North Park Racquet and Athletic Club

The current ownership of the Spokane NorthPark Racquet Club acts like a low budget cheapskate landlord rather than a premium athletic club owner. The Tampien Brothers (appear to be typical sleazy apartment developers) have ruined a once great workout club. My family originally joined NorthPark back in the early 1990s, stayed there for many years and then left for a few years when working out of town. After re-joining a few years ago after Covid it was clear that the new ownership was only interested in profits without providing the advertised services, in spite of charging membership fees representative of a premium facility. Issues include:
1. Equipment often broken down and not available for weeks or months at a time with no communication or answers to members. The front desk staff are nice people but they don't seem to be in the loop and were not able to respond to any questions.
2. Questions, and notes provided to the front desk requesting follow-up and response have been repeatedly ignored. The same with comments attempted to be made directly to the Tampien Brothers web site.
3. Equipment that I wanted and expected to be able to utilize that were not maintained and shut down for many weeks and months included: Dry sauna, steam room, pool (off line for many months), ice machine. I paid for years a family membership and when my wife wanted to start going to specifically utilize the pool it was not available for months.
4. What really bothered me was some pretty blatant safety issues at the club that were clearly ignored due to the cheap skate ownership. Specifically, club staff and vendors observed climbing up very tall ladders to access the roof for maintenance with no tie-off or anyone aware. A prior employee related that this was well known but no one cared or had responded due to cost. On the Tampien Brothers webside I saw all kinds of hypocritical information and when I tried to make a contact was ignored.
5. Many other members have complained about the same issues related to broken and poorly maintained equipment and I heard many others saying they were leaving to go to the club down the hill that is responsive to membership and lower cost to boot.
6. One member told me that the NorthPark accounting and desk communications system was horrible. He had changed his credit card number and had to remind them several times (while also complaining about poor equipment maintenance). Anyway he told me that NorthPark then complained and were rude due to him not paying his bill, when in fact it was NorthParks poor internal communications. He said that the NorthPark Manager lied to him about when they got rid of the hot tub (likely to save money as they are simply cheap).
7. In my case when I observed the clear safety issues that could have caused a fatal fall it was ignored, despite me making several attempts. No follow-up or caring.
8. My credit card number changed some time ago and I dutifully provided the new number to the front desk. Similar to the other fellow NorthPark's staff were not able to make the change and I even got a recent referral to collections - even though they have a good credit card number. Just too stupid to process it. Sorry I'm not impressed.
9. When I finally got fed up, having paid for a family membership for years and not having the services (pool) available that were promised I cancelled and provided a reason, with a note that I did not feel obligate to pay for services not rendered..
10. The crappy club manager finally called me and after a long discussion admitted that the ownership was aware of the safety problems, did finally fix them but did not feel compelled to respond to me (not follow-up!). I asked and he finally agreed to forward and set-up a meeting with club ownership. That of course despite other requests has been blown off by the Tampien group.
11. I'm planning to dispute the final bill as a matter of principal and communicate legally in as many ways as possible about what a poor, crappy, low budget, low maintenance and unsafe outfit the Tampien group is.

Save yourself some money and get better service by going elsewhere.

Review: I payed my bill with this buisness as per our agreement prior to the end of my contract. I asked thier front desk associate several times to ensure that the debt was in fact payed and was continually informed that it was so. Approximatly 2-3 months latter this buisness turned me into a credit collections agency for said bill that I had already payed and they claimed I was not payed in full after having been told so several times via thier front desk associate. After insuring that my account was indeed payed in full, I later recieved information from the financial associate at the buisness that the information sent to the credit bureau would be recalled and would not show up on my credit profile. Four years latter the information is still on my credit profile and when I contacted the buisness they still refuse to remove it from my credit profile.Desired Settlement: I wish for the company to remove the information from my credit profile.

Business

Response:

RE: Dispute #9536386

To Whom it May Concern,

Mr [redacted] joined North Park Racquet Club on Jan 05, 2008. On that date, he signed a month-to-month contract that could be cancelled at any time with a 30 day written notice. Mr. [redacted] came into the club on Feb 20, 2009 and gave written notice to cancel his membership. At that time, he also paid his Feb 2009 bill of $44.57 in cash, but did not pay for the 20 days in March 2009, which would complete his membership. The dues for that period was $29.71. Mr [redacted] was invoiced on his ending balance for 3 billing periods, before North Park final turned his ending balance over to a collection agency in June 2009. Mr [redacted] paid the collection service (through North Park) on Nov 11, 2009.

If Mr [redacted] can produce a receipt from Feb 20, 2009 showing that he paid his account in full, I will write a letter to the Credit Agency to have this removed from his record, but if he cant, than this was a valid claim by North Park to collect Mr [redacted]’s ending balance.

I have included a copy of his contract, termination form, and the receipts from both Feb 20, 2009, and Nov 11, 2009, and statement history.

Thank you

[redacted] Manager

Review: On Sept. 15 2012 I entered into a one year membership with [redacted], at that time I was told that I would have to pay a fee equal to one months membership to cancel early. I provided [redacted] with my debit card information and was under the belief that they were going to automatically deduct my membership fees. I later realized that the automatic payment was not being deducted from my bank account and on April 26 2013 I went in and brought my account up to date and paid the one month cancellation fee. I was told I had to cancel in writing, so at the front desk I wrote out a written request to cancel my membership. [redacted] accepted my request to cancel, deducted the payment from my debit card and took back my key.I now have received a bill, sent to my parent's address, dated July 27, 2013 for $115.22. Upon calling I was told by the billing office that the front desk is not authorizes to cancel a membership and that I also should not have been told (when I signed up) that I could cancel early since it is not stated as such in the contract I signed. I was also told that the only recourse that I have is to pay the bill for the last 3 months (plus late fees), pick up my key at the front desk and finish out my membership.Desired Settlement: I want North Park to cancel the bill for $115.22 and cancel my membership effective April 26 2013. Since they took my access key I have been unable to use their facility and so I owe them nothing.

Business

Response:

Mr [redacted] joined North Park Racquet Club on Sept 16, 2012. When he joined, North Park offer two different contracts. The first contract was a month-to-month agreement that had a $50.00 joining fee, but could be cancelled at any time with a 30 day written notice. The second agreement, was a one year contract, that had a $0.00 joining fee, but the contract states “I agree to pay monthly dues for a minimum of 12 consecutive months. I understand that upon completion of this time period, my membership becomes a month-to-month agreement that can be cancelled at any time with a 30 day written notice. Mr [redacted] choose the one year agreement, and joined on Sept 16, 2012.

On April 26, 2013, Mr [redacted] came into North Park, and gave his 30 day written cancellation notice. Using one of our termination forms. Our termination form clearly states, that if you are in a contract longer than a month-to-month agreement, that this form will not release you from that term.

I sent Mr [redacted] a letter on April 29, 2013, notifying him that he was in a one year agreement. I sent him a copy of his signed contract with this letter. I have since that date, also sent him 3 more billing statements to the billing address he provided on his contract.

If Mr [redacted] can provide written proof of this cancellation policy that he speaks of,

I will cancel the balance owing, but if he cant, the balance of $125.22 is due. I have included a copy of Mr [redacted]’s contract, a copy of his cancellation, a rate card, and his statement history.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

As you can see from the Account Statement that [redacted] has provided, payments are due in advance (i.e. the charge due Sept 27, 2012 was for the month ending Oct. 26). Admittedly my account was in the rear when I cancelled my membership. This was due to the fact that I was not received billing statement and paid my bill when I used their facility, which was infrequent at best. Also as per the Account Statement that [redacted] has provided, on April 26, 2013 I paid my balance due $193.05 (recorded by [redacted] on 4-29-13), which included the month of April 27 - May 27, I also completed their "Termination Form" (dated 4-26-13) and turned in my key card (forfeiting the month of May).[redacted] claims that they sent me a letter telling me my membership was still active (which I never received) and 3 subsequent billing statements. However on the Account Statement they provided there is no record of billing from April 27,2013 until July 26, 2013 when they billed me for $125.22.[redacted]'s mislead me to believe that my membership was cancelled and paid in full. They took back my key card, which denied me access to their facility and as I stated in my initial complaint "I will not pay for services I did not receive".

Regards,

Business

Response:

Mr. [redacted] joined [redacted] Racquet Club on Sept 16, 2012. On that date, he had the following options, 1) Join for a year with a $0 initiation fee, or 2) join on a month-to-month agreement, that could be cancelled at any time with a 30 day written notice. Mr. [redacted] picked option #1. He signed a contract, and was given a copy of that contract. Mr. [redacted] also provided [redacted] with his billing address on the contract, and Mr. [redacted] verified the address with me by phone on July 30th. Mr. [redacted] also stated that he just received a statement, which would also be true, because we mailed one to him on July 26, 2013.

On April 26, 2013, Mr. [redacted] filled out a cancellation request and paid his balance. His balance included to dues thru the end of May. Since Mr. [redacted] was terminating his one year agreement early, [redacted], billed him to the end of his term (Sept 16, 2013). The ending dues balance was $115.22 (see entry on April 29). [redacted] sent billing statements on May 31, June 28, and July 26, 2013. Since [redacted] had already billed Mr. [redacted] for the term of his contract, no additional charges showed on the statement history until his account became 60 days past due, and then he incurred a $10.00 late fee, for a grand total of $125.22.

Mr. [redacted] states that he has been denied access to [redacted]. This statement is false. His account is still listed as active, and he still has full access to the gym until Sept 16, 2013 (the end of his agreement).

Mr. [redacted] had a choice when he joined the club. He picked the one year agreement, because he didn’t want to pay the initiation fee, and want to quit for non use. [redacted] will make an attempt to settle this account. [redacted] will settle for 60% of what is owing ($75.13). If this is paid by Sept 8, [redacted] will write off the rest of the balance.