I need advice on *old's *ym

[Boulder_Bear]

To avoid any problems I have changed the names of the establishment by switching the first letter of the first word with the first letter of the second word. THe establishment is known as Gold's Gym. My wife had our baby in February, and because of time constraints we haven't been able to go until just this week. She froze the account back in December so the account was not supposed to be unfrozen until this week. We go in and ask to have them unfreeze the account they tell us that we have to talk with their corporate office. No problem. Yesterday we go into the Corporate Office and talk with them. They said they had a "Customer Service Form" on file to unfreeze my wife's account since May. We ask to see that form because as we tell them, "My wife hasn't signed anything." When she comes back with the form. We take one look at it and tell her that the signature on that form is not my wife's. My wife has a very distinct signature. We also compared it to the form that she signed when she froze the account. It obviously was not her signature. Another thing they also say is that they show that my wife has scanned her membership tag in several times since may. I explained to this lady that both of our membership tags are on the same keychain(mine). So when I have gone in I hand them both and say that I am not sure which is mine. They scan them both unless mine is the first one they scan. When I explained this, the Lady said well there isn't anything we can do because we have a "Customer Service Form" that says to unfreeze the account. When I point out that the signatures aren't the same, she just says That there just isn't anything they can do. I asked to talk with the manager and she said that the manager would be in this morning. I need some advice. Any ideas of what I can do or say?

[Banrion]

I would strongly suggest against posting your wife's legal signature on the internet. Then whomever is apparantly aware of your situation and your personal accounts will have a signature that they can just laserprint onto any other account forms they might be trying to access.

[PuckishOne]

Honestly, Boulder_Bear, I would cancel your memberships at that gym and find a new one. "G Gym" have made it clear that they are willing to engage in unethical (at best) or illegal (at worst) practices and see nothing wrong with it. Even though you have clear proof that the signature on the "new" form isn't your wife's, even though you have an avenue to prove that you haven't been at the gym, they are unwilling to even listen, let alone work with you to resolve the problem.

Get a copy of that form with your wife's alleged signature on it, document what has already happened, let the gym staff know you intend to send it along to your state's attorney general, then do just that. They are committing (or at least allowing) fraud and, even if nothing comes of it, you can let them know that you are not willing to participate.

Good luck.

[Boulder_Bear]

I would strongly suggest against posting your wife's legal signature on the internet. Then whomever is apparantly aware of your situation and your personal accounts will have a signature that they can just laserprint onto any other account forms they might be trying to access.

Good idea I have taken the link out and I have deleted that part. Anyone else have any ideas?

[ChanceNCinny]

Sorry but I have to side with the Gym on this one. I work at a different gym and if we have a member who is using their card but the account is frozen we will often unfreeze the account. Granted we wouldn't forge signatures and would note on the account something like "Employee X signed in member on date. Office unfroze account on date" and call the member. It is done as a curtosy to members who forget to unfreeze their memberships (and to prevent members from using the gym while their membership is on hold). They have no way of knowing that you aren't trying to scam them, all they can say for sure is that the card attached to your wifes account was used. As for the person who said to cancel the membership if you have a contract check it first because some other clubs have some pretty nasty early cancellation policies.

That aside, if you think they are wrong and you can cancel your membership then do so. If you think they are wrong and you can't cancel it then become a pain to Corporate about the whole thing and they will probably cave in eventually just to get you to stop bugging them. If you can admit that you had some blame in the situation then tell them so and see if maybe you can get credit for atleast some of the time because although you did accidentally use the wrong card they forged the form. But whatever happens in the future label the cards (even if they are for a different gym) to prevent something like this from occuring.

[One-Fang]

The contract should stipulate (or at least the 'freeze this account' form) under what conditions the account will be unfrozen. If by form only, they have no case. If by using the card, you are liable from the first card use. It's not up to them to know which of those two cards is yours and which is the wife's.

I would be curious to know where they got that form from. Does the signature actually look like the wife's name? Or is it like wife is G. Smith and signature is clearly W. Hannover? If the latter, perhaps someone wrote down their account number wrong and it got put under your wife's.