Premier Fitness, Personal training, Legal advice

So bare with me, I'm gonna explain the whole story.

Back in February I signed up for a year membership at a 24 hour premier in Oakville; I paid for the full membership up-front and was forced to goto their stupid fitness assesment as part of my membership fees that I paid in full;

At this fitness assesment, Mark a high-up from head-office was running the test with a P/T from head-office named Todd. After getting my assessment the 2 of them sat me down in a room basically told me I was unfit and I was not allowed to workout at the gym without signing up for a personal trainer to ensure my safety; without thinking about it I decided fine, i'll sign up for this training. I'm 210 pounds 5'11 and have played baseball & hockey for most of my life and have a bigger build so this was very suprising to me.

Now as part of the deal Mark promised me that 1. I would be getting Todd on weekends as my P/T 2. The following week he would come in and give me some merchandise, a t-shirt & a bag (no big deal).

So the following week I come in, noone is in... Never heard anything again and after paying for only 1 payment and providing them a void cheque and never seeing any corresponding debits I assumed that it didnt go through. 3 months later I get a call from Premier basically stating we dont have your account info you owe us this much money. I complained about the verbal agreement Mark and I had, she said well Todd moved to another location too bad, I'll book you with someone else. I refused and told her find my void cheque, you lose my account #'s you better find it.

Another month goes by and I go on vacation, get back and hear a disturbing voicemail saying, "Brian, this is premier call us back by end of business day or we're sending your past due account to collections".....

Ever since then I've been getting voicemails from a collections agency & premier head office and I've expressed my concern, have requested they dont call me anymore, and any contact must be made in writing through registered mail yet they ignore my request. I have yet to actually speak to the collections agency but Premier is still calling me so i dont know who I owe what and what the heck is going on..

So im now thinking about my options as a consumer;

First off, after paying for this membership can I be forced to take P/T like I was?

2nd. This verbal agreement has gotta mean something, this gym just cant go in and misrepresent what their clients are signing then not following through on anything agreed upon.

3rd. Although this is a seperate issue; this 24 hour gym membership I paid for is still not a 24 hour operating gym, in fact I dont even have a gym card yet...

4th. My contract I signed for P/T states my name as Brian Furtado; this contract doesnt have my legal last name which is hyphenated does this effect the contract at all?

Now what can I do ??? With this in collections my credit is getting damaged and although I have the money to pay off this company and get them off my ass... Do I want to? This is ********.


Any advice would be great

First off, after paying for this membership can I be forced to take P/T like I was?

No you cannot be forced to take PT but the question is can you prove you were forced to make this decision?

2nd. This verbal agreement has gotta mean something, this gym just cant go in and misrepresent what their clients are signing then not following through on anything agreed upon.
Again, can you prove these verbal agreements? Always get things in writing when money is exchanged.

3rd. Although this is a seperate issue; this 24 hour gym membership I paid for is still not a 24 hour operating gym, in fact I dont even have a gym card yet...
Didn;t you get a temporary card? The card should be easy to get, as for being a 24 hour gym, that should be visible on the door entrance of any gym.

4th. My contract I signed for P/T states my name as Brian Furtado; this contract doesnt have my legal last name which is hyphenated does this effect the contract at all?
I would recommend you contact a lawyer regarding this aspect. Or if there is a contract legal specialist here, they could assist you.


Now what can I do ??? With this in collections my credit is getting damaged and although I have the money to pay off this company and get them off my ass... Do I want to? This is ********.


Any advice would be great

I would contact the main manager of the gym in question and discuss the situation in a professional manner and explain your concerns. Hopefully that could clarify your concerns, but I think anything that was promised to you verbally will be a lost cause. ALWAYS, GET EVERYTHING IN WRITING WHEN EXCHANGING MONEY. It would appear that you did not put enough effort into your due diligence.