Home › Forums › Open Discussion › West Seattle Athletic Club sicced a collection agency on me!
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September 30, 2013 at 8:18 pm #796353
blblParticipantThey were also out of towels when I worked out on Friday around 4 pm. It was totally slow, practically empty, and no towels. Not even in the women’s area, where they still stock them. They did let me use a bath towel from the locker room, however. Nice.
September 30, 2013 at 11:27 pm #796354
maplesyrupParticipantOMG you had to use a bath towel instead of a hand towel while working out?
First world problems.
October 1, 2013 at 2:02 am #796355
blblParticipantConstructive, maplesyrup. Yes, it’s a first world problem. We live in a first world country. Gyms themselves are pretty first world. Is your snide & sarcastic remark supposed to make me feel bad for wanting a clean workout towel at the gym I pay for? If so, fail.
October 1, 2013 at 2:21 am #796356
maplesyrupParticipantIt wasn’t meant to be snide. Sorry.
But I do find it to be a silly thing to complain about. You got a bigger towel which covers more machine/bench area and absorbs more sweat. And it’s a problem…how?
October 1, 2013 at 2:42 am #796357
blblParticipantIt’s not a big problem, but it doesn’t fit on the treadmill. When I used one a few years ago, it slipped off the hand rail where I had hung it and it tripped me, injuring me pretty badly (and I made quite the scene). When I use a hand towel, I simply grab it and wipe off sweat in the middle of running, then place it back down. You can’t do that with a bath towel, too big, nowhere to put it. At least I can’t.
October 1, 2013 at 4:15 pm #796358
CaitParticipantIt was obviously meant to be snide and clearly this is part of a MUCH larger issue with All Star. I think this forum is for members to compare notes on what’s going on there for the pending legal case, etc.
If we want to start calling EVERYONE out for first world problems on this forum, it would deteriorate in a week.
October 1, 2013 at 8:19 pm #796359
sb2780MemberDoes anyone have an update on when the get Jesse segment airs? As for the towels, I was under the impression that they will not be stocking hand towels anymore, which is what the papertowels and squirt bottles were supposedly for–except there aren’t even papertowels in the upstairs workout area. Gross. I know some gyms don’t have towel service at all, but usually they’re not charging $50 a month.
October 1, 2013 at 9:24 pm #796360
JanSParticipantwell, then, it seems that they want you to bring a towel from home. I have never been in the place, but from everything I have read above, I’d be afraid that it’s an unhealthy environment…and health is what going to a gym is all about. There are other gyms.
October 2, 2013 at 9:19 pm #796361
WestSeattleKimParticipantNo update from Jesse on when this will air, but he managed to get me directly in touch with the management today. They are sincerely apologetic. I do believe they are just having a heck of a time with management of the accounting systems that Allstar left behind. He told me they are transitioning to a new accounting/billing system that should be a lot easier for members to manage their own accounts.
The upper management in Portland is working with local Seattle managers to increase their responsiveness to the billing and collections issues. If you are waiting for them to respond, I would recommend trying again in the next couple of days and see if things are improved.
October 2, 2013 at 11:04 pm #796362
annaeileenParticipantI am a long time member and really want this club to succeed. I have watched it decline as it went through financial trouble and am happy the new owners say they are trying to fix it but I am worried about how they are handling the collection agency issue and that plays a big part in whether I will continue to belong once my contract is up. I will not join LA fitness as an alternative.
I feel like the club is under a microscope for every little and big thing since the expectations were set that they were going to make it better. Yes, it’s hard to find a spray bottle but people move them around. I don’t like the paper towels instead of cloth but lots of clubs I have been to use paper towels and not cloth. I have found many occasions when they don’t have small towels at the front desk and the big towels are at least available, though cumbersome. I am most upset about the equipment like the stair mills that sit for months on end broken. They need to be fixed or removed (1 was finally fixed this week).
I participated in an online survey about the club a couple of months ago and I was surprised when Sam called me that night to discuss my feedback. He was defensive about my comments and I said this is how I feel and I want this club to succeed. I also thanked him for honoring my 1 year contract I signed with All-Star as he didn’t have to do that.
Thanks to the people keeping us informed as to the plight on the collection agency issue.
October 3, 2013 at 3:42 am #796363
maplesyrupParticipantSmall towels were available today. It is now safe to use the treadmills! ;)
October 3, 2013 at 3:02 pm #796364
WestSeattleKimParticipantHere’s how the story went on Get Jesse: http://www.king5.com/news/get-jesse/Paperwork-snafu-after-athletic-club-changes-ownership-226234311.html
The club told me they are drowning in billing issues. They are having accounting problems with over 800 of their 10,000+ members.
If you are having a billing, membership cancellation or collections issue, I think you will have to pursue it aggressively to get attention. It couldn’t hurt to contact Get Jesse yourself to see if he wants to do a follow-up story.
Or at the gym, Jessica Randall is the local customer service manager I worked with, she is very nice and sincere. Try asking for her when you call or visit.
October 3, 2013 at 3:22 pm #796365
tjkParticipant@Kim…….this video clip is nonsense. I was not on autopay……I was under a new contract written up by the new ownership. Almost immediately an arrearage appeared on my account. After repeated requests on my part, the arrearage was brought current but my name was still given over to the collection agency. IMO these problems come from poor accounting practices and not because paperwork was non existent as Mr. Adams claims. And those poor practices still exist.
Furthermore, handing my name over to a collection agency trumps all the other issues noted on this forum: broken/faulty equipment, towel size, little to no heat, no hot water etc. My credit rating is threatened and I still do not know where things stand in regards to this issue.
For those gym employees reading this forum, I suggest you tell the manager that if they want to heal the damage caused by this mess that you get letters out to all the people that have had their names turned over to Checknet and provide them with a status update. I, for one, will not be happy until that happens. And I shouldn’t have to go to Get Jessie to get this problem remedied.
October 3, 2013 at 4:13 pm #796366
tjkParticipant@Kim……let me add…….none of my criticisms are leveled at you. You have done an incredible job of bringing ‘Get Jessie’ into the mix and keeping this forum informed. I am just frustrated because of all the energy and time I have had to put into this problem We shouldn’t have to jump thru all these hoops when we did nothing to cause the problem in the first place.
October 6, 2013 at 8:07 pm #796367
WestSeattleKimParticipant@tjk I totally agree, the Get Jesse story simplified the story. It seems like members are having a huge variety of billing/membership issues. When I talked to the club president, he said they know it’s bad, they are trying to assign more staff to tackle all the issues, and they are telling Seattle management to be more responsive to member complaints. I agree that the club should step up and take responsibility for the problems they are creating for people, but if you don’t get a response from them, as was the case for me, then I think the only solution is to be a very squeaky wheel.
October 9, 2013 at 1:01 am #796368
IflyaroundParticipantAs you can see my story is a little different than the story Jesse did however, Jesse did have me call a person at the gym and they were very apologetic, finally! That said there is interest in a class action suit because they did violate Fair Trade Laws. If you are interested send an e-mail to allstarfraud@gmail.com. Looking for notices from collection agencies and discrepancies between collection amounts from Check Net and Swift. Also interested in if you were told to pay the amount to protect your credit and work it out later. Finally if you were denied credit or paid a higher interest rate due to collection you are due compensation.
October 24, 2013 at 3:19 pm #796369
lindaParticipantLatest, almost unbelievable, update: As previously posted, my partner cancelled his membership in August. Yesterday in the mail, he received a bill for his October dues with an indication a credit had been applied to his September dues so only the money for October is due. What part of “Cancelled membership” did they not understand? And where did the credit come from, was it the result of being overcharged when he was trying to pay what he owed the gym at the time he cancelled?
He will be going to the gym today with all of the paperwork indicating his membership is cancelled to, once again, attempt to contact an employee to get this straightened out.
This is starting to take on a life of its own…
October 24, 2013 at 7:44 pm #796370
Ms. SparklesParticipantI’m not a member and have only been a blog spectator of this fiasco, but I just watched the Get Jesse link provided by WSKim and I’m floored (in a bad way) by Mr. Adams’ response.
I’m an accountant and years ago I worked for a company that disolved in bankruptcy; either the bankruptcy trustee for All Star was negligent or Mr. Adams is being less than truthfull about the missing paperwork.
In the bankruptcy all of the members with prepaid contracts should’ve been listed as unsecured creditors. All of the members with contracts who paid month to month should have been listed as assests.
This should be attached to the original bankruptcy filing (which is a matter of public record).
The fact that there are 8,500 contracts to sort through and probably no reliable electronic records thereof is an understandable problem, but it’s very different than saying the documents “are just gone.”
It also doesn’t address, as tjk pointed out, the issues with new contracts and month to month cancellations after Mr. Adams took over.
November 12, 2013 at 1:25 am #796371
Snap2ParticipantI’ll post this on both threads just in case: they ended up charging me after I had cancelled my membership (last billing was supposed to be in September, but I got charged in October). I went in and spoke to Shauna and she refunded me then and there – the whole transaction took 10 minutes tops. She was very professional and helpful, so if anyone needs to talk to a person ask for her. But be kind – she is dealing with a lot of upset people and doing her best.
November 14, 2013 at 1:51 am #796372
katelnMemberI am still a member of the club, but I’ve been following what is going on and frankly, do not want to continue to support a club that is treating its members and staff so terribly. But I’m faced with a choice: stay with a gym that is failing and not paying its instructors, or quit and possibly have a collections agency come after me? It’s a catch-22 now for current members.
November 15, 2013 at 4:50 pm #796373
haydonna57MemberThis just happened to me too! I sent a cancellation letter in August because we were traveling so much. They did not do the auto payment thing after for 4 month’s, so I assumed all was good! Have not stepped foot in the place. THEN, I got a statement from them saying I owed 314.83 with all of these late payment charged to boost that amount! I called, sent a certified letter, called again, contacted my attorney and no one from West Seattle Athletic Club has called me back. Then they went into my account and TOOK the money! I am going to sue them….. This is theft and fraud! Anyone else want to join me in a class action? We did not give up our consumer rights and protections when this new company took over! I am furious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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