Health Club Settles Suit on Memberships

A health club chain agreed Wednesday to pay $33,000 to settle a civil lawsuit over allegations of misleading advertising and using bait-and-switch tactics to sell memberships in the San Fernando Valley.

The Sports Connection and The Sports Club Management Co., agreed to pay the fines to settle a suit brought in Los Angeles Superior Court by Los Angeles Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti.

At the time, Sports Connection was managed by The Sports Club Management Co. Sports Connection is now managed by Bally’s Health and Tennis Corp.

In the settlement, Sports Connection does not admit guilt.

The suit alleged the company offered introductory memberships at Sports Connection clubs in Encino and Van Nuys for $25 down and $25 a month, even though the clubs had not opened, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Cynthia Zuzga.

Investigators from the district attorney’s office who posed as prospective club members were not presented with the advertised rate, Zuzga said.

“No members were signed up at the advertised rate,” Zuzga said. “They either sold them a one-year rate or a two-year rate.”

“Consumers interested in Valley memberships are not presented with the advertised rate and are routinely ‘switched’ to an initial higher-priced charter rate of $435 for two years or a non-Valley club rate of a $50 initiation fee and $25 monthly fee, with no monthly fee payable until the Valley club opened,” according to the lawsuit.