I have finally paid them 2 months extra fee just to get the collection agency off my back and I am seriously pissed off.. but like all professionals, i don't have time to take them to court or keep responding to letters and phone calls..

I moved my office last year and so had to cancel my Fitness First Membership as their branch closer to the new office was too small .. it was like exercising in a closet.. ANYWAY..

when i decided that the gym was not good enough for me.. I told the reception staff that I wanted to cancell my membership but they refused to take in the request and asked me to go to the branch where i had originally signed up... I told them that this was going to be too inconvinient for me as it was not on my way to and from work.. They told me that could not help me.. I told them.. if I could sign their leaving form, they can then send it internally.. but I was told that the forms were different for different branches..

Anyway.. I called up the old office and told them I wanted to cancell.. they asked me to give this to them in writing.. I sent them an email but never got any response.. Since that day, I stopped going to the gym and still paid them an extra month's subscription to comply with the one month notice..

Few months later..I received a call from a collection agency telling me that I have been ignoring their letters and they were going to take me to court for not paying the cancellation fee to fitness first..

I told them there was no cancellation fee in my contract as I had been with them for over a year or so.. they told me.. I had not given them notice of cancellation.. I told them the story.. and the conversation ended.. but only after another month.. another call on the same issue and the same conversation..ended the same way..

Meanwhile.. i visited my old place and noticed letters from the collection company telling me that they had taken this to court as I had not responded to their letters..

I called them and was told that the letters were standard templates and they had the record of my conversations.. I was finally told to sort it out with Fitness first.. who told me that they do not have the policy of accepting email cancellations and in the absence of a signed letter, they cannot cancell the membership..

I am glad they cancelled my membership after a month.. i would not have been surprised if they would have charged me for the 8 - 10 months as they had still not received a signed letter from me..

No one in my family will ever join fitness first..

 

I can understand why you would be upset at the fact the receptionist in the second branch you visited were unhelpful. But you signed the contract that states one months WRITTEN notice must be given as cancellation. If you could not be bothered to ensure you did this then i find it laughable you can blame fitness first. Again another complaint that has no founding......

 

rubbish,you make it as difficult as possible for people to leave f/f.your branches chop and change their stories.i know 4 branches in the south,they are ALL desperate for members NOT to leave.there is even a case where a branch pleaded with a member not to cancel their membership.
MEMBERS, if you want to leave f/f and you are still in your first year contract,you can get out of it.contact me il tell you how........

 

Yes they are desperate but most of the time the blame is partly the gym member too. They often fail to make sure the dates on the contract are correct, fail to read the terms and conditions, fail to give sufficient notice of cancellation, then whine at how they are victimised.

It's actually easy to cancel providing you follow the procedures, do not give in to empty threats, and threaten to sue. Who knows, you might be able to get a compensation of over half a million for emotional stress they've caused you if they made a administration error.