Planet Fitness - Just "****" Gym

I cannot begin to describe how much I loath complaining about horrible service providers and companies, but what I loath more is being ********** or ****med. Contrary to their slogan "Get ripped and not **********" Just Gym is the worst ******* out there.

I had a two year contract that I signed up for at the Just Gym in Pinetown. I signed up because I figured the membership was reasonable and it was close to my office. Maybe I should have known better and figured that "you get what you pay for" and that wasn't much. Within the first six month of my membership I already wanted to cancel my membership as the gym was not very well run or operated. The staff were always very unfriendly and *********** when it came to membership inquiries, the WiFi seldom worked if ever you wished to use it, machines were inadequate and the ones that they had were often out of order.

The equipment was not my biggest gripe with the facility though, it was the hostile and *********** staff. Describing them as "unfriendly" is my attempt at being polite. I was not the only one that felt this way, a friend of mine whom I discovered had also joined the gym, complained about the same thing. He too was also trying to get out of his contract, he succeeded, luckily for him and he went back to Virgin Active. I on the other hand figured I would stick it out even though another friend of mine had an issue with their debit orders running on the incorrect date and debiting him before his pay date, then charging him additional money for the failed debits, even though it was the gyms fault. They also did this to me. Where I would pay in advance and they would still try to debit my account and then charge me for the failed debit, even though I had paid in advance for that respective month. That is another issue on its own.

Let me fast forward to the end, to save us time. When I attempted to terminate my membership for the second time in 2018 at the gym where I signed up, they told me that I couldn't do that at the gym and would have to call their call centre to cancel and that I would also have to settle any outstanding fees.

I went home and called their call centre a few times and got tired of listening to "elevator music" for long periods of time, until I eventually decided to send them an email via their website requesting a cancellation/termination of my membership. With my months notice submitted to them at the end of July, I then paid the outstanding fees that I was told to pay by the staff member at the front desk in Pinetown, on the 4th of August.

I was only contacted by the gym's call centre mid August, after having received my first email acknowledging receipt of my cancellation request the week before on the 7th of August, which was still a week after having sent an email giving notice of termination. The email said that I would be contacted within 72 hours of the email on the 7th, not the reality of a week or more later.

Come September I receive more threatening sms about legal action against me if I do not pay my membership. Now I am puzzled because I paid my membership up to date and terminated it. From October to December I went back and forth, via email with somebody working for the gym, who is both very unprofessional and ***********. They not only failed to explain to me why I was being charged membership for the months after August, but the person also failed to provide me with further information and documentation that I requested. Issues of contention included and not limited to: - They did not know and could not tell me the end date of my membership, nor did it reflect on my contract nor my memberships statement. - I was not provided with an explanation at to why the gym did not contact me with regards to the continuation or termination of my membership as they obligated themselves to do so, 45 days prior to the end of my contract, as stipulated in their policy? The same policy that supposedly binds me to give a months notice.

Moving along, out of all the documentation requests I made, I was only supp**** with my initial membership agreement and a membership statement up to November which stipulated that I owed Just Gym R716.70. My monthly membership fee was R271.36, excluding the R56.99 Annual Increase/CPI that reflects separately on my membership statement.

This is the explanation I got on the 9th of October, as always, a week after my inquiry: "Dear Fanele

Thank you for your information request. Please note that your membership cancelled on the 30/09/2018, your last debit order was suppose to be on the 25/09/2018 your debit order where not successful.

Should you require any further assistance, please speak to your Club General Manager or contact us on ***.

Kind Regards, Your Planet Fitness Team"

Mid November they offered me a discount via email and said that I should pay R358.35 and provided me with banking details. Which I was not gonna do, because they are ******** me out of money they are not entitled too.

Since their ******** and ******ion attempts have been futile, this week I received an sms from Landau Attorneys telling me that I owe Just Gym R830.70 and should pay before legal action is taken against me.

Save yourself your money and the stress from this *********** of an organization.