I wrote a week or two ago about how a simple and straightforward cancellation process makes it easier to acquire customers, not to mention leaving people with a feeling of goodwill. I suppose you could add that when companies have a reasonable cancellation policy then their customers also won’t post about their negative experience on blogs where hundreds or thousands of potential customers might read about it.
I called in a week or two ago to cancel my gym membership with 24-Hour Fitness. Aside from the hassle of them telling me I had to come in to the club to cancel (nothing but an excuse to try and sell me on not canceling), now I find out that although the guy I talked to said he would cancel my account, he didn’t. He “froze” my account, which doesn’t prevent my card from getting charged again. Not only that, but when my card got charged again and I called in today to figure out what was going on, they told me they have a 30-day cancellation policy, meaning that no matter when you cancel, you’re probably going to get charged one more time after you cancel.
Now I ask you, my good man, why a business would have a policy that says you have to give 30 days notice of cancellation? I can think of some reasons, such as when a business has to dedicate such resources to a customer that it makes sense to have such a requirement. For example, imagine that acquiring a customer means you have to hire 10 new employees to service that customer. That would be a situation where a long-term contract with a 30-day or longer cancellation policy would make sense. But when I cancel my membership at the gym it doesn’t affect their business at all. 100 cancellations might, but not 1.
The only reason they have this policy is because they know that most people don’t read the policy upon signing up, those that do will forget what it says, nobody will cancel until they’re ready to stop going to the gym, and so the gym will get one more month of revenue without having to provide any service. It’s a beautiful thing for the gym, but quite irksome for customers. And now that I am irked, I pass this information on to you. I would encourage you to not sign up at 24-Hour Fitness, but I bet every other gym does the same thing. So let’s stick it to them and remember to cancel 30-days before we’re really read to stop going. That’ll show them.
I had a similar experience with Xcel Fitness when I canceled my membership there. It was several months ago but I think they tried to get me to come in to sign something. I was able to talk them in to letting me email or fax a written statement in with my signature so I chose to email it but I seem to remember that they ended up being unable to actually receive email. I ended up having to fax my signed statement to them and finally got it taken care of. They also had a 30-day notification policy so I got billed once more after I gave them notice.
Maybe not the most ethical way to cancel, but I did the same as you. Then when I got hit with the next 30-days, I reversed the charges. No one caught it and the charge never showed up. If they can a little shady in their practices, so can I.
by the time they get the cancellation, it has to be processed to their bank, and then processed to your bank to stop the draft….if they had alot more people to process new memberships, freezing, cancelling, changing eft, calling past due, then you prob wouldn’t need 30 days….and remember, its banking so not open on certain days…i always tell people, 30 days before your bill date, and remember that you’re last month is already paid for…i actually have people read everything if they want and ask any queestions about any of the agreement…i think they use the 30 day policy as a buffer…at least they let you cancel…some places stick you on a 1 to 3 yr contract…
@ because
That still doesn’t make any damn sense considerig that the last month is included into customers initial fees. At least they let people cancel… let people? It’s a service business of course people should be able to cancle. Pffhh like thats some amazing grace that they LET people friggn leave.
After spending almost 15 minutes on hold because when you go to their site they make you call, I decided to send the e-mail through their system. Two different ways, and each time, I got error messages from their system. I’m right at 30 days (payment was autowithdrawn yesterday), so now I have to go to the club and listen to the BS just cancel. Can’t they be happy with the $22 a month I’ve paid the last year and haven’t gone (let alone all the years before that when I did)?
Regardless, can I cancel the autopayment through my bank today and then tell them I’m done effective 30 days from now?
Why not just tell your bank to stop payment immediately after you cancel your account?
Did the bank follow your instructions? I have cancelled bank accounts because they wouldn’t stop the charge. They told me the cancellation instruction had to come from the club!?
Hi Rita
Yes, that was the only way to stop it for me, was to close the accounts. Pretty sad that anyone can have that kind of control over your own bacnk accound isnt it?
I had heard horror stories of my friends trying to cancel their 24 memberships. when it came time for me to get rid of them, I simply called my bank and reported my debit card stolen and requested a replacement. the gym called me a few times and after several times of me telling them to… screw… themselves (censored of course) they left me alone.
I’m getting ready to talk to a person about
cancelling.are letting me have my son membership
I’m the one who pays for it.Il let you no my
incounter
Not only that but the policy of gym owners is to not contact members if they havent been in for a while because you are reminding them to cancel. It is short sighted because it means people will have a bad taste in their mouth!
I’m in the military and wanted to cancel my account before I went overseas phones over here are constantly full and busy and I work 12-20 hours a day and don’t always have time to re-cancel my account after I already went into 24 to cancel my account moral of the story I will NEVER go back to 24 hour fitness after this after i’ve been a member there for 5 years since I was 18 biggest hassle of my life almost 300 dollars i’ve been charged since I left and they refuse to pay me back! There employees fault 100% I hope everyone reads this.
I just canceled my 24 hour membership. I was prepared to do battle, and after being on hold for 22 minutes, I was getting more fired up by the minute. She briefly tried to convince me to stay, not happening, so the cancellation was processed and I was told I will see no future charges and actually be refunded for this month since today was my billing date. That was a pleasant surprise. I going to be fuming if that was B.S. and they try to hose me for more money.
This is such a joke with these clubs. Theyre worse than used car lots. I’ve purchased a home with less hassle than it takes to cancel one of these memberships.
These people are crooks and the whole fitness industry is a scam. And if you work for these businesses and you are reading this, let me give you some truth. Yes, you are a crook. Don’t try to justify your outlandish and overbearing practices under the guise of business. The Nazis thought what they did was just business too. It’s a gym membership, not a UN treaty. But I suppose you can justify anything if you try hard enough. Al Capone never once thought he was a criminal. So there you go.
On a positive note – I would actually use gyms a lot more if I could just come and go as I please without having to wrench my financial access from their greedy little fingers. Just let me go. I will come back when I can and when it suits me. I thought it was MY lifestyle right? So why does it have to be on YOUR terms?
Theyre just praying on what they already know. Most of us go in for 2 weeks. We burn ourselves out and then dont ever go back for another year. But now they’ve got your money and you have to claim death or disability before they consider any type of refund? I know loansharks that have better terms.
I am hoping for the day when I can just walk into a gym, have them bill me 15-20 bucks a month and I just get to use the treadmill and go home. No multimonthly commitment. No first and last months’ dues up front. No credit card on file that they can continue to “accidentally” charge. No one is asking for the gyms to lose money. Just be reasonable. Until then, I will just have to be happy with the extra 20-30 pounds because I am not going to exchange it for an arm and a leg.
Instead of crying about the $30 or so dollars that you lost when you cancelled your membership. Why not keep the membership and actually use the gym to continue living a healthy life. Everyone is always complaining about such a stupid detail. Lets face it we all need a gym to go to in the end. Its funny how people will commit 2 years of there life to a bad cell phone company, but you cry and moan about committing two months to help changing your life. words of advice, go to the gym and you wont be so depressed that you go online and write about how useless you are.
Jim’s right. Since I went back to the gym I now longer go online and write about how useless I am, I just troll around and find blogs where I can write about how useless other people are.
Useless? Who says that you need a gym to be useful? Walk around the block, it is free and most likely the air will be cleaner than in those sweaty rooms smelling all kinds of odors, healthy life style, give me a break. Gyms are just a great place for viruses and bacteria. Anyway, I just cancelled my membership. No use for it. It was a good idea when I had time for it and I was not that useful….
Ugh, how annoying! There’s nothing worse than finding that it’ll cost you money to get out of a contract. That’s too bad that you had such a bad experience with these guys – cancelling a membership shouldn’t have to be so painful.
I just spent 26 minutes on hold with the same annoying “you call is important to us please stay on the line” repeating at least every 30 seconds. I was reading all these comments while on hold and prepared myself for a nasty phone call (if they ever answered my call). The guy barely spoke english, but I was able to understand enough to get the job done. He did try to ask why I was leaving… I simply said “because I want to” and he asked if there was anything he could do to get me to stay. I simply said “no.” He then went on to say he will terminate my account and remove my billing info from their system and my final month will be refunded with 22 days from when it posts. I will keep an eye on my bank statements, but seemed simple enough. I almost wonder if they have changed their policies since many of these reviews were written.
Yes, we have changed our cancellation policy. Due to the feedback from members on the difficulty of cancelling, we’ve made it easier. Though there will be a wait on the phone due to the volumn of calls our service reps get, it will no longer be an expensive nightmare to cancel.
there’s a number on the website. called it, waited on hold 10m, got disconnected. bodes ill. called it again, waited 15 minutes, got an operator. told her my member#, she asked to update my address, and i was like NO NO NO just cancel the membership and she was like “hold please”. 2m on hold, then she’s like “it’s already canceled, you should get a refund of $7″. it was much easier than i had expected.
I had no problem with the cancellation of my membership. They were actually pleasant to deal with. I called and they immediately dealt with my cancellation. It was no fuss and I actually got credited within two weeks of cancellation. When I had 1st signed on with 24 hour fitness I paid my 1st months and last months up front. I had it taken out of my checking account monthly. I actually canceled after my monthly fee and they gave it back. So Kudo’s to 24 hour fitness for such a wonderful turnaround. The reason I canceled anyways was because my work built a gym. It was much more convenient for me. Thanks 24 hour fitness.
FYI: This may apply to some of you. I’m canceling mine today.
http://classactionlawsuitsinthenews.com/class-action-notices/24-hour-fitness-health-club-membership-cancellation-and-electronic-funds-transfer-eft-class-action-settlement/
I agree with the lame terms and practices of 24 hour fitness. I do have an option for most of you, prior to cancelling put a stop on your acct for that specific gym or entity. You go to your bank and in essence fill out the paper work and it wont allow them to draft any money out of your acct. Note : This block is usually for 6 months at a time though. Make sure you know the rules for your bank.
Jon
I cancelled my membership today simply because I haven’ t gone in months. I’ve had it for 3 years and the first year, I went all the time. I paid $40 a month and finally got around to cancelling it. I’m moving in to an apartment that has a pool and 24 hour gym inside so I think I’d be more likely to go.
When I first joined with my friend, we walked in and there were three girls behind the counter talking and it took them a while to notice us. After telling them we wanted to join, you’d think they’d give you their full attention but they flopped 1 clip board on the counter and turned back into their conversation. My friend is Hispanic and I am white so she took it pretty personal and said something. The girls didn’t say anything or apologize. We spoke with the membership guy and he was really selling on the memberships so we signed the contracts. We were told we’d get an hour each with a fitness trainer but our trainer spent 10 minutes with both of us in the room and brushed us off after that. I used to go mainly at night since I got off of work super late and never had an issue with the overnight associates. Very nice.
Today when I cancelled, I waited about 5 minutes which I think is pretty good. The rep did have an accent but she was clear Nd her pronouncing were very good. She did keep trying to offer we free services to keep me, really trying to even bargain about the membership cost. Overall, it is cancelled. She said I’d be charged this last month but will receive the payment refund in the mail by check. So we’ll see on that.