Gym closes days after offering Groupon deal

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Bad news for members of a northwest Houston gym that had been selling discounted annual memberships and Groupons just days ago. The gym is now closed.

Gym members say they were being offered deals just last week for pre-paid annual memberships; now a "Closed" sign is making them very angry.

It was a text message from a gym employee that first alerted Erika Haines that something was wrong at her favorite workout spot.

"'The gym closed,' exclamation point. And I said, 'What?' And she says, 'Yes, I just got the email thought I'd let you know,'" Haines said.

Haines then drove down to Shape Women's Fitness off FM 1960 herself.

"I am just coming here now to see if I could somehow -- now that I know they are closing -- if I could somehow get my money back because I paid for the year," she said.

Some customers say the gym closed only after collecting money from members.

"Today I see on my bank account that my monthly fee has been auto-drafted and I call to get no answer and then a neighbor said, 'Well, you know they closed,'" gym member Melissa Williams said.

Williams says to make things worse, the gym was offering members deals if people would pre-pay $150 for a year.

"They just encouraged me last Monday to take a 12-month membership, the summer promotion," she said.

We found the company selling Groupons as late as Monday afternoon, but that deal was pulled after we contacted Groupon. A sign on the door suggests customers file a claim with the Secretary of State's Office for refunds.

"I am going to see if I can contact my credit card company," Haines said.

Calling your credit card company is a good idea.

Groupon says if you bought one of the gym's deals, you can get a refund from them.