Cancelling gym membership on medical grounds

Savedotmoney

Hi all.

Don't know where to put this thread if I'm being honest !

I have recently had to cancel my Virgin Active gym membership on medical grounds with a doctors letter.

Because I didn't do it before a so called cut off date they are going to charge me another month knowing full well I won't be able to use that month because of my medical grounds.

Surely that's not right? I didn't choose to cancel my gym membership, my health made that decision. If I had chose myself then I could understand.

I will be refusing to pay that month, do I have a good point?

spacey2012

No, unless the contract you signed says otherwise.
You are liable for what you sign.

wiogs

"If you are on a contracted membership and still in the commitment period, we will do our best to help. We all know that circumstances change, so we try to be as accommodating as possible. Discuss your circumstances with your club and we’ll do everything we can to help."

That is from their T&C

Ring them up and ask what they mean by "we’ll do everything we can to help"

redcard

spacey2012 wrote: »

No, unless the contract you signed says otherwise.
You are liable for what you sign.

Yeah, that's if the contract is legal and fair.

Sparx

From a business perspective, it is not Virgin's problem that you have medical issues.. I have sympathy from a consumer's view but the contract would stand regardless. Sorry!

Gromitt

I'm sure that if I visited my gym with a doctors note and said I wanted to cancel my contract they'd go "Ok, we'll cancel it after the first 12 months that you signed up for.".

Refusing to pay will just get them sending you an invoice. The amount will keep increasing until it's sufficient for them to take further action.

chuckley

see if they can half it. if not just suck it up. its just a month.

be thankful youre on month to month. i would stress if i was locked in to a longer one.

[Deleted User]

I had to cancel a gym membership with Esporta (which is now Virgin Active) on health grounds a few years back.

I handed them a GP's letter, and they cancelled the remainder of my contract. There was no refund of the remainder of the month for which I'd already paid, but they didn't charge me another month on top.

matttye

Gromitt wrote: »

I'm sure that if I visited my gym with a doctors note and said I wanted to cancel my contract they'd go "Ok, we'll cancel it after the first 12 months that you signed up for.".

Refusing to pay will just get them sending you an invoice. The amount will keep increasing until it's sufficient for them to take further action.

My gym says you can cancel the contract early with no penalties in extenuating circumstances:

Contract Cancellations in extenuating circumstances.

a. Relocation: This agreement can be cancelled in the event that your new permanent address is more than 15 miles away from the facility upon receipt of a copy utility bill or bank statement showing the new address.
b. Long term (over 3 month) illness or injury: This agreement may be cancelled in the event of an illness, injury or medical condition which in the written opinion of a doctor or other suitably qualified medical practitioner prohibits exercise for 3 months or longer upon appropriate proof being provided.
c. Redundancy: This agreement can be cancelled upon appropriate proof of redundancy from your employer or other loss of livelihood.
d. Pregnancy: This agreement can be cancelled if you become pregnant upon the appropriate written proof being given.
Please note – ANY Cancellation for the above reasons will not be effected until the appropriate proof is provided and received (in writing or via email) by Harlands or the club.
e. Breach: This agreement can be cancelled if we are in breach of contract including if we do not provide facilities or services you may reasonably expect and we have fallen well below that standard.

Tiglath

I had to cancel my membership at Citypoint last summer following surgery. I was 8 months into a 12 month contract and emailed them with details and to enquire how to cancel; I expected them to tell me to send in a doctor's letter, but they emailed straight back to say they'd cancelled my membership with immediate effect. Was very impressed.