Lack of Transparency and dishonesty consultants Bheki and Philani Sengane at Planet Fitness Midlands Mall Branch

I am typing this review on behalf of my sister and I.

On the 02/03/2018 we both joined Planet Fitness Gym at your Liberty Midlands Mall Branch in Pietermaritzburg KZN. We had enquired with the Centre Management and we went online to enquire more about your gym, that is how eager we were to join and invest in our health. Your company had a pop up stall based in the Midlands Mall. After leaving my details on your website your Sales Consultant Bheki (not the Wellness the Manager) contacted me. Immediately that day after being contacted, my sister and I made our way to the Midlands Mall where you had the Pop up stand. Bheki happily signed us up. Prior to signing we had asked Bheki about all the fees involved in signing up . He confidently assured us that we only had to pay the following fees, R300 (joining fee R 200+ Tag fee R100) . He said we qualified for the opening special of R299 for the first three months and thereafter we would only pay R499 for the remaining term of the contract . He did advise us that the fee would be subject to a 10% annual yearly increase . That's the only fees he advised us both on . He so happily made us sign the contract without letting us read the entire contract . Two weeks after signing up my sisters friend who wasn't a member at that time asked me do i know about the annual fee that Planet fitness isn't disclosing to their clients . I was shocked about this fee as i had no clue about this . My sister who works at the Liberty mall immediately went to approach Bheki the Sales consultant about this annual fee . Bheki had the nerve to tell her that he did tell us about this fee . My sister lost her cool and started raising her voice and his manager who was present Philani Sengane told her to take a walk with him . She refused as she didnt sign up for the contract in the walkway and why should she be taken aside to be silenced . Both Philani and Bheki were embarrassed as they had clients at their desks at the time and they clearly didn't tell those clients about this annual fee and they wanted my sister not to not bring it to the other clients attention . Philani reassured my sister that he would resolve the matter by getting fees to the value of the annual fee discounted . She asked him how is he going to do this . He said that he will get new people to join the gym and when they join he would waiver our annual fee for the two yr contract . My sister wasn't happy about this and asked Philani Sengane to put this in writing . He reassured her that he will fix this . She asked how soon will this matter get resolved and he said he can only fix it on their system once my R499 fee kicked in . My sister and i kept on going to the gym to complain about the matter and the staff would take the complaint down but do nothing about it . We were told by more than one person that they would look into it . Our three month R299 for three months duration has just passed . I have been debited for R1000 this July . I reversed the R500 with my bank as my agreement with Planet Fitness is only R499 . My sister then went again on the 23/07/2018 to look to look for Philani and Bheki to follow up with their empty promise on resolving their matter of dishonesty and lack of transparency with their contracts. They are both no where to be found at Midlands Planet Fitness . My sister asked about the where abouts of the two and she was told that they have been transferred to the Scottsville branch . This is highly disappointing as we must be running after the *********** staff hired by Planet Fitness . There has been no level of professionalism or customer service shown throughout this period. The staff on duty at the time of my sister going through advised her that she must call the Scottsville Branch , how on earth must she do that as she joined at the Midlands Branch. My sister then asked to speak to the most senior person of the gym and the one staff member advised her that the Manager is on sick leave for a month . She then asked to speak to someone that will sort this matter and another staff member Ashleigh came and told her that she has to refer people to the gym to get the fee waived , she told Ashleigh that she is now done speaking to them as they just give us the run around. She asked for the senior manager from Ashleigh and he said his name is Warren. I asked him to please get Warren to call us and up till today i am still waiting for Warren to call me . Its now over four months later and it has been nothing but frustrating and draining having to deal with your staff . We were extremely patient and tolerant of this behavior as we tried to over look the fact that *********** Bheki did not tell us about this annual fee and we trusted his pathetic manager Philani Sengane would fix the error his ********* consultant caused . We have been asking people we know that joined the gym if they were advised about this annual fee and the response from all was that they had no clue like our selves . Your consultants have managed to sign up people *********ly as your consultants know that the consumer doesn't read his / her contract when signing at that time. The consumer trust's that the consultant advising client is legally disclosing all the fees involved with the consumers contract . My sister and i will not pay for your annual fee . This is utter nonsense as we are expected to pay a fee we were not advised on and we have not been with your gym for a year to be paying this annual fee . This fee is now being used to maintain your gyms . We as consumers now have to fit an extra bill apart from our monthly fee , this is insane . I trust that this matter will be resolved and that your staff will be more transparent and honest about your fees . Sadly your gym is going to loose good clients because of your dishonest *********** staff . You as a professional brand need to fix this problem that is going to loose your company money. I will make sure i tell as many current gym members via my social platforms to take this matter up if they have not been advised .