I just received a bill from these assholes for $158.00 saying that I had an overdue balance, and that if I don't pay it in 30 days I would be sent to collections.
I have not been to this gym for FOUR years, nor did I have a membership ever! I had a personal trainer for a certain amount of sessions which I payed off and dealt with about 3 years ago.
I don't even live in the province anymore and they're still finding a way to send my parents my mail!! There is no way on earth that I owe this shitty gym any money at all!
Also, what the hell kind of accounting department do they have going after people for bills from FOUR years ago????

Bullshit Gym...NEVER sign anything there...EVER

My complaint is simiar if not identical to the other complaints I have just read on you board.

I signed up for a family membership with my husband in Feb last year. I expected to get some help in setting up a exercise program to deal with a medical condition.

First appointment was with a nice woman who informed me she was a fitness consultant. She did some computer test based on my body and said that I needed to hire a trainer. She told me the cost. I shaid that I was on a limited pension for disablity and did not have that kind of disposable income.

I stayed with the club until Dec when I asked them to cancel my membership. I was told that that was not possible because I had years contract. They said that I could put this on hold (but still get charged)
or I could transfer to my husband. So I let them add 3 months to his account. I thought that this would then be over.

We did not received any charges until May. In May we were charged
35.00. In May I also lost my credit card and had a new one issued. This ment that they couldnt charge it again. I went to the club this week to deal with the money charged in May and was told that not only were they not going to cancel the May card but they would not cancel my membership until I paid them another $126.00 in arrears that they were unable to charge my credit card.

I lost my temper and left in a huff. On my way out I told everyone in the lobby not to join the club (in a rather loud voice).

I called head office and was told the same thing, pay the money and you can cancel the membership. If not we will refer payment to a credit agency.

Is there any recourse?

Magi

I have similar complaints about this place as everyone else here. When I signed up, they made me pay two weeks in advance. Similar to last months rent. When I cancelled my membership after the one year, I was supposed to have the last two weeks free, right? HA! First of all, I spoke to Janet over the phone to cancel and she said everything was fine and done. TWO MONTHS LATER, I was still being charged. So I call to speak to Janet, and she does not return my phone calls for WEEKS. Finally I call, and almost get a little nasty, and I get to speak to Janet. She admits that she remembers speaking to me, and said she did her part by submitting a cancellation request to head office on my behalf. She says she will investgiate and call me back. It has been a month and a half, and I have still not heard from her. Good news is, the billing stopped. But, I had to cancel my credit card. I called her today and of course she is unavailable, but will call me back. Yea right. Not holding my breath.

Moral of the story, make sure you read all contracts/fine print. No matter how long it takes.

My friend got me a "free" month at premier fitness, at least that is what the women working there had said. She also said if i sign some papers i could get my friend a "free" month. So i went and signed the papers, without examining the papers of course, going on the words of the employee. About 2 months later i had found out that they had been billing my bank account 50 bucks a month. Then when i had no more money in the bank they sent me a letter in the mail informing me that i had not been making payments. Of course i had no idea what they were talking about. So they sent me copies of my bank card and the papers i signed, which the only part of the paper that was my handwriting was the signiture, they had filled in the rest after i signed, they said they would "take care of the rest", making sure i wouldnt have any second thoughts about checking the paper i had signed. So now theyre trying to bill me the money still. Heres how the scam works; They give you a tour of the place and telling you how great it is, then they tell you you can get a month free!(ya right) So they ask you for your bank card, telling you it will not be for any payment or charging you, they say its for some other non suspicious reason, so you do. Then they ask if you know any friends to give them their name and to sign a peice of paper so they can contact them and give them a month free. But after actually reading the thing i saw that it was a contract/friend contact info sheet.(they put the 2 together so it kind of disguises the fact that its a contract also.) So they have copies(proof) of your bank accout card and your signiture. So they can say you did agree to everything, but you agreed to that "free" month, but of course they will deny up and down that they said any of that. So now you know about the premier fitness scam and how they do it, and hopefully we as a pissed of nation can get those bastard scam artists off the map. I will do my part in the matter. Thank you. Also if you would like proof i will post pictures, my email is [email protected], contact me there.

We've just gotten a call today from Michelle, Stephen Walters law office. I was told that I owe them 865$ because I did not cancel my membership back in 2005. I laughed at first. I told Michelle that there was no notice of renewal, there was not even a single call. I had a one-year contract with them and they were withdrawing money from my credit card.

After one year withdrawals stopped, end of story. They call me in 2009 to tell me that I owe Premier money, give me a break. First of all, there is 2 year limitation period for smal claims court. I mentioned that to Michelle. She told me to go talk to them and I did.

After I talked to the reception, then to a manager and two other managers. They called the head office and were told the same thing I told them - 2 year limitation period on these claims and one cannot sue after 2 years period is over.

Then they said they can reduce it to $374 and give me one year free membership. That was pretty ridiculous. On FIVE occasions they asked me to give me a tour of their facilities, all at the same time when I was trying to tell them that I will never use their services again and that 'no, thank you' means just that.

At the very end they told me to give them my lawyer's contact details and that their lawyers will contact me. I just laughed at their face and left.

I'm very happy that I found this forum. On monday I will call the Law Society and consumer protection organizations. Don't believe when they threaten to take you to court. It costs $200 to start a claim in small claims court, this is without legal fees which will amount to more than one or two hundreds of dollars.
Good luck to everyone with fighting this scam.

I'll keep you updated, although I'm pretty sure that after I call Law Society, no action on their side will be taken. If someone starts a class action against Premier, I will definitely join it.