Predatory Subscription Practices
In December of 2025, I made the mistake of walking into Fitworks in Parma. I asked for a tour from a bored employee and then for the free trial. I was told I had to submit to a membership application in order to get the free trial and then I would need to cancel within thirty days if I did not want to continue. Seemed simple enough until 8 days in I tried to cancel. I was there in person twice and told the manager was not there. I called. Left voice mails. Many. I called corporate twice; no return call ever from them. Then I did get the manager a few times. Maria put me on hold for a full ten minutes, before I hung up, called again and got the voicemail. That was the first hold. Second hold, a few days later, I got put on hold again by Maria. Left again, by Maria. Called back and got her. She tried to coax me into staying many times. It was VERY OBVIOUS she was trying to get me to the 30 day mark and I said, NO CANCEL THIS and she said she did, apologized and I thought that was it. Until Sunday, May 26th when I received an email from a collections company!! I cannot believe this is happening. This is 2026 and predatory subscription practices still going strong. I did NOT buy a membership and cancelled almost constantly for about two weeks starting at day 8 and was assured by Maria that this was cancelled. When you look at the Ohio Attorney General website, they have multiple complaints. Look at their google reviews; Multiple complaints and some from what appears to be an elderly population who are used to getting pushed around so they take it. Same complaint. Looking at the
BBB, some people have this same issue some have other issues like being charged for services they never requested. And when they complain, nothing is done. Falls on deaf ears until you get squeaky. I'm working now towards getting this reviewed and removed and also, might take some other actions.