A member of LA Fitness exposed an email conversation with a representative of the California gym, who attempted to charge him a monthly fee after his cancellation request. Despite his clear-cut demands to end his membership immediately, the agent did not approve his request and instead offered a monthly fee to put things on hold. This telling email sparked the outrage of thousands of Reddit users.
“Asked them to cancel my membership, they offered to charge me monthly to freeze it,” _northernlights_, the LA Fitness member, expressed in his post on r/mildlyinfuriating. Those familiar with this gym might have heard about the FTC suing LA Fitness last year over its “gym membership that seems impossible to cancel.” According to the Redditors in the comment section of _northernlights_’s post, the difficulties of dealing with the gym’s customer service are not uncommon.
Reddit Commenters Claim LA Fitness Isn’t the Only Gym Not Cancelling Their Memberships
“I had to lie and tell them I had a terminal disease because they wouldn’t let me cancel,” claims an ex-member of LA Fitness. Dozens of others shared their horror stories as well, with some sharing how they had similar experiences with other gym memberships, like Planet Fitness or Gold’s Gym. “It frankly needs to be illegal, the only purpose it serves is exhausting the consumer so the keep paying for nothing,” remarks a commenter.
As several users point out, a proposed rule would have made subscription plans easier to cancel, removing the need for any possible methods a company might use to keep members longer. Unfortunately, as CNN reported last year, the implementation of this rule has been delayed under the current administration. Now, people like _northernlights_ still must go through multiple hoops just to end their unwanted memberships.
On a brighter note, the LA Fitness shared a screenshot in the comments updating his situation, showing how the gym had finally cancelled his membership. Though, he claims he’ll report back if he’s charged again.
