Black strip: as a network of fitness clubs "Zebra" has been deceiving customers for several years

In April, visitors to the Zebra fitness club at VDNH were faced with the fact that their hall was closed without warning-first for repairs, and then for good. No one was going to return the money for the purchased subscriptions, and they refused to accept them in other nearest clubs - there are not enough places. “MBH Media” found out that this is not the last and far from the first “Zebra” club to close and does not return the money to visitors-since 2013, the holders of subscriptions are suing the network to get at least some compensation.

"Closed for repairs"

On April 20, 2019, the “Zebra” page on Facebook appeared that the club at 13 Academician Korolev Street was closed for two days. Club visitors said that a few days before, representatives of the SES came to the gym and announced his closure. Together with the choke, they forced all customers to leave the room.

However, neither two days later, nor later the club opened. The Zebra client Rostislav told us that it was not possible to get through to the club, and there was no point in other rooms of the network - they are in neighboring areas (Medvedkovo, Rostokino and Altufevo), and it is inconvenient to get to them. Other clients say that in Medvedkovo and Rostokino they agreed to accept them on purchased subscriptions, and refused to Altufevo and Otradny - there are no places for so many people.

As a result, hundreds of customers who bought subscriptions - and shortly before the closure, the club sold the cards for two years at a discount - it remains only to try to return the money paid. Moreover, not only holders of club cards, but also club employees were injured. The former employee of Zebra at VDNH Alena told us that the employees themselves learned about the closure of the club on the same day, that customers did not pay their salaries, and personal belongings from the storage chambers had to be rescued with battle. A new fitness center was opened in the place of the Zebra closed after a couple of weeks-according to Rostislav, to former “Zebra customers” they promise subscriptions at a discount.

The problem is that different chain clubs are decorated as different legal entities. The deceived customers say: in half the clubs they shrug and say: "We are another organization, we know nothing." And the phones indicated on the leaflets supposedly hot line “Zebra” do not answer - “MBH Media” failed to get through any of them.

"So it has been bred for five years"

Clients affected by the actions of closed fitness clubs created the VKontakte group , where they collect claims and help return the money. The first messages in it date back to 2015, but the participants say that there were similar cases before - just at that moment “boiled”.

Then at Avtozavodskaya the Zebra Torpedo club should open with several halls and pools. They began selling subscriptions to the new hall in a year - only then it turned out that the company simply rented a room, did not rebuild anything or even imported the equipment. When the rental was over, the tenants disappeared without returning the money, and the holders of the subscriptions were offered to transfer to a nearby working club - to Dubrovka.

The administrator of the group Anna told us that she tried to return the money through the club itself - but a month and a half of negotiations did not lead to anything. Then she wrote a statement to the police and Rospotrebnadzor. After some time, a notification and a resolution came from the police - contacting them to the club manager, she managed to get money for the purchased subscription.

However, its case is a single one. According to Anna and reports of other victims, most have to go to court to get a decision on a refund. But it does not help, and this - Anna said that now the main problem is that Zebra simply does not have money to execute court decisions.

This is also confirmed by employees - according to Alena, who managed to work in two clubs Zebra, the network employees “feed breakfast” for several months before paying them a salary. “At VDNH, since the beginning of the year, they said that the club is not a profitable. Employees do not pay salaries for three months, they leave taxes. Employees must go to work in other network clubs to pick up their already earned money - they just don’t give it away, ”says Alena.

Another employee of the club at VDNH, the children's coach Evgenia,complained that from January to April she was not paid salaries even for individual training (and this is “live” money at the cash desk that the client brings before class). The base is the same - there is no money even to pay for rent.

In other clubs, the same thing happens: a visitor to the Zebra Welness City of Yacht, which was closed in 2017 on the Leningrad highway, Irinasaid that by the time the network was closed there were already litigation with the lessor about leasing non -payment - but the club continued to actively advertise and sell subscriptions. Two days before closing, customers came an SMS mailing list with the message “Only two days huge discounts! Hurry up to buy! " As a result - hundreds of deceived customers with paid cards for tens of thousands of rubles.

Not everyone can even transfer to another club, despite the promises of managers. Gregory, the holder of the Zebra club card on the electriczerdskaya (the club closed on July 2, 2019), told us that he tried to get through the numbers indicated in the announcements on the site within two weeks - he was not responded by either by electronic mail. Then he went to another network club, and there he was offered to buy a new subscription for 34 thousand rubles. “We work in a franchise and cannot accept you on another map,” they answered him.

Another problem is for those who have issued a map of the fitness center in installments. In this case, the money was “borrowed” by a certain organization “Mandarin”, which is also not going to return the paid funds, butoffers to solve the issue with the “zebra” itself - to be transferred to another club or demand money from them. It’s not possible to pay: buyers of installments in installments say that the percentage of the Konsky loan is 100-200% per annum, as in microcredit organizations.

How to return the money?

For the first half of 2019, at least seven sports clubs closed at the Zebra network - first “for repair”, and then completely. After the “zebra at VDNH”, about which even the first channel removed the plot , the Zebra Summer club closed on the Yaroslavl highway. Accordingto visitors, two weeks before closing, the club managers asked them to pay cash cards under the pretext of "the payment terminal does not work."

In this case, the possibility of returning money to Chardzhbek disappears - that is, by contacting the bank. Chardzhbek (or return pay) is a procedure in which the payment system itself returns the money to your account, and the already initial recipient must prove that the transaction was true. In the case of cash payment, this method is obviously does not work.

Lawyer Dmitry Lesnyak, on the air of Channel One, advised to apply first to the head office of the network with a claim, and then go to court and claim not only a refund for the purchased card, but also for compensation for moral damage. Clients who have already passed this whole process clarify: first of all, you need to write complaints not only to the head office, but also to all legal addresses specified in the contract. Therefore, it is necessary that the copy of the contract remains in hand - otherwise it will have to be exterminated by the club, and this is extra time and effort. Copies of claims also need to be left at home - then you can submit them in court.

The "experienced" advise: you need to immediately write your details on the claim and application for a refund, where you ask to return the money. Otherwise, there have already been such cases-representatives of the fitness club in court are asking to reduce the size of the penalty, citing the fact that they wanted to return the money, but could not, because they “did not know where”.

After filing a claim, you need to wait 10 days - and then, if no one contacted you, you can go to court. Even if no one answered you to claims or an unsubscription came, copies of applications you have given can be a sufficient argument that you tried, and the club did not meet you.

Some clients (for example, Zebers on Vernadsky) filed collective claims to the network, but practice shows that the number of plaintiffs does not affect the outcome of the case, but only delays it - the more people are involved in the process, the more difficult it is to organize them. In any case, lawyers advise writing applications for a refund and claims as soon as the club closed: the more victims, the more difficult it will be to receive compensation. Moreover, as it turns out, often the club does not have money for payments even for individual claims.

In the meantime, in the group of the victims is advised to sell already invalid subscriptions to Avito at half the price - to repel at least part of the money. True, judging by the comments, this (fraudulent) scheme will no longer pass - the bad glory about the network that opens the clubs and closes it after a couple of months, without returning the money to customers.