whoisonfirst
Junior Member
What is the name of your state? OR
Sorry for the long background story. I promise it leads to something relevant ...
Earlier in November, I joined a gym. This facility was in the process of moving into a new location, so it would not actually open until December 1st (or so I was promised.) On separate occasions, different employees promised me certain machines would be available as of December 1st, and that the entire gym would open on schedule. Alas, this was not true. Only one floor opened on time. The promised machines would not become available until February or March 2005. I complained - firmly and at certain moments, loudly - and was able to cancel my contract. (But only after suffering serious abuse from the manager.)
But then I suddenly began receiving phone calls from someone out of state, checking up on shipments to - guess where? - this very same gym. Turns out a member of the gym staff gave out my number. Accident or not? I have no idea, but it smells fishy.
This got me worried about my personal information, since my SSN and debit card number were on my original contract. I faxed a letter and went back to the gym, demanding that they return their copy of the contract to me, since they had already proven they could not be trusted with private information (or with anything, for that matter). The manager said he could definitely return the contract. He went to retrieve it from the old location (still functioning as an office), but never returned.
My husband was with me, and we waited almost an hour before ...
We were introduced to an Operations Manager, who informed me the club could not return contracts since they were *technically* gym property (nothing on the contract grants them this right.) I compromised and asked her to at least black out my SSN and other private info. She said okay. BUT she would not let me watch her as she did it. She went into another office (in the old building again) and returned with a photocopy showing all the info blacked out. (Um, I was not exactly happy, since she could have made a copy, blacked that out, and made another copy for me, never once blacking out the original ... but at this point, I had to just trust her.)
Here is where it gets weird. I returned home and immediately noticed that this photocopy contains my signature on lines I never signed - in handwriting that is not mine. I looked at my carbon copy of the original contract, and sure enough, I did not sign on these particular lines. On my carbon copy of the original, those lines are blank. (It was one of those forms that has two sheets - one original and one carbon.) The Operations Manager (or someone else) FORGED my name!! She also added in a remaining balance due where before there was none - also something that had mistakenly been left off of my contract. Strange, because she had already promised I would never again be charged. I mean, what other reason would she have to do this, besides charging me the money?
What should I do? I am worried she will try to use this as some kind of debt validation and collect on it. Although, I do have in writing that the membership was cancelled (albeit on a makeshift form, but it does have the manager's signature). BUT this does not say anything about not charging me in the future ... ach.
I am thinking Ms. Operations Manager may have filled in these blanks just to make the forms complete for their records (for loss, etc.)
But yikes! Isn't she also criminally responsible for forging my name? (Or whoever did it?) And even worse - it was on a bank draft authorization form. Looks like I just did not sign it the first time around, and somehow nobody noticed. Hard to tell when this forgery was done, though. Could have been done right after I signed up, for all I know. Perhaps the sales representative forgot to have me sign that particular line, and she noticed after I left ...
My signature appears on other pages, and wow, it could not be more different than this fake one. This fake is waaaaay obvious.
What steps should I take? And in which order? I plan to file charges with the police, of course. But what else can I do?
Sorry for the long background story. I promise it leads to something relevant ...
Earlier in November, I joined a gym. This facility was in the process of moving into a new location, so it would not actually open until December 1st (or so I was promised.) On separate occasions, different employees promised me certain machines would be available as of December 1st, and that the entire gym would open on schedule. Alas, this was not true. Only one floor opened on time. The promised machines would not become available until February or March 2005. I complained - firmly and at certain moments, loudly - and was able to cancel my contract. (But only after suffering serious abuse from the manager.)
But then I suddenly began receiving phone calls from someone out of state, checking up on shipments to - guess where? - this very same gym. Turns out a member of the gym staff gave out my number. Accident or not? I have no idea, but it smells fishy.
This got me worried about my personal information, since my SSN and debit card number were on my original contract. I faxed a letter and went back to the gym, demanding that they return their copy of the contract to me, since they had already proven they could not be trusted with private information (or with anything, for that matter). The manager said he could definitely return the contract. He went to retrieve it from the old location (still functioning as an office), but never returned.
My husband was with me, and we waited almost an hour before ...
We were introduced to an Operations Manager, who informed me the club could not return contracts since they were *technically* gym property (nothing on the contract grants them this right.) I compromised and asked her to at least black out my SSN and other private info. She said okay. BUT she would not let me watch her as she did it. She went into another office (in the old building again) and returned with a photocopy showing all the info blacked out. (Um, I was not exactly happy, since she could have made a copy, blacked that out, and made another copy for me, never once blacking out the original ... but at this point, I had to just trust her.)
Here is where it gets weird. I returned home and immediately noticed that this photocopy contains my signature on lines I never signed - in handwriting that is not mine. I looked at my carbon copy of the original contract, and sure enough, I did not sign on these particular lines. On my carbon copy of the original, those lines are blank. (It was one of those forms that has two sheets - one original and one carbon.) The Operations Manager (or someone else) FORGED my name!! She also added in a remaining balance due where before there was none - also something that had mistakenly been left off of my contract. Strange, because she had already promised I would never again be charged. I mean, what other reason would she have to do this, besides charging me the money?
What should I do? I am worried she will try to use this as some kind of debt validation and collect on it. Although, I do have in writing that the membership was cancelled (albeit on a makeshift form, but it does have the manager's signature). BUT this does not say anything about not charging me in the future ... ach.
I am thinking Ms. Operations Manager may have filled in these blanks just to make the forms complete for their records (for loss, etc.)
But yikes! Isn't she also criminally responsible for forging my name? (Or whoever did it?) And even worse - it was on a bank draft authorization form. Looks like I just did not sign it the first time around, and somehow nobody noticed. Hard to tell when this forgery was done, though. Could have been done right after I signed up, for all I know. Perhaps the sales representative forgot to have me sign that particular line, and she noticed after I left ...
My signature appears on other pages, and wow, it could not be more different than this fake one. This fake is waaaaay obvious.
What steps should I take? And in which order? I plan to file charges with the police, of course. But what else can I do?
