Has anyone had to deal with them? I have a contract with Lady of America (a women's fitness club). I had to open a new bank account (per my bank's suggestion) because my previous one became compromised online.

I missed ONE payment to these people because of that. So when I called in May to give them my new information, they said that I owed the payment I missed in April with late fees, plus FOUR in advance. I argued with them and hung up before I could give the new bank information.

Now they have sent me to a collection agency here in Miami. The guy was very rude and made threats about me going to court and coming to my house. I reported him to the AG's office.

But my question is this, does anyone know if they (National Fitness or the collection agency) will work with me on payments?

The guy who called kept cutting me off and just asking for a credit card number. He hung up on me once and kept threatening to do so again if I didn't give him the credit card information.

Does anyone know how I can start resolving this without having to pay in full? The initial contract was for $1500 over three years. I only paid the first year so far.

Thanks.

Keep a check on the collector's activities because they don't sound like following the fdcpa. They should not force you to give your credit card number and continue making the threats. Report their illegal activities to your DA's office.

Call the original company for payment arrangements. If they still have your file in their system, you may be able to work out a deal.

Do you still have the contract you signed with the fitness club? I would see if there is anything about the "four payments in advance" in it.

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My daughter is going thru the same thing with NFFS here in Miami, I just mailed a certified signed receipt letter with copies of all documents bceause it looks like they forged here signature on a bogus contract; but they weren't aware that she has the original pink copy!
This all started after she noticed that her bank account was being depted twice per month from to local gyms. She has met her obligation for the 2 year contract and faxed a cancellation copy but they claim not recieved---so that's why the USPS letter was sent with all Fax confirmation copies incl.

i had to pay the same thing on my contract but i couldnt pay the whole amount for my gym membership and i got taken to court and lost triple of the money

i got taken to court for my lady of america contract and i thought i could win this case so i advised them to take me to court and they sure did am now paying a judgement on the three year contract and a bunch of attorney fees and court fee's!

it all depends on the contract, you signed.. do you have the original contract? Fitness club contracts are very notorious for screwing the consumer..

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I just got fired from National Fitness today (which is probably one of the happiest days of my life) and have personally seen how it works. In regards to the collection company out of Miami, it's actually not National Fitness, it's E&R Collections, although I believe they've just recently changed their name to Genysis or something like that. They violate the fdcpa on a regular basis. National Fitness will work with you on payments, and does not require you to pay 4 months in advance, however, it is not an ethical company.
The basis of National Fitness is that it's '3rd party billing company' that just has to execute the terms of the contract. There are all these stupid clauses to cancel, and National Fitness is obligated by the gym to basically be the bad guy and tell these people that they have to jump through all these hoops to make sure you cross ever t and dot every i. I would suggest to anyone wanting to cancel their membership to just do every little thing that anyone tells them to do, and follow up, otherwise they're just going to get you even more mad at the situation. Usually the faxes don't work. The fax machines there suck. You should use the website -nationalfitness. com/members.cgi to submit anything you want. Find someone to scan into the computer anything you want sent. Then, once you send it, follow up and make sure they got it. Then, call back in a couple of days to follow up and make sure that their supervisor deemed it as valid, because about 65% of the time they're going to tell you it's invalid because of some stupid reason.
Honestly, this has been my worst job ever, and it made me feel like crap screwing over so many people. It's was also without valid cause that they terminated my employment there. I could take legal action, but honestly, I'm just glad I don't have to work there anymore. I hope this will help anyone that's having to deal with this evil company.

lavidjio