VIRGIN ACTIVE

On 21st November I went to Virgin Active Victory Park Johannesburg to join up. I have been a member of Planet Fitness for many years but they closed their Gym in Craighall so I decided to join Virgin which is closer to me. On arriving, I met Fani (Phannuel) who told me that it was my lucky day because they were having a "Black Friday" promotion whereby if I signed up, I would get two months free. I decided on the 'off-peak" option for pensioners which, as a Vitality Member, would cost approx. R200 per month. I immediately paid the R199 sign-on fee. Fani checked my Vitality on-line and said that I could not join Virgin using Vitality until I cancelled my Vitality with Planet but he gave me a Virgin card. He said I should call them and they could do it on line and to call him once I had cancelled.my Planet Vitality. As it was Saturday, Planet could not assist me but I called them the following week and they told me that I would have to cancel directly with Vitality which I then did. I then called Fani to inform him and he checked on-line. He told me that it was not cancelled yet and could take some time for the cancellation to show. In the meantime, I called Vitality again and they told me that it would only cancel at the end of January as a full month was required. I was never told this by Fani! I called him and he said that once it was cancelled by Vitality, it would automatically show at Virgin and all would be ok. On 1st December, a debit order went through my account for R790. I called Fani and he said that once the Vitality cancellation showed at Virgin all would be ok and the R790 would be reversed. I went to Virgin Victory Park and explained everything to a sales lady there (I prefer not mentioning her name). She said I should wait to see if another debit order went through at the beginning of January and then we would see what is going on. She also told me that I would not get the "Black Friday" special because I had not attended the Gym 3 times before the 10th December which was necessary. I was never told this by Fani beforehand! Well guess what - on 2nd January another debit order went through for R850. I immediately went to see the lady and she assisted me with a new sign up (I'm not sure why) including Vitality and told me that both debit orders would be reversed and I would get the "Black Friday" special. Today is the 26th January and NOTHING has been refunded. In my opinion Fani did not disclose everything, he just wanted to notch up another sale. TOTAL MISREPRESENTATION. He has in the meantime been moved to another Virgin Gym. I AM EXTEREMELY DISAPPOINTED WITH VIRGIN ACTIVE - JOINING HAS AND STILL IS A NIGHTMARE. IN ALL MY YEARS AT PLANET FITNESS I NEVER HAD A SINGLE COMPLAINT. I WILL NEVER RECOMMEND VIRGIN ACTIVE TO ANYONE.