Couple Charged for Personal Trainer for Months After Canceling

A couple was charged repeatedly for months after canceling personal training sessions at their Maryland gym following a family tragedy.

“My husband was trying, I think, to keep me more motivated,” Desiree Berry said about their decision to pay $675 for 15 personal training sessions, and additional cost to their monthly membership at Fitness Evolution.

But they cut that plan short when there was a death in their family.

“We had a tragic event, unexpected death of one of our young boys, and kind of lost track of everything that was going on,” Berry said.

Not knowing when they would return to the gym, she canceled her membership and personal training sessions. Her contract included an auto-renewal payment for the personal training unless she submitted a written notice of cancellation within 30 days of the last payment, which she did on Nov. 30, 2015.

But the charges did not stop, and she was charged for three more months at $675 each.

“I tried to go and speak to the manager,” Berry said. “He wasn’t there. They said they would take a message, he would call me.”

Her repeated attempts to talk to management went unanswered.

So she filed a complaint with Maryland's Attorney General's Office, which sent her a letter stating Fitness Evolution never responded to any calls from its office.

After Berry contacted NBC4 Responds, she got a call from the company's vice president.

“I’d say within a week we had gotten a response or some activity where we had been for months with nothing,” she said.

Fitness Evolution agreed to refund the couple $2,500.

The company said this one case is an opportunity to improve its system.

Berry said she wishes she paid closer attention to her bank statements earlier and paid better attention to the gym contract.

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