Home › Forums › Open Discussion › West Seattle Athletic Club sicced a collection agency on me!
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August 22, 2013 at 1:04 am #608789
icockrumMemberI expect a lot of people are aware of the problems the West Seattle Athletic Club (previously Allstar Fitness) has been having… Well, I have patiently stayed with them despite the hot tub breaking down, and the steam room breaking down, and the pool breaking down, etc …
But today, I got a collection letter from Checknet, trying to collect an overdue bill for $240.80! And I have an auto-payment set up with the club!
Well, I checked my bank statement and found that they haven’t billed me since March – but also, that they OVERbilled me by almost $200 in Jan / Feb!
I called in to the club, and now I am waiting for a call back from a manager. Has anyone else had this kind of experience with them?
So very irritating!
August 22, 2013 at 8:45 pm #796304
lindaParticipantMy partner also received a collection notice in the mail yesterday evening, the first indication he had there was anything amiss with his monthly dues at the gym.
He called the gym last night to ask why they had not contacted him to resolve this prior to sending him to collection–no phone calls, no letters, no notification until this letter. He wanted to know why they were ruining his stellar credit rating by sending him to collection instead of giving him an opportunity to correct the problem. He would gladly have paid them at any point had they simply contacted him. The only thing the front desk person could tell him was his bank had refused to process the payment.
He went to the gym this morning to try to talk to someone, the person who can answer the questions won’t be available until later this afternoon. While there, the front desk personnel indicated they are getting a lot of phone calls over this issue, so you and he are not alone. Everyone has the same question, why not contact me first instead of having the first contact be a letter from a collection agency.
My partner also went to the bank to find out why they refused to process the autopayment request, the person he spoke with said they could see no reason why these were refused.
But a little research on my part with our A/R department indicates a bank may refuse a request for an automated withdrawal if the business name has changed. It protects them and their customers. In these cases, they require a new auto-withdrawal form to be submitted with the new business name signed by the person who holds the account with the bank. It’s just too bad my partner’s bank is not in the habit of sending notification when it denies payment on an automatic withdrawal.
We are waiting to hear back from WSAC. They have a small window of opportunity to recall all of these accounts from collection with no lasting harm to their members credit records. We hope the window of opportunity has not already passed and they will take advantage of it.
No matter how this eventually turns out, I suspect this will prove a fatal business decision for them. There were other, better ways they could have handled this situation which would not have the result of ruining their members’ credit records.
They could have sent out letters the first time the autopayments failed to clear the bank.
They could have sent out letters to cancel memberships for non-payment of dues.
They could have communicated the issue with the member by phone calls and/or email.
Instead, they let the autopayments fail to clear for six months then sent everyone to collection with no prior notice.
West Seattle Athletic Club: ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.
August 22, 2013 at 9:22 pm #796305
icockrumMemberLinda – I am sorry to hear that your husband is in the same situation even while I’m comforted to learn that I’m not alone in this boat.
> they let the autopayments fail to clear for six months
> then sent everyone to collection with no prior notice
Yes, that is exactly my frustration. Just as with your husband, my credit rating is now damaged, while the gym apparently made no effort what so ever to communicate with me. And now I’m getting phone calls from their collection agency, as well. I’m a 9-to-5er, so dealing with this is already putting a crimp in my day.
> a bank may refuse a request for an automated
> withdrawal if the business name has changed
Yes, I didn’t think to call my bank to ask about that, but I suspected it was likely to do with the gym becoming a new business entity… which seems like the sort of obvious thing that the transition team should have been prepared for.
I will be curious to know how other similarly affected people follow up with this…
August 23, 2013 at 1:55 am #796306
trickycooljParticipantSounds like good fodder for Get Jesse!
August 23, 2013 at 2:48 am #796307
kgdlgParticipantThis is particularly bad biz since a brand new shiny LA Fitness will be open in 12 months right up the hill!
August 23, 2013 at 3:45 am #796308
TanDLParticipantI think trickycoolj has a point: Get Jesse!
August 23, 2013 at 2:44 pm #796309
lindaParticipantWe have been talking about the options available in this situation but currently are doing nothing. As long time members of All Star and now WSAC, we would like to give them the opportunity to straighten this out.
As of this morning, WSAC has not returned my partner’s call from Wednesday evening. My partner has yet to decide how long he is willing to wait for them to call him back before he pursues any other options.
I also am waiting to see how they respond and handle this situation. Even though my membership was not impacted by these actions, I’m not certain I want to stay with a company who’s business model involves zero communication with a member when there’s an issue with payment of dues until the account is delinquent enough to send to collection (business suicide by collection letter). I’ll say this for All Star, any time there was an issue with my automatic withdrawal, I had a letter in the mail before the middle of that month so was always able to get the issue straightened out before the next auto-withdrawal.
August 23, 2013 at 3:00 pm #796310
icockrumMemberI called WSAC on Wednesday and again on Thursday, and each time spoke to different people who promised to pass the message on / look in to it. I will call again today, and visit on Saturday with a copy of my WSAC bank charges and the collection letter. I consider this an urgent priority, and I plan to keep contacting them daily until I get some resolution, or find a stakeholder in the organization who understands the importance of customer relations.
Part of why I’m interested in hearing about other cases is because I’m wondering if there were enough people affected to consider a class action lawsuit if WSAC fails to resolve.
August 23, 2013 at 3:06 pm #796311
pattileaParticipantThis really is bad business practice. But I am curious didn’t anyone check their bank accounts and know that payments were not coming out? I have auto pay for several different things, and I always look that the payments come out and balance my account.
August 23, 2013 at 3:44 pm #796312
lindaParticipantMy partner does not balance his accounts, just checks the overall balance and makes sure he has plenty of money in the account to cover everything. So he never noticed the payments were not coming out until he started pulling statements after receiving the collection letter.
He also does not go to the gym except in the winter months, preferring to get his exercise outside. So he had not been to the gym during this entire time, where he might have been told about the issue when he tried to check in (at least I would hope their business policy would notify you at check in if you tried to use the facilities and had not paid your dues).
However, this still does not excuse the action taken by the gym of going straight to collection with no notification or attempt on their part to resolved the debt first with the member.
August 23, 2013 at 11:53 pm #796313
lindaParticipantPartner resolved his issue today: He went to the gym, paid the past due amount for the dues only. He was not required to pay the accrued interest or the collection agency fee which was on the letter received from them. The gym will be in contact with the collection agency. He paid with a check so he can use his cancelled check as proof of payment in case there are any residual issues with the collection agency.
While there, he also cancelled his membership. He altered the signed cancellation form prior to signing. The gym requires 30 days notice of cancellation, he wrote the cancellation is effective as of today, no 30 days notice will be given.
Note that during this entire issue, my partner has been very polite to the personnel he spoke and worked with towards this resolution. The folks at the front desk and answering the phones were caught in the cross fire of this issue, most did not have the authority to do anything to resolve the problem. Because he remained polite, he feels he has gotten the best possible outcome.
Cancelling his membership was bitter sweet, he really likes this gym but could not bring himself to remain a member at this point. If the gym were to come back with a truly amazing offer, he might consider rejoining.
Now I just need to decide what I will be doing with my membership….
August 24, 2013 at 4:48 am #796314
lindaParticipantYet another update now that we’ve reviewed the charges: he paid his monthly dues plus a $15 service fee for each month the charges didn’t clear–a total of $90 in fees in addition to the dues (plus the fees for the dues actually add up to more than six months, we’re still trying to figure out the math involved in that calculation). He believes they would have balked at canceling the fees and did not feel like arguing with them any further, he just wanted to settle and get his credit record cleared. At this point, he has decided he is done with them, he’ll join LA Fitness when they open.
I’ll be canceling my membership as well, I don’t want to be affiliated with a business which engages in this type of deceptive practice. The whole situation represents incredibly poor customer service, poor communications and poor business decisions when dealing with the results of their lack of customer service and communication.
August 24, 2013 at 3:52 pm #796315
dyn99ParticipantJust because you get a letter from a collection agency doesn’t mean your credit report took a hit. Typically, collection agencies take 60-90 days after they send the letter to provide any information to your credit report.
The first step when you have bogus collection action taken against you is to dispute the validity of the debt with the creditor and collection agency. This must be done in writing, and you must keep a copy of the letter. Certified mail is preferable if you have the time to take the letter to the PO.
If they do hit your credit report (again, usually takes a few months), then you must dispute the collection action with the credit bureau. Collection agencies are not allowed to report disputed debt to credit bureaus without filing a lawsuit and obtaining a judgment. Most won’t go to that effort for a small amount of money.
I don’t condone the WSAC’s practices here – they should have sent out a pre-collection letter of some sort. My guess is that the business owner is overwhelmed with everything that goes into taking over a troubled operation, and he probably needs to get money fast. Sending out collection letters from an agency will likely speed up the process by creating fear (as it has done here).
I would recommend that you write the owner/manager and tell them WHY you chose to leave the club if you take that action. Depending on the size of the company, the owner may not even be making these decisions or be aware that one of his managers (or controller) is choosing this route.
If I was the owner and my controller did this without asking me first, I would terminate them, just as you are terminating your relationship with the club because of this action.
August 24, 2013 at 4:23 pm #796316
pdhardy22ParticipantOur experience was quite similar. Due to a move from the area in June, we opted to cancel our membership after 5 years. We were on a month-to-month paying each time in person. In April my husband went to the gym to request the cancellation form per the agreement, which he filled out on-site. We got a copy and a receipt for the check we paid for the final month (May). Done deal, right? We just got a collection letter for amounts that I can’t figure out, and have since found out that our check wasn’t even cashed. No communication or anything. The call to collections to dispute the charge and start that process ended up with: “since they never cashed your check, you can’t dispute the debt.” Accounting mistakes, mis-applied payments and no communication were the hallmarks of our experience with the prior management; was hoping it there would be improvements with new ownership but obviously not. Our cancellation form and check must be in a drawer at the front desk somewhere…
September 17, 2013 at 5:57 am #796317
tjkParticipantI have been having similar problems. However I have been paying with check/not auto pay. In May I was told by one of the staff that despite my payments and cleared checks, my account was showing an arrearage. So I started asking their accounting person what was going on….she asked for check numbers and amounts and told me it would be rectified shortly. That was early May. For weeks I kept asking……but nothing. Then in August, they handed over an account analysis and told me to pay the amount circled on their analysis. I was so glad to finally get somewhere, I didn’t even check their numbers. I brought a check in the next day. Later that day I got a call from Checknet and was told my account was under collections.
Since then, I have been told by their accounting person that it was mistake and that it would be corrected and Checknet notified. Nada. As of this past Friday, Checknet continues to have me under collections. Lask week, I went to Yelp……..18 reviews……all but 6 were either negative or neutral. Staff refuses to give me the number for Lisa, Oregon Athletic Club person who submitted our names to Checknet. Its a mess.
September 17, 2013 at 7:49 am #796318
JanSParticipantsounds like it’s time to “Get Jesse”. With all those complaints and the stories on here , I’m betting the owner will sit up and pay attention if his business makes it onto the TeeVee…in a very negative way.
September 17, 2013 at 1:34 pm #796319
GreystreetParticipantThis is just another thorn in the side of that club that just seems to have a terminal illness. What is more disappointing is that I checked LA Fitness’ website and it does not list a club in West Seattle under the “Coming Soon” tab, I hope that’s a webmaster lagging behind in his job. I am patiently waiting for that club to open (and praying they don’t use carpet in their locker room ;) ) I hope ya’ll get this straightened out! And I agree, call Get Jesse!
September 19, 2013 at 10:34 pm #796320
IflyaroundParticipantHi All, I got a call yesterday from a collection agency for Oregon Athletic D.B.A. Allstar Fitness so I stopped by there. It was determined the over $500.00 collection was in error I owed NOTHING! I have not checked my credit report yet. Got home last night got a call from another collection agency for West Seattle Fitness for the same amount. They really turned me in to two different agencies for the same debt which I didn’t owe one penny!! While there I met 5 other people who were there for Collection calls they claim were fraudulent. I went back this morning to ensure they clear it up with both agencies and met another person, a financial advisor for Edward Jones who just paid the bill to protect his credit even though he claims not to owe the money. My collection amount was over $500. for a $30.00 accounting error they made in April of this year, it had escalated to over $500.00 Seems criminal to me. If not show me how to earn this kind of return on investment. I would be game for a class action suit from what I’ve seen
September 19, 2013 at 11:05 pm #796321
datamuseParticipantThere’s a ton of Yelp reviews voicing similar complaints. Sounds really, really messed up.
September 20, 2013 at 12:21 am #796322
JanSParticipantI certainly hope you all are not members anymore..and those that are members should pay attention. Why would anyone want to do business with this new owner?
September 20, 2013 at 12:46 am #796323
tjkParticipant@Iflyaround: They say its all taken care of and then you find out it isn’t.
September 20, 2013 at 1:13 am #796324
IflyaroundParticipantI will follow up, who runs a business like this? Anyone know a good lawyer?
September 20, 2013 at 1:42 am #796325
shed22ParticipantIt’s a sad situation for both member and club. I hope it works out for all.
September 21, 2013 at 10:11 pm #796326
IflyaroundParticipantI have contacted both the attorney general and the Better Business Bureau. I would suggest anyone who has had this experience do the same, it is very simple and they are very receptive. I have also contacted a lawyer, for those interested you may post your experience in an email to allstarfraud@gmail.com. I will share your experience and email with the lawyer. We’ll see where this goes, if everyone bands together we can stop a business from such unethical practices. Thank you
September 24, 2013 at 12:20 am #796327
WestSeattleKimParticipantI am having similar problems with West Seattle Fitness. I canceled my month-to-month membership via letter on July 30, 2013. On Saturday, I received a statement showing 4+ months past due with late fees. I have called and emailed 4 times since Saturday with no response. If I don’t hear back from them by tomorrow I will be taking this to the next level.
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