Letter from a Reader: Get and Go?

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Dear Fashion PULIS,

When a big and popular gym decided to open a branch in Binondo, I was happy as there is no modern and new gym in our area. Upon inquiring, they confidently said that the gym would be operational by Oct 15, 2012 and that their target soft opening was on September 2012. Given that they have three months time, I told myself that would be enough for them to do all the construction-related work and therefore decided to join them 1st of July and paid the corresponding fees.

Came October, I passed by this mall (where they have a booth) and followed up on the status of the opening of the gym. I was told that there were some delays but they promised that it should be operational by mid-November. Came November, I asked and followed up again, and was told by the manning staff that I can start going to the gym by last week of November. Excited, I decided to pass by the area to check on the construction progress and how the gym would look like. To my surprise, the whole area is still covered and construction work seemed to have just started. I spoke to the contractor and was told that their deadline is December 2012.

I went back to the booth and asked for their manager, and the staff explained that by last week of November, the group exercise area will be ready and will be part of their soft opening. I doubted it very much as the said area is still under construction for interior works, wiring and all. I spoke to someone from their head office and all they could do was apologize and offered excuses that there were some problems with licenses and turn over of tenant space.

Apparently, what this gym has been doing is to get more accounts as possible to sign up for them and give false hopes and endless promises as proven by the events unfolding. This is a complete fraud and I wish to warn people not to be fooled by their sales talk. By the way, a refund will take 60 days to process.

Thank you for publishing my letter, Fashion PULIS. This is for everybody's information and hoping everyone will be warned.

Sincerely yours,
Paulo