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Business & Tech

Essex Gym Owner Charged with Misleading Members

Maryland's attorney general has accused Spunk Fitness of collecting prohibited fees.

The owner of an has been charged with misleading its members and collecting prohibited fees, according to the Maryland Attorney General’s office.

According to a news release, Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler announced late last week that his consumer protection division filed administrative charges against GRS Fitness, LLC and its owner, Bernard P. Caplan, Jr, alleging they “arbitrarily discontinued services that had previously been provided, made false and misleading statements to consumers in regard to their cancellation rights, offered and charged improper fees, attempted to collect debts not owed and failed to post required security.”

The charges allege that GRS Fitness made an agreement with Health Tek Creations to take over a health club facility on Kelso Drive in Essex last year. Caplan and GRS Fitness then switched the name from Energy Fitness Center to and made several changes, including removing free weights and heavy lifting equipment, according to the release.

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Even though they made significant changes, Caplan and his company didn’t let members cancel memberships. In addition, Caplan and GRS allegedly continued to charge bigger monthly membership fees for Energy Fitness Center services that they no longer offered. Plus, they made statements regarding their members’ cancellation rights that were misleading and false, according to the release

Caplan and GRS advertised Spunk Fitness membership rates as low as $9.99, a big difference from what Energy Fitness Center members previously charged. The charges also allege that, when it came to registration, Caplan and GRS didn’t appropriately post security.

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According to the release, the charges ask that Caplan and GRS stop selling health club services until they comply with the registration process. In addition, they’re being asked to cease the improper billing practices and make full restitution of all payments they received in violation of the Consumer Protection Act and Health Club Services law.

There will be a pre-hearing conference on Sept. 9 conducted by the Office of Administrative Hearings in Hunt Valley.

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