It has been a while since I have blogged here at Almost Girl. I have tended towards puttering around on my Almost Blogs and occasionally Tumbling.
However I am so concerned and frustrated by an experience I had with Soma Health Club in Williamsburg I plan to voice my concerns as far and as wide as it is possible so that others do get find themselves in my position. I am now $410 dollars in the hole to Soma Health Club due to their DECEPTIVE and MANIPULATIVE business practices.
I signed a one year contract with Soma from July 2008 to July 2009. I moved from Brooklyn to Manhattan in May and had asked about early termination of memberships at the end of March as I knew my move was impending. The cancelation fee was four months of membership so I told the female supervisor that I would pay through July and end my membership. She verbally confirmed this would be fine. Frustrating but still in the contract.
However I have recently been going through my finances and I have been getting charged by Soma $82 a month every single month despite the fact that my membership was up in July. IT IS NOW DECEMBER!
They are now telling me I have to physically come in and sign a form saying I do not want to auto-renew. However the contract I signed says that you must simply give 30 day notice, it does not stipulate it must be written notice.
I have phone records and emails to prove that I contacted the club on March 27th to investigate termination of membership and received verbal confirmation from the female supervisor that I would end my contract in July. Given the terms of the contract this should be adequate. Below is my first email contact with them at 2:11pm on March 27st and my phone call to them (from my AT&T phone bill) at 3pm the same day.
I called to complain on Saturday the 5th of December saying that I thought I had canceled in March and that my final payment would be July as confirmed by their female supervisor. I called again this morning saying I had gotten another charge on my credit card despite the fact that I had called on Saturday asking for this to stop. The manager very nastily told me that until I signed the form I would continue toget charged and I would not get my money for December back even though clearly I have been trying to cancel, if not in March, then very clearly in December.
It is upsetting that I have only just discovered this and yes I should have found it earlier but this is not appropriate given the terms of their own contract. They are making no attempt to work with me in good faith. Getting a charge on my card even though they know I want to get this canceled because I did not physically come into the club to sign is not my legal obligation according to their own contract.
The fact that they are unwilling to do anything to be helpful or decent is shocking to me. As far as I am concerned they should refund me five months of dues or $410 dollars and particularly the December dues given that I have been trying to cancel, they knew this, and yet they still charged me.
When I asked to speak to the owner the manager David said that he would not forward my complaint to them and he is the only person who would hear it. He further reiterated that he had no intention of refunding my dues. I continued to ask politely and in a calm tone if they would be willing to give me back any money and he said “this conversation is over.”
They won’t even try to work with me on this. In my final phone conversation with them the Manager David told me that if I wanted to pursue the matter further I could take it up with a lawyer. I have filed a chargeback to my VISA and my lawyer tells me I have enough evidence to make the case to my credit card company with the above evidence and contract. I have also submitted a complaint to the Better Business Bureau.
To anyone looking to join a gym in Williamsburg think twice. They have no concern for you as a person, as a member or to gain your loyal business. They simply want your money. Do not give your business or money. I have reviewed them on Yelp, CitySearch, Google Business, Yahoo Local Business, Social Workout and on their own Facebook page. I will continue to tell my story until Soma Health Club wishes to work with me in good faith towards an equitable solution. One that does not involve lawyers or the Better Business Bureau preferably.
