How to Deal with ASF International
When I moved to Massachusetts recently I quit my membership with KnuckleUp gym in Atlanta. I stood by KnuckleUp for two years, even though their gym flooded and never re-opened and I had to spend countless hours commuting to Roswell just to train. I also acted as a substitute instructor without asking for anything in return. When I finally left, I had a pretty horrible experience at the hands of KnuckleUp’s business partner: ASF international.
I’m a martial artist and I move around a lot–so I’m used to dealing with these contract companies. But ASF is far and away the worst. A quick search of ripoff.com will yield dozens of horror stories from people who have been victimized by this company. KnuckleUp management said––not to me, but where I could hear it––that ASF has an informal policy in which they never allow membership cancellations.
ASF is like Comcast: they don’t honor contracts and think that their customers are slaves. Only ASF is worse: Comcast at least provides a service, ASF makes their money by NOT providing a service. Every piece of paper work they lose, every clerical error they make, is another month of payments they try to extract from your bank account. Companies like this need to be dealt with aggressively and SHUT DOWN. They are only allowed to exist because we, the people, are too lazy and too beaten down to fight back.
Here’s what we can do:
1) I will never again join a gym that works with ASF. There are other companies that do the exact same thing and are far more pleasant to work with.
2) I filed a formal complaint with the FTC. EVERYONE needs to do this. The FTC looks for patterns and if half the people ASF have victimized did this, the FTC would intervene.
3) DO NOT speak to ASF on the phone. Use e-mail. Not only should customers not have to spend 30 minutes on hold, but ASF are liars and every communication from them must be in writing so that they can be held to it.
4) You don’t have to tolerate automatic debits. Call your bank and get them cancelled. Hell, the bank WANTS your money to stay in the bank. This will turn the tables on ASF and force THEM to deal with YOU.
5) Below is a transcript of my e-mail correspondence with ASF (Names and faces have been changed to protect the innocent as well as the guilty). I am reposting it here to show that A) these companies try to bluff you into paying them and that B) standing firm by the terms of your contract does get results.
Before I go on, let me explain my specific situation: My gym told me they wanted a copy of my lease as well as an out of state driver’s license as proof that I moved. This in itself is ridiculous: I only signed a three-year contract because I was told it was void if I moved more than 25 miles–not if I took up residence in another state. Furthermore, requesting a driver’s license is an obvious stall tactic: you can’t get a driver’s license until you have a lease or a utility bill. So the whole system is set up so that ASF can get something for nothing.
I’m only moved as a student and I don’t want to claim residency in Massachusetts. I explained this to KnuckleUP and they told me I could send in a student ID instead of a driver’s license. ASF refused to honor this. Here’s what happened:
Sent: Monday, September 22, 2008 7:39 PM
To: membersupport@asfint.com
Subject: membership cancellation, Account # 555555
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From: Evil Corporate Goon <evil_goon@asfint.com>
Date: Wed, Sep 24, 2008 at 11:46 AM
Subject: Re: membership cancellation, Account # 7911796
To: anonymousrex@gmail.com
Evil Corporate Goon
ASF International
Cancellation Department
640 Plaza Dr Suite 300
Highlands Ranch, CO 80129
1-800-525-8967
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Dear Evil Corporate Goon,
Evil Corporate Goon
ASF International
Cancellation Department
640 Plaza Dr Suite 300
Highlands Ranch, CO 80129
1-800-525-8967
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
The contract that I signed clearly states that the requirements are determined by the school and not by ASF. ASF representatives have confirmed this over the phone as have the staff at KnuckleUp. If ASF was really in full control of the cancellations, that would have been stated to me in July when I asked about the cancellation policy and we would not be having this conversation. Instead, you are the first person who has ever claimed that ASF is in full control of the cancellations and legally I see nothing to back that claim up. At this point I consider ASF to be in material breach of contract.
Evil Corporate Goon
ASF International
Cancellation Department
640 Plaza Dr Suite 300
Highlands Ranch, CO 80129
1-800-525-8967
Police State
I went through Harvard Square today and watched a mob in front of Citi Bank protesting the bailout. All of the singing and drum beating (there were drums) seemed like a waste of energy to me. Alex Jones says the most effective form of protest is to find the home address of politicians and CEOs and show up outside their home with a bullhorn.
I kept walking and passed Bank of America. I hate Bank of America but I am forced to have an account with them while I live in Boston. Standing in front of the bank was a riot cop in black uniform. He was armed to the teeth with zip-ties and carried one of these new “cop quarter-staves” I’ve been seeing lately.
A word about this weapon: I don’t know when cops first began buying and training with them but I did see footage of them being used on civilians in Denver. From my own weapons training I know what this weapon is for. First, it is designed to be intimidating. This thing is about a three feet long, painted black, and fits quite nicely with Teddy Roosevelt’s idea of diplomacy.
But the second reason for these night sticks is that they allow you hit civilians (let’s be honest here, these aren’t for using on criminals) with the two butts of the weapon. By contrast, a night-stick has a handle and a “business end” used to beat people. You can hit someone just as hard with the butt of a stick but IT DOESN’T LOOK AS VIOLENT when you do it. In other words, this weapon is PR applied to beating people with blunt objects. If a journalist snaps a picture of this cop hitting me in the jaw with the end of a night stick, this would make a sensational picture. It would evoke the civil rights movement and raise resentment of police. On the otherhand, if the cop inflicts the same strike with the butt of a quater-staff, it looks far more mild. The picture might seem as though I had accidentally walked into the officer’s weapon.
I came very close to asking the officer if he was there to protect Bank of America from protesters but thought better of it.
When I came back an hour later, the protest had ended and–of course–the riot cop was no longer guarding Bank of America. In his place was a hired goon. That’s the only way I can describe this guy: he had a collared shirt with the logo of some private security company and swaggered about making sure everyone in the bank could see his hand gun. He had smarmy mustache and looked exactly like the white guy from an ’80s cop drama.
The cops were still around though. In walking from Harvard Yard to the bus stop I passed one cruiser and an oversized SUV which I have never seen the Boston police use before.
Isn’t this use of police a form of corporate welfare? How much of our tax-dollars did it cost to train and equipment that riot cop? How much are we paying him to guard Bank of America? Probably something like $40/hour. Someone probably got murdered in Roxbury today and I can bet there were no black uniformed cops to protect people with their quarter-staves.
Unfortunately, I think this sort of thing is going to become increasingly common as the financial crisis worsens. If you want a nice scare do a Google News search for “Northcom” and see what comes up. Or if you some spare time and a strong stomach, I recommend reading this.
