California Fitness
Reviews and Complaints

Date: 12:15 noon, May 17th, 2018
Contract reference: MSB-MVVO-1805-000298
Description: with the gift voucher (spend all session in California fitness for free in 1 month), I applied it to Cali. fitness at Vivo city, distric 7, HCMC even though sale-man/girl try to offer me many kind of amazing packages.
Today (17th May) is my very first experience in Cali. fitness, unfortunately the employees there impress me with very bad service since the trainers ignore me when I asked them how to use the equipment.
They would rather catch the new "preys" (behave like a sale-man/girl) than take care of current customers and potential one as me.
My experience at Cali. today is enough, I shall not return back even if recommendation to anyone else is not too.
I'll continue write a status/comment on facebook/twitter/instagram if I find any related case as this.

The accident happened mainly on 30 and 31 May 2016. My friend was a well-liked gym member who had 7 years of membership at California Fitness, Bugis branch. He is a certified personal trainer with abundant knowledge in the field of fitness, and he has a very outgoing and funny character so he had many many friends at the gym, without doubt. He always has one training partner, but he will help to spot other people upon their request. There was no charge, no cash payments involved in any of his spotting and guiding activities. However, California Fitness was recently facing difficulties in meeting revenue budget which can be seen from the shutdown of Orchard outlet before long, and the trainers faced difficulties in approaching customers. Hence, my friend who was helping others to train out of his kindness was seen as a potential threat to their training services. He was previously accused to give "freelance training" by a senior trainer who got the complaint from a unknown junior trainer. Not long after that, on 30 May 2016, he was approached by another senior trainer again, who said that "they received gym member's complaint about him giving personal training and occupying machines. ". Subsequently, before giving him any further notification or request any declaration, the gym had a internal meeting which the CEO, Anthony XX, signed to approve the termination his membership. He was noticed by this fact on 1 June, by the he reached the gym counter for his daily workout. The termination did not include any refund of membership fee. Find this quite absurd and harassing.

Branch: Quarry Bay
Date of Incident: 14 July 2015 - 16 August 2015
Best possible resolution: Get California Fitness sued. They are a notable company of conning and harassing people into signing their contracts.

[NOTE: LONG ESSAY-LIKE STORY AHEAD]

So I recently have a bad experience with California Fitness, but I am going to write my story anonymously. In the end it is a lesson learnt for me, but it also shows that California Fitness is far from trustworthy nor professional.

I was walking home after lunch with my grandma and there is this trainer who walked up to me and asked me if I am interested in their training programs. And they are extremely annoying and persistent, they would even follow you for a while trying their best to persuade. I was curious, so I went in to see what's up. However, before entering I made it absolutely clear that I didn't want anything to do with money.

However, the moment I entered they started offering various promotions with marketing techniques. They conveniently forgotten that I mentioned that no money should ever be mentioned in this conversation, but when I brought that up they called me stupid since all transactions require money, something that I was initially disinterested about.

The only reason why I applied in the end despite refusing initially was because I felt the need to exercise after not doing so for two years. Then they proposed this long term package, which I would pay an initial sum of $2400~ which would last 18 months. While it seemed tempting at first I realized that I wouldn't exercise at California Fitness. On me I had way less than $2400, so they actually asked me "How much money is there in your bank?".

Yes, they literally asked that. This reflects how unprofessional the trainers and the staff are in California because they would play extremely dirty to fill their daily rice bowl. And when I was unable to provide an answer they asked for a rough estimation. To put things clear, anyone who is decent in professionalism would not ask for sensitive details like that, so when I was confronted with this question it made me feel extremely uncomfortable.

Yet, I really wanted to exercise, however I could not possibly exercise in California Fitness forever. What I should have done right there was to walk away because the staff was clearly unprofessional in their service. Even my mum was extremely annoyed when her personal trainer failed to take their training seriously.

Eventually, they told me that I can pay $860 to exercise at their place from July 14 till August 25. Yet, this deal was not explained in the contract and I trusted that they would abide to it. Since the contract was written in Traditional Chinese, and I was inept at fully understanding it, I was unable to fully read the contract. In retrospect, I really should have walked away then. However, I am grateful that I evaded their scam 'promotion', otherwise it would have cost me money in the 4-5 digits.

During my first few days exercising there, the trainers would often come up to me and want to talk to me. As usual, I made it clear that I am not interested in their personal training but they assured me that they are not selling. Then they wanted to see my body weight and the results revealed that I am severely lacking in nutrition, which isn't true because I have been eating healthily consistently during that period. Clearly, the results have been skewed to exaggerate their point that I am in a 'problematic' health condition when I'm only underweight and nothing more. Then, again, they conveniently forgotten that I made it clear that I am not interested in personal trainers. The trainer advertised to me his personal training services, saying the natural benefits of a healthy body can last a lifetime. He then asked me the same question of "How much money do you have in the bank", and it proved to be extremely difficult for me to politely talk my way out of saying that I'm not interested without offending them.

And this happened twice in one day, so my body nutrition was measured twice and I had to deal with the same thing again, but with another trainer. And those trainers that I turned down, they give me this long face every time they see me exercising at their centre.

A month later, I have still been exercising at California Fitness myself and without any personal trainers. I have evidently been slightly buffed up (all my friends and family said the same thing when they see me). Can't say the same regarding the trainers' remarks though. They would walk to me giving snide remarks that I have not improved a single bit since I joined, but when I stressed on no personal training, they made it look as if I am the bad guy by pointing out that I am paranoid. But saying that my body needs exercise is always their first step to promoting their personal training services and had I not stress it out in a slightly emotional manner, I would have to undergo the same ordeal again.

And on August 16th, when I was about to leave after my exercise, one of the staff took away my California Fitness card, claiming that my membership has expired. This isn't true because clearly I heard that I can get one additional month free by paying $860 but unfortunately it was not mentioned in the contract. I was slightly shocked but came to a full realisation that while it was far from severe, I got scammed by the contract.

TLDR: They harassed me by trying to make me reveal my bank details, scammed me with their misleading contract and the service is downright horrible.

While it is my fault that I complied with them despite refusing to get involved in money initially, it comes to show how deceptive California Fitness is in their promotion. I felt extremely uncomfortable talking to them because all they want was my money. They would do all sorts of dirty methods possible, from advertising promotions to even exaggerating how 'unhealthy' your body is to lure you in. And when you turn them down, they would make nasty comments on your personal purchasing power.

So this is my warning to all you fellow people who get followed and pressured by those trainers outside their gym trying to lure you in: Just ignore them and move on with your thing.

And I hope the Hong Kong government can take note of this serious issue of California Fitness conning people, I have heard incidents when people have been scammed in the 6 digits by them, it's extremely horrendous.

Yours sincerely,
-anonymous-

My daughter decided to start some physical exercise and muscle strengthening, thus visited California Fitness (CF) in Tsim Sha Tsui in 8.2012 with my wife. The salesmen sold her a coaching contract. The contract stated the product being physical training, did not state what exercise is or is not included. A few days later, my daughter went there alone to begin lessons with a coach. A salesman told her that she badly needs stretching and "deep muscle" strengthening but these are not included in the previous contract. The salesman persuaded her to buy other coaching contract. They took her credit card and transacted, without telling her the amount of money to be transacted. The contract they sold this time also only stated physical training without any specification. I argued with the so-called manager about their misleading selling policy. The manager did not even bother to argue with me. He just said they have been doing this for more than 10 yrs. I launched a formal complaint to the Consumer Council. They contacted CF, got no reply at all, and can only give me a list of lawyers for legal advice. I was considering to contact CF or legal advisors further. But now having search for complaints against CF in internet, I know it won't work. The manager was right : they having been doing this for yrs, and managed to continue with their business.
My advice : never enter any CF shop. Tell as many as you can about this. I was told that the famous movie star Jackie Chan is amongst the high management of CF. What a shame of Hong Kong and Jackie Chan himself. The CF staff involved in my daughter's case : Dick Kong, Benny Chow, Don Yeung, Mike Chan.

I've personally had some bad experiences with California fitness. The newer facilities are decent, but the older ones such as Wanchai are small and ill-equipped. However, even in Causeway Bay there seems to be a problem with members leaving weights and dumbbells all over the floor for people to trip over. At peak hours the weight room resembles a minefield. Staff are generally lax about keeping the place tidy, and can be a bit rude when you mention it to them.

As mentioned before in many complaints, the sales staff are aggressive and off-putting. I recently came to the end of a one-year contract and had to haggle and muck about for an hour and a half just so I could get the same contract for another year without any extra bells or whistles.

I was recently harassed by another member in Causeway Bay during my workout. This guy kept coming up and taking weights off the bar WHILE I was doing my sets because he wanted to use them. I tried reporting it to the staff on duty, but they said they couldn't do anything about it. Either they were pretending to miss the point because they were afraid of addressing a real problem, or they really were so thick that they couldn't see the danger of what the other member was doing. They left us to sort it out for ourselves.

I tried to reason with him, speaking calmly, but after continued harassment, I called the staff over a second time and they spoke to the guy for a while in Chinese. I was not allowed to speak(was in fact told to shut my mouth), and they wouldn't tell me what they were saying, but the conversation was light and there was laughter. The manager finally told me that the [B]OTHER GUY[/B] was going to go with them and file a report against [B]ME[/B]. Before I left, I asked to file a report of my own, but they said one was already being filed. I asked for the manager's name and office number so that I could call and complain. They refused to give me anything but the Causeway Bay club number, not even the manager's name.

Needless to say, I'll be changing gyms soon.

The other day, I went to the California Fitness center in Causeway Bay to join a regular membership program. After joining the club, Fanny, the Fitness Team Leader pursued me to take the personal training course. I was promised for an installment plan for the classes. They ended up charging my credit card at once.

I went to the center for more information accordingly. Hilary, the center manager refused to assist further. She confirmed that the amount has been charged. The only thing she could do would be trying to contact my bank to see if installment could be done or not but no guarantee. If installment couldn't be done, I would have to pay the total at once! I called the Police at the spot. The manager was totally pissed and gave the policeman that annoyed look. I guess she thought I was just bluffing when I said that what I would do.

Apart from that, when they said autopay installment/ disputing the payment, it actually indicates your credit card would be charged at once. You would be talking to your bank about a bank loan and decide how you pay the bank back. That's something they wouldn't tell you about until you make the payment

I can't believe how outrageous the selling method is for such an international fitness group. Now I feel like it is a total scam. Seriously have doubt in regards to this company.

I have contacted the Consumer Council as well as the Police Force regarding this issue. Apart from that, I have also filed complaint on their social media pages. I just want to let the world knows about how an INTERNATIONAL company works these days.

California Fitness has called me many times telling me that a friend of mine, who is a member, has recommended me for a two week free trail.

Even though I was a member, I would get these phone calls every few weeks.

When I stopped my membership, I received a phone call of the same nature on 2 November 2011. The person did not allow me to have a single word in, and went straight to "I see you used to be a member with California Fitness, would you consider signing up again?"

I received this phone call even though my name was on the "Do Not Call" list.

The person did not give me her name throughout the phone call, and she used the front desk phone, making it hard to track who called.

so i personally went to the national consumers complaint centre (website - www.nccc.org.my) on friday, 12 June.

i advise anyone going through a similar case to visit them. They are very knowledgeable and get PLENTY of complaints regarding fitness centres on a WEEKLY basis.

bring copies of the proper documentation i.e. letters, Terms & agreement; and list down a detailed sequence of your side of the story. this will help them to smoothen the process.

if your currently in the midst of a similar case like mine, DO NOT HESITATE. the sooner you submit a complaint the better.

there is never a guarantee of which party might win or lose, what is important is that we all stand up for our consumer rights.

Do not give in to these bullies i.e. paying for problems to go away, for you will only be giving these organisation the green light to continue scamming other unsuspecting individuals who have no idea what they are getting into.

Hello, and welcome to part 2. At this rate, I could write a book on the harrowing experience that is my relationship with CALIFORNIA FITNESS MALAYSIA. Will be posting an update on their latest shenanigans soon...

In case you're still unsure about your case, here are just some of the complaints/experiences listed across the world-wide-web that you can refer to:

Apparently our neighbours in good ole' Singapore share our exact sentiments when it comes to this membership

http://tomorrow.sg/archives/2005/06/10/the_bugis_california_fitness_cen.html?from=150&comments_per_page=50

Some local complaints in Malaysia, quite recent.

http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/843694/+80#entry24955065

It makes you wonder doesn't it? How these people can go to sleep at night knowing that what they are doing is immoral in some cases ILLEGAL. Spread the good word and give these jerks a little notoriety.. the more you know, the MORE you KNOW.

I'd like to express my tremulous experience with California Fitness Gym (Sunway Pyramid Outlet). I was contacted in November 2007 by a telephone promoter who notified me about winning a FREE 1 Week Trial with the gym membership. They had retrieved my contact details from a drop-box at a Coffee Bean outlet in which I had placed my business card with intent on participating in contest at that time (winning a free trip to an exotic destination).

The lady on the phone told me that I could head down to their outlet at Sunway Pyramid to claim my prize – FREE 1-week Trial Membership to California Fitness. Seeing as it was late, I only managed to arrive at the place after office hours (around 9pm).

When I arrived, I told the receptionist that I was there to claim my FREE trial membership. She proceeded to introduce to me one of the fitness consultants. He gave me a tour of the gym. After the tour, I was led away to conduct an impromptu health check. They started asking me all sorts of questions of which I assumed was related to my health, stating that I was unhealthy and recommending me all sorts of fitness routines and packages.

As I was about to leave, the fitness consultant then took me aside and introduced me to another consultant who began telling me about a ‘fantastic promotion’ California Fitness was holding at that time. They explained to me that this promotion gave me a big discount on the current existing membership fees. I told them that I would think about it and would rather conduct the FREE Trial first. They then claimed that the promotion would be ending within 2 days time and by then I would have missed out on this ‘great opportunity’. I was already beginning to feel very anxious as it was about 11pm+. I was exhausted and eager to walk out of the premises, regardless of whether I was given my FREE Trial or not. Using high pressure selling tactics, they persuaded me into signing up for a GOLD CARD membership. HOWEVER, they informed me that in order to finalise my contract, they needed a credit/debit card of which I then told them that I did not own one. The consultant proceeded to ask me to borrow one from either a friend or relative and pay them back using cash. I was then asked to make a deposit of RM120 (the amount of cash I had on me at that time) to confirm my agreement with them. They then gave me a copy of the transaction which noted that I had was required to pay a balance of RM280 in order to be able to access my membership which was to begin on 4 January 2008.

I was only allowed to return home after 12am with the signed documents and after paying my deposit. Due to the experience, I was hesitant to go back to the gym as I didn’t want to be ‘persuaded’ any further (upgrading membership etc). I went through the documents again and came to a conclusion that this membership wasn’t for me as I would not be able to fully commit myself to a long term programme. I decided that I would return to the premises to revoke my membership and retrieve my deposit.

I told the receptionist my intent and the reasons why I felt I couldn’t continue my membership. She proceeds to tell me that I had exceeded the timeframe in which I was allowed to cancel my membership (3-days, of which wasn’t mentioned ANYWHERE in the contract / Membership Terms & Conditions). She then stated that in order to terminate my membership, I had to pay an additional RM600+ on top of the balance that I owed them. I was mortified, as I have never even attended nor used their facilities since the day I signed up. She began giving me the run-around, stating that the senior management was not available at that time and that I would have to come back on a later date to settle this issue. Frustrated, I decided to just give up hope on ever retrieving my deposit and left.

Few months later, I’m then told by my parents that California Fitness has been sending me notification letters to my hometown address insisting that I pay them the fees that I owed. Seeing as the contract’s timeframe had already lapsed, I figured it was a miscalculation on their side and the contract was now void (as stated in the sign-up form). However, this was not the case as they began SMS-ing me for six months straight saying that I needed to pay my debts. I found this odd as they were charging me for services that I had never used as well as for a membership of which was never finalized.

Recently they've sent me 2 messages stating that if I did not pay the outstanding fees they would proceed with legal action. I’m terribly stressed out by this whole ordeal and am unsure as to what steps I should take in order to rectify this situation.