When Mieko’s Fitness closed abruptly last May, memberships were transferred to the LA Fitness in Ballard and members were told that they could use LA Fitness at their Mieko’s rate for the remainder of their gym contract.
Magnolia Voice reader Alexander wrote to warn former Mieko’s customers to check their credit card statements carefully if they did not transfer to the new gym.
I was recently reviewing my credit card statement, and found charges for LA Fitness. Now, I’ve never been a member of LA Fitness, but was formerly a member at Mieko’s Fitness in Magnolia. I phoned LA Fitness and got the accounts canceled on the phone from overseas. The person at LA Fitness said it was hard to speak to the accuracy of canceled vs. non-canceled status of transferred Mieko’s customers. So, if you’re a also a former Mieko’s customer, you might want to take a look at your statements to make sure you haven’t unknowingly become a member of LA Fitness since the Mieko’s closure. Also – no offer of a credit was made by LA Fitness, which I think is wrong….but I’m not going to pursue it from overseas for such a relatively small amount. I’m not certain on what LA Fitness’ specific legal responsibilities are vis-a-vis the accuracy of transferred customer rolls, but surely their ethical responsibility is to ensure accuracy.
And this was just posted in the Magnolia Voice Forum:
Mieko’s closed on May 26 and LA Fitness in Ballard sent a letter in June where they pledged to “honor the memberships.” Despite my efforts to cancel and/or not join (called on May 28 and June 3, and appeared in person on June 6) LA Fitness charged my credit card on June 4 for a June membership. I wrote a letter to LA Fitness and disputed the charge with my credit card company. LA Fitness continues to insist that I owe membership dues, and told my credit card company: “The card holder purchased a membership at LA Fitness and agreed to be billed monthly to their credit card for all fees.” All of it false. Now they are threatening collections for this “past due” amount. Before I speak to an attorney, I wondered if any other former Mieko’s members have had similar trouble.
We contacted the LA Fitness in Ballard. One of the managers says the best thing to do is to call their location, let them know you don’t want to use their facility, and they will cancel the membership. That phone number is 206-508-5030. As for any credit or reimbursement, you’ll need to go through Mieko’s since LA Fitness says Mieko’s was in charge of notifying customers of the closure and what it meant.
Meanwhile, the building that housed Mieko’s remains empty and we are not aware of any plans for a new business to move into that space.
