Hi,
Spoiler alert: I definitely learned I should more meticulously check my credit card statements each month.
I was reviewing myself statement and found out that a gym I never signed up for charged me. Looking back, I found they charged me for the last 9 months, even though there is no location within 300 miles of me.
It turns out a gym I bought *a guest pass at in a city 500 miles away, 3 years ago* was bought by them. Even though I never had an account at the gym, I guess they passed my info along, and they started charging me. I've called them 3x to explain I never had a membership with them *or* the gym they purchased. Of course they do not want to give my money back, they just want me to cancel my membership, even though I *never signed up*.
I am very frustrated. Is this a chargeback situation? Can I even chargeback for 9 months of charges? Advise is welcome, thank you.
Should I chargeback the gym that has been charging me for 9 months?
byu/Hedryn inpersonalfinance
Posted by Hedryn
9 Comments
“Should I try to get money back from a company that has been illegally charging me”
Either they have been doing this illegally, or (the more likely outcome) you signed some form or document that allowed them to charge (possibly some sort of “try for 7 days” as opposed to a guest pass)
Call your credit card issuer and ask.
Hell yes charge back. But most credit cards don’t let you go back more than 60 days.
You may run into a deadline for each charge. The older ones you may not be able to charge back.
Respond to them and ask them for proof that you agreed to the charges or signed a contract, and let them know that since they have not produced that agreement, you expect a refund of the charges.
If they don’t respond, chargeback what you can.
Normally I’d just chargeback, but you might actually get more money back if you argue with them because of chargeback deadlines.
You can try, but usually cc has a time limit on when to do a chargeback.
You can put a stop payment on future transactions though.
Seems like this is an obvious case of fraud,
So 3 years ago they got your credit card info because you bought a day pass, but they only started charging you for a gym membership 9 months ago? That is clearly a case of fraud and I would contact the police and file a report. Filing would probably be enough to get the gym to refund the entire amount.
You’ll probably only get 1-2 months back at most. There’s usually a limit on how far back you can argue charges
Def dispute it via your card. Force them to sue you. (They won’t.)
Yes, but be aware that chargebacks aren’t just a magical “get my money back” option, especially for something like this.
your credit card’s first question will likely be “have you asked for a refund?” Followed by “can you share the documentation of you asking and their refusal to refund?”
They’re going to then ask the merchant, who apparently is going to say “they’re a member that hasn’t cancelled”, so you may have to provide some sort of evidence that you did not sign up, and are therefore ineligible to cancel the fraudulent activity.
As long as your claim is legitimate, and you can provide evidence, or shift the burden of evidence to the company, you should be ok.
At that point the only other issue might be “why didn’t you tell us about this 9 months ago when it started”