I read the article printed in Dec. 14 issue in regard to Bally tennis players. My wife and I were members of Bally for the past 20 years. The first time we were made aware of Bally’s closure was when I attempted to renew my membership online and was advised that Bally had sold out to LA Fitness.

My wife and I went into LA Fitness, located at 35009 Enchanted Parkway. We sat in the lobby with other Bally members waiting to speak with a representative. During that time, several members of Bally had told us their horror stories in trying to get their memberships transferred to LA Fitness.  One couple in particular told us that they were lifetime members at Bally, but LA Fitness told them that only one of them would be allowed to be a member and the other would have to pay a one-time enrollment fee of $300 down and $39 per month.

To say the least, they where livid. We had sat down with the manager of LA Fitness, and had explained to him that my wife just received a notice in the mail from Bally that her membership had lapsed and that she could renew it at her present rate of $99. However, when she attempted to do so online, it would refer her to LA Fitness.

We explained our dilemma to the manager at LA Fitness as he sat eating his lunch in front of us. He explained to us with a smirk on his face, informing us that it is an unfortunate problem for my wife, but it is not his problem. He continued to say that “this is Bally’s problem, not ours, we only took the members who were current.” He said that if LA Fitness took all Bally’s members who were in the middle of a renewal, LA Fitness would have back out of the deal. He stated that if my wife is interested in a membership, it would cost her $340 down and $3 per month. He continued by saying sorry, but I have to get to the other Bally’s members and give them the bad news as well, as he smiled.

I feel that LA Fitness is nothing more than a money machine and could care less about satisfying existing clients of Bally’s, and now has found a gold mine in raping Bally’s members by forcing them to sign up for an outrageous membership. Maybe the Attorney General’s office should look into this.

Ken Harris, Federal Way