If you think giving up the Ben & Jerry's is tough, try quitting your gym. Trouble canceling membership is one of the top complaints against fitness clubs logged with the Better Business Bureau and states' attorneys general. Before Chris Hinkle and his wife moved to North Carolina, they met with the manager at their Gold's Gym in Austin, Texas, to cancel their prepaid membership. They were told a refund check would be in the mail. That was March. After months of unreturned calls, Hinkle contacted the Better Business Bureau, which also got no answer from Gold's and gave it an unsatisfactory rating. "I was an ecstatic booster of Gold's," Hinkle says. "Now I tell people to never go there." A Gold's spokesperson says the club sends a refund in such cases once it receives proof of a move -- documentation Hinkle says the Austin manager didn't ask for in March. For those paying monthly, calls from collectors or a battered credit score may be the first clue a membership was never terminated, says Todd Mark of the Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Greater Atlanta. Follow contract terms to the letter, providing proof of a move or a doctor's note. Create a paper trail, and alert credit agencies about any dispute.