Fitness first- advice appreciated

josephine82

Hi all

I joined Fitness first in Beckenham on Saturday 4th June.
I paid upfront for June's membership.
I was offered 2 choices at joining- a £30 admin fee, or pay for a service called 'bodyfirst' which was 3 personal training sessions, and then if you went to the gym 20 times in the first 8 weeks, you got your £54.95 back.

I thought the bodyfirst sounded a good deal as I go to the gym enough to get the money back, and thought I would benefit from the personal trainer sessions.

I had 1 personal trainer session, where the trainer told me how unfit, overweight and unhealthy I was (I'm normal BMI, good blood pressure and average body fat!) and then said that my previous exersise was not doing me any good and that I should do everything differently- I didn't get any chance to talk about my goals or what I wanted out of the gym.

At the end of the session he handed me a price list and said to let him know what I wanted to do. I asked about my further 2 free sessions and he said that these were only included if you signed up to a personal training package.

I left feeling a bit conned and went home to read my contract. It explictly says that you get 3 personal training sessions so I wasn't sure why the trainer had lied to me.

Anyway, at 4pm the next day I get a text message from the trainer asking if I was ready to sign up and offering me a good deal 'but I wasn't to mention it to anyone at Fitness First'.

By this point I was pretty hacked off and decided to make use of the 10 day cancellation period for the membership. On the 8th June I filled out a form and handed it in - including my complaint about the personal trainer- and they said someone would contact me about the refund of the fees paid to date (as per the t's & c's of the contract).

The general manager phoned me the next day and apologised for the behaviour of the trainer and confirmed that the membership manager would call me to discuss the cancellation and the refund of all my fees paid. To date I've had no further contact with them. I've called every day to speak to someone about membership and that person is never there and they never call me back. I have been in 3 times and the membership person has always gone home and the general manager only works 9-5. They don't reply to their email address.

Where do I stand? I've noticed they have set up the direct debit on my current account (which I've promptly cancelled) but they owe me for my membership fees that I paid for the rest of June and for the Bodyfirst service.

I guess the next step is to put in a formal complaint with their Head office? Or take a day off work and set up camp outside the membership managers door?? :rotfl:

Any advice much appreciated.
I'd heard horror stories about them but they were the only gym that wasn't horrificly expensive near to me.

Thanks
Jo