Warning!!

Has anyone ever heard of Curves for women? A gym just for ladies, sounds great doesn't it? I am hear to warn you about the pitfalls of Curves. I hope someone can learn something from my experience.

In January I joined curves. I loved it. I was very dedicated and made it in almost every day. The manager there was an up beat, energetic gal who was very motivating. She would always visit with us and plan games for us to play while working out.

In June she quit and the tone of our Curves changed dramatically. The new manager was always busy at the computer or putting away clothes. She seemed completely uninterested in the ladies working out. But we all decided to give her a chance to warm up to us. After several weeks, she did finally come over and chat with me once while I was working out. I thought things were improving.

The first week in July, Amanda, the new manager, informed some of the ladies that the Elma location would be closing August 1, 2007. Most of us have our Curves membership taken out of our bank accounts automatically, and Amanda said no more drafts would be taken.

I wasn't one of the members Amanda said this to, and when I went in the following day after hearing this information, I was surprised that once again she was to busy for the customers and said nothing about the store closing. I should have asked, but she seemed very busy so I didn't bother her.

I didn't return to Curves to work out after that, with a busy summer, the news of the store closing, had deflated any want to for exercise.

I was surprised however, when on July 16th Curves took my monthly membership out of my bank account. I went down right away to see if there was some misunderstanding. The girl in Curves at the time was very rude and told me that Curves wasn't closing, they were moving to a new location 10 miles away, but the manager would be in the next day and she would have her call me.

When I talked to Amanda, the manager, the next day( I went in, but she was just about to call me, yeah right) she was very condescending and said they had changed their minds about closing, they were indeed moving. I have a telephone they have my number. None of the members were contacted about this "change," and everyone still had to pay. Well, I won't go into the hairy details of the conversation, but I did give my cancellation in writing so that there wouldn't be anymore confusion. Amanda rolled her eyes and was condescending the entire time, but especially when I told her I was giving my cancellation in writing. She thought I should trust her word that she wouldn't charge me anymore.

I haven't been back for a workout since, but my Curves membership came out of my account again today, August 16. I'm not happy. When will this end?! They have over 30 members who are quitting because of the location move, and if they charge all of them for 2 extra months, that's over $2000.00!! Sounds like they've got a racket going on to me!

I have contacted Curves International over this matter, and I am trying to file a complaint with the BBB. Hopefully I will get some money back!

If you ever join curves, I would suggest paying the monthly payment instead of having it withdrawn automatically. It's about $10.00 more per month, but I have payed $73.00 extra so far. We'll see how next month goes.

I know there are those of you who are battling this along with me, feel free to copy and paste any part of this to form a complaint at www.curves.com