Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/26/2022

  Type:Sales and Advertising Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  in 2019, the expiration date on my credit card was changed and my membership with Safeside was at an end. I did not feel the need to update my credit card information to continue a membership no longer desired.
  Most businesses acknowledge cancellation of membership for non-payment - But not Safeside, they apparently opened an "in-house" account in my name to continue to apply monthly fees. I did not agree to this being done.
  I began to receive a monthly statement for 'membership' since they could no longer charge the card on file. Those statements stopped over a year ago until I received the attached statement with a grand total of $839.70.
  1. I did not sign anything agreeing to bill me past the initial year's membership.
  2. I have not even been to the building or used the services in close to three years.
  3, Safeside is not being ethical in the `slightest - I have not patronized their facility and I feel their charging for services is unfounded and quite frankly questionable.
  
  I appreciate any and all assistance you can provide.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 11/27/2022

  I have reviewed the complaint from Mr. **** and searched all emails as far back as I can (2017) and do not see any request for membership cancellation. His assertion that changing his credit card expiration date should automatically make us assume that he wished to cancel his membership is not logical or typical business practice for any membership-based service program I'm aware of.  He openly admits to receiving statements in the past showing a growing past-due balance, but even then did not contact us to inquire about options or to let us know he was being billed by mistake.  Our memberships are for a minimum 1-year term and auto-renew until cancelled (again, like most all monthly-paid memberships at gyms, car-washes, tanning salons, etc).  To be accused of a lapse in ethics when he simply misunderstood the program.  This is an excerpt from our membership web page: "All memberships (other than Summer Promotional Membership) are for a 12 month minimum duration. If you choose to pay monthly, you are authorizing us to charge your card for the monthly amount until you cancel.  Cancellation fees apply if you haven't completed 12 payments."  Our system (like many monthly-paid memberships) bills an "internal" account after 5 failed attempts to bill the credit card authorized by the customer. This is two-fold, 1) it keeps the membership from lapsing which would cause a new initiation fee to be charged, and 2) keeps a record of lost revenue for customers who made signed up for a membership.I understand that Mr. **** is frustrated, however we are consistent in how we manage hundreds of memberships and our policies are transparent and well-documented in my mind.What action would you expect us to take in response to this beyond this reply and cancelling Mr. ****'s membership?While our website has been re-done since 2017, the membership program details have changed very little and the 12 month minimum (with auto-renewal until cancelled) has not changed.  In fact, Mr. **** is on a legacy membership at $27.99/mo which we stopped offering in 2020. New price is $34.99 however we kept any existing members on the lower-price plan. Link to membership page: **********************************************************************************************

  Customer Answer

  Date: 11/29/2022

  I have reviewed the response offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and Safeside only mentions cancellation -  nothing about clearing the balance accrued.  Noted in the business' reply, their records go back to 2017 and will confirm that I have not patronized the facility since that first year.Setting up an in-house account for monthly membership fees beyond the initial 12 month agreement may be a service in Safeside's mind, but without a person's agreement to that being done I don't see how it is beneficial.  Any other membership I've had simply cancelled upon nonpayment and right or wrong that was/is my expectation. I would appreciate Safeside clearing the balance to reflect zero, confirming no derogatory report made to the Credit Bureaus and Safeside's acknowledgement of retro-cancellation. Thank you******** ****