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them know. They can pay through other means—debit, cheque, cash etc. Eventually, if the account is not paid we deny access to the club. We have a team at our corporate


office that handles all outstanding payments for 30-60 day non-paid ac- counts. They call the member to work out a payment plan. If we still do not receive payment at the end of 60 days, the account is terminated. A member wanting to re-join after


their membership has been terminated due to non-payment is required to pay a portion of their outstanding account before we sign them up again.


Elizabeth Cummings general manager Life Time Athletic – Ajax, Ontario www.lifetimefitness.com


members to respond in their own time, after checking their online banking or maybe getting an update from a spouse. A surprise phone call or face- to-face notification can catch people off guard, which may lead to awkward conversations, reactions or uncomfort- able explanations. This approach seems to work for us


with the majority of our NSF situations corrected swiftly without conflict. The reason for the NSF is not as important to us as their intentions to provide payment and follow-up payments. If we don’t receive a response to our


email within 24 hours, we follow up with a phone call. Again, we approach the conversation empathically and by suggesting solutions, such as, “Can we take a credit card payment now over the phone?” or “Would you like to come into the club and pay today? When would be a good time?” Our members seem to appreci-


ate the softer solution-oriented ap- proach opposed to a harder imperson- al method.


Greg Simmons general manager fitness and recreation services Atlantic region Health Systems Group


a sharp increase in credit card fraud. Because of this members sometimes have their accounts frozen or cards cancelled and forget to let us know. Many don't even know their cards have been cancelled until they try to use them. I flag the check-in system so the


staff can advise members personally that their payment has been returned. If after two weeks the member has not been into our facility, I send them a let- ter saying that their payment was re- turned and that I would appreciate it if they could take care of this as soon as possible. Most people call or come in within a day or two. With these two steps, we general-


ly have about 80 percent of NSF pay- ments cleared before the next payment date. Those that aren’t cleared up are sent a second letter. If a client has three consecutive de-


clined payments, I cancel their mem- bership and flag them in our check-in system so they are no longer able to receive credit terms with us. We wel- come these people back, but all future memberships must be paid in full and the outstanding declined payments cleared up. This happens with only about 12 to 15 people per year. When we speak to members about a


Greg Simmons


tionship with members. Dealing with NSF payments is a perfect example. There are several reasons why


H


a payment might be returned NSF. Regardless of the reason, we feel it’s im- portant to approach the situation deli- cately and in a solution-oriented way. When we receive notice of an NSF,


we start by sending an email with a personal note indicating that we were unable to process the payment. Then we ask people to contact us if they have recently received a new credit card or have changed their banking information. Quite often this email message is


the first they have become aware of the situation, and people are surprised and caught off guard. An email allows


andling sensitive situations in an appropriate manner is crucial to maintaining a strong rela-


Shelley Winters


NEXT ISSUE’S QUESTION:


all our credit card and direct debit transactions. When a payment doesn’t go


W


through, we really like to give mem- bers a chance to find out first from our front desk staff. We understand that most people at one point or anoth- er will have an issue with their credit card company or their bank. Over the past three or four years there has been


e do get NSF payments each month, but perhaps only about three percent of


If you could go back in time, what one piece of advice would you give your younger self?


To respond to this question or to sug- gest a question for a future Q&A, contact Stephen Longwell at stephen@fitnet.ca.


January/February 2017 Fitness Business Canada 13


declined payment, we make sure they know that it happens to pretty much everyone at some point or another and that they don’t need to worry about it. This understanding approach is al- ways appreciated and helps make peo- ple want to take care of the situation immediately.


Shelley Winters general manager Riverdale Fitness Toronto


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