Planet Fitness

I pay a monthly fee of $19.99 on the 17th of every month under my agreement with Planet Fitness, taken out of my bank account automatically. They in return charged my bank account on June 1st for $39.00 that I did not know about. They call this their "Annual Fee". My bank account was over-drafted over $50.00 because of this, ($39.00 & an overdraft fee) I didn't know what this "ACH" fee was until I called my bank. Planet Fitness is the only place I have an automated payment taken out from my bank account too so they automatically took the money out and did not send me a notice. I remember that when my boyfriend and I signed up we went to the gym before it had even opened and they were running this "FANTASTIC DEAL" for a 1 yr black card membership. They were waiving the initiation fee and the first yr annual fee. My contract does say that I will be charged the $39.00 annual fee on June 1, 2009. To me this meant for the next year to lock in the same price. I mean seriously who really would think that they were gonna pay a $39.00 fee for something they have already paid for? Certainly not anyone I know.

I called the Planet Fitness I got my membership from and started asking questions. I tried to be as nice as possible because it's not the person's fault I was talking to & I kept apologizing because I was getting a little mad. They understood, even though I didn't get far. As soon as they answered I said I had a question and they said is is about the $39.00 fee. Hmm, how did they guess? BECAUSE EVERYONE'S PISSED OFF! Finally this kid put his boss on the phone because I told him I wasn't taking no for an answer of me getting reimbursed my money.

The thing that kills me is that I signed up for the gym June 23, 2008 for a 1 yr contract which means my contract is up on June 23, 2009. Why would I want to "lock in" as they say a $19.99 a monthly fee/rate if I am not going to have it after 23 days? And they won't reimburse me? I never even went to the gym either, only 1 time. NO LIE! LOL I didn't cancel because I can't afford the cancellation fee that you have to pay all at one time. They said if I wanted the fee to be waived I had to cancel my membership in writing by the 25th of the previous month (being May). Again, if I would have done this I would have had to pay the cancellation fee and I only had 1 month left. That would have made no sense even if I did get a notice about the fee. They should take into consideration when peoples' memberships are up. They sure know when to take your money!

With that said, the manager got on the phone and I was a little more mad, again thanking her for listening to me complain and apologizing. I explained everything above to her and she said that the company does not send notices about this. I asked her why and she said it is hard & takes too much time for them to figure out who is a black card member to who is a regular member. Ok, that doesn't make sense because you are charging the black card members this $39.00 fee so you would have to know who they are, right? I said it was not her responsibility as an employee to do this "paperwork" for their corporate office. I said if they want to run a business then should get it together. I work in business, I know! She then told me that the Planet Fitness gyms around this area (York, PA I guess) are franchised so there are different owners. Again...HMMMM, wouldn't that make it easier for them to tell the difference in their members? I also asked her why they don't explain completely about this fee when you sign up & she said it should have been told to us. Why would I need to look up membership info on the internet if I should have been told everything? She ended with telling me that all I can do is WRITE (YES I SAID WRITE) to their corporate office explaining all of this and they will send it on to the person that owns that Planet Fitness. I went to the website to find no address and no phone number, NOTHING! This is 2009 not 1999, why should I have to write to someone about this. I should be able to email or call or something!

I would honestly take it as a loss and pay the over draft fee and annual fee if my membership wasn't up in DAYS! I mean, I have been paying for a membership that I have not used for 12 months now so what is $50.00 more? (I'm being sarcastic).

Now that I think of it...as a black card member I am allowed to use any Planet Fitness there is so how are they gonna know who I am if they are owned by different people? See, that sounds silly and so does many of the answers I got! I AM NOT PLEASED!

Thanks for listening. Let me know if this happened to you.