Bally: Very shady business practices. STAY AWAY.
Written: May 14 '03 (Updated May 14 '03)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Many locations. "Cheap." But beware.
Cons: Bait & Switch. Broken Promises. Inconsistent quality.
The Bottom Line: DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH BALLY TOTAL FITNESS.
|
|
|
| minan's Full Review: Bally Total Fitness |
When I joined Bally Total Fitness (NYC) in summer 1995, I thought I'd found the deal of a lifetime.
I visited the Fifth Ave location off a recommendation from a friend. It seemed more or less clean, a little crowded, but with modern equipment. I got a Preferred Member Lifetime membership. It was a lifetime membership paid off in two years, at about $30/month. After paying off the membership, you could go to the gym for $15/month, for life.
However, I moved further uptown, and started going somewhere closer to home -- the 86th Street upper east side location (summer 1996). That gym was filthy and crowded and had terrible equipment. It was literally one room with natty carpet and a few machines.
I paid off my membership and marked it up as a lesson learned.
A few years later, I heard that Bally closed a bunch of these crappy locations down. When I heard they started opening better facilities, I decided to check them out again since I was shopping for gyms (winter 2002/2003).
When I went to a local Bally Total Fitness to find out the fees for my "Lifetime" membership. I was told that my membership could not be found and there were no records, since the Fifth Ave gym where I'd signed up had closed down.
Imagine my surprise when, five months later, I received a notice from Bally saying (to the effect): Dear Former Member: We'd love to have you back. All you have to do is pay $95/month and you can work out at our gym again!
Yeah right! I was not going to fall for that again.
Little did I know -- this was not the end of my Bally experience.
I also checked out Crunch during this time. Turns out Crunch was being bought by Bally. The sales tactics felt familiar. Watch out when a gym says you can only get a 6-month or 3 year membership -- A BIG RED FLAG.
I decided to try out Crunch under their New Year's 2003 special, for a "two-week trial" period. All I had to do was pay a start-up fee of $49.00, which I was supposed to get back. They also offered the option of paying $1600 all at once for a 3 year membership - tempting at the time, since the 6 month membership is @ $80/month.
Good thing I decided against that.
I chose to go with another gym and requested my refund in February 2003. As of today, May 2003, I still have not received it. Four months. I have called customer service SEVEN TIMES to get this resolved. The last time I called, they told me that because of the Bally switchover, refunds were taking longer. I'm not holding my breath. Instead I will take them to Small Claims court.
I chose another gym (Equinox) that let me have a normal one-year membership with practically no initiation fee. It is the cleanest gym I've ever seen with incredible service. The higher monthly fee makes up for all the unprofessionalism, shadiness, hidden fees and headaches from Bally Total Fitness. No problems thus far.
This should be the standard at gyms. Unfortunately, it's not.
On the Bally web site, they claim:
"Bally is helping our members achieve their fitness goals by providing the highest quality service, facilities and products in a fun, friendly, safe and welcoming environment."
A Bally Total lie.
"Bally Total Fitness is committed to building upon its position and brand as the leading provider of fitness services... As a result, Bally operates our business in a manner designed to ensure our long-term success and maximize returns to shareholders."
Wow, Bally you sure do that! By BAIT AND SWITCH tactics. By NOT HONORING YOUR CONTRACTS AND REFUND POLICY. By DECEPTIVE MARKETING.
I have never, ever dealt with such unprofessional, lying scam artists in my life. And I live in NYC - let me tell you, I have seen scams. Stay away from this gym.
Want more information? I found this web site about Bally Total Fitness. Sums it up well.
http://www.aboutballyfitness.com/
Recommended:
No
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
minan
|
|
Reviews written: 3
Trusted by: 0 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.