Friday, 29 March 2024

How NOT to Cancel Your Gym Membership

How NOT to Cancel Your Gym Membership
30 Jan
5:18

That’s right people- we made it through the month of January.

Or the ‘month of resolutions’, as I love to call it.

One in every five adults has a gym membership on their heads right now, and 50% of these flex-freaks got their brand new gym contracts in the month of January.

You know what’s funny? A research predicts that more than 80% of these people would stop hitting the fat grinders 6 months into their membership.

Do you see what this means? You paid more than $600 to hit the gym EVERY SINGLE DAY. And you just went like, five times in 3 months. Ouch.

Read More: Fancy an Extreme Makeover? These 8 Apps Pay You to Exercise!

Anyway, you don’t have to sweat over this—you can cut that toxic tie if you know how to cancel gym membership.

It would save you a truckload of money; you’d have one less ‘chore’ to worry about, and well, the debt collectors won’t run after you (yes, the debt collectors—for a gym membership).

Here is your complete guide on how to cancel that gym membership. You weren’t going to get in shape anyway; at least your credit card would be in shape once you cancel your gym membership.

The Most Horrible way(s) to Cancel Your Gym Membership

I’m going to present you a very helpful guide on how to cancel your gym membership (leg-day promise), but first up, you should know how not to cancel your gym membership.

Not only would it hurt your muscles, but your wallet would also get cramps. Never cancel your Gym Membership like this:

  • You walk into the gym and shout at the instructor “I’M QUITTING!” and just walk out. They don’t give a dumbbell; they’ll still keep charging you on that card of yours.
  • You just stop going to the gym and avoid all the phone calls from your (ex) trainer. Your dues will keep piling up to new highs and you’d feel that abs-workout was a sweeter pill.
  • You cancel your credit card, stop going and let your credit score die a slow & painful death.

Now you know how not to cancel Gym Membership (feel free to add some in comments), let’s get over the legally rightful procedure and learn How to cancel your gym membership.

Make Your Case

If you’ve watched Suits and Boston Legal, you’re more than half of a Lawyer already. Bring out your Harvey Specter, collaborate it with Mike Ross’s brains and learn the law of your land.

Laws in the USA say that you have a license to cancel your gym membership if:

  • You are relocating somewhere 25 miles away from the gym or any of its branches.
  • If an injury strikes and you have a legit doctor’s note for it.
  • If disability sidelines you, barring you from the action (again, doctor’s note is a must).
  • If inevitable happens and the member dies, because it’s hard to bench press in that grave.

But if that pushy salesman promised you saunas and supplements (gym’s equivalent to moons and stars) and delivered zilch—you my friend, are in luck.

To quote a lawyer (who shall remain nameless for sake of his gym membership), “A gym membership contract, like most other agreements, may be void and unenforceable if you are induced to sign it by any willfully false or misleading information.”

Read between the lines on your gym membership contract. If you really want to know how to cancel gym membership, you should be aware of all facts—Harvey Specter never goes to Zumba court with nothing.

Time to Hit the Gym

Has anyone told you that you don’t have to visit the gym to settle your scores? WRONG.

There’s a good chance that the person in question is still splashing money on not sweating it out, he doesn’t know how to cancel a gym membership. No matter how much of an introvert you are, you cannot cancel your gym membership on call.

You have to visit the gym to rest your case and complete the last set. Walk in there with your A-Game and politely say that you’d like to cancel your gym membership.

PRO TIP: Wear work-clothes when you’re going for cancellation. The manager will get a whiff of what’s coming, which is what you want.

Now they’d come up with every single excuse they could possibly come up with. The manager will be out for personal work, supervisors shall mysteriously fall sick, and trainers would behave like Saints—like they don’t know anything.

If you really want to learn how to cancel gym membership, learn to be resilient and stick to your ultimate goal. This is the last time you are walking into that sweat-hole, make the most of it.

You can Freeze your Gym Membership too! This doesn’t actually teach you how to cancel your gym membership, but you can stall those payments for half-a-year or something and you weren’t going to the gym anyway.

One Last Set Bro…

Every health club and gymnasium legally offers a grace period of three to five days. If you just joined the gym, you still have a chance to cancel that contract irrespective of what’s written in fine print.

But there’s a good chance that you’re too late to say sorry. Also, the ‘fine print’ in fine fonts probably has a hidden clause which binds you to a non-cancelable contract unless you can give a legally legit reason.

Get ready to sweat it out with one last set, as you would have to pay the membership fee for one more month. You are still lucky if they leave you after this because many gyms charge huge cancellation fees.

That cheeky supervisor would probably tell you to “keep visiting for a month as you are paying for it anyway” but you have to say NO.

A single month’s payment is a small sacrifice you have to make for the greater good… of your wallet.

It’s not legal if it’s not on paper

Now that they’ve finally agreed and you’ve agreed and the universe has agreed, it’s time to issue a formal cancellation request via email or on a notarized letter.

Here’s a template, courtesy of our mates at Letters and Templates:

Gym Membership Cancellation Letter

I would like to cancel my gym membership by end of this month. My membership number is [xxxx]. Also, I would like to request from you to refund the fees for the unused months.

Please indicate whether this letter is enough to cancel the membership or there is some other process. You may contact me if you require additional information. Please revert back in writing confirming the membership cancellation.

Place your John Hancock, get it notarized and make a couple of copies for yours truly. Now you have a legal document which specifies your request to cancel. You’re there baby- you nearly made it.

But First, let me take an Acceptance

You started with “We need to talk”, you broke up, and now you just have to return your partner’s stuff back, which is real life-equivalent to getting a reply back.

The gym might pull out its rarely used cancellation form and use it, or they can just revert back to your email. Save this for future use, it is extremely important.

Sometimes it’s as easy as getting a signature on the back of notarized letter along with those two lovely words—Cancellation Approved.

Now you have a valid proof that your gym membership is canceled and you won’t pay anything more than designated penalty fee, after which you shall not be billed.

Should the gym still bill you after that, you can call up your bank and show them the cancellation form as proof. A healthy mind covers all four fronts and it doesn’t need a gym to brew up.

There’s a Simple Way too…

You must’ve heard about Trim; the all in one cost-cutter, your own blue genie, and every gym’s Grim Reaper.

You can ask Trim to cancel your gym membership; it’ll go from your credit card’s route and stop those recurring payments. Also, no more awkward phone calls from your trainer—yay!

Gym Membership? Canceled.

If you follow this procedure and mark all corners, then congratulations in advance—you will be out of this toxic gym contract. You can let Trim do it for you as well, take your pick.

As for your fitness regimen, make a home-gym, play any High-Intensity Interval Training video on YouTube, and hop your way to fitness. It just takes 20 minutes of your time.

When life gives you lemons, put it in hot water along with honey and you have a weight-loss tonic. You don’t visit the health club anyway, and now you know how to cancel a gym membership. Make a run for it!

Source: https://www.everybuckcounts.com/how-to-cancel-your-gym-membership/

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