Gold’s Gym members who pulled themselves out of bed Monday morning to work out found the gym gutted, the doors locked and the phones not working.

The gym had relocated on short notice to a location across from Fred Meyer on Hwy 97, but apparently some of its members hadn’t been notified. Some members were outraged and said they would cancel their membership.

Sally Sundsten, a member of Gold’s since 1998, was shocked to find the doors closed. She was so angry that she drafted a letter requesting her membership be canceled.

”I had no problem with them before this happened,” she said. ”Now, I feel like I’ve been swindled.”

Debbie Nelson, also a Gold’s member, couldn’t believe they didn’t contact members first.

”Something isn’t right,” she said. ”They aren’t even answering their phone.”

Sundsten went immediately to her bank and stopped payment on her automatic debit from Gold’s Gym. Sundsten said she told her banker that she wanted to place a stop payment on an automatic withdrawal and the teller said, ”Gold’s Gym, right?”

Nelson planned to go to her bank to close out the account that the automatic debit was withdrawn from.

”I would be highly suspicious to do business with them again,” said Nelson.

Gold’s Gym owner, Chris Hayes said that two weeks ago ODOT informed them that the gym’s parking would be eliminated due to the expansion of bike paths on Purcell.

”This is a good thing but a bad thing because we couldn’t give our members proper notice, because we didn’t get notice until two weeks ago,” Hayes said.

”We chose to make the move over the weekend since that is our slowest time. We opened Monday morning at 4:30 a.m. just as we normally do.”

The sign on the door at its old venue on Twin Knolls Drive, however, did not mention the new address.

Gold’s former landlords, Equity Management and Commercial Leasing would not comment on the move.

The management of other gyms in Bend’s recent past has also left its members angry.

Last October, Bend Fitness closed without warning after one of the partners repossessed the club’s exercise equipment in a late-night raid. In January of last year, World Gym in the Old Mill District filed for bankruptcy, closing its doors without refunding members.

”Losing half of our parking, we couldn’t operate a big gym with only 50 parking spots,” said Hayes.

”We couldn’t tell members we were moving until we had a lease signed,” said Rod Black, general manager of Gold’s Gym. ”Once we signed the lease we put out the notices. We passed out notices to everyone who came in for three days. Then we moved the gym over the weekend.”

Members will not receive prorated rates for the weekend Gold’s was closed, its management said.

However, membership dues will not be raised because of the move, Hayes said.

The gym’s phone lines were not working Tuesday evening, making it impossible for members to call the gym directly. Hayes said the phones should be working today.

Black admits this is a sticky situation but insists it is a better move for the members. There will be plenty of parking and better amenities at the new location, he said.

”I’ve built a good repertoire with only 2 percent of members upset about the move, and I have been able to calm them down,” Black said. ”I would call every member and tell them, but our phones are still not working.”

He said he is also launching an advertising campaign to let members know where they are.