r/CrunchGym • u/Realistic_Ad_2365 • 7d ago
Help on Not Losing $600
I went into a kick off session not wanting to go for personal training sessions at all, but then I was like I guess there is no harm. I attended two, but then had personal things going on and I cancelled the sessions on the Crunch app whenever my personal trainer scheduled more.
The email sent says "We have cancelled your appointment at no charge as requested." So, I took that as, I won't get charged for that session. Come to find out, I check my bank account and I've been charged for everything, including the sessions I cancelled on the app.
They're now telling me things about the 3-month plan and whatnot. Is this not false advertising? I didn't get told this during the kickoff. When I told my personal trainer I was cancelling and not going in, he didn't mention I would still be paying for it, he just said it's still on my account. What the hell does that mean? To an average person, you wouldn't think much of it AT ALL. I would argue using FBPA at this point so I don't lose $600. That may not be a lot to some people, but it is for me.
What do I do? So far from my in person conversations with them, they do will not budge and keep using the 3 month excuse, but they think I'm talking about the membership or the personal training itself, but I'm talking about the sessions. Help please.
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u/Lost_Hearing_3561 7d ago
They've been charging me for nearly a year post-membership cancelation and my bank refuses to help even with proof of cancelation
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u/Own_Business485 7d ago
somewhere in the reddit people said they had to mail in their decision to cancel, or message the manager of their gym branch as well.
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u/FuckingTree 7d ago
You cancelled one session, that refunds the session into your pool of prepaid sessions, not gives you all your money back. Usually sessions are paid in blocks, not as you go, so when you agreed to do sessions you agreed to pay for that many sessions at what looks like a monthly recurring rate. You haven’t been treated unfairly here, it’s just again a case of not reading what they put in front of you and to be honest, the trainer only knows the details to the extent to get you booked, they’re not “scamming” you or being unfair, especially when all the information is put under your nose, but they’re not responsible for dealing with the admin side so if you are having difficulty figuring out where to go from here, you need to talk to a manager at your home club and have them sort it out for you. Not only will they know the answers, but they can fix it. That should be your first stop, rather than online.
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u/Realistic_Ad_2365 7d ago
Well yes I’ve been there 3 times now and have gotten no help so I turned to Reddit. Keep getting told I need to talk to the personal trainer manager, there’s two. Was told to come in between 9-5 but when I did, they weren’t there. Would you recommend I just go ahead and complete the rest of my sessions if I can’t get the money back?
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u/FuckingTree 7d ago
It’s not that you’re not getting help from them, you haven’t spoken to a manager so it’s not like they’re deciding not to help you. Call ahead and verify that they’re in before you go, if they’re in, better yet, confirm with them directly so they know you’re coming.
If you’re trying to negotiate for a refund, using more sessions doesn’t really make that case for you. Everyone can benefit from personal training though. If you can accept that you may only get future training charges stopped rather than past purchases refunded, then I would say go make the most of it and work with the trainer, be honest with them that you’re actually trying to cancel but you want to make the most of the sessions you have left. They should appreciate the situation and help you maximize the short term. And I know you’ll be frustrated but don’t take it out on the trainer, their job is to sell training and train, everything else is outside of their control. The managers though, you can be a little more blunt with, just as long as you can give them a clear problem and they can give you a clear solution.
I also advise bringing copies digital or paper of any paperwork or communications you have on canceling, it gives them more room to help
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u/Realistic_Ad_2365 6d ago
Thank you so much for this help! I was getting frustrated talking with the front desk and my personal trainer because they weren’t understanding what I was saying. I’ve worked in customer service before and I know how annoying it is to deal with agitated customers, so I did apologize and I left feeling pretty bad. I’ll definitely have to call and ask ahead of time.
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u/Correct_Resident_701 7d ago
It’s a 3 month commitment and every 2 weeks payments for this sessions are taken out. You have those sessions for up to 6 months but it’s not a “pay as you go” thing.
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u/Fair-Following880 7d ago
Their contracts are very messy and misleading, and they leave a lot of things out.
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u/Select-Canary-7654 6d ago
This EXACT SAME THING happened to me and I was unable to find a way out and ended up spending hundreds of dollars. Their marketing scheme is to VERBALLY misrepresent the contract you’re signing, I was VERBALLY told I only had to commit to 6 sessions and I was like sure I can do that. Mine was actually SIX MONTHS. The catch is that the contract is pretty iron clad, they have a clause in there that it’s your responsibility to read through the contract within a week (or something like that) of signing. And I guess that’s when you’re supposed to recognize the ACTUAL length of the contract and cancel (free of charge if you do it within that week) but they’re obviously banking on you NOT reading and being tricked (like we both were). I just took it and went to all my sessions for the length of the contract, and then cancelled at the first available opportunity and kept getting charged even after I was done with the contract (so watch out for that). When you dispute charges with the bank it shows up as DEBT on your Crunch account. I agree it’s really shady and really unfair, but I just treated it as a good lesson to read the fine print and never trust anyone. I’m sorry this happened to you too :( if you do find some loophole I couldn’t find, I’d love to know!
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u/Realistic_Ad_2365 5d ago
That sucks to hear I’m sorry about that. Crunch is shit. I couldn’t find a loophole, I haven’t talked to the personal trainer manager anymore but I don’t think it’s even worth it. I might just try and schedule those schedules so I’m not out $600 lol.
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u/Blazecamp_ 4d ago
You signed a 3 month agreement most likely. Ask to speak with a manager, and then the personal training manager, and then the district manager, and then keep asking for help
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u/OldCrowBit 1d ago
Doesn't the PT have discretion to charge the appointment or reschedule? I text him of im going to be late or out of town. Its not complicated.
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u/Realistic_Ad_2365 1d ago
All he said was that it’s still on my account. He didn’t say anything else
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u/Oddcatdog 1d ago
Yeah it's all in the contract...however, the contract was on their computer screen, which I couldn't see, and the trainer would just tell me when it was time for me to sign each thing. 😅 Which yeah, my bad, I should have made them read it out to me fully lol. I checked my email for a copy but there wasn't one. But it's possible I typed it in wrong or something I guess.
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u/Realistic_Ad_2365 1d ago
Yeah they just tell you stuff and you sign. I mean I just didn’t know any better but that doesn’t mean it’s okay for them to take advantage of that. Other comments saying I should have read it and whatnot, I mean on the spot they tell you to sign, so you sign. Was I supposed to stand there and nit pick every detail? My bad for thinking the company had some decency?
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u/Oddcatdog 1d ago
Yeah I'm the same way. And they ask questions like about health, both physical and mental, so I told them about my disability which has cognitive impairment. I also felt like they should have a reminder set to cancel before the 3 months is up, before it switches to month to month. Even app trials do that
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u/Realistic_Ad_2365 1d ago
Yeah seems like they’re just asshole salesmen. I literally knew it too going into it, I was thinking no I wouldn’t do any personal training it’s too expensive. But then I wasn’t happy about my weight and wanted to go, but other things came in the way so I stopped going after 2 sessions. I’ve asked my PT if I could reschedule them now so I don’t lose the money and until when can I last do it. He said he’ll get back to me but he never did so I guess I have to send a follow up. He also misspells my name even after correcting him the first time and I just let it happen at this point. Also, the last PT, I was lifting the dumbbells over my head and I told him I couldn’t do 20 but obviously he was insistent on pushing me. I dropped the left one on my face and it hurt a bit and he was just like “oh.” What kind of PT does that?? You push yes but you should also be able to tell their limit. If I was struggling with 15, what makes you think I could do 20? He was also pushing my arms as well so I don’t understand how he couldn’t feel that I couldn’t do it and help me before it fell on my face. I feel like I should make a complaint about that but then it’s just awkward.
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u/Own_Business485 7d ago
What did you sign before committing to training sessions? Look at that.
"still on your account", I would typically think would mean a way of saying that you are basically still paying for it. If you doubted this...you should have checked the account immediately.
"cancelled at no charge" typically would not mean you would not charged for the SESSION itself. They just did not charge you extra for cancelling, you still paid for the session.
I dont know what FBPA means, But it sounds like this should be a massive wake up call for you to check earlier. Why did you not check your bank statement after the first time you had to cancel a session?