Back home to continuing fun   (20:51:00)
Made it home from a fun weekend in Vegas. Was annoyed though to have a letter from the gym in Florida (Gold's Gym, Winter Haven, FL) refusing to cancel my membership because I have not sufficiently proven that I moved more then 25 miles away.

Bit of a hassle here... I verified before I signed up that I could cancel just by sending a fax. Last week, I confirmed again, and they not only gave me the fax number, but the name (Shelly Hoban) of the person to address it to. I sent a copy of my bank statement and the cancellation request.

So they mailed back a refusal to cancel (to the new address!!) saying that I must include a "proper proof of move document". A bank statement, in their words, "does not qualify as proper proof of move". I must send, by MAIL (not fax as I was told twice), one of only four documents, all difficult to get:

-new driver's license or ID -- should be the simplest, except the California DMV takes months to issue a new photo ID. Maybe I can get my passport done faster.
-copy of utility bill -- I don't pay utilities here. Think telephone counts as utility?
-copy of voter's registration card -- I'm not a citizen, I don't get to vote.
-Copy of lease or deed -- I'm not leasing, and I'm not buying a house just for them.

They won't confirm that I've moved, but despite having my phone number, old mailing address, and email address, the only way they contact me to refuse the cancellation request is to write a letter to my new address? What's the definition of hypocrisy?

They also suggest that I should appear at the gym IN PERSON to sort it out. They suggest this knowing I'm in California now (they only refund if you move more than 25 miles... so it would be a hassle in any event!)

A quick search online shows this has happened to other people at other Gold's Gyms, and I'm told it may be common across the industry. What frustrates me the most is that I was concerned about exactly this when I signed up, and they lied to me about the cancellation policy. Then they lied to me again last week -- and all indications are that it will continue to be a hassle. But I'll call Shelly tommorrow, and we'll see what she says. I'll be sure to keep the details nice and public. ;) So maybe it'll be good and maybe not.

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