I guess it will boil down to legalities instead of kindess and understanding, thus whether or not you either signed a contract saying you could be billed for X amount of time, or, if you signed a contract that said they didn't need your written permission to rebill you. Unless they have permission to take money out of your ass, they are stealing and must give it back -- preferably with interest.

OMG... I'm hearing The Red by Chevelle... on the radio... that's a first. And just the other day I heard Mat Good's Weapon... but not since. I wonder if they play new things in the morning when everyone is in school or at work and subject the population to ancient shit that unlike wine does not get better with age and say evolve into crap, like AC/Fucking/DC, Tom Fucking Petty, Van Fucking Halen, and Ozzy Fucking Ozborne. Then again, this is "better" than the "Safeway Network" which is a 24 hour tape of the same songs... I swear, if I hear What's Love Got To Do With It? one more time, I will show them with my lettuce knife. Man that got off topic.

The problem is my Winterpeg friend is that I did send them a registered letter stating that I would not be renewing my membership at the end of its term. But, I dont' have a copy of it - nada. And, my paperwork for them was with my uncle, who no longer has it. So, I can't back up my claims but they should have a copy, but whether they show it or not...

Either way. I'm still gonna slander them.

I've learned this lesson too my friend, and it's been from being involve in a business. The fact is, whether it's your suppliers, your customers or your partners, everyone is out to rip you off, with very few exceptions, and will take whatever they figure they can get away with. If ya don't keep good records with which to thwart them, they will trample all over you and raid your carcass for the spoils of victory. And they use excuses like, "you didn't say we had to PAY for [insert product or service]", or, "what do you mean the cheque cleared your bank account? WE never got the money!"

It's a world of shit out there. I hate people. That will be all.

p.s. Good luck... :)

p.p.s. AC/Fucking/DC hahaha... I love it.

p.p.p.s. NO! I DON'T! I mean I love the NICKNAME. NOT the band. NEVER.. NOOOOOOOOO! God, please tell me that was my internal voice!!!!

p.p.p.p.s. The failure to automatically assume that everyone is a crook and nobody can be trusted may well be naive, but it's the sort of naivete that is refreshing - a clear sign of an honest and essentially uncorrupted personality. I say it's a good thing.

Those bastards... let the slandering begin.

To Conor: Re Premier-Curzons fitness.
I am also having difficulty in receiving a return phonecall from Premier-Curzons head office in Mississaga, Ontario. Premier double charged me this month. In addtion to leaving voicemessages, I have also sent them a fax and a letter (via registered mail) to their head office and a copy to my gym, in order to immediately terminate my membership from their clubs. I have just changed my credit card number so that the next months payment won't go through.

Premier Curzons have NOT returned any of my calls (I have left several for Lisa in their accounting department, and a few more at their main customer service number.

Intrestingly enough, a friend of mine used to belong to a Premier Curzon club and advised me to not join them, as they also scammed money from her credit card.

I have a feeling there are more people like ourselves who are being ripped of by Premier Curzons, and therefore I have posted here in order to alert others.

I was a member of a Fitness Club. Platinum Family Fitness. I stop using them about 5 months into the contract but hoped I'd find time to go back. Anyway I didn't and after my 12 month contract which was done with post dated cheques ended September 1,2003... I receive just 1 week ago on Nov 28, 2003 a letter from their lawyer saying I owe $232.00 dollars in arrears. The contract I have says its a perpetual life time membership, which is no legal. They are threatening to ruin my credit rating if I don't pay. I checked the Ministry of Consumer and Business Services site and found that this is a bad practice by them and other fitness clubs. Also it states that they are supposed to notify me in writing that I have the right to not renew or this renewal clause they put into the contract is now binding. Anyway heres some good links about this bull that they pull. I hope it helps some people.
http://www.cbs.gov.on.ca/mcbs/english/56uuwg.htm
the above is a typical scam they pull.
http://www.cbs.gov.on.ca/mcbs/english/4urqb2.htm
the above is the scam they pull with making you pay advance fees.
and one other link. http://www.cbs.gov.on.ca/mcbs/english/56vp8y.htm

Here is a link to the law that protects us from them, although it is open to some interpretations, when speaking to the Ministry officer I was told that they can't do this and must comply with notifying members before this renewal scam they pull...
here's a link to the act thats supposed to protect us (Prepaid Services Act). http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/dblaws/statutes/english/90p22_e.htm

I want to help in this endevor to get these guys. So I'm thinking of putting up a Canadian Web forum just for this purpose. If you think this might be a good idea and would like to contribute with opinions and stuff that would be great. It will be dedicated to making people aware of these scams and sharing info and stories....

So give me your opinion if you think its a good idea. I've already got the forum software available to me and could launch it in 1 day. All I need is a name for it. Anybody got any suggestions...

I'll be back to see if their are any responses.

Parker

I had a member ship at a fitness club with automatic withdrawals coming from my bank account. When I was done with the membership I didn't take any chances. I closed the bank account and openned a new one. This can be a pain in the ass if it's your main account but if you have a spare account for these contracts and authorized debits you can save yourself a whole lot of headaches with these people.

hey...ok, so i thought i was the only person with a vendetta against curzons. i have seen many sites launched against bally's but this is the first i've come across people who hate curzons/premier as much as i do. my story: i signed up for a membership in july 2002. i worked out a lot in the summer months but once i went back to school in september, i just didn't have the time. in january 2003 i decided topurchase some personal training lessons...i went into the gym with the intention of signing up for 12, when i left i had signed up for 48!--obviously, cuz i'm an idiot. i regretted it right away...my first session was scheduled for the next morning. my trainer was late, but when she got there she told me that it was her last day with the company and blabbed about a lot of things--about management, dissatisfied customers, bad service, the facilities etc... i went into the gym later that day to speak with the personal training manager, obviously, to cancel my sessions---i was well within the 72 hour rule (which apparently applies to membership contracts exclusively). he said--no. he would set me up with another trainer and i would just have to accept it. in fact, he began bad-mouthing the first trainer he assigned-- i went to another personal training session with the newly assigned trainer, he wasn't very good. i went to another session and then decided i wouldn't go anymore. that was last february. i have since written lengthy letters---all hand-delivered, spoken to several managers and sales people, haven't received one return call from the head office...i signed the contract and although, they did not keep their end of it, they will make that my fault...so, i don't think i'll be getting any refunds...but i will work to make this as public as possible. it's abusive and they shouldn't be allowed to get away things like this.

for the guy who closed his account. i went for a job interview at premier fitness last year. my job, if i had no conscience and had taken it, would have been to call people who closed their accounts thinking curzons would stop charging them. essentially what happens is they continue to make charges against your account, but it doesn't exist, right, so in 5-7 years you get a call from some collection agency-- you call curzons to complain and my job would have been to explain that you owe the company a ton of money --for the membership and for interest/nsf charges---and you have to pay. on my contract it states very clearly that i have to cancel in writing and that closing my bank account does not constitute a cancellation of my account with curzons.

i have had an awful time getting results from them...but have continued to pay because i am afraid of the damage they will do to my credit. i have promised not to give up though, as far as i know my membership has been cancelled. they have stopped withdrawing funds from my account, and i haven't seen any charges to my credit card.

they have made a number of unauthorized withdrawls from my account for which i am awaiting repayment...

i haven't yelled at anyone, or been nasty, just not my style. but i will do everything in my power to ensure that curzons yordale, located at yorkdale mall in toronto does not continue to treat others the way they have treated me.