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Kokua Line
June Watanabe
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Spa does not have to honor lifetime deals
Question: In your
Aug. 17 column, you dealt with two complaints about changes to the "lifetime memberships" at the Spa Fitness Center on Punahou Street. You mentioned the state Office of Consumer Protection was looking into complaints it had received. Can you find out what the status of that investigation is?
Answer: Good timing.
We were told yesterday that the Office of Consumer Protection has just completed its investigation and will be sending letters to complainants regarding its findings into changes in "lifetime membership" terms at both the facility at 1212 Punahou St., now known as Punahou Fitness and Spa, as well as the Spa Fitness Center at 98-1258 Kaahumanu St. in Waimalu.
Basically, the Office of Consumer Protection has determined that both health clubs, because of changes in ownership, are no longer obligated to honor lifetime memberships given by the previous owner.
Punahou Fitness and Spa, which was the subject of the complaints to Kokua Line, is owned by Groendyke USA Inc.
The Waimalu facility is owned by Island Professional Financial Group.
Under the language of the purchase agreements, Groendyke USA and Island Professional Financial Group were obligated to honor membership contracts for only two years after the sale by Spa Fitness Centers Inc. in 2001, according to the Office of Consumer Protection.
It was the former owner's liability to provide lifetime usage of the health clubs, a liability that did not automatically transfer to the new owners, the Office of Consumer Protection said.
Gary Groendyke told "Kokua Line" that when he purchased the Punahou facility in 2001, he initially agreed to honor the lifetime memberships for two years. In 2003, "on a handshake" with the previous owner, he said he agreed to extend those memberships for another two years.
But, he said, mounting operational costs made it impossible for him to continue the memberships.
Q: Would you please find out when radio reception will be available again in the Wilson Tunnels? I expected this problem to be fixed by the time the repair work was completed. I also noticed that there was no radio reception in the Kaneohe-bound H-3 tunnel.
A: Based on your inquiry, the state Department of Transportation recently inspected the radio antennas inside both the Wilson and H-3 tunnels.
There remains a problem with reception inside the Wilson Tunnels, but apparently there is no problem going through the Harano Tunnels on the H-3.
Contractors will repair the antennas in the Wilson Tunnels in coming weeks, said transportation spokesman Scott Ishikawa.
Although the major repair work in the Wilson Tunnels, including pavement resurfacing, lane re-striping, enhanced lighting and wall tiling, has been completed, "minor work" is still being done during overnight closures as part of the improvement project, he said.
Meanwhile, he said highways inspectors could find no problem with radio reception inside the Harano Tunnels, in either direction.
See the
Columnists section for some past articles.
Got a question or complaint? Call 529-4773, fax 529-4750, or write to Kokua Line, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210, Honolulu 96813. As many as possible will be answered. E-mail to
kokualine@starbulletin.com