i tried to update my credit card so they won’t send me daily fucking emails that i “owe” them $30 (because a gym membership definitely needs to be a cOnTraCt, sure, sure), but the website didn’t work, so I tried calling their “automated” system, whereupon after entering my info to the robot, it gave up and connected me to a guy who i had to speak do and do it all over again.
then they made the poor guy literally ask at the end ‘are you satisfied with my service today’
Gym membership is the only chargeback I’ve ever done.
When I signed up I put my wife and myself on my credit card and we used it for a long time. We decided to cancel and I called them up, waited on hold for almost an hour, finally got through and they told me that I could only cancel mine, as I was the only one talking to them. I told them my name is on both accounts and it’s my credit card payment information, I’m not paying for them anymore, and the outsourced customer service guy literally just repeated his script. He also told me that I would still be on the hook for some reason for 3 more months of membership, nothing he could do.
Called my credit card, picked up immediately and the woman was extremely nice and understanding. Within 20 minutes my money was back and any future payments were blacklisted to them.
Name and shame, it was 24 hour fitness, but from what I hear this happens with all the major gyms.
I had a gym tell me I could only cancel by mail, so I sent them a certified letter. They kept billing me and eventually the letter got returned because they never signed for it. So I just disputed the charges from every date since I’d first sent the letter. After I shared the scan of the returned envelope with my bank the first time they made every subsequent chargeback real easy. I think they billed me two more times after that before they finally stopped - unsure if it was because they were blacklisted or because of the fees they got charged.
I was told I could only cancel in person AT the gym I signed up on. I told them I was literally in another country and couldn’t go and that I would just call my bank. Lo and behold somehow they magically were able to.
Right as cold/flu season was taking off, the location near me went and removed over half of the equipment cleaning stations (paper towel dispensers & spray bottles), so I decided to cancel my membership. After hearing so many horror stores like yours, I was shocked at how easy it was, since I was able to cancel mine online.
Although, I did quickly learn that I had also effectively prepaid for another 3 months, so even though I cancelled on October 31st, and was not charged for anything after that date, my access didn’t end until January 31st. I think part of it was credits from the COVID times, but I never went back to test it, so if anyone reading this is thinking about cancelling, be aware that you may have access for quite some time after cancelling!
I think it was something like prepaid for me too, and the credit card lady was like “Oh yeah that’s bullshit, you want me to claw the money back?” and I was like “uhhh yes please”. Very scummy practices. I’m glad you had a much easier time than me!