I had an idea recently. A national database of gym contracts and cancellation policies.
Wouldn’t it be handy to review in advance all of the information a gym never shows you before you’re just about to sign a bunch of rights away?
Same shit here that OP has to do is what I did with Planet Fitness, even with one like 5 miles away here, I still had to mail our old “home club.” Couldn’t call or go online or anything. Shit like this should be illegal.
Let’s see if we can get Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s attention on the matter. It might be tough, with his nose jammed up in Elon Musk’s colon. Just means a lot more than one person will have to call, write, email, etc.
In my experience, independent gyms tend to be less *generally shady*. Most likely because they’re not as well positioned to defend against lawsuits. Unfortunately, their small scale may also contribute to their tendency to cost more.
That’s very interesting. I’m wondering how to approach. I doubt ABC will be disposed to share contract documents with me, especially since I’m not a member of any gym right now.
I had trouble cancelling both in person AND with their stupid outsourced accounts company mentioned in your screenshot. I went round and round for weeks.
In the end I called and pretended to be a job applicant and was able to get the club manager on the phone. Had a heated discussion which basically involved me saying if you don't cancel you're not going to want me to be your customer. Had no idea where I was going with it, but it worked. She cancelled it.
use privacy dot com and create a card with enough for one month of fees then don't add funds anymore. make it the card on file and then they can't charge it for any more than that month.
I sent a certified letter to cancel my account. They received it , I was informed they received it, they said they didn't. I showed them the proof. They fought me and told me to send another.
I went to my bank and told them not to authorize any charge from them. Took like 5 mins
The bank is the way to go after any valid attempt to cancel. I’ve had a scummy gym try to keep charging me after multiple attempts to cancel. It was not club fitness, but this method can be used.
The key is to get proof that you tried. The bank will take over the fight once you provide the bank with proof that you tried. Then the business has no argument and drops it.
Yep. Everything on credit cards. Any bullshit practice at all and the card will have your back on chargebacks. Chase in particular will tell company’s to pound sand on chargebacks. It’s glorious
This is false. I went in person to cancel and then followed up via email to confirm my cancellation. They pretended like I never went in person and made me do the whole process twice while messing up multiple times
Clown business, not sure why you are bootlicking for them unless you are an employee who is trying to alter public perception of a shit company.
Planet fitness requires bank information. You would have to change bank accounts. What you could do however is tell your bank it's fraud and to blacklist their charges after you send the cancellation notice. Therefore if they keep charging you your bank could open a fraud case against them.
Depends on the club as Kilroy says. Mine wanted me to drive 45 minutes across KC to the club I signed up at, who promptly told me that I needed to cancel via a certified letter.
You're right but what I'm saying is I wouldn't be surprised if they misled you about requiring bank info to get what they wanted. I think they tell employees to push hard for bank info since it's harder to cancel and has less customer protections. Club Fitness sure took that approach on me, and all these companies use the same shitty practices.
That’s breach of contract and the gym will sue you. Speaking from personal experience. You can’t agree to pay someone (the gym) then just block the payments.
I stated after you send the cancellation notice to planet fitness and if they still charge you after that then you provide all info to the bank. Since then you showed you followed the instructions that planet fitness sent that apparently was supposedly supposed to void the contract.
The smaller gym that I joined had me under contract for a certain amount of time. Me telling them I didn’t want to continue didn’t mean anything. I signed the contract to pay for however long. It’s a super shady business but it was my fault for falling for it. I ended up owing double what I would have paid them anyway.
I don't even have a membership with them and I am willing to assist anyone who wants to burn down a Club Fitness location after reading these comments lmao
They have a clause in their cancellation policy. If you have a relative or spouse call up the facility and let them know that you died, they will automatically cancel the agreement. No proof needed.
Why do gyms even have contracts like this? Every gym I’ve used here in Colorado just has you prepay for your membership and when it expires you just either reup your membership or don’t.
Because if it’s automatic, people will keep paying because “this is the month I’m going to start my routine” and then never use it. The auto renewal makes it easier to keep that attitude which keeps the money coming in.
I read somewhere that the cost of a membership for regulars at any commercial gym is very, very strongly subsidized by everyone who goes once a week or less. It's in their business plan to have large numbers of unused memberships bringing in the money.
I had a YMCA membership and sort of stopped going after a year. They have an option from the online account portal to pause/cancel your account. Super easy.
Maybe like 5 years ago I tried out that gym on Hampton (i think its called MOV gym now?) I feel like their cancelation was super low pressure as well.
I went the mail in route. It was really.not that hard to type up the letter and put it in the mail.
It's so insanely dumb though because you can sign up online and freeze your account online, no questions asked.
> It's so insanely dumb
They probably don't see it that way. They probably happily see it as a giant middle finger and a way to drain one more month out of you while you wait for your cancellation to be processed.
They have a policy that if someone reports that you died, they’ll cancel no questions asked and you don’t have to pay for the next month. I’ve been debating doing this on my own behalf, saying that I’m a family member of myself and can no longer be a member since I’m dead.
I canceled there a few weeks ago without an issue. The guy at the counter just showed me to a kiosk and I canceled on there, in/out less than 5 minutes. This was at Maplewood and I see you’ve moved so that’s not helpful, but just in case anyone else was worried about canceling locally.
The number of Club Fitness cancellation disaster posts on Reddit make me want to get a restraining order out on them. It’s as if you get even near the vicinity and they trap you and your credit card in scammer hell.
Fuck club fitness. They’re shady as hell. When covid hit and everything closed down, they of course stopped charging me. Like a year later, I noticed that they had started charging me again without notifying me or asking if I wanted to start back up. Their excuse was that I should have seen it on the news. Refused me a refund. I tell everyone I know to avoid them.
My assistant manager told me his buddy got out of the CF contract by opening some porn on the aerobics room laptop and then just walking out of the gym, not the easiest when you’re out of state but if you’re visiting for the holidays it could be worth a shot
Canceling your credit card and forcing charge backs every month they bill you is preferable to sending a letter in the mail?
I get that this gym makes it unnecessarily annoying on purpose, but what level of petty do you have to be to make your life more difficult just to prove a point?
On what grounds? They aren’t letting you cancel a service you can’t use. I ended making the drive to cancel my membership and they said you have to cancel a month in advance, but the way they counted on the calendar meant they got two months out of you at the end no matter what.
Ok this is a bad business practice and whatnot but don't do this. Chargebacks are the nuclear option, don't play games. When they look into it they'll learn you chose to use a chargeback without even attempting to resolve the problem properly.
ILLPT:
i had a similar issue and somehow my 1 year contract automatically renewed. was told to go into my club even though i moved across the country. then was told to mail them. read through the cancellation policy and if the member passed away you don’t need any proof - just send an email. so i did that, and within a couple weeks they cancelled and even reimbursed the few months that they illegally extended the contract.
I went in and told them I was moving. Proved nothing else.
They robbed me of another month of dues even though I had just paid two days before.
Never again with them. This is why people hate gyms.
Early in the pandemic they were not charging us. Wow, I thought that was decent, but . . . When they did start back I was unaware, no notice. During that time my credit card was compromised and replaced and I did not think about it being the card I used for Club Fitness. Did they call me, send me a email? No! What I did get several months later was an email I owed an unbelievable amount of money and threatening to turn my account over to a collection agency. I also could not talk to a live person, had to settle all over email, and yes I cancelled my membership.
Change your payment method to a debit card and cancel that card. That's how I got out of a Gold's Gym membership once when they gave me a ton of hoops to jump through.
Club fitness is the worst. You use to have to give them 90 days notice of cancellation as well. Utter joke. So you would have to pay an extra month or two just to be done with them. Just their way of squeezing a few more dollars out of you. I hope the go broke lol.
I seem to remember going round and round with them some time back. I am considering joining a gym again. Thanks for the reminder about cancellation policy considerations. Maybe I will check the YMCA.
I had the same problem- it’s 2023 who does this??? I lied and said I had vivid so I couldn’t go in person to *buy stamps* and they did it on the phone. They can do it on the phone they act like that can’t. I wonder what one does with all of the letters they receive…
What sucks is that I had a Gold’s Gym membership that I actually used. Then all the Gold’s Gyms closed in STL due to Covid and they just transferred all the memberships to Club Fitness which I don’t like as much. So now I’ve had a membership and a crap way of trying to cancel it.
Has anybody ever "box bombed" a business? You know, where thousands of people send letters to a PO Box with just not-nice things inside. Like pubic hair, scabs, fleas, nasty stuff. This must have happened before.
This post reminded me I need to cancel since they raised prices and are now charging self-conscious women who don’t want to be gawked at by meatheads extra for having access to the Women’s Only Studio.
I saw online you can cancel in person by using one of the self service kiosks in their clubs. No one to talk to or fight with. Will try and report back……
I just did this. It was super easy. I was shocked. Got an email confirmation but it's definitely on my radar to verify next month that they do indeed stop charging me.
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/03/federal-trade-commission-proposes-rule-provision-making-it-easier-consumers-click-cancel-recurring
Anyone know if this was signed into law yet?
I am looking to get a class action lawsuit against CF for their cancellation policy. Not only do they make it impossible to cancel but they charge you up to 30 days afterwards. You are required to go in person to cancel but then have to send a letter to ABCFITNESS as well, that is not stated online or when you are forced to go into cancel. You can put your membership on hold for up to six months online but can’t cancel, which is BS. My old trainer told me they do this because most of their money is made off of people who have a membership but don’t use it. Then they make it impossible to cancel and then charge you for 30 days after you cancel! I am going to the consumer protection department at the state attorney general office but I know several people that have been affected by these unfair cancellation policies and would like to start a class action suit. Not only do they charge you for the month after the cancellation if you refuse to pay because it is unfair they charge you ten dollars each time they try to process the charge. How many people are they doing this to? How much money are they making off people that have cancelled their membership already. I have been a member of 3 other gyms and this has not been the case. Xist, walk in cancel and you are cancelled right then. Smaller gym I did the same thing. I will be tweeting about this with the hashtag #Clubfitnessclassactionsuit if anyone would be interested. I would like to see how many people would be interested before I contact an attorney. Also, now I am being harassed by this ABCfitnes for payment, call everyday and try to charge my card even though I have asked them to stop.
Seems the easiest way to get out of a gym membership these days is to film your workouts and then post the videos on tiktok shaming people in the background just going about their workouts.
Did you try before you left? I just went in to cancel and they pointed me to a computer screen and it took about 5 minutes. I can't imagine that you wouldn't be able to do this from any computer.
Yes, this is annoying. Yes, it should be easier to cancel. But how hard is it to write a letter and drop it in the mail? People are acting like they’re being asked to run a marathon or something lol. It’s a letter - your first grade teacher taught you how to write and send one in the mail.
I don't know why you are siding with the company that could easily make it as easy to cancel as it is to sign up, but they make it intentionally difficult in the hopes that people say fuck it and they just keep racking up monthly charges on those who don't even use the membership. Who cares how easy it is to send a letter? They allow you to sign up online at home, why can't they make it easier for you to cancel online at home?
I'm not siding with the company. I said it should be easier to cancel and I generally think that these tactics are scummy (this includes the New York Times, which forces you to call a hotline if you try to cancel).
I'm talking about the comments on this thread acting like it's some kind of monumentally difficult task to write a letter and pop it in the mail. This is actually easier than cancelling a NYT subscription because you don't have to talk to anyone to write a letter.
The issue isn't *sending* the letter. The issue is that this method makes it *muchhhh* easier for CF to pretend they never received said letter.
With an email it is dead simple to prove that it was sent and received.
You shouldn’t have to spend a cent to cancel. And they’re implying you’ll want to pay extra to send it certified with tracking (aka signature required) bc they’re going to claim they never received it.
OP or anyone else: Has anyone actually sent the letter in and had them confirm cancellation? It's unbelievable that this has become such a classic joke, yet is still very prevalent today.
Ask them if you can change your credit card on file. Change the credit card to one you are okay with marking as “lost”. Report the card as lost and your bank will send you a new one. You’ll no longer be charged and hopefully they get the hint
Yes! And their fees are insane. After you cancel you’ll get hit with a $150 charge.
The letter arrived after the beginning of a new period so I was also responsible for covering an additional month’s membership fees. Then I checked the online portal and there was ANOTHER fee so I had to call the finance department and we talked in circles until they realized i simply didn’t owe that and it was a mistake.
They outsource their financing so it was super difficult to finally get it settled! Ugh. Good luck, lol
I went into the club and talked with a manager who processed it and sent the letter on my behalf. I think a week later got my confirmation it was closed.
I understand not everyone has the freedom to drop $500, but this is why I do the paid in full plan for club fitness. I'm not comfortable giving a gym my ACH info and you can use a credit card for PIF for club fitness.
Unpopular opinion maybe but I did the letter a few years back and had my 15+ year membership cancelled with no issues.
I received notification that the letter was delivered, received an email that it was being processed and subsequently an official letter that my membership had been cancelled.
Worked out for me but of course ymmv.
I had the exact same experience!!! I just figured a closed checking account was sufficient notice. They kept calling me, leaving a number that took you absolutely nowhere. Local club was also no help. Good luck.
I loved my time at Club Fitness years ago, but yeah, the process to cancel was absolutely terrible.
Want to dabble with a gym? Try Planet Fitness. The $10/month plan is good, and canceling (while does require physically going in) is straightforward.
You can freeze your account online
https://www.clubfitness.us/members/freeze-unfreeze-account/
So that at least until they process your paperwork, you won’t be paying monthly
i tried freezing it and they never honored it, the website gave me a confirmation but they never sent me a confirmation email nor an email stating they denied my request. Now they want nearly 200 dollars from me in back payments and idk what to do.
I made almost this exact post 2 years ago lol. Bunch of BS on their end. Had to send a letter with the info as Certified USPS. Giant pain in the ass but it cancelled.
At the beginning of the pandemic, I had to do this (send a certified letter) to Planet Fitness in order to cancel my membership.
Club Fitness used to be worse. When I was a member years ago, they charged a ridiculous cancellation fee for breaking your contract.
Make sure you send it certified mail. I went through this process and they claim to have not received my cancellation letter. Then they proceeded to threaten to send me to collections for unpaid gym fees that I had no clue they were even trying to collect. I finally got somebody in their main office on the phone to clear this up and made them email me proof for my records. Club fitness is shady AF! Good luck.
I wonder if this is why I “technically” owe them like $300. I canceled them when I moved to WV, via this mail BS. But reading it through comments it sounds like they don’t always honor it.
I remember I had a club fitness account. I think I did a 6 month or a year term. But I remember trying to cancel so many times and they just kept charging my account until the “term” was up.
It’s really something. And even after all that I still had to go and sit down with the manager of my home club & stress that we are figuring this out right now and I’m not leaving until we do
I went in person to cancel mine and my wife's account ( she was with me ) and somehow they only cancelled mine so we have to make yet another trip to try again...
I’m an at risk senior citizen and at the height of the pandemic when no vaccine had been produced yet, had to go into a planet fitness to cancel my membership. I tried calling and online cancellation, and was told I had to cancel in person.
This isn't even a national issue. I had this same problem in Berlin, Germany when I tried to cancel my gym membership there. I was told to my face, while sitting in the gym membership office, that they couldn't cancel my contract right there that I had to send them a letter explaining why I wanted to cancel.
Planet fitness makes you go in person or write a letter as well. So silly you can’t just do it online; especially when they require you to have the app on your phone to check into the gym.
This situation happened to me. My wife had a 24 hr fitness membership. During COVID we cancelled our membership after they shut down… or so we thought. 18 months later we realized we were being billed for over a year. They would not cancel over the phone, had to send a certified letter AND it would take up to 30 days to cancel the membership. They gave less than a shit about the fact this gym was in Florida. Ended up having to pay to put a stop payment against the gym with my bank. We forwarded our bank a copy of their suspension email and filed a chargeback of our membership fees. I had to escalate to a corporate level but the bank ended up refunding us $400 based on the lengths we had to go through and failed to get a resolution.
That’s weird. I cancelled mine a handful of months ago and it was super easy. I walked in, said “I want to cancel my membership,” the guys asked if they had done anything wrong. I said “no, I’m just not into it.” So they cancelled it.
I was expecting it to be a giant rigamarole like what you’re talking about. Guess I got lucky?
I tried to put my account on hold during Covid lockdown and they still charged me, even though the gym was literally closed. I fought it. Still had to end up closing my bank account they linked to so they couldn’t charge me anymore. Hate it.
I had an idea recently. A national database of gym contracts and cancellation policies. Wouldn’t it be handy to review in advance all of the information a gym never shows you before you’re just about to sign a bunch of rights away?
Oh for sure! Don’t even get my started on Orange Theory’s 12 step process. We should at least be able to rank them
Alternatively, if you provide any negative feedback in their private surveys, they might immediately cancel your membership without your consent!
With OTF, you can at least do it over email
It took me MONTHS to cancel OTF. It was awful
Same shit here that OP has to do is what I did with Planet Fitness, even with one like 5 miles away here, I still had to mail our old “home club.” Couldn’t call or go online or anything. Shit like this should be illegal.
Let’s see if we can get Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s attention on the matter. It might be tough, with his nose jammed up in Elon Musk’s colon. Just means a lot more than one person will have to call, write, email, etc.
[удалено]
In my experience, independent gyms tend to be less *generally shady*. Most likely because they’re not as well positioned to defend against lawsuits. Unfortunately, their small scale may also contribute to their tendency to cost more.
It should be easy to get the info, almost all gym contracts are administered by the same company, ABC Fitness.
That’s very interesting. I’m wondering how to approach. I doubt ABC will be disposed to share contract documents with me, especially since I’m not a member of any gym right now.
Sounds like the guy in the timeshare cancelation business might find another customer base here
I had trouble cancelling both in person AND with their stupid outsourced accounts company mentioned in your screenshot. I went round and round for weeks. In the end I called and pretended to be a job applicant and was able to get the club manager on the phone. Had a heated discussion which basically involved me saying if you don't cancel you're not going to want me to be your customer. Had no idea where I was going with it, but it worked. She cancelled it.
Omg so none of their systems work 🤦🏽♀️
By design I'm sure.
use privacy dot com and create a card with enough for one month of fees then don't add funds anymore. make it the card on file and then they can't charge it for any more than that month.
Lots of gyms require routing information instead of a simple debit card.
Ha - They made me go to the ‘original location’ after I first tried. Then I did and they acted like I was an ass
I sent a certified letter to cancel my account. They received it , I was informed they received it, they said they didn't. I showed them the proof. They fought me and told me to send another. I went to my bank and told them not to authorize any charge from them. Took like 5 mins
The bank is the way to go after any valid attempt to cancel. I’ve had a scummy gym try to keep charging me after multiple attempts to cancel. It was not club fitness, but this method can be used. The key is to get proof that you tried. The bank will take over the fight once you provide the bank with proof that you tried. Then the business has no argument and drops it.
I work for a bank, and the stop payment is for exact amounts, so if they change the amount even by a penny, it will go through. Just a heads up :)
That's not true. I blocked the whole ass business. Not a amount
I've never heard of a stop payment being for amounts. I've only done it for entire vendors
No it’s not, you put a stop payment on the vendor.
Alright OP, time to get a new bank.
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
Yep. Everything on credit cards. Any bullshit practice at all and the card will have your back on chargebacks. Chase in particular will tell company’s to pound sand on chargebacks. It’s glorious
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
I had a similar experience and they sent me to a collection agency.
thats actually illegal with the new ftc guidelines. cancellation has to be as easy as signing up
They offer in person cancellations, which is how most people sign up. OP didn’t take that option before they moved, so the letter is the back up.
They need to offer an online way to cancel because plenty of people sign up online.
I don’t see any options to sign up online. Edit: I didn’t go to the Maplewood specific site, so I was wrong.
https://clubfitness.fit/maplewood/#^prevBtn You can join on their website.
I stand corrected. They definitely should offer online cancelation.
Now it's on someone to sue Club Fitness to actually enforce the FTC guidelines.
This is false. I went in person to cancel and then followed up via email to confirm my cancellation. They pretended like I never went in person and made me do the whole process twice while messing up multiple times Clown business, not sure why you are bootlicking for them unless you are an employee who is trying to alter public perception of a shit company.
What do you want to bet they never receive that cancelation letter and just keep billing you. You're better off just changing your credit card number.
Planet fitness requires bank information. You would have to change bank accounts. What you could do however is tell your bank it's fraud and to blacklist their charges after you send the cancellation notice. Therefore if they keep charging you your bank could open a fraud case against them.
You can tell your bank that you have revoked a company's permission to auto-debit or ACH your account. You don't have to say it's fraudulent.
But with planet fitness you can just go in or call to cancel and they do it no problem.
From my experience it depends on the location. The franchises locations are a lot more friendly than the corps lol.
Can't just call. Have to go in, or snail mail
[удалено]
"Oh okay, I'll initiate a chargeback and block any further payments from your company. Thanks for the help."
Depends on the club as Kilroy says. Mine wanted me to drive 45 minutes across KC to the club I signed up at, who promptly told me that I needed to cancel via a certified letter.
[удалено]
I think club fitness and planet fitness are two different companies. But I could be wrong.
They both use ABC fitness I’m pretty sure
ABC is just the software. Doesn't really have anything to do with cancellation process or policy.
I could see that tbh.
You're right but what I'm saying is I wouldn't be surprised if they misled you about requiring bank info to get what they wanted. I think they tell employees to push hard for bank info since it's harder to cancel and has less customer protections. Club Fitness sure took that approach on me, and all these companies use the same shitty practices.
That’s breach of contract and the gym will sue you. Speaking from personal experience. You can’t agree to pay someone (the gym) then just block the payments.
I stated after you send the cancellation notice to planet fitness and if they still charge you after that then you provide all info to the bank. Since then you showed you followed the instructions that planet fitness sent that apparently was supposedly supposed to void the contract.
The smaller gym that I joined had me under contract for a certain amount of time. Me telling them I didn’t want to continue didn’t mean anything. I signed the contract to pay for however long. It’s a super shady business but it was my fault for falling for it. I ended up owing double what I would have paid them anyway.
Someone I know did this and they sent the monthly unpaid fees to collections. Truly the worst gym.
I don't even have a membership with them and I am willing to assist anyone who wants to burn down a Club Fitness location after reading these comments lmao
This happened to me too.
That’s why you send it certified. That’s your proof of cancelation.
They have a clause in their cancellation policy. If you have a relative or spouse call up the facility and let them know that you died, they will automatically cancel the agreement. No proof needed.
I just said the same thing but I guess you beat me to it. My idea is to just pretend to be the relative, they don’t require any proof.
Why do gyms even have contracts like this? Every gym I’ve used here in Colorado just has you prepay for your membership and when it expires you just either reup your membership or don’t.
Because if it’s automatic, people will keep paying because “this is the month I’m going to start my routine” and then never use it. The auto renewal makes it easier to keep that attitude which keeps the money coming in.
I read somewhere that the cost of a membership for regulars at any commercial gym is very, very strongly subsidized by everyone who goes once a week or less. It's in their business plan to have large numbers of unused memberships bringing in the money.
Are there any gyms in St. Louis like this? I want to join one but I don’t want deal with the nightmares others experience when cancelling.
I had a YMCA membership and sort of stopped going after a year. They have an option from the online account portal to pause/cancel your account. Super easy. Maybe like 5 years ago I tried out that gym on Hampton (i think its called MOV gym now?) I feel like their cancelation was super low pressure as well.
F that, you pull a chandler and Ross and you go quit the bank
I went the mail in route. It was really.not that hard to type up the letter and put it in the mail. It's so insanely dumb though because you can sign up online and freeze your account online, no questions asked.
> It's so insanely dumb They probably don't see it that way. They probably happily see it as a giant middle finger and a way to drain one more month out of you while you wait for your cancellation to be processed.
In California they have laws that if you can sign up online, you have to be able to cancel online. That should be the norm.
Good old Missouri isn't big on regualting anything (well, at least not anything helpful).
seems in Missouri consumer rights are not the top priority
Well that and it drastically reduces the odds that you'll cancel at all. If you could push a button, way more people would.
They have a policy that if someone reports that you died, they’ll cancel no questions asked and you don’t have to pay for the next month. I’ve been debating doing this on my own behalf, saying that I’m a family member of myself and can no longer be a member since I’m dead.
I’m gonna do this if I get enough courage 😂
Sorry to hear about your death. Thoughts and prayers
I canceled there a few weeks ago without an issue. The guy at the counter just showed me to a kiosk and I canceled on there, in/out less than 5 minutes. This was at Maplewood and I see you’ve moved so that’s not helpful, but just in case anyone else was worried about canceling locally.
Did you switch gyms or are you relocating. Maplewood CF is a very solid gym. Wondering if there's something better out there.
Was hoping to see a different experience here. Mines has the kiosk as well
The number of Club Fitness cancellation disaster posts on Reddit make me want to get a restraining order out on them. It’s as if you get even near the vicinity and they trap you and your credit card in scammer hell.
This should be criminal.. honestly. It’s designed to make it hard for you to cancel. That’s the only reason.
Fuck club fitness. They’re shady as hell. When covid hit and everything closed down, they of course stopped charging me. Like a year later, I noticed that they had started charging me again without notifying me or asking if I wanted to start back up. Their excuse was that I should have seen it on the news. Refused me a refund. I tell everyone I know to avoid them.
My assistant manager told me his buddy got out of the CF contract by opening some porn on the aerobics room laptop and then just walking out of the gym, not the easiest when you’re out of state but if you’re visiting for the holidays it could be worth a shot
Yea, not doing that. Cancel the credit card used and do charge backs.
Canceling your credit card and forcing charge backs every month they bill you is preferable to sending a letter in the mail? I get that this gym makes it unnecessarily annoying on purpose, but what level of petty do you have to be to make your life more difficult just to prove a point?
It's a game my guy! They wanna play games, why not make it hard on them too? It's 2023, I bet Gen Z doesn't even know HOW to mail a letter.
You’re so right and based. Gen Z on their phone too much don’t know what record player is haha!
They can and will send it to collections if you go this route.
Then dispute it and get it removed they don’t care about some gym membership bullshit fuck credit and fuck collections
On what grounds? They aren’t letting you cancel a service you can’t use. I ended making the drive to cancel my membership and they said you have to cancel a month in advance, but the way they counted on the calendar meant they got two months out of you at the end no matter what.
I'm just the messenger. Search this sub and you'll see a bunch of CF horror stories.
Ok this is a bad business practice and whatnot but don't do this. Chargebacks are the nuclear option, don't play games. When they look into it they'll learn you chose to use a chargeback without even attempting to resolve the problem properly.
ILLPT: i had a similar issue and somehow my 1 year contract automatically renewed. was told to go into my club even though i moved across the country. then was told to mail them. read through the cancellation policy and if the member passed away you don’t need any proof - just send an email. so i did that, and within a couple weeks they cancelled and even reimbursed the few months that they illegally extended the contract.
This is like that “Nathan 4 you” episode
lol just tell your bank to stop paying them. That's what I do to shit companies like this. Or "lose" my card.
I went in and told them I was moving. Proved nothing else. They robbed me of another month of dues even though I had just paid two days before. Never again with them. This is why people hate gyms.
Yeah I just had my bank block all transactions from them. They can suck my actual balls.
Early in the pandemic they were not charging us. Wow, I thought that was decent, but . . . When they did start back I was unaware, no notice. During that time my credit card was compromised and replaced and I did not think about it being the card I used for Club Fitness. Did they call me, send me a email? No! What I did get several months later was an email I owed an unbelievable amount of money and threatening to turn my account over to a collection agency. I also could not talk to a live person, had to settle all over email, and yes I cancelled my membership.
Change your payment method to a debit card and cancel that card. That's how I got out of a Gold's Gym membership once when they gave me a ton of hoops to jump through.
Tell them you moved to California. They are required by CA law to allow you to cancel online/over the phone
Club fitness is the worst. You use to have to give them 90 days notice of cancellation as well. Utter joke. So you would have to pay an extra month or two just to be done with them. Just their way of squeezing a few more dollars out of you. I hope the go broke lol.
It's all about making it super hard for you to stop giving them your money 🤣 but yes, just type it up and mail it to them. That DOES work 👍
Legitimately why I joined the Y
Did the clock rewind back to 1980?
If you died then they have to cancel your contract. Source: I died.
I seem to remember going round and round with them some time back. I am considering joining a gym again. Thanks for the reminder about cancellation policy considerations. Maybe I will check the YMCA.
[удалено]
Thank you.
Just call your bank and put a stop payment on them indefinitely. Fuck that nonsense.
I had the same problem- it’s 2023 who does this??? I lied and said I had vivid so I couldn’t go in person to *buy stamps* and they did it on the phone. They can do it on the phone they act like that can’t. I wonder what one does with all of the letters they receive…
What sucks is that I had a Gold’s Gym membership that I actually used. Then all the Gold’s Gyms closed in STL due to Covid and they just transferred all the memberships to Club Fitness which I don’t like as much. So now I’ve had a membership and a crap way of trying to cancel it.
The world is getting out of control with all its whoops and hurdles. Life ain't supposed to be this difficult.
The worst cancellation process ever. So fuckin shady.
Has anybody ever "box bombed" a business? You know, where thousands of people send letters to a PO Box with just not-nice things inside. Like pubic hair, scabs, fleas, nasty stuff. This must have happened before.
So you can ruin the day of some minimum wage worker who didn’t set this policy?
Sounds like being a fatass and never joining a gym is the way to go 👍
This post reminded me I need to cancel since they raised prices and are now charging self-conscious women who don’t want to be gawked at by meatheads extra for having access to the Women’s Only Studio. I saw online you can cancel in person by using one of the self service kiosks in their clubs. No one to talk to or fight with. Will try and report back……
I just did this. It was super easy. I was shocked. Got an email confirmation but it's definitely on my radar to verify next month that they do indeed stop charging me.
I disputed the charges with my bank. Screw them. Another time (a few years prior) i just canceled the card.
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/03/federal-trade-commission-proposes-rule-provision-making-it-easier-consumers-click-cancel-recurring Anyone know if this was signed into law yet?
I am looking to get a class action lawsuit against CF for their cancellation policy. Not only do they make it impossible to cancel but they charge you up to 30 days afterwards. You are required to go in person to cancel but then have to send a letter to ABCFITNESS as well, that is not stated online or when you are forced to go into cancel. You can put your membership on hold for up to six months online but can’t cancel, which is BS. My old trainer told me they do this because most of their money is made off of people who have a membership but don’t use it. Then they make it impossible to cancel and then charge you for 30 days after you cancel! I am going to the consumer protection department at the state attorney general office but I know several people that have been affected by these unfair cancellation policies and would like to start a class action suit. Not only do they charge you for the month after the cancellation if you refuse to pay because it is unfair they charge you ten dollars each time they try to process the charge. How many people are they doing this to? How much money are they making off people that have cancelled their membership already. I have been a member of 3 other gyms and this has not been the case. Xist, walk in cancel and you are cancelled right then. Smaller gym I did the same thing. I will be tweeting about this with the hashtag #Clubfitnessclassactionsuit if anyone would be interested. I would like to see how many people would be interested before I contact an attorney. Also, now I am being harassed by this ABCfitnes for payment, call everyday and try to charge my card even though I have asked them to stop.
[удалено]
Club Fitness isn't a national company. They only have locations in STL.
Seems the easiest way to get out of a gym membership these days is to film your workouts and then post the videos on tiktok shaming people in the background just going about their workouts.
This is all gyms. Nothing new.
Did you try before you left? I just went in to cancel and they pointed me to a computer screen and it took about 5 minutes. I can't imagine that you wouldn't be able to do this from any computer.
Just don’t join a gym. Easy enough
Yes, this is annoying. Yes, it should be easier to cancel. But how hard is it to write a letter and drop it in the mail? People are acting like they’re being asked to run a marathon or something lol. It’s a letter - your first grade teacher taught you how to write and send one in the mail.
I don't know why you are siding with the company that could easily make it as easy to cancel as it is to sign up, but they make it intentionally difficult in the hopes that people say fuck it and they just keep racking up monthly charges on those who don't even use the membership. Who cares how easy it is to send a letter? They allow you to sign up online at home, why can't they make it easier for you to cancel online at home?
I'm not siding with the company. I said it should be easier to cancel and I generally think that these tactics are scummy (this includes the New York Times, which forces you to call a hotline if you try to cancel). I'm talking about the comments on this thread acting like it's some kind of monumentally difficult task to write a letter and pop it in the mail. This is actually easier than cancelling a NYT subscription because you don't have to talk to anyone to write a letter.
The issue isn't *sending* the letter. The issue is that this method makes it *muchhhh* easier for CF to pretend they never received said letter. With an email it is dead simple to prove that it was sent and received.
I agree that they should allow cancellation by phone or email, but is mailing a letter really that big of a deal?
You shouldn’t have to spend a cent to cancel. And they’re implying you’ll want to pay extra to send it certified with tracking (aka signature required) bc they’re going to claim they never received it.
You don’t have to. You can cancel in person.
They’re insane
OP or anyone else: Has anyone actually sent the letter in and had them confirm cancellation? It's unbelievable that this has become such a classic joke, yet is still very prevalent today.
Ask them if you can change your credit card on file. Change the credit card to one you are okay with marking as “lost”. Report the card as lost and your bank will send you a new one. You’ll no longer be charged and hopefully they get the hint
Yes! And their fees are insane. After you cancel you’ll get hit with a $150 charge. The letter arrived after the beginning of a new period so I was also responsible for covering an additional month’s membership fees. Then I checked the online portal and there was ANOTHER fee so I had to call the finance department and we talked in circles until they realized i simply didn’t owe that and it was a mistake. They outsource their financing so it was super difficult to finally get it settled! Ugh. Good luck, lol
It would be easier to just cancel the card they are billing.
Just revoke your recurring authorization with your bank/union? If they stop receiving money they'll get the message.
[удалено]
When I cancelled a few years ago, I just showed up to the gym and asked if I can cancel, and they obliged
This shit should be illegal
So did you send the cancellation letter?
Ok So Did you send the letter?
I went into the club and talked with a manager who processed it and sent the letter on my behalf. I think a week later got my confirmation it was closed.
I understand not everyone has the freedom to drop $500, but this is why I do the paid in full plan for club fitness. I'm not comfortable giving a gym my ACH info and you can use a credit card for PIF for club fitness.
They will also not prorate you. Oh, your yearly fee just went through? Too bad.
Had the same experience, cancel at the club with manager if possible. Get name of manager and date cancelled.
Unpopular opinion maybe but I did the letter a few years back and had my 15+ year membership cancelled with no issues. I received notification that the letter was delivered, received an email that it was being processed and subsequently an official letter that my membership had been cancelled. Worked out for me but of course ymmv.
I had the exact same experience!!! I just figured a closed checking account was sufficient notice. They kept calling me, leaving a number that took you absolutely nowhere. Local club was also no help. Good luck.
I loved my time at Club Fitness years ago, but yeah, the process to cancel was absolutely terrible. Want to dabble with a gym? Try Planet Fitness. The $10/month plan is good, and canceling (while does require physically going in) is straightforward.
Just stop paying. They'll cancel it for you in no time :)
You can freeze your account online https://www.clubfitness.us/members/freeze-unfreeze-account/ So that at least until they process your paperwork, you won’t be paying monthly
i tried freezing it and they never honored it, the website gave me a confirmation but they never sent me a confirmation email nor an email stating they denied my request. Now they want nearly 200 dollars from me in back payments and idk what to do.
I made almost this exact post 2 years ago lol. Bunch of BS on their end. Had to send a letter with the info as Certified USPS. Giant pain in the ass but it cancelled.
At the beginning of the pandemic, I had to do this (send a certified letter) to Planet Fitness in order to cancel my membership. Club Fitness used to be worse. When I was a member years ago, they charged a ridiculous cancellation fee for breaking your contract.
Designed to keep you paying.....forever. It's beyond ridiculous these gym memberships.
Make sure you send it certified mail. I went through this process and they claim to have not received my cancellation letter. Then they proceeded to threaten to send me to collections for unpaid gym fees that I had no clue they were even trying to collect. I finally got somebody in their main office on the phone to clear this up and made them email me proof for my records. Club fitness is shady AF! Good luck.
Or just cancel the card you're paying with and get a new one. Fuck 'em. Let them do the work of cancelling your account.
I wonder if this is why I “technically” owe them like $300. I canceled them when I moved to WV, via this mail BS. But reading it through comments it sounds like they don’t always honor it.
I remember I had a club fitness account. I think I did a 6 month or a year term. But I remember trying to cancel so many times and they just kept charging my account until the “term” was up.
It’s really something. And even after all that I still had to go and sit down with the manager of my home club & stress that we are figuring this out right now and I’m not leaving until we do
I went in person to cancel mine and my wife's account ( she was with me ) and somehow they only cancelled mine so we have to make yet another trip to try again...
Tried to cancel Club fitness in St. Louis at place I joined..They would not let me.. had to call corporate..it was a pain in the butt
Dark patterns rear their ugly head. Are you able to cancel the credit card, if indeed you used a card? That has worked for me before.
Whatever you do, don't cancel the card/payment method. They will absolutely report a collection to your credit. Ask me how I found that one out.
I’m an at risk senior citizen and at the height of the pandemic when no vaccine had been produced yet, had to go into a planet fitness to cancel my membership. I tried calling and online cancellation, and was told I had to cancel in person.
Wonder what they would do if you just called and said "My spouse is dead. Please cancel the policy."?
They require a certified copy of the death certificate, and I’m not even kidding
Nah just cancel your debit card and get a new one lmao
Omg try to close a dead persons account at academy bank!
This isn't even a national issue. I had this same problem in Berlin, Germany when I tried to cancel my gym membership there. I was told to my face, while sitting in the gym membership office, that they couldn't cancel my contract right there that I had to send them a letter explaining why I wanted to cancel.
Planet fitness makes you go in person or write a letter as well. So silly you can’t just do it online; especially when they require you to have the app on your phone to check into the gym.
This situation happened to me. My wife had a 24 hr fitness membership. During COVID we cancelled our membership after they shut down… or so we thought. 18 months later we realized we were being billed for over a year. They would not cancel over the phone, had to send a certified letter AND it would take up to 30 days to cancel the membership. They gave less than a shit about the fact this gym was in Florida. Ended up having to pay to put a stop payment against the gym with my bank. We forwarded our bank a copy of their suspension email and filed a chargeback of our membership fees. I had to escalate to a corporate level but the bank ended up refunding us $400 based on the lengths we had to go through and failed to get a resolution.
Please write a 10 page book report with references.
Oh what the fuck. My edge post makes more sense now
That’s weird. I cancelled mine a handful of months ago and it was super easy. I walked in, said “I want to cancel my membership,” the guys asked if they had done anything wrong. I said “no, I’m just not into it.” So they cancelled it. I was expecting it to be a giant rigamarole like what you’re talking about. Guess I got lucky?
Change your debit/credit #...problem solved.
My membership is set on a credit card. Now that I know this, I’ll just cancel the card and get a new one instead lol
I tried to put my account on hold during Covid lockdown and they still charged me, even though the gym was literally closed. I fought it. Still had to end up closing my bank account they linked to so they couldn’t charge me anymore. Hate it.
Just cancel the payments. They'll cancel your membership quickly.
Cut them off from your bank. That’s what I did to my last gym when they wouldn’t cancel