Anonymous
map-marker Grand Rapids, Michigan

Membership Review

I decided to cancel my plan after 3 days of signing up and they are still trying to charge me the activation fee. They told me that there is a fee to cancel my plan. DON'T GO TO FAMILY FITNESS. There is no 30 day guarantee there isn't even a 3 day guarantee
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Reason of review:
Warranty issue
Anonymous
map-marker Sparta, Wisconsin

Lifestyle Family Fitness - Broken Gym Equipment Review from Sparta, Wisconsin

This is a horrible money pit scam!! The gym is always dirty with broke equipment. The staff is rude and unprofessional. The worst part is the you literally can NOT get out of their contracts. There's no real corporate number it's a local and the employee told me it's corporate. They only give you an email and never respond to. They checked the automatic renewal without my permission. I just want out of this nightmare. Do yourself a favor read the reviews EVERYWHERE it's all the same.
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brianna p Fjg
map-marker Tampa, Florida

Lifestyle Family Fitness: Extremely poor customer service

I signed up for a gym membership with lifestyle family fitness on january 25th 2012. It was during the promotion of the 30 day money back guarantee, if I was dissatisfied with the gym I could cancel it in the month and receive a full refund. The sales rep at the gym in tampa, Keith, neglected to tell me that the refund was only valid if you checked into the gym at least once a week for that month. At the time of signing up, he told me that I would not be charged until february. He said, " basically you have a week and a half to try out the gym for free, until you are charged for it." Sounded like I didn't have to pay anything up front, and there was no cancellation fees, so I figured why not take advantage of a good opportunity. I found out my credit card was charged the day that I signed up and it was recently charged again on feb 13th. When I found this out, I decided to call the gym and give them a heads up that I wanted to cancel my membership. I had only visited the gym once since signing up for the membership, since I work 9am to 9pm everyday, I do not have much time to visit the gym. I left a message for the manager who was not present when I called, He never called me back. So I called the gym again the next day asking for the manager and he was still not there, so the lady at the desk told me to call the corporate office. I did and they were the ones that explained the policy of the 30 day refund. Not happy I called the tampa office in which I signed up and left another message for the manager. 3 days later I spoke to the manager, Anthony, and explained the situation and how his employee had failed to explain the conditions of the contract to me, that it was required to check in once a week for the thirty days to receive a refund and also, that the day I signed up, he told me I would not be charged until February. Anthony told me that it was impossible that the sales rep, Keith, had mentioned that I would not be charged the day I was there, and said, " well what did you think he was doing when he ran your credit card and you signed it, obviously you were being charged for something." I guess that they couldn't have done that just to get my credit card information for their records so they could bill me when I was told they would. Needless to say, he blamed all of the miscommunication on me and made me feel very ***. He was rude and lacked good managerial skills. After this I called the corporate office again explaining that I want to cancel the membership, I did not want to be charged any more money for not using it. Then they told me that if I do that, I will be charged for next month as well because they have a 60 day cancellation notice. This again was new information to me. Keith had never mentioned any of this to me when I signed the contract, he told me I could cancel at any time and there would be no cancellation fee. I told the corporate office that none of this was explained to me, but again there was nothing they could do about it, they told me it was all in the contract that I signed (which they never gave me a copy of). So I asked them to send me a copy of the contract, in which it was stated. But despite being in the contract, the sales rep who was selling the membership to me should have went over this information with me before I had agreed to the terms. They again did not offer me any help with the situation, they just told me that there is nothing that they can do about it. So now I am stuck paying $115.53 for using a gym one time. I am disgusted that they do not try to work with the customers. I would think that they would try to satisfy their customers, to keep a good reputation and want people to come back to their gym, but I guess all of this means nothing to them, all they want is your money, any way they can get it. If I had known all of this, I never would have signed the contract and got a membership for this gym. They have extremely poor customer service, and they do not train their employees to disclose all of the information that is in the contract with their potential customers. I would definitely not recommend this gym to anybody. I am extremely disgusted.
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Loss:
$115
Anonymous
map-marker Tampa, Florida

Beware - Lifestyle doesn't care

The Lifestyle gym we belonged to closed and they transferred us to another Lifestyle gym. They threw out my fitness records and eliminated the "circuit" fitness machines. This gym is not clean and the people at the desk only know how to check you in. They let me quit after charging 2 months dues. I requested an exception to the policy because they closed our gym by email and certified letter. No response and the charges were not refunded. If you are in Bradenton go across the street to GoFit to a nice gym and not nearly as expensive. Beware!
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Anonymous
map-marker Manhattan, New York

Lifestyle family fitness sold my membership to Golds

My LFF closed last fall and they sold all of our memberships to the Gold's gym down the street. I'm guessing this was actually in the contract, that I originally signed with them many years ago. However, I don't thinik they should be able to just transfer your membership to another company who starts automatically drawing on your bank account without any approval from you. I don't think Gold's should've participated in this transaction either. But I can't say I blame them for not turning down money that is being handed to them. Needless to say I am not a member of either gym now, I joined a private gym. I was a member of LFF from 1994 -****, sad that they don't feel any loyalty to their long term members!!! And I used my membership, I'm a fitness/figure competitor and you can bet I will tell everyone I know, that both LFF and Gold's are just after your money and don't care if you live or die as long as they get their money!!!
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Anonymous
map-marker Mchenry, Illinois

Lifestyle Family Fitness charged Club Enhancement fee after cancelling

We joined Lefestyle Family Fitness in Bradenton, Florida in September of last year. We resigned from Lifestyle Family Fitness on February 8th of this year. They deducted our last monthly membership fee on February 27th. Then on March 27th, they charged us $56.28 as a Club Enhancement Fee. They refuse to refund the $56.28, despite our repeated requests. Furthermore, in February, this club permanently closed the sauna, steam room, whirlpool and swimming pool. This was done without any notice to the members. If this company is at all concerned with customer satisfaction, they should refund the $56.28 without delay.
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Lifestyle V
map-marker Kissimmee, Florida

Lifestyle Family Fitness

I cancelled my account back in November and was told all charges were covered at that time. Spoke to two different people to do that transaction. Got a bill in December called to clarify was told that my cancellation was on file and that that bill was probably a mistake. Got a call from Lifestyle in January stating they were unable to process my payment with my crd on file. I told them when I cancelled I asked all fees becovered and was told they were. Not only that I CALLED after receiving the bill a month later and was TOLD that the cancellation was on file and that the bill was probably a MISTAKE! These people claimed they had no record of that call or that the account was paid in full upon cancellation and toldme I still had to pay that fees plus the charges associated with not being able to access my card. Spoke to a person who claimed they were the manager and said she could not access the file that recorded my my call after cancellation. These people are pathetic and seek to rip you off every chance they get STAY AWAY FROM THEM!!!
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1 comment
Guest

Holidays season is here! You should not take family fitness for granted.

It is very depressing when I see parents who are unaware about the threat of unhealthy foods to their children.

As parents, they should take the responsibility of providing the best nutrition to their children. Preventing obesity will surely decrease the cases of diabetes and heart disease in the future.

Anonymous
map-marker Wyoming, Michigan

Pissed off at trying to cancel my membership

I had been trying to cancel my lifestyle family fitness membership for at least 3-4 months. Everytime i attempted to call either the 1-888 phone number, or the 1-800 number, I was placed on eternal hold.....never to reach a live person even after 20-30 minutes of holding. Then in Nov. I finally reached a live person who then cancelled my membership. However, she did not explain that I would be charged for another month and that I would be allowed to enter the facilities through a period of 60 days, or until the membership was cancelled. Today, after seeing that I was charged again in Dec., while thinking that my membership would have been cancelled effective the 20th of Nov., I was informed that The policy read that I needed to given them 60 days notice. How could I if you cannot contact them by email or speak to a live person without being placed on eternal hold. I am outraged, and I think Lifestyle Family Fitness sucks.
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Anonymous
map-marker Indianapolis, Indiana

Terrible termination policy and Rude member service

Called to Terminate my membership on June 27 and was told I would still have to Pay again end of July and keep my membership 60 days after that even though I followed policy of calling before the end of the month. They clearly care a lot more about making money than making people healthy and happy. They were not helpful at all or reasonable about why they want members to leave their club frustrated and unhappy and insisted that they were right and we were not. The club in general was fine most of the time although the front staff was not usually very friendly.
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2 comments
Guest

Sorry Sizzurp, maybe you should wiat until you have all the facts. These people will rob you blind.

I gave written written notice in advance at the Raleigh branch. Somewhere my notice got lost between the Raleigh center and their corporate office and they kept billing me. I provided a photocopy of my termination notice and all they did was charge me a late fee for not paying them what I did not owe. When I spoke to my bank about their fraudulent billing practices, my bank said that they were known in the industry for cheating people.

The bank said that! Eventually to stop the collection calls I sent payment with a note on the check saying that if they cashed it they were confirming that they do not care about customers and that they cheat people. They cashed it.

In court that would constitution an admission. There are better gyms that won't cheat you.

Guest

You're ***. You didn't have to pay twice.

Everything that you are complaining about is simply described in the agreement that you signed. Now if you were smart and just cancelled a few days before your scheduled bill date, everything would have been fine. Don't shoot your mouth off about a fantastic company until you know all your facts.

They made you feel like you were wrong because you are wrong. Ever think of that ?

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Madonna B Euk
map-marker Washington, District Of Columbia

Do not sign with Lifestyle Family Fitness

I have been fighting since July of 2010 to be released from the hold of a company that claims not to have a contract. Lifestyle Family Fitness was the only facility I found near the University Area of Charlotte NC that did not lock you in to an annual contract- as I did not plan to be in the area very long. I would have been better off joining a different facility. LFF takes first and last month's membership fees upfront with a guarantee that if you have to back out- you will be released without a problem. I decided to leave the gym in July of 2010. I called the number given to me from the gym. The person on the phone sent me an email that I replied to. I spoke to someone on the phone again who said that my account would need to be drafted a final time- which went against what I was told to start with. I didnt fight this. Somehow that final payment was for September not August for whatever reason and I didnt dispute this. Long story short. This company drafted my account several times since then and still claim that I owe a balance. I changed bank cards and LFF still found a way to access my bank account. I have tried to get my money back with no success and the staff at LFF are terribly condescending and not helpful. Even the people answering the phone claim to be managers but will give your information to a a "manager" when you ask to speak to their bosses. Its exhausting. I am in the customer service business and I deal with people's livelihoods and money on a daily basis. I would never treat people the way that this organization has been treating me. I strongly advise anyone to never attend or sign up for this facility. Choose someone else by all means. They are frauds. Not just the Charlotte location but all of them. Beware! Home office is located: Lifestyle Family Fitness 140 Fountain Pkwy-Suite 410-St.Petersburg, FL 33716
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Loss:
$315
3 comments
Guest

Lifestyles fitness is a contract not an agreement as they claim. And they do place you in bond.

This contract needs to be legislatively revoked. Bonding of humans in this type is abolished in this Nation. Lifestyles is moreso acting like a criminal enterprise than a health club. " A preempted contracting for future methods of fiscal slavery maybe?".

A team of lawyers needs to construct a civil law suit against Lifestyles.

Latching fees and developing charges imposed by Lifestyles violates florida statute 501.016,501.017 and 501.012. Aswell as human rights, and that should be brought up to the supreme court!

Guest

I was a member of the LFF in Venice, Fl. for some time, until Jan.

2011, when I went back to my country, Iceland. I was told to call a woman named Lee, in order to cancel. She told me to send her an email. I did that thinking I was done canceling.

No sir... checking my Visa account, there are still withdrawals. I called, was transfered, put on hold and not just once. Fett up is the proper terminology.

Sometimes you just can´t win for loosing. I give up. I am a long term member , weather I like it or not. I don´t think so...

I have had to cancel and change my credit cards in order to avoid LFF.

They will definitely not get more money for running their scam this way. May this be a warning to anyone thinking of joining a fitness club, in particular Lifestyle

Guest

The same thing is happening to my daughter now and myself! They are scam artists, only now they never respond to you to even cancel; your membership so there is no way to ever meet their 60 day notice requirement.

My daughter also changed her bank card and they still drafted her account!

We are now going through the bank to block transactions and dispute the charges. This is ridiculous!

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Lea Peg
map-marker Reston, Virginia

Dishonest and Rude

I tried to terminate my contract and called at the last day of Mar, 11. The sales manger offered me a new deal which was attractive. She said an email will come and I have to accept it. The email never come. I was honestly waiting for it. I call every day for next 7 days and left message everytime. I emailed several times. No body bother to give me a call. In the mean time they charged my credit card for Apr. To avoid confusion I stopped going to the fitness center. This was a deliberate attempt to frustrate me, keep me as a memebr, and charge me the old higher amount. I called Amex and stopped my payment. As soon as I did it the sales manager within a hour emailed me the new offer. I accepted but they have not credited my a/c the higher charge they made for Apr. I am yet to resume my going to LFF. I got a call from LFF today (6th May). The manager is only interested to talk about the future charges. She is not prepared to talk about Apr. She keeps on repeating that I did not accept the new offer in time. This is all frustrating.
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Mike B Dfw
map-marker Tampa, Florida

Did not refund based on contract terms

In mid November 2010 I joined at the Westchase location of Lifestyle Family Fitness. Fabian was the salesman that assisted me with joining. I ended up agreeing with getting a Basic membership. It was explained to me by Fabian how anytime you join the gym there is a 30 day money back guarantee. As long as you used the gym at least 1 time per week in the first 30 days you could cancel and get your money back "hassle free". I have since learned that "hassle free" means being lied to, and treated poorly by Lifestyles customer service. After the first week of going to workout at the center I realized that it was not for me and I knew I was going to cancel. I did what I had to do to fulfill my commitment and went to the front desk to cancel. I was told by the rep at the front counter that I had to "call to cancel". I did just that and I received confirmation from the rep on the phone that I qualified for the refund and that it would take 30 days. I even received confirmation emails of my cancellations. I called on January 10th to the customer service number and spoke to "John" I explained to him I just wanted to check the status of the refund. He asked me if it had been 30 days since I cancelled and I said no. It was about 25 days since I cancelled. His response was "we don't check at all until 30 days". Then he ended the call. This should have been a sign of worse things to come. On January 18th I called and "George" answered the phone and told me that because I had the basic membership I do not qualify for a refund. He told me that a letter was sent to me but it was returned to them. I asked what was sent to me, and he replied with "I didn't send you anything". I was in shock of his response, how rude it was and disgusting that Lifestyles would even have someone like that working for them. George verified that my address which was correct, and then put me on hold. He came back only to tell me that "Lisa Schmooer" who is a manager rejected my refund because I had the basic membership. I asked to speak to her, and he said she was not there, I asked for a transfer to her voicemail and was told that she did not have one and she would have to call me back. I find it absolutely disgusting on how this is being handled. Just to make sure I was not incorrect in what I thought about the refund, I called the gym I joined right after I spoke to George. This time I confirmed with Lindsey at the front desk that with the "basic membership you get the 30 day guarantee with refund". This lack of caring, completely rude customer service and the fact that I have to write this letter at all is ridiculous. I am wondering how many others have been treated this way by Lifestyles. I am currently the wellness ambassador at Aetna's Tampa office which just fewer than 500 employees report to. I send out a monthly newsletter pertaining to health and wellness and coordinate when fitness centers come into our office to discuss their packages to employees. My next steps if this situation is not corrected will be to advise the Aetna employees in the Tampa office to stay away from Lifestyles due to their shady business practices and horrible customer service. After that my next step will be to report this to the BBB, Consumer Protection, ripoffreport.com, bussinessreporter.org as well as the local news stations and newspapers. This all may seem like a lot however when you look at it from a consumer's point of view and how poorly I have been treated then this course of action is clearly understandable. Feel free to contact me at either the email or home address listed below. Mikeboone79@***.com
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Loss:
$95
2 comments
Guest

File a claim to your bank or credit card to receive ur money back

Guest

Michael –

We thank you for the post and for bringing this matter to our attention. We apologize for the problems you experienced in cancelling your membership. It is our goal to make every members’ experience with our company a positive one. As we discussed in our follow up phone call, we have refunded the money you paid as part of your comfort cancel. Thanks again and best wishes for a healthy 2011.

Regards,

Lifestyle Family Fitness Management Team

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Anonymous
map-marker Orlando, Florida

Family lifestyle gym cancelation policy

Beware! when you join Family Lifestyle Gym. When you cancel you will still be charged for 2 months. And when you do try and cancel you cannot do it verbally. They will send you a confusing email that if you do not reply too they will continue to bill you. They make it very confusing and difficult to get out of their contract. I called and made a verbal request. They said they would send me a confirmation email, but did not stress that I needed to reply to it for the cancellation to be valid. I thought it was just a confirmation that they did it. Very poor communication, but convenant for them because they continued to charge me.
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Loss:
$300
1 comment
Guest

Beware!Same thing happen to me like all others. I have cancelled my membership back to Sep.20,2011.

First I called them and asked to cancel my membership. They told me they gonna send me a cancellation form and I just need reply "yes". I did what they told me and called back again to make sure that's all the thing I have to do. They said "Yes." After they continued charging me for 3 months.

I called they at least 20 times and every time waiting on the line for 20 mins. The answer they gave me was they did not received my reply so my membership still active. I keep sending them 10 email the proof of reply. They said " No, they did not get it." I went to the LIFESTYLE FITNESS WINTER PARK ask staff fax to them.

They still said " No. they did not get it." Finally they told me, they gonna cancel my membership right away and I have to pay another month. My husband refused them and called bank to dispute their charge. Today, 03.16/2012 I got phone call from LIFESTYLE billing department and told me I have to pay 3 months or they gonna send me a letter.

WOW... what an unbelievable company by using these kind of fraud to get their member's money.

lsinthia S
map-marker Columbus, Ohio

Life Stlye Family Fitness

Life Style Family Fitness East Columbus, 5929 E. Main Street Columbus, OH 43213 has the worst customer service. The main culprit it the general manager who is rude and does not carry though with his word. When signing up for a membership he was very friendly but when trying to cancel is he went out of his way trying to make it impossible for us to get our money back even though we signed a document stating we could cancel in 30 days. Be careful when signing a document like this because you have to cancel in 30 days they won't let you do it before the 30 days, well they will be you won't get any money back. Plus you have to go once a week for the 30 days meaning once every seven days not once this Tuesday, then go again next Thursday. The manger went out of his was telling me I wasn't there once every seven days. He even got a calendar getting smart trying to show me but in the end he was wrong. I went out of my way to go twice a week just to make sure met the requirements. Then he told me I would get my money back in a check no through my back account and of course I was charged again the next month. When I called and spoke to him about it he got smart stating I had more than one person on my account so that's why he didn't cancel it. Even though he assured me I would not be charged on that account again. The customer service reps. at the call center are a lot nicer even though one left me on hold for ten minutes then disconnected the call but I don't blame her because I was quite frustrated and might of taken out on her. Overall the general manger is rude, *** and only gives you respect if you are a continuing customer.
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1 comment
Guest

We get moved arond alot please use fisrt names so I dont get blamed for something I did NOT do.

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