When I went in to join, I told the sales rep Julia Vaz that there was a good chance I was moving out of Toronto to the US for a job, and hence I didn't want to sign a contract. She insisted greatly and assured me that if I moved away I could cancel the membership as long as I showed proof. She wrote this on the right hand top of the contact.
I moved out of Toronto in early September of 2008 to Buffalo, USA. On September 25, 2008, I went into the gym location above. I spoke with the location manager named Stephanie. I showed her the contract as well as my new apartment lease and driver's license in Buffalo, as proof that I had moved away. She flatly said that she would not cancel the contract and said there was nothing I could do. I was very surprised at this blunt attempt not to honor their contract. I insisted on her complying with it. She then threatened to call the police to remove me from the gym. She also refused to give me the name or number of a regional manager or a customer service help line.
I then went on their website at www.extremefitness.info. There was no phone number listed for the head office or customer service. The only thing available was a feedback email feature, which I used. The feedback feature emailed an automatically generated receipt to my email address each time. The receipt emails came from the address [email protected] which I also emailed the same message to. Again, I never heard back.
They have continued to charge my card since then. They made it impossible to deal with them at the particular location. Further, the gym chain does not provide a customer service or help line. They made it impossible to address any issues or complaints.
Their whole operation is one big scam disguised as a gym. When you join, they also force you to attend a a physical fitness test with a so called personal trainer. Their whole goal is to make you feel as bad as possible about your body to make you sign another scam contract to charge your credit card. In the session, they will shamelessly lie to you about your body percentage of fat. I am a scrawny guy and they told me I had 24% body fat!!! This sham is not only a lie but actually dangerous. They should be pursued for causing health risks to people. I am glad I saw through this scam and didn't join. i feel bad for the people who got scammed like this.
I am surprised that in a developed country like Canada with a system of common law, these "extreme" scammers get to take advantage of people's good will and trusting nature. Their operation is more like something in a third world country, like Nigeria where many internet scams originate. Please, let's try to find a legal way and put a stop to this sham once and for all. I have made it a personal goal to tell as many people as possible about this despicable operation, called a gym. I hope other people will do too.
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