A few months ago I bought a Wag Jag group deal from Wynn Fitness. It was a 2 month executive membership, unlimited classes and a $20 juice bar voucher for $15.
I thought that it was a great deal and I was excited to try the downtown Toronto location on The Esplanade. I have access to a gym where I live so I was mainly interested in the group classes.
When I had my orientation I signed up for a 12 month contract for $67/month. I was told that I would not be charged until the third month and I could cancel 30 days before the third month. It was a great deal, I was quite pleased with the price, bargain and the cancellation flexibility.
PROS
Clean environment with plenty of towels.
The staff is friendly and polite.
The juice bar is decent.
They had a variety of classes; Yoga, pilates, abs, zumba, fusion toning, wyndurance, belly fit and spin class.
I tried the gentle yoga (good for beginners) and the regular yoga (OMG…you will sweat and get a great workout!)
CONS
Aggressive sales approach.
*This is a long post, so skip if you don’t want to read.
It was my second day at the gym and my go-to-guy at the gym signed me up for a free personal training consultation. It was about an hour long and they also gave me a personal health assessment. After the session, I got the shpeel on why I should sign up with a personal trainer. They were very persistent. I told them that I wanted to think about it and the sales guy basically said that I probably won’t come back to try the program. What the hell? Dude, lighten up. Let me breath and enjoy your gym for a while. It’s my second day at the gym and I am not even sure if I want to keep going to this particular gym. Big turnoff. Maybe if they waited a couple of weeks then followed up, I would have been more keen on signing up with a personal trainer. Anyway, I ended up signing because I am a big sucker for deals (and yes, I was weak — I gave in) and legally I could cancel within 10 days of signing the agreement. I figured that I could have a session with the trainer to see if I liked it.
So I went home with a funny feeling in my stomach. I made a purchase without doing research and it did not feel right. Then T comes home and tells me about his experience with gyms and how they will try to scam you. He also said that I should have asked about my trainer’s credentials. I should have asked about their experience, workout approach and if they have a Kinesiology degree. Well, stupid me did not ask. That was my fault. The only thing that I knew was that the trainer that was assigned to me is a professional dancer. So I talked to a few more people and they all said the same thing. Be careful because gyms have a reputation of being sketchy. I went online and read the reviews and complaints about gyms in general. Red Flag Deals has a thread about Wynn Fitness. I was not impressed.
Can you guess what I did? Yep. I canceled the personal training. Partly due to paranoia and the fact that it just did not feel right. I sent the sales guy and the go-to guy an email to cancel the personal training session. I also dropped of a hard copy at the gym. I got a voice mail message from the coordinator basically letting me know that they received my cancellation notice. I did not bother to call them back because I knew that they were going to try to change my mind. According to the Consumer Protection Act, I did not have to give them a reason why I canceled. I just did not want to deal with them. A few weeks later, I also canceled the gym membership. I ended up taking yoga classes somewhere else, so I stopped going after my second visit to the gym.
So all was good right?
Big mistake. After the cancellation (2 months after), I looked at my bank account and found that I was charged for 2 months of personal training that I did not have. I was not being charged for the actual gym membership so I found it kind of strange. I mean how can they charge me for personal training at the gym when I am not even a member? I called them and the guy on the phone said that I had to come in and sign a cancellation document in order to cancel the personal training. I found that weird because my gym membership was canceled and I did not have to go in to cancel in person. I asked him why I was being charged for personal training that I canceled when I am not even a member of the gym. The guy gave me an analogy of how I still have cable wires running through my place even though I am not subscribing to the cable service. Riiiggght. That made a lot sense. Thank you for enlightening me.
The sales guy was unavailable and I had to call him the next day. I did just that and he apologized for missing the cancellation notice. He was helpful and said that he would issue a full refund. He said that I had to drop by for the cancellation document in order to cancel. I went to the gym to pick up a one-page document stating the cancellation. I did not have to sign anything so I don’t understand why they, a) did not mail the document to me or b) leave a message on my phone to say that I had to come in to pick up a document in order to officially cancel the personal training session. If it was an honest mistake, that’s fine. T on the other hand, does not believe that it was a mistake. He said that in the past every gym that he canceled with “forgot” to cancel his membership and would continue charging his account. He said that gyms do that on purpose in case people don’t notice that money is being siphoned off their account. Maybe I am being naive but a part of me would like to believe that it was an honest mistake on their part.
I was told that I will receive a refund for the full amount plus a refund for the stop payment fee within 15 days (assuming that Canada Post does not go on strike). I am hopeful that I will receive the cheque in time. I am giving them the benefit of a doubt. T is still very sceptical.
If all goes well, this should be the end of it. If I have any issues, I will update this post again.
Thank you for reading.
