Debit after debit on cancelled account with minimal feedback

<p>I started this comment regarding VA on the 3rd of September but have been hesitant in posting it as I thought perhaps it could be solved without me complaining on the internet. Silly me.</p> <p>(Early September)</p> <p>I started my first "proper" job in February on this year. Shortly after starting at my job I started looking into joining a gym and making use of the Own Your Life fitness benefit that i subscribed to which basically allows me to join Virgin, pay my subscription and then have my subscription reimbursed to me through the OYL fitness benefit if i went to gym the required amount of times.</p> <p> </p> <p>In February i decided to take advantage of the promotion they were running where you paid R150 to make use of the gym for the remainder of the month. I also met with a great Sales guy by the name of Shrey who helped me sign up for a 12 month contract which would begin at the start of March.</p> <p> </p> <p>During the month of February i made use of their La Lucia and Westville gyms. On the 17th February 2016 i was at the Westville gym with my friend. She was fighting with her boyfriend at the time after she discovered a cheating scandal etc. He was at the gym at the same time as us. While I was on the treadmill she approached him because she wanted to talk to him regarding what had happened between them and he brushed her off rudely and didn’t want to speak to her. </p> <p> </p> <p>She came back to me and told me that he wouldn’t even speak to her and told her she was disrupting his gym session. Long story short - I was upset for my friend and approached him asking him to just speak to her so she can have the closure she needs to be able to move on. Initially he ignored me, then he became very rude and ended up swearing at me. Out of anger (Due to the events leading up to this) i slapped him, an action i immediately regretted. I am not an aggressive person what so ever and made a rash decision i immediately regretted. We then left the gym. He then went to the manager at the gym and reported me for assault. </p> <p> </p> <p>I later received a phone call from the manager at Westville who informed me that the incident had been reported and they investigating it. I honestly thought nothing major would be done about it since I said if I spoke to my friend her boyfriend would retract the complaint (they got back together) also it was a minor incident where we BOTH reacted harshly. So i continued the joining process, Shrey tried to link my proposed 1 year contract to my OYL rewards programme, which he was unable to do since i was under review etc. Two weeks later i found out that i had been suspended for 6 months.</p> <p> </p> <p>After finding this out i went back to Shrey and said i couldn’t afford the R805 gym fee during my suspension since i wouldn't be receiving any rebate for it etc so i said i didn’t want to continue with joining. I was also refunded my March subscription of R805 on the 15/03/2016.</p> <p> </p> <p>At this stage i thought everything was finished regarding the gym, i didn’t hear anything regarding cancellation etc and i assumed this was because i had opted to cancel within 20 business days of signing (As per Consumer Protection Act).</p> <p> </p> <p>On the first of September my account was debited for my subscription fee. The very next day i had the debit order reversed at my bank and then went to Virgin Active La Lucia to ask them to make sure the debit order is stopped going forward as i assumed it was a computing error. At this point the Receptionist was very helpful and listened to my whole story, she then called the sales manager whom greeted me politely listened to my whole ordeal and then just said he couldn’t assist me and left. The receptionist then advised me to send an email to her with my story which she would send off to her Regional branch. I was very grateful for this and proceeded to send the email as requested.</p> <p> </p> <p>The following week i received a response:</p> <p>"</p> <p>Hi Emma</p> <p> </p> <p>I submitted your query to the admin department who in turn sent it to our regional office for approval however the request was declined. The reason is that you were refunded at that time (March) and there is no way that your contract would have been cancelled while it was suspended.</p> <p>Should you wish to cancel the contract at present you will be required to pay the cancellation fee of R4025.00. You are welcome to chat to Shrey who is at the Amanzimtoti branch</p> <p><br /> </p> <p>Kind Regards" </p> <p> </p> <p>I am expected to pay a "reasonable" cancellation fee (As they so call it on their website). How on earth is R4025 a "reasonable" cancellation fee? To whom? Because that definitely doesn’t seem reasonable to me or any person earning a normal salary.</p> <p> </p> <p>Upon doing further investigation I discovered an article on:</p> <p>http://www.moneybags.co.za/article/terminating-gym-membership-the-inexpensive-way/</p> <p> </p> <p>Since i have a 12month contract, of which 6 months are left, and the fees are R805 pm here's the maths.</p> <p>R805 x 6</p> <p>= R4830. </p> <p> </p> <p>R4830 multip**** by 40% = R1932.</p> <p> </p> <p>After this discovery i contacted the original sales guy i dealt with in the beginning (whom had transferred branches hence i couldn’t deal with him when i went back to VA La Lucia after my account was debited) and he said there is definitely an error and that he would contact the receptionist whom had responded to my email and query this. (8/09)</p> <p> </p> <p>This morning i phoned him back and he said there was an error, she had "ASSUMED" i was on a 24 month contract. Even though she was able to view my profile without a hitch when i visited the gym. So she had misquoted me and the R1932 figure was the correct one. He also said he would try and speak to the legal department on my behalf, for which i was very grateful. (To date he has sent numerous emails and has not heard anything back.)</p> <p> </p> <p>Only after two weeks I received a phone call from the receptionist to apologise for misquoting me . I was however contacted by the finance department on the 09/09 to be notified that i owed R805 (September's fees which i reversed).</p> <p> </p> <p>I find it simultaneously amusing and horrific that VA is so quick to enquire about payment "owed" to them but taking care of their clients with a simple apology takes ages.</p> <p> </p> <p>I have no problem with Monique whom phoned me, she is merely doing her job and she was very polite and helpful when i explained my situation. I also have no problem with Shrey, he continues to go out of his way to help me. I also appreciate Charmaine for suggesting i email my query on, although i don't appreciate being misquoted and having no response from her when i ask for Shrey’s contact details. I also have no problem with Shaun Karating - The general manager at the Westville branch- whom informed me that the "Regional director and management staff" had decided to suspend me even after hearing the circumstances and "taking them into consideration" (which i don't see how). All of these staff are just doing their jobs</p> <p> </p> <p>I believe my real issue lies with the main decision makers of Virgin active. Why?</p> <p> </p> <p>1) Why was i suspended from gym and the instigator was not? Because i believe your reason for suspending me was that i was found in breach of your Rule book. Which states "35. You must not VERBALLY, PHYSICALLY or ***ually abuse or harass, or use violent behaviour towards other members, guests, visitors, tenants or members of staff."</p> <p>(Unfortunately i'm unable to attach the PDF but here’s the link. http://www.virginactive.co.za/legal/club-rules)</p> <p>I'm pretty sure i don't have to spell out why i am disgruntled, my reason is pretty evident in the quote.</p> <p> </p> <p>This makes me feel as though "The decision was taken considering the specific merits of this incident" as you claim in my suspension letter is in fact farce. </p> <p> </p> <p>2) In this same 6 month suspension letter you say "After which your membership will be reviewed by the club General Manager and Regional Director" To which i have heard nothing about. Did you manage to review my membership and process everything right in time to debit my account on the night of the 1st September ? If so, why wasn’t I notified of this? Since receiving my letter of suspension I have absolutely nothing regarding the state of my membership? Was my right to transparency ignored? It seems so.</p> <p>3) As I understand from your very brief email to me (please see above) “there is no way that your contract would have been cancelled while it was suspended” So what then was your reason for refunding me the fees I had paid for march if my membership was not cancelled (as it should have been)?</p> <p>4) Furthermore, please explain to me why in the past six months you have not once contacted me to hassle me for the joining fee since I’m “supposedly” a member? Was this another error from your side? If so please justify why the lack of my cancellation being processed was also not the result of just another error on your side?</p> <p>5) Continuing from point four. How can you demand a ludicrous cancellation fee from me if I never technically joined?</p> <p>6) What measures do you have in place that take care of the wellbeing of your clientele? Why has no one contacted me to query why I am so eager to leave your establishment? Is it because I am just another number to you? That’s how it feels.</p> <p>From my point of view, as well as many others I have come to see on Hello Peter, you are a massive conglomerate who’s main goal is to make large profits (regardless of how) from your customers. Which is so sad because before my ordeal with Virgin Active began I had such respect for your establishment, you seemed focused on bettering the health of so many but now I feel this is merely a façade to draw people in and then make it very difficult to leave.</p> <p>7) Regarding disclosure of information, no one explained that I would be subject to a cancellation fee, though I realise this is most definitely in your T&Cs, I am not faulting your sales staff because I am one of many people who have said this (Hello Peter), so perhaps the fault lies higher up, where you decide what to train staff on.</p> <p>8) Although I realise this is very minuet in the great scheme of things, when joined and paid R150 for the remainder or February part of your promotion was that new members received a complimentary gym bag. I was told these were out of stock. Another thing not only I have been told. Though I was okay with this when I decided to terminate my contract in February because well I didn’t technically joined, not officially anyway since I hadn’t paid the joining fee. Since you say I am an active member though, this lack of deliverance of what was promised to all new consumers again makes me question the ethnicity of your establishment.</p> <p>9) Why am I continuously running after you to have my query resolved? And even then I am met with short incomplete answers? Is this your idea of customer service?</p> <p>From my research on Hello Peter representatives from Virgin Active are quick to step in and try resolve issues with consumers, once a complaint has been lodged on this massive forum. Even though in almost all of the complaints I’ve read the consumer has made countless attempts to have the issue rectified before turning to the great wide web. Why must it come to this before you are willing to really assist us? Are you merely trying to as people say “Save face”?</p> <p>I don’t think you understand the power that is marketing, whether it be online, word of mouth anything really. Once something goes online that’s it, it’s out there. Once a disgruntled consumer decides to boycott your brand and tells their friends about the ordeal over coffee, that’s it. Someone’s impression of your establishment has been tarnished.</p> <p>With so many competing gyms appearing basically overnight don’t you think it’s a good idea to value your clients? At virgin Active you pay for the image the brand gives you but as this image becomes more and more negative people will become more and more eager to turn elsewhere. Somewhere cheaper maybe? Perhaps they won’t be a member at such a salubrious gym but they very well might be seen as people not merely money ***s.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p>An update on the lack of progress regarding my contract with virgin active:</p> <p>Since the first debit order on the 1st of September I have been debited a further two times (15th September and again on the 1st of October). Shrey has still apparently been emailing the legal department and still has no feed back.</p> <p>I have phoned Virgin active La Lucia in attempts to set up a meeting with the general manager, David Fillen, only to be told he is not infact at the gym and that I would receive a call back. I have not received a single call back.</p>