Scammed at LA Fitness

LA Fitness may be adequate for working out, but when it comes to account management, they are used car salesmen at best.

Every year LA Fitness offers some sort of promotion that makes joining the gym sound easy as pie. Well, that part is true. Everything runs like a well-oiled machine while you're signing your contract and direct debit agreement. What they don't tell you while you're signing up for spinning classes is the sort of customer service department they run and billing practices they engage in. Here are the three major scams LA Fitness runs on its members.

Scam 1: Sign up discrepancies - You may not be getting what you asked for.

The enrollment counselors are not there to help you get into that size 4 dress, they are there to make money for LA Fitness and line their pockets with commissions. Just like used car salesmen, it's their job to take you for all you're worth. Though the moral of the story is to avoid LA Fitness like the plague, if you do decide to sign up, and are prepared to have a membership there until you die which will then pass on to your children, make sure you sit there and read the entire contract before signing anything.

Don't skim over the long parts or the "yadda yadda yadda" sections. Those are important. If nothing else, take some pleasure in making your overzealous salesperson stare at the wall while you take 20 minutes to read the contract and the accompanying tiny print. It will bring you great satisfaction later.

If you do end up being charged a different monthly fee than you were quoted or services you signed up for are not available to you, make sure you at least spill some Kool-Aid on the carpet or throw toilet paper wads onto the ceiling before leaving the gym that day. Why? Because it's a preemptive strike on the war you are about to engage in.