Compared to some health clubs, Harva4rd's gym looks like a nineteenth century European zoo--the overcrowding, the iron bars, the stench. Harvard students know this as "the MAC," short for Malkin Athletic Center, the abyss where the masses are condemned to sweat and toil.

For those who seek a more elegant or better equipped workout environment, Bale's Holiday Fitness Center, Healthworks and Le Pli each offer their own distinctive options.

But when students consider joining an outside health club, the message is caveat emptor: ready to prey on the discontent of Harvard students, the health club industry casts its lures and students are sometimes blinded to the fine print by the glare of bright machinery.

Several Harvard students have been involved in legal disputes with Bally's Holiday Fitness Center in Porter Square. The students allege that Bally's salespeople misrepresented membership conditions.

Rachel Allen '91 joined Bally's with two of her former roommates. Allen had just graduated, and the roommates were seniors, so flexibility was important to them in a membership.

"The sales representative told us there was no commitment," Allen says, "but of course, there was. We specifically asked her if there was a commitment, and she said `no.'"

When Allen moved to Oakland, Calif., she attempted to terminate her membership, but she says the club told her she could not get out of the three-year contract.

After four months of writing letters to Bally's and eventually threatening legal action, Allen stopped receiving bills.

Sarah E. Igo '91 joined Bally's in the spring of her senior year. She told sales representative Cindy Cox that she might move to Oakland, Calif., so she needed the option of terminating her membership.

According to Igo, Cox told her that there was no Bally's club within 20 miles of Oakland, and that she would therefore be entitled to terminate the membership if she moved there.

But Igo says once she moved, Bally's officials changed their story. They told her there was a club 19 miles from her home, close enough for Igo to still be bound by the contract.

Mary Galvin, co-manager of the Bally's in Porter Square, says that Bally's has no affiliates near Oakland, so Igo would have been eligible to terminate the contract.

Galvin acknowledges that in the past "there were some bugs to be ironed out" in the way sales representatives presented membership options and fee structures.

Today, Galvin says, their sales staff is "more precise and accurate." Salespeople who misrepresent the club face dismissal, she said.

Galvin also asserts Bally's handles all cancellations responsibly, and that a printed list of all Bally's nationwide affiliates is available at the front desk and from staffers.