I have a collection agency after me, requesting that I pay them 2200.00 dollars. This comes from a Ballys membership I had 3 years ago. I was in a car wreck and they wouldnt let me cancel the membership. Eventhough I only used it for a week. What can I do to get this off my credit?
Is the ca genesis financial? If so I was in the same situation, I disputed the acct and they removed the tl.
dispute, dispute..!! Funny though, I had a car accident also, my doc wrote them a letter, then my contract was cancel right away, didnt have to pay a penny extra,,,
If you move XX miles from the place...YOU CAN CANCEL... DISPUTE FIRST with the CRA... Next doctor's note or distance clause... WHAT-EVER IT TAKES...
Bally's I had a 4 year battle with Financial Credit a Ballys collection agency. They went so far as knocking on my mother's and her neighbors doors, calling me a b****, initiating court action, giving the court an old address they knew was old and getting a default judgement as I never received notice. I didn't find out until the court granted them garnishment and my job called me to HR to let me know. I had to rush to court, show the mounds of correspondence I had from them at my current address to get the garnishment canceled and get a new court date. My husband was so mad that he made me pay it. They said they refused to remove it from my credit reports, but it did disappear. When I requested validation they sent me the Bally's contract that I had signed. Bally's has a long history of getting in tons of new customers, not cancelling their membership and turning the accounts over to collection. I wish I had known about creditnet then I would have made money.
Bally's Bally's turned a huge number of accounts over to Perimeter Credit (one of OSI's Companies) in the late '90s. Perimeter was so abusive in their collection practices that the FTC slapped them down with a $300K fine and a consent decree. If this is Perimeter Credit, they are violating the consent decree. I know this may sound passe, but an online complaint letter to the FTC to inform of Perimeter's violation might get the ball rolling for further punitive actions.
Re: Bally's You know, when I left for Ft. Benning for Army basic training in 89, I wrote a letter to Bally's to cancel my membership (even included a check for the $50 cancellation fee). Now you would think that it would be obvious that in that instance, I was not going to be able to use any of Bally's facilities for at least 3-4 months. Even if I had wanted to, there was not even a Bally's facility within 3-hours driving distance from Columbus, Georgia. I am pretty sure that even to this day, there still is not a club within 150 miles of any of the duty stations in which I served during the majority of my Army service. In total disregard of my letter, not only did Bally's turn my account over to Perimeter Credit for collection, but they also denied ever recieving a cancellation letter (but they gladly deposited the cancellation check). Perimeter never tried to collect (not even a letter) at any time while I was in the service, but as soon as I left the Army, they immediatley turned up the heat in an attempt to collect (extort) some outrageous amount ($5,500+) on a $1250 membership. Fortunately, one will find that it does not do you much good in the eyes of the media trying to unjustly harrass a decorated verteran of the armed services. Especially when it is someone who immediately files complaints with both the FTC and State Attorney general, and was able to get some legal consultation/aid from an attorney at the Veterans Administration. Without that, I would have had to retain an attorney who would have sent a heated demand letter to Bally's in lieu of seeking relief through the courts. Come to think of it, I still should have sued the pants off of them. So, did you advise them in writing, including the letter from your doctor, that you were exercising your right as outlined in the contract to cancel? If so, the waist no time filing a complaint with both the FTC and your State's Attorney General. Also, find an attorney to represent you and bring suit against Bally's for their deceptive trade practices and failure to abide by the terms of their own contract - you are aware that this 'contract' is actually a retail installment agreement and not a membership agreement right? Michael
Re: Bally's So, if I understand this correctly, I need to send the letter to Bally's and not the CA? As of this moment I have been disregarding any mail from these guys to appear as if I dont live there; so right now I dont even know who is wishing to collect or what there address is. Im not even sure my doctor would write a letter. The accident was not that bad. Just major damage to my jeep.
Re: Bally's .......And by the way.. is there some format you should follow in this letter? what to include? is there an example of one I can look at?
Re: Re: Bally's That kind of information really makes quite a bit of difference in how we respond to a persons request for help. So let me try to understand this - your vehicle was badly damaged in an accident, and this either left you without transportation so you stopped going to Bally's, stopped paying your 'membership dues,' and in general, simply ignored all of the correspondence that had to do with the matter? Does that about cover it? Please dont misunderstand, I have no love of this company, but truthfully it does not sound like you took any steps (a phone call to Bally's does not do the job) to try and cancel your membership and as such you are still obligated to pay the membership dues. As I recall the contract offered several clauses for cancellation, but in general, if you did not move out of the service area (I think this is more than 25-miles), have a valid medical condition that prevented your use of the club, or felt that the services of the facility were misrepresented as indicated by a consistent lack of availability of equipement or services, then you are obligated to pay the balance of the contract unless one of the aforementioned conditions has occurred. Unfortunately, since you apparently have not taken appropriate steps to cancel your membership and are now delinquent in satisfying your obligation to the creditor, at this point I would say that your choices are limited. I can tell you that in this case you are not likely to find much satisfaction from the FTC or AG. Seems to me that your only recourse is to follow the steps repeatedly outlined in the various threads to dispute/validate the debt while considering making an offer to the CA to settle for less than the full amount with the agreement that the TL is deleted or updated to paid as agreed. Sorry, Michael
Re: Re: Bally's I can't believe Perimeter has resurrected this ripoff. I believe Perimeter was barred from these deceptive collection methods, specifically Bally's accounts. The magic words in an FTC complaint addressing this issue is "in violation of consent decree." There is an easy online form to fill on the FTC's website where you can electronically file a complaint. If enough people complain that Perimeter is violating the consent decree, the FTC will haul them into court.
Re: Re: Bally's Here is how it went down. Someone had unlatched my jeep hook and when I went down the feeder rd the hood came up smashing my windshield and bending my hood. The cost to fix it was way over my budget and I realized that since I just got the membership that maybe I had a cancellation period. 5-6 days after having the membership I went in and explained the situation to both the front desks and the manager. They basically laughed me out of the gym. I called the corporate office and they said the only way to cancel was to move. I guess, Im too damn honest, I had no way of proving that I moved, because I didnt. I then cancelled my membership and quit going. When they contacted me, I told them that there has to be a way to where someone has the option of cancelling a membership other than moving. What if someones wife went up there and found out later that her husband didnt want a membership. Your telling me, they dont have the right to cancel. HA! I work for 24 Hour Fitness now, as a trainer, and we deal with that all the time. So, I feel I took the necessary steps that I needed to inorder to explain my situation. However, they are sooo f**king money hungry that they tell everyone to go to hell. I guess if there is nothing I can do, Im out of luck!
Re: Re: Bally's Unfortunately, Bally's, like most other lenders, does not consider financial hardship to be grounds for relinquishing you from the obligation. My advice is to go ahead and file a complaint with the FTC (cant hurt) outlining exactly what you mentioned in your last post - do the same with the AG's office. As for Perimeter, if they are reporting derogatory information on your credit report, dispute it with the CRAs and when Perimeter sends you another letter, use one of the sample validation letters in the library to deal with them. Failing that, after 7 years from the date of last activity, this puppy should be deleted from your credit report regardless. That is unless you reaffirm the debt or the CA reages the account which is a violation of the FCRA! Michael
Re: Re: Bally's Bally's bites. I signed up at a Bally's back in my college days. After sign up you had a one week period where you could cancel your membership for any reason. I went several times my first week. Bally's seemed more like a social club than a gym (too many people standing around talking and just sitting on equipment with fancy sports drinks). I decided to cancel my membership. I spoke face to face with the guy that signed me up and told him why I was cancelling. He said fine you're all set, after all my week was not up. I thought everything was cool until two months later when I tried to balance my checkbook, Bally's was still deducting my membership fee. I called Bally's they had no record of my cancelling. I had to close my checking account to get them to stop taking money out. Yeah they sent me to collections, I was in college then and didn't give a crap. They fell of my reports a few years ago and I haven't heard from them since. The moral of this story is that Bally's sucks and make sure you get your cancellation in writing from them. EdG
Re: Re: Bally's Far as I'm concerned you shouldn't be locked into a contract and FORCED to work out at a facility! You should have the option to cancel at any time. This smacks of a scam. I didn't know bally's was that deceitful! Good luck I hope you get them where it urts!
Re: Re: Re: Bally's You are absolutely correct - it is a scam. Why is it a scam, because when you go and take a tour at Bally's and decide you want to join, you are then presented and asked to sign a retail installment payment contract (as if you were buying a refrigerator at Best Buy), not a memborship contract. The difference is that the 'membership' papers that they have you sign when you 'join' is nothing more than a retail contract for a high interest rate (near 21%), 3-year loan that you are obligated to pay back unless you follow (to the letter) the cancellation clauses outlined in fine print on the back side of the contract! Only after you pay off the intial contract are you then paying actual membership dues (as my wife now does). Michael
Re: Re: Re: Re: Bally's Are you serious? Why in the world would someone sign something like that for 3 years. I mean, that sounds worse than my predatory car loan. EDIT: I just read your post again. The contract is a loan? Do you get money from them? Explain how that works please?
Re: Re: Re: Re: Bally's Yes, they treat the membership as a loan, they even charge you interest on it also, it is one of the biggest scam around, many of my friends got burn in it, we were lucky enough to have a doctor willing to work with us...
