Aug 22, 2008 7:25 pm US/Pacific
Call Kurtis: 'Super' Sport Saga
The District Attorney is now involved in the case of a gym that added "Super" to its name and started to charge more. We call on Kurtis Ming with the latest on the 24 Hour Fitness saga.
24 Hour Fitness closed a couple gyms, opened new locations nearby and added "Super" to their names. The gym says they're being charged for better facilities. The customers say the only additional thing they're getting is a larger bill!
24 Hour Fitness shut down two locations -- one in Folsom, another in Moraga -- opening new gyms in the same city under the name 24 Hour Fitness Super Sport.With the new name came higher monthly rates.
"I said 'this was absurd'," says Richard Williams, who works in Folsom.
Williams says he paid up front $1,400 to go to the original Folsom club for the first three years. According to his contract, he was then locked in at 20 bucks a year thereafter. But after his club shut down and the new Super Sport club opened up, he was told he couldn't come in unless he paid more.
"I'd go from $20 a year to a whopping $260 a year, which is a 1200 percent increase to come and use the same treadmill, only now this treadmill sits in a building called 'Super Sport'," says Williams.
Customers think 24 Hour Fitness changed the name just to raise rates. 24 Hour Fitness says the new Super Sport clubs offer more amenities. But members of the new club in Moraga say they don't measure up to what's described on the company's web site.
"Basketball courts, we don't have that; racquetball courts, we don't have it, pool, spa, whirl pool, juice bar, tanning facilitates, we don't have any of that here," says Rich Phifer, 24 Hour Fitness Member.
Dozens of members of the Moraga gym took their complaints to the Contra Costa District Attorney.
"One of the things I hear from consumers is 'hey this is a bait and switch, where we were promised one thing and now I'm being forced to either drive to Walnut Creek or pay $10 more.' And that does go to the issue of fairness," says Steve Bolen, Contra Costa County District Attorney.
Bolen says he's working with 24 Hour Fitness to make sure they honor their agreements. One idea is to get members grandfathered in so they can use the Moraga club without a fee increase.
"We want to get this resolved one way or the other within the next 30 days," says Bolen.
Williams plans to file a complaint with the Sacramento County D.A.
In the meantime, he's looking at possibly filing a class action lawsuit.
"It's not just for me. It's for everybody else caught in this web," says Williams.
If he does get a suit going, it wouldn't be the first one against 24 Hour Fitness. In 2007, the gym settled a class action lawsuit for charging customers after they canceled their memberships. In this case, 24 Fitness says, "We will continue to respond to any requests for information and communicate with our members on this issue."
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