Closed gym freeze fee

rlondon22

Hi everyone. My gym has, obviously, been closed for lockdown. They have been enforcing a £5 per month freeze fee over both lockdowns. I’m just wondering, is this legal? It would obviously be unlawful for us to use the gym so are they allowed to charge us for a service we can’t access? With the amount of time we’ve been/will be closed this will soon amount to a month’s membership (£50)

[Deleted User]

Are they going to give you a month free at the end?
Lawful - depends what your contract says, it won't be "illegal" per se
My gym (Nuffield) isn't charging anything FWIW

Aylesbury_Duck

Whether it's legal depends on the terms of the contract, but I think you should consider the situation holistically.  £5 per month when the normal monthly rate is £50 seems a reasonable charge if it provides cashflow that keeps the business afloat.  If you want the gym to be open when the restrictions are lifted, it might be prudent for you and others to keep paying the small fee.  Otherwise you save yourself £5 a month and find it closes and the next nearest gym starts charging £60 a month after lockdown.

I have a similar situation with a sports club membership, where I and others are continuing to pay our normal monthly subscriptions and are getting credit back which we can use for booking fees and at the bar.  It's a nice compromise and with sufficient members complying, keeps the club afloat so we can use it after lockdown.

tripled

rlondon22 said:

Hi everyone. My gym has, obviously, been closed for lockdown. They have been enforcing a £5 per month freeze fee over both lockdowns. I’m just wondering, is this legal? It would obviously be unlawful for us to use the gym so are they allowed to charge us for a service we can’t access? With the amount of time we’ve been/will be closed this will soon amount to a month’s membership (£50)

It does seem unreasonable to charge if they are not providing the service. Are they providing anything else, such as online classes? What do the T&C say in your contract?

rlondon22

tripled said:

rlondon22 said:

Hi everyone. My gym has, obviously, been closed for lockdown. They have been enforcing a £5 per month freeze fee over both lockdowns. I’m just wondering, is this legal? It would obviously be unlawful for us to use the gym so are they allowed to charge us for a service we can’t access? With the amount of time we’ve been/will be closed this will soon amount to a month’s membership (£50)

It does seem unreasonable to charge if they are not providing the service. Are they providing anything else, such as online classes? What do the T&C say in your contract?

They provided one class online per day over the first lockdown but they weren’t well attended (mostly male members) so now nothing. Good idea, I’ll check my contract now but I doubt it says anything about a pandemic causing them to close.. 

rlondon22

Deleted_User said:

Are they going to give you a month free at the end?
Lawful - depends what your contract says, it won't be "illegal" per se
My gym (Nuffield) isn't charging anything FWIW

Nope! Absolutely nothing back! I know the ‘big’ gyms aren’t charging but don’t know about the non chain ones so wanted some advice

rlondon22

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Whether it's legal depends on the terms of the contract, but I think you should consider the situation holistically.  £5 per month when the normal monthly rate is £50 seems a reasonable charge if it provides cashflow that keeps the business afloat.  If you want the gym to be open when the restrictions are lifted, it might be prudent for you and others to keep paying the small fee.  Otherwise you save yourself £5 a month and find it closes and the next nearest gym starts charging £60 a month after lockdown.

I have a similar situation with a sports club membership, where I and others are continuing to pay our normal monthly subscriptions and are getting credit back which we can use for booking fees and at the bar.  It's a nice compromise and with sufficient members complying, keeps the club afloat so we can use it after lockdown.

Yours sounds like a really fair deal. We get absolutely nothing back and I find it offensive that we’re told we have to pay the £5 or full monthly fees. Another gym I saw gave the option to pay a nominal amount each month to help keep the gym afloat. 

To be honest my local area is totally saturated with gyms so competition is rife 

Aylesbury_Duck

rlondon22 said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Whether it's legal depends on the terms of the contract, but I think you should consider the situation holistically.  £5 per month when the normal monthly rate is £50 seems a reasonable charge if it provides cashflow that keeps the business afloat.  If you want the gym to be open when the restrictions are lifted, it might be prudent for you and others to keep paying the small fee.  Otherwise you save yourself £5 a month and find it closes and the next nearest gym starts charging £60 a month after lockdown.

I have a similar situation with a sports club membership, where I and others are continuing to pay our normal monthly subscriptions and are getting credit back which we can use for booking fees and at the bar.  It's a nice compromise and with sufficient members complying, keeps the club afloat so we can use it after lockdown.

Yours sounds like a really fair deal. We get absolutely nothing back and I find it offensive that we’re told we have to pay the £5 or full monthly fees. Another gym I saw gave the option to pay a nominal amount each month to help keep the gym afloat. 

To be honest my local area is totally saturated with gyms so competition is rife 

Offensive is a bit strong, but there you go.  If there's plenty of competition you don't mind moving to, then stop paying and see what they do.  They're unlikely to pursue you for what will probably be no more than £15.

Niv

Its a tough one. I doubt its illegal, but I try to think of these situations in this way ' Do I want this service to be available when this is all over?'. In the case of a gym, if i were a member, I would be happy to pay £5 per month during this time to help keep the place going so that it is available when we can start going again. 

Jeremy535897

It isn't a question of whether it is "legal". It is a question of whether it is enforceable. Unless it is in the contract, it is unlikely to be enforceable.

Potbellypig

I don't buy the 'pay us this if you want us to be here when this is all over' rubbish. If it's not there, it's not there. For most pubs, clubs, gyms, sporting facilities etc etc, there will be others that either take over or other options. If you're buying in because you want to, or you feel some sort of emotional connection to the place then crack on, but spouting the we need money and it's on you to keep us afloat bile is a load of rubbish.