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Thanks for this - very useful information

Could I ask a question???Is this exclusive to the Calgary area. Reason for my question is My daughter and I both had memberships in Ontario which were cancelled without issue. My daughter moved to Calgary and signed a two year contract which she fulfilled. When the two years were up she she called Goodlife and asked if there was anything she had to do, they said no but did recommend she put a stop payment in the event fees were drawn against her account. Now months later this Peter Stephan, P.C. Barristers & Solicitors group is contacting her. Because we did not know what this was in regards to we checked the name and found these trends. We have left a message for them to contact us but thanks for the heads up. Sounds like this is a scam. How could a company try to collect against a fulfilled contract.

I'm going through the SAME thing!  I cancelled Goodlife within the required time.. they kept taking payments, I stop ordered them.. they claim I owe ~$250.. when it's they that owe me ~$95... they sent the Peter Stephan "Barristers" after me.  now my credit is getting bruised because some punk kid didn't do his job and file my paperwork?!

So I emailed and faxed my concerns to this Barrister and my fax didn't go through.. so I googled Peter Stephan.. and this is what I find.  

My sister cancelled on the same day and told them at the time to be sure it's done because she's heard how they like to keep taking payments... and surprise, she's not going through this!

This happens A LOT!  How are they getting away with this.. why can't we as a collective do something???  I know it's only $95 in my case, but when you add up all the people across the country, I'm betting this shenanigans is worth a bundle.  We're the ones needing solicitors!

Thanks for all the posts. yeah i'm not sure about Calgary rules but i believe that it is unlawful to misrepresent yourself when you are a collection agency..just a thought. i will be taking this matter up with my bank and my legal counsel too.

I got a call from this same "law firm" but from a different number, 1-866-940-9454.  I cancelled my membership as well with Goodlife and was told something completely different by the manager who signed me up then what was in my contract.  The manager of course is no longer at that location and they won't tell me where she is, needless to say this was only 2 months after I signed the contract.  I'm completely discussed with my experience with Goodlife and intend to file a report with the BBB for sure so that others are warned!

I received a phone message from the same people.  I owe Goodlife money from training that sucked, terminated as a result of a back injury.  But now that they have gone to a collection agency, glad I googled, I'm going to terminate my regular membership X 2 (my hubby).  Boy, stupid move on their part, they just lost that business.
Thanks to everyone's comments, I now know who and what this is about.
Ange

Ive paid them ...those [***] its obviously a scam FOR SURE. I called Good life and they said they have never heard of them before.

*** I signed up for a gym membership, and had to cancel because I broke my ankle, had to have surgery and am not able to use it for who knows how long. They said it was ok, filled out the form, and thought everything was done. I live in New brunswick, and I get calls from this number FOUR times a day, every two hours after 10am. when i called back, apparently I owe them 260 dollars for my account! I just don't understand this!

My daughter has been called numerous times and just this week received a letter from Peter Stephan, P.C. Barristers and Solicitors, 4620 Manilla Road SE, Calgary, AB T2G 4B7 demanding that she pay 395.81 within 10 days.

We have no intention of addressing this correspondence as it is related to a "free trial" of one week that my daughter signed up for at our local Good Life after being continually contacted by telephone.  She explained to the staff that she was unemployed and would not be in a position to take on a membership but they assured her that was not a problem.  After the meeting, they began to take money from her very feeble bank account causing many NSF fees to be charged against her account.

She eventually was forced to close the bank account in question.  It has turned out to be the best defence against them.

As my daughter struggles with a learning disability which makes it particularly difficult for her to negotiate, these tactics border on abusive.

PLEASE IGNORE THESE PEOPLE AND CLOSE YOUR BANK ACCOUNTS!!!  These idiots will no doubt cease and desist in short order.  Don't give them any amunition against you by speaking with them or answering their correspondance.

My daughter is also 18 and owes $275 because when I cancelled my membership hers wasn't over the year yet so I told them to withdraw from my account as they were already doing for both - they didn't and then we get a bill.  She couldn't pay and now she gets a phone call so I called Goodlife and they spoke to me and gave me a balance and she can pay directly to them.  Although she never used the gym since last July since we thought it was cancelled!!

I've gotten calls from them too. I signed up last year and also signed up a friend of mine. She signed the contract and we spoke to a rep about "if she didn't pay" and he said they had her information, she would be liable, well.. guess what - she wasn't. She didn't pay me for 6 months and I was carrying her account. I called GL and told them to cancel hers after 3 months!! And they kept charging me, resulting in NSF fees. I called to cancel BOTH memberships and they CONTINUED to charge me. Now apparently it's gone to collections and I am NOT impressed!

I just got off the phone with them.  I used to have a Goodlife Fitness account, that yes, the membership (sign up fee) was free, but you also agree to be a member for a year, and if you cancel before, you will get billed.  They tried to take 2 payments out of my account, which both bounced, which resulted in them terminating my account, and automatically sending me to collections.  

For a year, I continuously got phone calls from a number in Ontario, under a different name, but they posed as lawyers.  When I had the funds to pay them, I tried to call them, but could not get a hold of anyone.  

Anyways, this number called me today, and I was able to pay my bill of 163.04 over the phone, by credit card.  They didn't seem unprofessional ... maybe a but scattered.  I talked to this ladies (her name was Linda) receptionist, and he said it was very busy.  

Anyways, after reading this, I am really afraid it was a scam.  I will check my credit card statement in a couple of days to see the updated transactions.  If I find out anything, I will come back and post it.

Alisha, I paid my bill by credit card. Peter Stephan law firm is listed on the Alberta Law Society and the credit card statement showed the same. I cant believe all these people making statements without knowing what they are talking about..

Hi

I received a call from this collection agency, as I also had a membership at GoodLife and had cancelled it and continued to be charged. I explained to the person I talk to my situation she was understanding and simply ask that I e-mailed or faxed the paperwork to her and that she would try to resolve the issue. If she does not resolve the issue there is truely nothing she can do until it goes to small claims court and for the majority of you on this blog that will not happen your amounts are too small. Collection agencies are NOT allowed to harass you and if they do keep a documented record of these accounts and you can sue as well use it to your advantage if they do take you to court. (they are only allowed to call you once as day) If I am asked to send a cheque in the mail I can assure you I will be reporting them to the RCMP fraud line and they can deal with the situation you should NEVER send money through the mail unless it has been agreed upon in person and is notarized. (This is why banks have money transfers) I am also going to suggest that everyone that has had problems with GoodLife (as they are greedy [***] that use unfair business practices to lure woman of a young age to sign up for contracts they cannot afford) to go to the BBB (Better Business Bureau) or even better you can submit a complaint with the consumer protection agency in your province. The links below are provided so you can do this. Don't let GoodLife get away with these unfair actions towards there consumers!
BBB http://www.bbb.org/canada/consumers/ 

Government Consumer Protection Agencies Directory in Canada http://www.consumer.ca/1653 

Best Of Luck
Me

They called me today. And the joke is I did not pay Good Life. But I am now a member again. They are such losers.

I;m a student 19 in my second year of university, do you think i can afford to pay 500 dollars just to cancel ( i told them this as well) they just said own up. sad thing is they haven't gone to university themselves and been in that situation (which i imagine you haven't either)

I am going through a similar situation with Goodlife. They want a $100 cancelation fee for both me and my husband. I do not mind paying them for me since I did use their facilities about 4 times, but I refuse to pay them for my husband who never step foot in a gym once. Also they never made me aware of this fee at the time of signing the agreement, which if you don't know what you are signing then they can not enforce the contract.

I was trying to call the number back today to ask them what information they could give me to confirm they are a legit law firm, but they did not answer. So I looked under the Law Society of Alberta since they said they were located in Calgary and did find a listing for Peter Stephan at the above noted address. I believe that you should document everytime you receive a phone call or if they contact you, if they are indeed harrassing you, for the purposes of evidence if they do bring you to small claims court. If they are legit then they will know their limits. Do your research, don't believe everything they say to you they might try to scare you into paying.

[***] good life fitness

ya pal!!!!!! how much were you giving to write this

I got of work and found a number on my cell I didn't know, called, got no answer but the recording said it was a solicitors office, I was terrified, I owe them 80 dollars, now why in the hell didn't anyone in the gym tell me this, I would have gladly paid, now I'm pissed, this is the worst posible way you could get collection, they said they sent to letters (to the wrong adress) wtf, I have a application through to the army, I was terrified for hours, I was sure having lawyers after me would screw up my application, when they phoned back all the grief was for a mere 80 dollars