Fitness One

My overall rating

The ABSOLUTE worst gym I have ever been to! I joined the Fitness One facility at Main and Danforth around March '09. First off, the facility is poorly lit, has no water fountains, is dirty and some of the equipment dont work. They initially gave...   +

The ABSOLUTE worst gym I have ever been to! I joined the Fitness One facility at Main and Danforth around March '09. First off, the facility is poorly lit, has no water fountains, is dirty and some of the equipment dont work. They initially gave me a hand-written, laminated "temporary" pass, saying that I should receive the actual one "within a few months". But even after 6 months I had not gotten my actual card and kept using the "temp" one.

Due to work commitments I had to move at the end of August '09 so I went to cancel my membership knowing full well that I had to pay a cancellation fee of $150 which was fine by me since I had a contract for a year and I was terminating it early. However, the clerk helping me said that I would still be charged for September because they need a 30 day notice even though NO WHERE on the contract does it explicitly mention that I have to give them a 30 day notice.

When I asked the clerk to show me where exactly on the contract it said that I had to give them a 30 day notice she just thrust the contract in my face without finding the relevant clause, and when I insisted that she FIND it for me, it took her over 5 minutes and a phone call to Head Quarters (HQ) to find a clause in there that mentions that Fitness One will contact the member at least 30 days but no more than 90 days prior to the expiry of the membership and she used this clause as justification for charging me for September!

By their logic apparently that clause "implies" that I have to give them 30 days notice, which really makes NO sense to me. She explained how they would have to mail my cancellation forms to HQ and that would take time so it wouldnt be cancelled before Sept anyway. So by my understanding they are charging the customer for the tardiness in their processing time and when I pointed it out to the clerk, she disagreed with me and gave me the contact # for customer service. I wanted a copy of my membership contract but she wouldnt give me one because I didnt have my actual pass and its their policy not to return the contract in such cases.

I am terminating my membership early so I understand I have to pay a penalty which I was prepared to do but the way they scam one into paying for one extra month is really was the last straw and if even ONE person decides NOT to join that awful gym after reading my review I will be glad! I have prematurely canceled my membership in another gym as well (e.g. Goodlife) and their service is MUCH more professional. I will stay FAR away from Fitness One in the future.    -