dicks — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 21:00:51 +0000

http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/bally-total-fitness-c183610.html

You may want to request a transcript from Los Angeles Superior Court House for case# BD478861. Although it’s a divorce case, it reveals how Riadh Hamdi, a Bally Total Fitness employee (in Huntington Park, Hollywood, Downey, and Lakewood CA) uses member information for lots of purposes including immigration scams. The case has lots of paper work, but it’s worth reading. Some of the info. will help in a law suit.

By: max

max — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 17:36:50 +0000

Great tip, will try that as last resort but I wrote this blog post because a consumer shouldn’t have to use all his/her firepower.

By: Alan Parekh

Alan Parekh — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 09:16:25 +0000

Hey Max,

Sorry to hear about the bad service. Call your credit card company and get them to reverse the payment. They will definitely reverse it for this situation. Hopefully they learn their lesson…

By: Cheryl

Cheryl — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 02:44:05 +0000

If you charged the sessions on your credit card, file a dispute with your credit card company. If you were charged for services that were not delivered, you are entitled to a refund and your credit card company is responsible for assisting you.

By: rob friedman

rob friedman — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 01:26:01 +0000

I’ve been going to the one by my house for over a year. Used a personal trainer once, have 2 more FREE sessions left. I haven’t had any real issue with mine, except a recent aesthetic change.

They just hung-up some BIG new Plasma or LCD TV’s right next to the OLD 15inch POS CRT analog ones in the Bally’s Gym where I go.

It looks tacky to say the least, but then again the whole shopping center where it is is outdated too. The building was a movie theater long ago. Anyways, it’s just another half-assed attempt to keep customers I’m sure. The two new channels are a Bally’s MTV clone, and then some other lame infomercial crap.

By: max

max — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 22:20:44 +0000

Well, yes, I am sure there’s laws for it but I figure it’s easier to get their attention on the web, at least it’s easier for me. I find it hard to believe that executives at Bally Fitness will let this go on. It seems that Bally has filed for bankruptcy twice in the last year, that might be why they are doing stuff like this. http://cozyurl.com/2964

By: Adam DoubleYou

Adam DoubleYou — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 21:29:27 +0000

good on you for A: making a post that doesnt just link to another site with almost no input from yourself, and B: taking a stand against these guys… is there no local law to say that you have been treated unfairly nd are entitled to some sort of refund? it seems completely unlawful what they have done to you.