Carlson Gracie Downtown Chicago

[ChokeMasterFlex]

This is no disrespect to Carlson. He has earned his right to sit back. I understand that. I think you all should get the facts straight before making bold accusations.

 

[FirstScratch]

Edit.

 

[MickCollins]

Edit: I don’t want to get involved in the drama so I took my response down. I’ll leave the pic up.

 

[ChokeMasterFlex]

I am not saying Carlson is a liar. I have heard these start dates from supposed guys who are jumping ship yet still train down town. I heard their was a meeting and Marcus was going to be teaching at Chicago still. Idk. I am not sure how Daniel was treated. I took his class a few times and from what i saw he had no problems or contact with management. So not sure how someone could be treated poorly if they don't have contact with anyone. I am just going by what I experienced as a member. Which is and should be the most important opinion. I felt misled by the promise of Carlson Teaching. Never happened. I signed up when it was a concrete floor and poor lighting. One if the first. I was stating my profession in a gym because billing issues and member complaints with management is a common thing in our field. It happens. People don't read what they sign. That's all. I wish the best for Carlson and its a shame things could not be worked out. But I am happy with Isaac and I took my first Jeff Neal class and I was very very impressed. The dude is a book of knowledge on Bjj.

 

[CGTMMA123]

My name is Eric,

I am the representative that tried to assist the gentleman that started this thread. I was hoping to be able to work this matter out in a civil manner, but his intentions were not the same.

To begin, Carlson Gracie Team MMA does not offer free trials. We do have a day pass for $20, but under no circumstances do we offer free trials of any length. Second, this gentleman did fill out a contract with his billing information (address, credit card, phone number and email) along with his signature. The contract was presented to him when he initially demanded a refund. In the same email that I presented him with the contract, I informed him that members have a three day period from the day he is charged to cancel and receive a refund for the full amount (the policy is on the contract itself).

His response in a follow up email was "My roommate has an email exchange with Jimmy that made our intentions clear, and we were both there when we were told that we would not be charged if we did not wish to take classes at Carlson. We told Jimmy, both verbally and by email that we were not interested." To which I followed up with a request for him to forward those emails to me. And if in fact the emails proved that he told our membership advisor that he did not want to follow through with the contract within those three business days after he was charged we would provide a refund. To which this gentleman followed up with "Nope. If I give you that, you have an easy business decision to make, but I want you to make the tougher ethical one. If I'm lying about the email exchange, you have a decent shot at winning in court. With the email, you'll give me a quick refund since it will be completely simple from your point of view. I'm making it harder. You know I never returned to Carlson and never intended to commit to long-term payments, yet you're looking for an excuse to charge me for services not rendered. You'll either make the ethical decision or not. If not, Carlson will feel the consequences. Obviously email is searchable, but due to a quirk of the exchange, I'm guessing you'll assume it doesn't exist after failing to find it in the first 20 seconds."

After that response to me, it showed that he had no intention of handling this in a civil manner. I followed up with the membership advisor that sold him and his roommate the membership and he said that there was no email exchange that involved him. His roommate though did contact the membership advisor via telephone and cancelled his own membership. Unless this gentleman is under the age of 18, he would have had to cancel his own contract/ membership.

Again, we had hoped to have this issue resolved privately as we have worked with members if they were having issues in the past. But instead of providing us with any proof that he did want to cancel immediately after signing up he decided to harass the instructors, owners and staff and eventually took to forums such as this one.

It is disappointing that this issue has escalated to the level it has, but it is only because he was not willing to cooperate. We formally request that you cease to contact any of the staff or members, as well as posting accusations which are clearly false. It is against all of our practices to handle this issue on a forum such as this, but this individual has left us no choice.

Best Regards

 

[MickCollins]

Edited

 

[ChokeMasterFlex]

Yeah I got screwed with parking also. Sucks but it is still better than paying full price everyday. I know Carlson taught the kids. He never taught after cause that's isaacs class and I was a regular there. He may have but I never saw it. Maybe other days.

 

[Laban]

I was stating my profession in a gym because billing issues and member complaints with management is a common thing in our field. It happens. People don't read what they sign. That's all.

Actually, if you read all the info provided by the guy that started the other thread on this gym,he was flat out lied to and scammed.

 

[ChokeMasterFlex]

I read it. All he said she said at this point. I think the truth will come out. Not a scam if he signed a contract. Sorry. You don't sign something or put your credit card down on a agreement you don't want to do lol. Come on.

 

[Laban]

Actually, it is a scam if they told him he wouldn't be billed and he told them immediately after the first class he wasn't joining and called 3 days later to confirm.

 

[ChokeMasterFlex]

Not if he signed and there is no proof other. You can't assume he did or they scammed him. Unfortunately it goes by the contract. Most gym memberships are canceled in writing. Where's the proof?

 

[zomoplata]

Sooo, the grand opening seminar is when?

 

[DanOfEarth]

Regardless if the contract has fine print saying it will still charge him, he showed up for one day for a free trial class and is expected to pay hundreds of dollars for never coming back? That's BS even if he didn't walk up and cancel because he never signed up for any given amount of time.

That's just shady business practices.

 

[Laban]

Regardless if the contract has fine print saying it will still charge him, he showed up for one day for a free trial class and is expected to pay hundreds of dollars for never coming back? That's BS even if he didn't walk up and cancel because he never signed up for any given amount of time.

That's just shady business practices.

Exactly.

but the dude that works at a gym thinks these business practices are perfectly fine, even though anyone with common sense would say otherwise.

 

[DanOfEarth]

Exactly.

but the dude that works at a gym thinks these business practices are perfectly fine, even though anyone with common sense would say otherwise.

I've never had to cancel a membership in writing at any gym, including Golds. And if it went to court with me saying that I called or personally told them I cancelled and they said "ok", that would suffice for a judge when the judge turns around and asks the gym itself how many days I attended. When the gym says "they only came for the free trial class" the judge won't care if it's a he said she said battle about the cancellation.

And I don't know about this specific situation, I have no idea if anyone is telling the truth, but I'm more inclined to believe and agree with the complainer, even if he didn't meet some ridiculous fine print. The BBB reports are from a year ago with the same issues.

 

[Laban]

I also don't think I had to quit a gym in writing either.
The dude that works at a gym is just trying to find any loophole to get your money, even if you didn't use the gym. Typical unethical gym salesmen.

That is why many are turned off by the fitness industry. It is more about signing people into contracts to keep getting their money even if they are not using the service.

 

[Estebanantonio]

Something sounds a bit fishy to me. Why not just dispute or cancel the charge with the credit card company.

 

[Laban]

Something sounds a bit fishy to me. Why not just dispute or cancel the charge with the credit card company.

I believe he said he was going to. He started the thread to warn others about it though. It is weird and confusing have 2 threads about the same topic like this.

 

[lionp]

I believe he said he was going to. He started the thread to warn others about it though. It is weird and confusing have 2 threads about the same topic like this.

Yes, I am in the process of disputing the charge and will take them to small claims court as well.

My biggest motivation is to avoid having other people have to go through this huge waste of time energy, so I want to share my story. Based on the comments, some other people have had similar experiences.

 

[Laban]

ChokeMasterFlex would have us believe it is all your fault.