When it comes to getting gouged by gyms, we've heard horror stories year after year. But this season Marketplace is getting to the bottom of it with our Big Gym Ripoff search.
If you're thinking of joining or leaving a gym, here are some tips to help keep you ripped (and not ripped off):
• To protect yourself from unauthorized withdrawals pay for your gym membership upfront and in full with cash instead of handing over a void cheque, banking or credit card information. If the gym doesn't accept cash only you may want to consider going somewhere else.
• When you sign up for a gym membership bring a witness. If you ever end up in court over a disputed contract you'll want a second set of ears and eyes.
• Cancel your gym membership in writing via a hand delivered letter or registered mail. Ensure you have proof of delivery and get a cancellation receipt from the gym. Hang onto your cancellation receipt indefinitely.
• Many provinces offer a 7-10 day cooling off period on gym contracts. If you change your mind you can cancel within this time period without explanation or penalty.
• In many provinces gym contracts cannot be longer than one year. It may be renewed only if the gym complies with certain rules. For instance in Ontario a contract cannot be extended unless:
- The gym provides notice of renewal at least 30 days, but not more than 90 days before the contract expires.
- If you receive a renewal notice and do not respond the club has the right to renew your contract.
Watch the season premiere of Marketplace tonight at 8 p.m. on CBC Television. In "Big Gym Ripoff", co-host Tom Harrington investigates the sneaky charges and over-billing that have been plaguing the gym industry for years.
If you're thinking of joining or leaving a gym, here are some tips to help keep you ripped (and not ripped off):
• To protect yourself from unauthorized withdrawals pay for your gym membership upfront and in full with cash instead of handing over a void cheque, banking or credit card information. If the gym doesn't accept cash only you may want to consider going somewhere else.
• When you sign up for a gym membership bring a witness. If you ever end up in court over a disputed contract you'll want a second set of ears and eyes.
• Cancel your gym membership in writing via a hand delivered letter or registered mail. Ensure you have proof of delivery and get a cancellation receipt from the gym. Hang onto your cancellation receipt indefinitely.
• Many provinces offer a 7-10 day cooling off period on gym contracts. If you change your mind you can cancel within this time period without explanation or penalty.
• In many provinces gym contracts cannot be longer than one year. It may be renewed only if the gym complies with certain rules. For instance in Ontario a contract cannot be extended unless:
- The gym provides notice of renewal at least 30 days, but not more than 90 days before the contract expires.
- If you receive a renewal notice and do not respond the club has the right to renew your contract.
Watch the season premiere of Marketplace tonight at 8 p.m. on CBC Television. In "Big Gym Ripoff", co-host Tom Harrington investigates the sneaky charges and over-billing that have been plaguing the gym industry for years.
As an long time employee at a gym, my experience is that most people, unfortunatley do not read the agreement or contract between them and the club. Most clubs have either pre-paid membership with an expiry date and a membership that can be paid monthly for the year with a 30-60 day cancellation after the year has past. The conclusion, by most, is that they beleive that the memebrship that is paid monthly will cancel on its own after the year. However, the membership is ongoing until the member gives notice in writing to cancel. Always, always read and understand what you are signing, and get, in writing, a copy of your cancellation. Paper trails! As for membership time stops or holds, it is not all clubs that have this policy, therefore there is an administrative fee, which is far better then losing the time in your membership. Thanks
i will never give any gym my bank info again.. when my contract was up,dec 9. i called to make sure it was done. they told me i was still active and needed to sign a form to end contract. when i went in to sign the fricken form they told me i still had 2 more payments..that you have to give 30 days notice. that was shapes by the way. i didnt feel like arguing so i just signed, and the stupid contract is now over as of jan 8th ...NEVER AGAIN...AND READ EVERYTHING CAREFULLY AND KEEP YOUR COPY OF THE CONTRACT IN A SAFE PLACE SO YOU DONT GET SCREWED OVER
It should be written into law
Its pay as you go (Month to Month) Contracts for this kind of service just lead to problems
I personally would never sign one
Please be specific. Which ladies gym? Are there any legal problems about naming problem places?
A few years ago my friend have got into a fist fight beating up a Premier Fitness manager very badly...... Despite that, Premier Fitness continued to withdraw money from my friend's account for another six months after the membership cancellation in-writing.
Personally, i blame the government for failing to protect the consumers from these type of clearly dishonest businesses bordering criminal enterprises.
CBC is welcome to interview my friend.
I agree, Tom, I would like to see the full survey results, otherwise we are only getting a partial picture. There might be clubs which get very few complaints, and that information should be presented as well.
This industry needs to be subject to new and stringent regulation. My story is long, but I'll attempt to be brief. I had a mth-to-mth contract with a gym. About a year into my membership, I got a call saying I hadn't paid 2 mths dues and that my account was being sent to collections unless I paid up instantly. Feeling that I had paid all mths dues, I asked which mths I had missed. They couldn't tell me, and despite saying they would call back, they didn't. So I called the gym two weeks later to resolve the issue, and was told by the gym mgr that she couldn't determine if I had missed pmts either, so she would drop the matter. I advised that I no longer needed the mth-to-mth membership and asked that it be cancelled. She agreed. That was the last I heard from the gym until one yr later, when I recv'd a call from a collection agency saying that I owed more than $400 for one yrs dues and that a negative rating had been reported to the credit bureau. I contacted the gym a number of times, trying to speak with the mgr to resolve the issue. She refused to speak with me. All she did, through her underling, was offer a discount on a new memberhsip. I was shocked. After no action at all from the gym for two weeks, I was forced to hire a lwayer to attempt to resolve the matter. That was more than 3 mos ago, and the gym has yet to properly respond. I also contacted the consumer protection agency in my province, and was told that, while they had received numerous complaints about this gym for similar practices, what they were doing was not technically illegal, and that I should contact my MLA to lobby for changes to the law. I feel helpless. I have NEVER missed a payment to any creditor, and now I have an item on my bureau which has degrated my credit rating. HELP!
Goodlife Fitness in Vaughan has refused to sell me a membership without my banking information...
We, my husband and I, were with Premier Fitness about 4 years. Things went well for some time but then we complained about the dirt in the facilities (mold in the showers, dust bunnies under the equipment, a swimming pool that took just about a year to fix). We decided to leave and found ourselves in the same position as the people on T. V. ie the company still tried to take money from my account after I had signed a termination of contract. I approached the manager and he said he couldn't understand why it was happening and advised me to talk to my bank. Immediately I went to the bank and put a stop on them so that they could not dip into the account. The set up worked because each time they took the money out the bank replaced the money. That set up cost me $17.50. I tried for over a year to get it back and of course I was not successful. I know my amount was no where near the amounts the people on T.V. experienced and I do feel badly for them. I have since talked to many who have gone through the same thing. It is only with programs like yours and word of mouth from people like me that something will finally be done to take this crooked company to task.
One of the tips given was to cancel your membership in writing. I tried that! I actually fulfilled a two year contract, which to my knowledge when you fulfill your contract, the contract is no longer in existence. It's expired, fulfilled. I called and asked if we could continue just on a month-to-month because I wasn't sure if I wanted to renew. I was told that was not a problem. The auto withdrawals will continue and when I make a decision on what I wanted to do to give them a call. When I called to say I'm not renewing I was told I had to go into the gym personally to cancel even though it already expired. I explained that the two-year contract has been fulfilled and is over, no long valid, but I will fax a letter indicating that. Answer...against gym policy. During my constant arugments with different people at the facility my auto withdrawals continued, even after I requested the payments stop. So I cancelled my automatic withdrawals through my bank. I then started receiving letters. I argued with this facility. Then...while we're arguing about me having to cancel an expired membership, they put my account into collections and threatened legal action through their lawyer. They didn't realize that I also work for a law firm and sent a letter back to their lawyer indicating what had happened and said that I may actually sue the gym for the unauthorized withdrawals before I ended up making stop payments. I then recieved a one-liner email address from the law firm indicating my file was closed. STAND YOUR GROUND, People!
One of the worse rip-offs is when you sign up at a club and they strongly recommend, or insist, that they give you a fitness test. The employees giving your test inevetitably find out that you are in terrible shape and without sessions with a personnel trainer you are doomed. I am exagerating but it is close to the truth. They then sign you up for many sessions whether you need ithem or not. That is where they make the most profit as they charge you about $75/session and pay the trainer about $25. In other words they lie and scare you to sign a long-term contract for trainer sessions.
where are the survey results mentioned on the broadcast?
I signed my son up for a membership. After about 9 months, he realised that he wasn't using it enough, and told Extreme Fitness that he wanted to transfer it to his sister. He was told that, since his membership was expiring in 3 months, there was no point. When I saw that my Mastercard was being charged after the year had passed, he followed up with Extreme Fitness. They said that he had not signed any papers cancelling the membership, so he was still a member. My son pointed out that he had gone in person to cancel after 9 months, that no one had asked him to sign anything, and that the contract was for a year anyway, so it should have ended without signing anything. Extreme Fitness refused.
That's when I stepped in. I call Mastercard, and asked them to stop payment. I also went online to research how best to handle this. I found a website put out by the government titled Your Rights When You Join a Fitness Club:
www.sse.gov.on.ca/mcs/en/Pages/Fitness_Clubs_Rights.aspx
Among the point it makes is that ALL CONTRACTS MUST END AFTER ONE YEAR. Contracts may be renewed only if the supplier complies with certain rules, including providing you with a notice at least 30 days but not more than 90 days before the contract expires that advises that the contract will be renewed.
Extreme Fitness had not done this, plus the contract my son signed specifically stated the completion date, so it had no right to continue to charge me.
I sent all of this to Mastercard, and lodged an official dispute of the charge. It took time to get this sorted out, but it paid off.
I am the owner of a public gym and we try very hard to make sure that we obtain banking information for each member of the gym. The reason that we do this is to prevent our accounts receivables (and manpower cost to manage receivalbes)from running wild. I am new to this industry and have found that, be it intentional or not, there are many individuals that take advantage of the system and do not pay for the use of the facility. Individuals that do not give banking information are told that they must pay for the subsequent month a few days before the end of the current month or their access card will be terminated. Often either due to forgetfulness or (unfortunately) bad intentions people do not pay for the subsequent month and continue to use the facility. This has cost a great deal of money and manpower hours to monitor use of the gym and to chase down payment.
We have had a few instances where the billing system has failed and individuals were billed after cancellation. When this occurs we certainly reimburse those individuals any extra fees that were charged. This being said there has been a few instances that i suspect individuals have taken advantage of this as well. They indicate that they had cancelled monthes earlier and that we continued to bill. When we indicate that we have no record of cancellation they accuse us of losing the record of cancellation.
i suppose as is usually the case there are good and bad on both sides of the equation.
I am disappointed in your tip regarding paying in full by cash or not at all. Not indulging your banking information to a company for which you have agreed to a contract is NOT protection.
Just because a company is not capable of debiting your bank account does not mean that they can't list an "unpaid debt" on your credit file. How many of these people that do not provide banking information will apply for a loan in three years only to find out that they have a gym membership on their credit file? And what will that gym say when asked? Well, "Your membership was still current and there was no bank information on file so we had to list it."
It is indeed unfortunate to have unauthorized withdrawals happen, but at the very least you know about them immediately (provided you are diligent) instead of being surprised three or four years down the road.
A better tip would be for consumers to be informed and aware of what is going on with their contract(s) and bank statement(s) at all times and maintaining communication and follow up if there is an issue.
(P.S. A Hold fee is standard practise. Basically administration charges for modifying your original agreement. Think of it like paying a taxi to wait outside for five minutes while you run back in for something you've forgotten.)
It is possible to make deals with your gym if you are persistent. After all they DO want your money. I have belonged to Golds Gym for 7 years and am very satisfied with it. However I pay a year in advance and my membership is a fixed term, non renewable, I 're-join' without the initial joining fee each year. I also insist on the same monthly fee I paid originally. I also persuade them to either give me an extra free month or tanning time for paying a year in advance. However I have been told by the owner that it would be 'much more advantageous for him' if I paid by the month. Now I understand why. Usually merchants are happy to have a years income in advance. Makes you think. However despite his grumblings I still pay on my terms because he would rather have something than nothing. I make it clear there are other facilities in town. So, bottom line, they're profiting from you, you're the customer and the customer is always right - do it on your terms, not theirs.
if banks and credit card companies would honour requests by their customers and stop payement to these sharks, then we would not have the problem. Why they can't do this is beyond my comprehension
Many people join in January with enthusiasm, then their visits peeter out by February-March but their monthly payments are still taken out regularly till the end of the year (credit card or bank account). I am really surprised at how many people DO NOT try to transfer their membership to someone else by the spring if they are not using it. It's easy money for gym owners everywhere when you pay and don't show up. Of course, you will never likely get any gym to give you those percentages, but I'll bet they are VERY high.
When you tour a gym before signing up, watch to see if members are using improper techniques to see if staff will go up and offer to help them with correct technique.
Many personal trainers lack motivation when they work for moody, heartless bosses who pay poorly, yet the trainers still have to show up and smile.
Avoid gym memberships where the front counter is selling sugar water (i.e. Vitamin Water, or Coke, etc and sugar-laden "health bars" or smoothies full of chemicals, and glucose/fructose.
Be sure you clearly understand the Cancellation Clause, I would even take a tape recorder in with me, based on what I now know for when they verbally review the contract with you (which they are supposed to do).
There are more ways than ever before to work out without going to a gym, using motivational tools, with a small group of friends, with DVDs/CDs, etc to vary your activities, have fun, use body weight training. Working out does not require big metal gym eqt, monthly fees, touching the same eqt as other members (some of whom don't wash their hands after using the restroom), standing in the gym shower in your bare feet, or driving your car to the gym and back. P.S. I used to work in a gym, "used to" being the key words here.
All gyms should be nationalized. No more private ownership.
I enjoyed your show regarding gym memberships, primarily Premier Fitness. I too have had problems against Premier where after cancelling my contract, mysterious charges were found on my Visa statement. I had everything documented. I contacted Premier and the salesperson said they never received confirmation from head office so my contract continued. I had my bank stop the charges and I emailed Premier to give back the money. I told them that I didn't care how long it took but I would be relentless. I sent them emails monthly showing what they owed plus I added a 16.5% interest charge as this was what I had to pay Visa. It took almost a year but I got my money, including the interest. I won, although as the person in your show said, it wasn't worth the hassle.
I contacted the Ministry of Consumer and Commercial Relations, the Better Business Bureau of Metro Toronto, Goldhalk at CFTO-TV and Silverman Helps from City TV at the time of my incident (1996). You can appreciate how long Premier Fitness has been doing this and getting away with it. I got no help from any of the agencies because they said it was too small of an incident. Someone should take Premier Fitness out of business. Your show needs to go this distance, given their poor track record.
When you sign on a one-year contract, that contract has a specific "start" and "end" date. This is in flexible, unless you are to put your membership on hold, which can only happen due to medical or geographical reasons. In order to extend this agreement, or adjust the agreement, there is an administration fee because the agreement is being altered. This is why you are being charged the 10$ to hold the account as 'Active'.
Beware Goodlife Fitness at the newly opened St Laurent location in Ottawa, ON--the managers Joe and Ella are incredibly rude and will not answer a question directly, or admit any wrong-doing on their part. It took me 2 and a half weeks, 18 calls, 5 emails, and 5 in-person visits to cancel, and I am still worried they will take money from my account!
My experience with Premier Fitness sounds much like the others I've heard, but I thought I had it sorted out. Two years after being told over the phone that my membership was indeed cancelled and I did't owe them any further money, I received a letter, forwarded by my former landlord, from a law firm/collection agency stating that I owed well over $1000 because my membership was in arrears. Frankly, I'm at a loss. When I moved I threw away all the papers I didn't think I would need anymore so have no written proof of anything.
So just watched the program and ok you went after Premier. Shouldn't you release the survey results as a public service to us who want to get a gym membership and don't want to sign up with a bad one? You are a public broadcaster right?
Just watching the current episode of Marketplace and I am not surprised in the least that Premiere Fitness is the worst gym in Canada.
An ex-bf of mine joined Premiere Fitness over 10 yrs ago. According to the fine print he had 10 days to cancel his membership from the time he joined, but had to do so in writing - which he did.
The gym continued to charge his credit card. He contacted his credit card company and told them the charges weren't authorized. He also contacted Premiere Fitness about the problem and they said they didn't receive his written cancellation notice AND conveniently the woman that he dealt with was no longer working at that particular location.
Eventually the credit card company put a halt to the charges. Premiere Fitness got sneaky and starting billing his credit card under their other gym, "Madamoiselle Spa". Again, he contacted his credit card company and alerted them to what was going on. The credit card company came through for him and cancelled the charges and reimbursed his card.
The only gym I would recommend to anyone is the YMCA. If you want to cancel your membership with the Y, you can do so at any time. You will also be reimbursed if you paid upfront for a year and cancel 6 months into your membership.
Looks as though Premiere Fitness has been duping customers for a long long time - it needs to STOP!
I knew exactly which gym you were going to announce as the biggest rip-off as they got me too! After watching the show, I realize I got off lucky as they only got about $700 off me illegally. I joined Premier on Upper Wentworth in Hamilton about 4 years ago with a personal trainer. I paid for 10 personal trainer sessions and by the fourth one had a serious shoulder injury from a piece of their equipment. After taking 3 months off to recover I returned to discover my trainer had quit. Nothing was done for the last 6 sessions I had paid for. Then I was moving out of Hamilton to a hobby farm outside of Simcoe. I gave my cancellation letter in writing & was told that my money was non-refundable and only transferrable to another location. The closest location was over an hour away from my new home. Then they told me that they didn't receive my letter and I produced a copy. Eventually they stopped billing my credit card. Now I toss 50 lb hay bales and 44 lb bags of horse feed for weight training and have a treadmill in my house and am in far better physical shape than I ever was attending the gym 4 to 5 days a week! I would never join any gym again.
As a employee for a Big Five bank and a gym member subscriber, I unfortunately see this happen on a weekly basis. A problem in addition to the clubs cancellation turnaround times, is that some people just do not pay attention to their bank accounts. By the time the come into the bank to get this issue looked after is more then the 90 days, so I'm unable to get those funds back for them. I had one customer not check an account for over 6 months.
What I believe needs to happen, is clearly labeled descriptions when the fees come out, in hand with people being more diligent with monitoring their accounts. Also more legistation to protect the customer would be the best.
I find its much easier to deal with independant gyms who have local presence. Big box gyms like goodlife are just there to please the investor and not the gym member.
Bingo!! This is the same one I am having problems getting my full refund for.The Premier Fitness in Kingston was so convoluted in their practice it is obcene.They even have the gall to call me about my late payments and that they want to take it to collections.I feel at this point go ahead and try.If Visa had not changed my card to a new number then PF would have kept taking off payments.In my cancellation letter to them I even pointed out that they never furnished the cancellation policy as I had asked for repeatedly and that they are suppose to have on their agreement as per the Consumer Protection Act. I wish I had checked out the Better Business Bureau before signing up as this branch already had numerous complaints as so did many other branches. Oh, and try to actually talk to someone at the numbers that are on line. I tried to fax them a letter and the fax number rang and rang to the point that my fax hung up. Then when I tried a few minutes later the fax line was busy.This repeated the pattern and after 6 tries I finally gave up. No one answers the phone either at the head office. Big surprise as even the employees can't get through. Plus the rep at the Kingston branch took a photocopy of my drivers license that I wanted the copy back and she denied ever taking a copy. I know that I am not letting it drop even though I am owed less then $75. As one viewer said, "it's the principle of the thing" and I want my money back!!!
I wanted to hold my membership for 2 months since I was leaving the country. I have paid upfront for the entire year's membership, but I am being charged $10 as 'hold fee' ?
When I asked the manager, she explained me that they have to hold my payment for 2 months and that incurs administrative charges ? Well I am not owing anything to the gym since the payment is already made. All they have to do is extend the end-date..
Has anyone heard about this 'hold fee'?
I was a member of the now defunct "Sports Clubs of Canada" for years with no problems but it went belly up and the existing clubs were split between Goodlife and Extreme Fitness. I have now had experience with both these clubs and the biggest frustration is in the contract / renewal process. The answers are never straight (other than you owe us money) and the terms are always defined in the most convuluted manner. The Ontario renewal requirement is a joke since any renewal letter does not have to come as registered mail - I wonder how many get lost on the way to the post office? Not only that but it is a negative option and you have to respond to cancel - I wonder how many cancellations the clubs don't receive?.
My advise before joining for a full year is to go on Kijiji or craigslist in your area and pick up the remainder of a transferable membership. Also read everything and get any verbal promise written and signed on the club copy and your copy of the contract. Also put a huge circle on the calender well before the aniversary date of the contract.
Finally use the gym.It is the people who sign up and then fall off the wagon that keep this continious demand for new members going.
NuBodys....avoid. They make you sign a 1 year contract then fail to tell you that if you dont cancel that contract within 2 weeks from the expiry, they renew in another yearly contract. I stopped dealing with them years ago.
Join the Y if you are looking for a gym.
I bought a year at a ladies gym and after 3 weeks of working out and enjoying the facility, it turns out I had purchased a year of VITAMINS and not the actual excercise portion. $1000.00 worth of vitamins and they said I did not understand my contract, I very clearly understood that I could augment the vitamins with the excercise. I cancelled and they would not reimburse anything.