By Julene Thompson
When Andrew Howells signed a two-year Gold''s Gym contract at a Welcome Week booth his freshman year, he didn''t think it would be a big deal to cancel.
'I told them that I couldn''t be locked into a contract,' said Howells, 23, a BYU ROTC cadet from Mission Viejo, Calif., studying communications at UVSC. 'They said I could cancel anytime.'
Howells tried to cancel when circumstances took him home to California. He went to the gym personally with the required proof of relocation, all past monthly payments and a cancellation fee.
He thought he was free from the contract until four months later when he received a seven-page summons to court from Gold''s Gym collections saying he hadn''t canceled and still owed money.
Howells showed bank statements to prove he paid and Gold''s Gym employees said they would get back to him.
He said he is still waiting.
He and other students in Utah Valley are frustrated with the cancellation process of a long-term contract, Howells said.
'In the excitement of the moment I think people get overwhelmed,' said Ron Littlebrant, chief operating officer of Utah County Gold''s Gyms. 'They are excited about fitness. They aren''t thinking about the contract.'
Of the three major health clubs in Utah Valley, Gold''s Gym carries 41,000 contracts in Utah County. Another local gym, 24 Hour Fitness, has 25,000 members, Seltzer said.
After signing, many find the one-to-two-year commitment doesn''t fit their lifestyle.
'Student''s are more transient,' said Russell Behrman, president and CEO of the Better Business Bureau of Utah. 'BYU, especially, is a unique marketplace in its amount of coming and going.'
He listed several reasons for this like study abroad, LDS missions, marriage and going home for the summer. He also mentioned that BYU students participate a great deal in the army reserves, which often requires relocation.
Peter Waldron, club director at Lifestyles 2000, said students also find themselves too busy to schedule a trip to the gym, which makes some feel dissatisfied with their membership.
Cameron Irwin, marketing director for Gold''s Gym, agrees.
He said when people buy a gym membership, they are buying a lifestyle change. Working out is an emotional thing, and people''s motivations and desires change from day to day.
People can freeze their accounts at Gold''s Gym for a $25 fee. The freeze can last from 30 days to nine months, or two years in the case of a missionary, Littlebrant said.
Other gyms offer month-to-month contracts.
Lifestyles 2000 sells one-year, two-year and month-to-month contracts; and at 24 Hour Fitness all contracts are month-to-month contracts with no long-term contracts required, Seltzer said.
John Marsh, 24, a senior majoring in accounting said signing up at a gym was not a good idea for him. Marsh said at first he was excited to join the gym but after going for a while, he noticed fees that he had not originally known about or realized he had agreed to.
'Some companies do a better job explaining the details than others,' Behrman said.
Salespeople at Gold''s Gym are instructed in training not to explain the contract unless they read it verbatim.
According to Seltzer, salespeople receive thorough training on membership options and payment plans so they can personally provide accurate information.
Students should also make sure they understand contracts so they can argue their case, Behrman said.
'Either people don''t understand the contract or someone is not holding up their end of the bargain,' Behrman said. 'Sometimes a student doesn''t cancel properly or there are management or bookkeeping problems somewhere.'
The Gold''s Gym procedure manual reads that it is not the job of the salesperson to explain the contract, Littlebrant said. They can read contracts in person but should not describe the contract.
Statistics report that consumers only gather 25 percent of information given over the phone, Littlebrant said. If someone wants information on cancellation they should contact the corporate offices, not salespeople, he said.
Waldron of Lifestyles said most sales people have a certain mentality: 'Let them come in, but make them leave with a membership.'
'Some salespeople will glorify it,' Littlebrant said. 'I wish they wouldn''t. There is no reason to mislead. There is no need to do this.'
Misunderstood or not, the signer is responsible to abide by the contract 72 hours after they sign if they are 18 or older.
The 'buyer''s remorse' law is slightly different in each state and gives people an additional 72 hours after signing to cancel with a full refund in Utah. This gives people a second chance to think about purchases they may have made too hastily or too emotionally.
The Gold''s Gym contract has the seal of approval from the Utah Department of Consumer Affairs, Littlebrant said. The cancellation policy is on every membership agreement, as well as terms for termination.
Still, with so many active Gold''s Gym contracts in Utah Valley, and an outside company that takes care of their billing, mistakes happen.
'With that many accounts it''s not going to be perfect,' Littlebrant said.
Lifestyles 2000 also has an outside establishment that handles billing. 24 Hour Fitness does billing in their corporate offices.
When there are billing mistakes, people can complain to their health club or the Better Business Bureau.
The Bureau forwards complaints to companies, investigates many of them and makes referrals to government agencies or law enforcement if needed. Consumers can also pursue legal action in the form of arbitration.
Complaints are common among any kind of industry with contracts, Behrman said. Problems are easier for people to solve if they can prove their case with documents.
'I''ve noticed with a lot of these national companies, the complaints have more to do with local management,' Behrman said. Some corporate offices more strictly enforce their standards than others and complaints almost always come back to the contract.
Sometimes larger national chains don''t respond well to a local demographic, Behrman said. A lot of gyms are national or international corporations so they don''t have as much freedom to cater to different marketplaces.
Gold''s Gym and 24 Hour Fitness are international chains; Lifestyles 2000 is only in Utah.
To cancel the one and two year contracts at Gold''s Gym and Lifestyles students must provide proof of relocation, give a 30-day notice of cancellation and pay a transfer fee.
To cancel a month-to-month membership at 24 hour, members must give notice at least 10 days before their monthly billing date to allow them enough time to process the request. There is no cancellation fee, Seltzer said.
NewsNet reporter Marijo Rogers contributed to this story.