Extremely Disgruntled client- Virgin Active Sunninghill and Discovery

On the 22/12/2018 I visited Virgin Active Sunninghill as I wanted to activate a membership with the club. I was assisted by Matthew Siko, a sales consultant at the club. I had filled out the onboarding documents manually as Matthew had noted that the systems were offline for some reason, and reassured me that he would log a call with his admin team to get it loaded onto the system. To enjoy the full benefits of Virgin Active, I thought it best to activate by Vitality membership as well. My membership was effective and activated as of 1 December 2018 (I have proof therof). Matthew explained on the day that I would need to pay an activation fee of R1865.00 including the card fee, which I was prepared to pay. He further stated that I would receive an amount of R500 back into my account should I reach my Vitality goals. (3 times a month). This seemed very attractive and on the 29/12/2017 I had paid my activation fee of R1865.00. (I have proof thereof) It is important to note that I had taken out this membership based purely on the fact that it was an attractive package.ie. should I meet my minimum goals of attending gym 3 times a month, there would be a concession on my normal gym fee. Despite this, I have been debited by Virgin Active for the FULL AMOUNT of a usual gym membership despite having activated my vitality and meeting my minimum goals. Ie. R 525.00 I expressed my frustration to Matthew COUNTLESS TIMES from JANUARY to DATE(MID MARCH) and the only response he has is that I haven’t activated my Vitality and hence I do not qualify for the concessions. This being more than two months after I paid the activation fee and activated my Vitality. There has been absolutely no effort on the part of Matthew and Virgin Active Sunninghill to assist me and my requests have fell on deaf ears. I have called the club COUNTLESS TIMES with requests that Matthew call me back or to speak to the Manager, but they are NEVER available and never return my calls. I haven even requested that the matter be investigated through a consultant at Discovery however this never happen. Further to this, on 1 March 2018 Virgin Active Sunninghill debited me with an amount of R750.00. Matthew noted that this was because I had cancelled ‘balance’ when I wanted to activate Vitality and the cancellation went through however my Vitality hasn’t been activated, hence I am now being charged the full amount. Despite my previous dealings with the club Matthew reassured me that this would be sorted out within the week however it is now 19/03/2018 and I still have not been refunded the amounts as promised. Before yet another unauthorized debit order goes off my account, I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE THIS PROBLEM SORTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I request refunds for the following months: December January February and March.

Matthews conduct and that of Virgin Active Sunninghill and Discovery does not meet the minimum requirements of the Treating Customers Fairly Campaign(TCF) and should this matter not be resolved as a matter of urgency, I will report the matter to the respective Ombudsman for further investigation and through an open letter.

Should you require further information, do not hesitate to contact me.