Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  07/24/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Unresolved

  More info

  I signed up for a 16 week fitness challenge with Kiai Martial Arts and was being billed through the *************************** (NAC). I saw an ad on ******** promoting the challenge. Upon arriving at the facility, I noticed the pictures on ******** did not match the actual gym. The salesman explained to us that the challenge was for 16 weeks and after the 16 weeks, we could cancel our membership or choose to stay. He passed out membership forms for us to provide our payment info and he showed us where to sign and then gave us our membership cards. During this process, the salesman never mentioned they used a billing company (NAC) to process all payments. During the entire 16 week challenge, the instructor encouraged the participants to attend at least 3 classes per week. Within the first week of class, the instructor made a comment about how almost half of the participants who sign up for the challenge drop out within the first few weeks. Throughout the entire challenge period, there was no mention of specific guidelines participants had to do in order to cancel after the 16 weeks were over. The information provided to participants were purposefully misleading in regards to how we were able to cancel our membership after 16 weeks. During the 14th week, they finally provided us with instructions on how to cancel memberships and we were required to mail in a certified letter to NAC. I originally paid first and last month for the 16 weeks and was continuing to be charged $69.00 after I mailed in my cancelation letter. *** denied my request to cancel and charged me a late fee. They said I did not attend 3 classes a week and was not allowed to cancel. I called Kiai Martial Arts to try to resolve this and was told they couldn't do anything because NAC handles all billing. The membership form I completed is a Kiai Martial Arts form not NAC. Kiai Martial Arts and NAC purposefully misled participants and are continuing to charge and bill monthly fees to all participants.

  Business response

  07/24/2023

  You forgot to mention details about how you had an 30 minute orientation laying out the program and had all of the questions you could think of answered. Also forgot to mention that in the contract you posted has an entire section on how to cancel if you followed the challenge guidelines which you knew before you signed up. At the 14 week **** is when I help members with their cancelation so they are ready on the 16th week. I have never kept anything or lied about this program. I have gone far beyond what was required to help members move on. I couldn't help you because you didn't follow the basic requirements of attending 3 classes a week for 16 weeks. We spoke about this over the phone and you understood how you didn't complete the challenge. 

  Customer response

  07/24/2023

   
  Complaint: 20359567
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  Even though I attended a 30 minute orientation with other participants, the salesman emphasized that we were able to cancel after the 16 weeks and if we wanted to continue to keep our membership after that, we could. During the duration of the 16 week challenge, there were many times the membership scanner to check into class was not working, therefore not marking attendance correctly. During the last week/make-up week of class, I signed up for a class and when I showed up, the doors were locked and the gym was closed.  Even though a contract was signed for the membership, I, along with the other participants willingly trusted what the salesman told us without looking at the fine print in the contract because we believed this was a 16 week program we were signing up for, not a year contract that had hidden stipulations regarding having to attend 3 days of class per week in order to actually cancel the membership after 16 weeks.  I paid first and last month for the 16 week program, not for a year and when I spoke to the salesman during orientation regarding this, he implied it was only for the 16 weeks, with two monthly payments in-between.  Even though we spoke on the phone regarding all of this, I was told there was nothing Kiai Martial Arts could do about this and that the 16 week program was owned by ********* and that NAC was in charge of billing. How are three companies involved in this program without either one willing to see that you're signing participants up for this challenge knowing that it's not just for the 16 weeks but that they will be held to making payments for an entire year if they do not attend the required 3 classes per week.  When the 3 classes per week were mentioned during the orientation and throughout the 16 week challenge, there was never any mention of not being able to cancel if you're unable to attend the 3 classes per week. It was just encouraged to attend at least 3 classes a week to meet your fitness goals.  How is a business okay with continuing to charge and bill participants for the program beyond the 16 weeks when the business is aware that not all participants that sign up for the challenge will not attend after the first few weeks?  Shouldn't this information be communicated at the forefront by the salesman during the orientation instead of withholding this information? If participants were aware that they were unable to cancel their membership if they did not make 3 classes per week for the entire 16 weeks and that they would be held responsible for paying for an entire year's worth of membership that they would actually question signing up for the program instead of signing up for it blindly, trusting the only information the salesman chose to communicate during the orientation? I have never run into a business/gym that has contracts that do not allow a member to cancel when they no longer feel it is beneficial to them. The fine print in the contract should be communicated at orientation, not the misleading information that gets participants like myself to sign up for the program, trusting that this is an ethical business that would never purposefully take money from participants who want to work on their health and only sign up for a 16 week challenge.  I believe there are many participants who are still being charged but are not making any complaints because they feel their hands are tied just like mine are.  You're making money off of participants who are no longer receiving your services.  How is that ethical or okay in anyway?  I was charged for first and last month and I am continuing to be charged $69/month.  I just want to completely cancel my membership like I thought I was going to be able to do after the 16 weeks was over.  It's been two months after the 16 week program has ended and all I'm being told is that I need to make my payments because I signed up for a contract in which I believed was only for 16 weeks, not an entire year.  Even though the fine print had all of the information regarding what was needed to cancel, I trusted what the salesman communicated to all of us and that was not what was in the fine print of the contract. Myself and the other participants willingly trusted what was being told to us because we wanted to work on our health and now we have to literally pay for it because we signed up for these year long contracts with your company, thinking it was only for 16 weeks
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************

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