Gym Fees

balonie

My son is paying nearly £40 a month for gym fees. He has recently changed his financial position and is no longer able to afford these fees as he has other bill which are more important to pay. He has asked the gym to either extend his membership until such times as he can afford it or to simply agree to break the contract. The gym will not agree to either of these suggestions. What is his position if he just decides to cancel the direct debit?

nfollows1982

The first 2 things I would ask are, which brand of gym does he belong to (i.e fitness first) and who regulates his finance agreement (you will see this name on the direct debit).

Each gym brand has it's own rules but you will find a lot of the staff at the actual gym will either not know them or be ignorant to them - they are basically pushy sales people.

If you let me know the above details I might be able to help further as I have recently managed to get out of a gym membership myself.

bankscausepain

Unfortunately your son is in a difficult situation. Gym contracts are notoriously hard to get out of, the companies could not care less about personal situations - once you have signed the contract you are locked in.

The easiest way out is to 'sell' the contract to a friend or colleague.
What is the name of the gym and how long is remaining on the contract?

Jonny_Belfast

I was a member of fitness first and i lost my job and decided i couldn't afford it anymore so i asked to freeze my account and they said no then i asked to cancel it they said no so my only option was to cancel the direct debit and default on it.. worked out well, they got a dca and i now pay them £5 a month so i save myself £25 a month. I didnt get any extra charges just the amount of monthly payments it would have been on the contract..seems this is the only way to get out of a gym membership these days becuase they just roll over your contract every year unless you give them 3 months notice that you dont want too.. very sketchy

balonie

Thanks for the replies. I think he is stuck with it until November! He is a member of LA Fitness in Lincoln. It is a roll over contract so he will be ready to cancel at the end of October because they ask for 1 month notice. I think you are correct about pushy sales people. They don't seem to have any flex in the system. Such a shame that they are there to look after the body but not the wallet!

londonsurrey

Spam by Benitomomo. New user, 5 posts, and all of them about this website. Reported.

Benitomomo

I thought the idea was to share a moneysaving tip and imotiva is a platform which I use and is earning me points when I exercise

bankscausepain

Benitomomo - The problem is the subject can not afford to pay his gym membership. 'Earning points through exercise' does not help.

Benitomomo

Ah okay, apologies I was just trying to soften the blow and this is my first time posting.