The 60 day notice for a 30 day service Watch out for health club memberships.

Watch your contracts!  Any time you sign up for a monthly service, especially something where you sign an authorisation form of any type.  About a year and a half ago I signed up for a gym membership, yes that is the beginning of comedy of errors.  Now you can read the rest of the story.I used this gym for about 4 to 6 weeks just to get on the treadmill since it was June in 2008 and it was about 106 everyday when I left work.  That is when I was commuting every week to Lewisville Texas from Austin, so I was really alone from about 4:30 in the afternoon till I went back to work in the morning.  I didn’t want to just sit and watch TV every day, at least not for 6 hours.  I am not the party type, so I wouldn’t have gone to clubs or anything like that, so I joined this gym. I was making good money and the availability of this gym was good to have while I was up there in the Dallas area.  It was only $15/month, so it was sort of out of my mind.

I thought that I had cancelled it back in February of 2009, but just last month I find out, I didn’t use the proper method to cancel.  You have to fax a cancellation to a number that is not published .  Then it might not be cancelled.  Then if it is cancelled it will be 60 days before you actually stop being billed for a 30 day service.

When I left the apartment that I was leasing I found that it was also a 60 day notice.  So I had to pay an additional 30 days of rent after I had really moved out.  They had told me that they would try to rent out the property and then I would not be billed the additional month.  I remember what Yoda said, and guess what it proved to be true, “There is not try, only do”.

The Constitution afford Congress certain abilities to legislate and do what it deems is required to protect it’s citizenry.  When did redefining the terms of a monthly agreement to add 30 days to the agreement become a protection for the constituents of a member of Congress?  It became thus, when the right citizen, made the right donation to the right member of Congress.

I don’t know when this began being written into contracts, but it is wrong.  There is a level of unethical behaviour that exists in the legal system today,and when we didn’t squawk loudly about this, we really dropped the ball.  I don’t know if it is just a Texas thing, but I can only hope that we can get it repealed.  It is not right for the citizens of this country.  It only gives a company a legal way to provide an extra bill to an already strapped consumer.

By the way, the name of the gym in Lewisville is Health Clubs of America, and the one that I was a member of was the one on Round Grove Road.  They have an opportunity to do the human thing, but I know that I will have to pay 2 more months.  I will never become a member of anything like this again.

I have signed up for a lot of memberships for internet marketing clubs, support groups, and ongoing trainings that charge a heck of a lot more than $15 per month.  I have never had as much of a problem with these companies and their billing.  These are the ones with a bad reputation, not these brick and mortar businesses who advertise that there is no contract, yet it takes you 60 days to stop paying them.  I have never had a marketing guru, some of these folks are called snake oil salesmen, who have not been willing to give me a months credit if  I have asked for it.  But this company will not even wave the EXTRA 30 days notice.

fun times for all.