northernlightsAsked LA Fitness to cancel my membership, they offered to freeze it for $10/month instead
islandcoda42A subscription fee to not do anything, what a bunch of criminals. What a fucked up country we live in now :(
Am I reading this right that to reactivate they’d be charging the difference they ‘lost’ during the freeze term? Wild.
Arthur Bessewhat happened next? (do the terms actually allow you to cancel it immediately for no cost, or is their $10-per-month-for-nothing offer an alternative to paying a cancellation fee?)
Nothing so far, I sent the email in the screenshot. If they reply anything other than my membership is cancelled, I’ll require them again to cancel my membership and point to the fact that I requested the cancellation in writing 3 times and if they charge me one more time i’ll tell my lawyer to take them to small courts (I don’t have one but who cares).
very generous of you to give them three strikes
Beats me
UnderpantsWeevilThe CFBP was supposed to have regulated it, but Obama’s team lacked teeth and Biden’s dragged their heels, while Trump tore that shit up head to tail in between his two terms.
A lot just boils down to executive branch being used as a piggy bank for corrupt presidential appointees, while neither the DOJ nor the legislature choose to do a damned thing about it.
IMO, Lina Khan was maybe the best appointment of the Biden presidency and as FTC chair, pushed hard for consumers, even for unlikely winnable battles. Unfortunately the click-to-cancel ^[apnews.com/…/ftc-click-to-cancel-30db2be07fdcb8ae…] rule was struck down by the Court of Appeals, but I think if she were still in that position she’d fight the ruling. You’re right that the legislature needs to do their job and formally outlaw these practices, rather than having this be brought up by the FTC and struck down on a procedural matter.
'Click-to-cancel' rule, intended to make canceling subscriptions easier, is blocked
A “click-to-cancel” rule, which would have required businesses to make it easy for consumers to cancel unwanted subscriptions and memberships, has been blocked by a court days before it was set to go into effect. The Federal Trade Commission’s changes required businesses to disclose when free trials or other promotional offers will end and let customers cancel recurring subscriptions as easily as they started them. The rule was set to go into effect on Monday, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit said the FTC made a procedural error in its related cost analysis.
When setting up my LA Fitness account, I used a virtual card so if they try and pull any shenanigans like this the card cane just simply cease to exist. Many credit cards offer this as a feature, and if not, privacy.com does this as well
That’s good advice, I’ll do that for my next gym membership. Tx.
So this is why some gyms like mine are now doing discounts for using a checking account. I wondered why that was when I set up my account last year.
Nah there’s legitimate reasons to do that. Banks don’t charge the fees that credit card companies do.
Also, you can have your bank refuse payment, anyway.
I didn’t know that was a thing but makes sense. Do banks have a similar name to it like credit cards have chargeback?
That makes sense on the fees, I had forgotten the fees they get charged for processing plastic.
Yeah it’s a stopped payment. Checks or bank accounts.
Just because aware this doesn’t terminate whatever contract you had and they can take you to court if they wanted to.
joe.exotic.never.financially.recover.jpg
Yeah good call, I’d do this too. Just watch out though because the gym will send any unpaid bills to collections. Might be worth it though to get out of the contract - just make sure to pay off the debt within 30 days.
Had something like this happen to me. Luckily, we have laws in place stating that collections companies cannot follow up disputed claims. So I emailed the collections company, with the people that sent the claim to them on CC, telling them I disputed the claim (with some attachments to back up why). They responded by basically saying “sorry, our bad, the people that sent this claim can pound sand.” Then I never heard anything more about it.
What sucks though, is that it’s really stressful to have something go to collections. Most people would probably just have paid, because they get stressed out and don’t know the law.
Full disclaimer: This law may very well not exist where you live.
Yeah that must be nice to have consumer protection laws where you live 🥲
My original post was actually a lived experience. Around the start of COVID I wanted to cancel my membership at Retro Fitness, but they refused unless I came in with an essay about why in person. Yup you read that right.
Fun fact: the gym was closed to guests because of COVID
Pretty easy decision
If you continue to get push back, consider going to the manager during business hours and discussing it with them. They don’t want a grumpy Google review on their location.
I once had a card skimmed and cancelled. I forgot about my Anytime Fitness membership until three months later when I had racked up hundreds in late fees. Talked to the manager, who just went in and removed the charges from my account while I waited.
Make a privacy. Com account
Change all of your card info to one of theirs for 3 months
Cancel
The card
Or just tell your bank to blacklist them and leave it at that
You’ll be taking a credit hit either way
File a complaint with your state’s attorney general and theyll handle it beyond that point when they get to you
Captain AggravatedWhy I will never join a gym. I can do pushups in my living room.
WiddershinsJoin my gym program it’s called LB Fatness. You sign up for this gym scam, cancel immediately using a fake card number so they don’t get a dime, and as time goes on joining the gym will become too expensive. If you can’t afford to get scammed you won’t get scammed. Workouts include carrying a fat wallet, riding a bike outdoors in air that smells like car exhaust and not sweat, and lifting cinderblocks while sitting on a weathered piano bench outside on a patch of dirt. Front yard is optional dirt patch is not. You gotta buy yourself a bike and a few cinderblocks but the piano bench should show up on garbage day on a curb somewhere eventually. Just keep an eye out and you’ll see one sooner than you’d think.
Send me your CC#, a photo with your shirt off, and home address and I’ll order you clothes that are just a little too small but otherwise look great and will slowly shrink in the wash.
i’m glad i never joined a gym when i was thinking about it around a year ago. it’s literally cheaper to save up to buy your own equipment (you don’t need the big stuff, but even then you can get it secondhand or something). i don’t work out anymore but when i did, i used body weight exercises (push ups, pull ups, etc.).
I bought a used Bowflex on Nextdoor for like $200, a set of 10-90 lb adjustable Bowflex dumbbells with a stand for like $100, and a weight bench for ~$50. Retail on that setup is like $2k+. These things are large and cumbersome. A lot of people buy them then never use them and get rid of them for pennies on the dollar. I work out in my garage whenever I want to and I don’t have to worry about waiting for someone to get off a machine or work in sets with people. I get my workout done so much faster and I don’t have to go anywhere to do it. I will say the gym has a certain social element that you miss, but not having another freaking subscription is nice. Ya know what? I’m gonna go get a workout in right now.
Fair warning, Bowflex dumbbells are under an active recall. You should check and see which model you have.
I’ve had them 5-10 years (maybe more), but better safe than sorry I guess. Might as well give it a look.
I assume this is the one they mentioned. Just posting it in case other people come across this: www.bowflex.com/dumbbell-recalls.html
Yep, go hunting for deals on Craigslist, Marketplace, garage sales, etc and you can get some great stuff for cheap. I don’t think I paid over $100 each (in some cases, alot less) for my treadmill, elliptical, weight machine, stair climber, or recumbent exercise bike.
I thought I heard that California had a law requiring cancelling be just as easy as signing up? Is that not the case? (Assuming the name of the gym is an indicator of the city it’s based in, and not the state or country.)
No idea how it works where you are but in Belgium and in the EU we have en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ombudsman and I can tell you when companies receive an email from them, they don’t mess around. I’ve been waiting for a bike part for a year. I contacted the ombudsman, no cost, just 2 emails, suddenly my carbon belt was shipping the very next day.
