Have You Tried To Cancel Your ‘No Commitment’, ‘No Contract’ Gym Membership?
No commitment {fitness, gym, physical fitness, health} club memberships are great for consumers in the new information-age economy where relocating for work or school has become more and more common. But what happens when you try to cancel that supposed no commitment {fitness, gym, physical fitness, health} club membership?
Well, first, you may discover that ‘no commitment’ or ‘no contract’ doesn’t always mean ‘no cancellation fees’ in practice.
Some {fitness, gym, physical fitness, health} clubs will try to charge a cancellation fee, require that a form be filed in person at your home gym / club or some other method that makes it more difficult or impossible to cancel your {fitness, gym, physical fitness, health} club membership (especially if you’ve moved out of state or across the world). How can a {fitness, gym, physical fitness, health} club charge a fee to cancel a no commitment membership?
In many cases, the answer may be simple: they can’t, and it’s a deceptive business practice or breach of the membership {contract, agreement}. But in all cases it depends first on the specific language of the {contract, agreement} and then, quite possibly, the language of the advertising, commercials, handouts, promotional materials, website etc. A {fitness, gym, physical fitness, health} club cannot simply advertise that its memberships are ‘no commitment’ or ‘no contract’ and then charge a fee to cancel even if the {agreement, contract} states that a cancellation fee will be assessed upon cancellation of the membership.
Disputes over {fitness, gym, physical fitness, health} club membership {agreements, contracts} are quite common. However, most people don’t think the money lost or cancellation fee paid justifies retaining an attorney to fight it. But class action lawsuits are designed, in part, to resolve this dilemma. First, if the {fitness, gym, physical fitness, health} club is doing it to you, chances are they’re doing it to everyone else too. So there are likely enough people impacted by the deceptive conduct to justify class action status. Second, class action lawsuits are contingency fee cases – which means that you pay nothing – not a dime – unless and until your attorney recovers funds for you and/or the class as a whole. As a class representative or ‘named plaintiff’ you can also often recover much more than your actual damages.
If you have encountered a situation where you were charged a cancellation fee to cancel your {fitness, gym, physical fitness, health} club membership, were required to submit a form in person at your home gym despite having moved to a distant location (and that caused you to be charged additional months of membership fees) or if the {fitness, gym, physical fitness, health} club took other steps to make cancelling your membership difficult or impossible (and that also caused you to be charged additional months of membership fees) please do not hesitate to contact us at The Jacobs Law LLC.
One of our attorneys would be happy to review your {fitness, gym, physical fitness, health} club {contract, agreement} as well as any emails, letters, promotional materials or other documents you may have so that we may determine whether or not you have a case that we would be interested in pursuing. You can click here for our contact information or email us at CLASSACTION@THEJACOBSLAW.COM and one of our attorneys will respond as soon as possible.
