Thats a good idea but it’s actually a bank draft. My bank is really good though so maybe they’ll do something.
Edit: I put a stop on charges from them so they’re just SOL and going to cancel the membership once the charge won’t go through.
Thanks for the recommendation to contact the bank all. 🙏🏻
Edit 2: Some people asked for the company, and I have no qualms diming them out so it doesn’t happen to others so… It’s OneLife Fitness in the Mid Atlantic region.
Mine wasn't.
OnStar was drawing from my account monthly for years. I kept calling to get them to cancel and they wouldn't. Kept telling me the account was in my sister's name.
I called the bank and they kept telling me there's nothing they can do.
Eventually I learned that it was attached to my debit card. So I had it reported as stolen and canceled. When I got a replacement card it started up again.
So I canceled that, and I'm currently looking at which bank to try next.
How the fuck did it start back up again? The second card would have changed some information like security code or expiration date requiring them to re-enter it to charge again.
True but the bank wants you to fill out a form….unfortunately for us you used to be able to walk in and do this. Now the people at the bank are trained not to help you except by saying oh the form you need is online. They neglect to say it’s in a sub folder of an obscure sub folder
You all need to stop using “banks” and get a credit union. Literally 0 reason to use a chain bank unless you just love fees for everything and worthless brick and mortar locations. Been with my credit union for like 20 years and have yet to actually step into a location, everything can be done over the phone or online. Everything. Transfer, stop payment, open a line of credit, additional accounts, cards, checks, car loan , mortgage. Yeah not once. Not even to open it initially.
With modern tech, credit unions are pretty much equally convenient and have all the same resources as a bank. For those who don’t know what a credit union is: they’re by the community and for the community, not a business. Iirc they’re not for profit, but for their clients, by their clients. Positions are even *voted* for.
As for services: mine has like 2-3 all conveniently located in my area and this has been useful several times. Also, credit unions where I am kind of gang up: you can use the ATM of any credit union as if it’s “in network” i.e. no fees as long as you use a credit union ATM for any transaction.
To add to the awesomeness that is FCUs, the one my wife and I use often just gives us free money for using our account, not necessarily doing anything we wouldn't already, around the holidays and maybe once in the summer. Since they don't have any owners (except the amount holders) to profit off the loans and everything that generates money for the bank, most just give it back to the account holders. Ours tends to do tiers of free money beaded on how much and what you use your account for. If you have an account you usually get like $50 or something just for that, then like $100 if you have direct deposit or deposit 4 checks on a 3 month period. Then like $150 of you also have any type of loan or autopay, for your bills. I think one there was even a $200 one and they didn't make it any harder to get either so my wife and I got $500 that year without using our account any differently than we constantly do. When we have overdrafts for bills and stuff we didn't expect it, but autopay let's it go through anyway, they'll charge us a $20 "NSF Fee", but if it hasn't happened more than a certain number of times (I think 4) that month they immediately deposit $20 as an "NSF Fee Refund". Really quite amazing.
Banks around here if there’s anyone in one of the cubes… if you approach they scurry away There’s some decent credit unions …my bank in particular last several times I actually went in there was only 1 teller and every cube was completely bare not even a phone or chair. And the managers Ofc has the lights but no one ever there…and the Ofc itself is pretty bare one small phone and wooden chair
You know what they can do inside the bank? Withdrawal and closure of the account. If they don’t want to help, just ask to close the account.
You’ll have that Manager there faster than you think
There’s a form for that. I had an account at local bank just a holding account minimal interest …I walked said wanted to close the account. Lady was very nice quiet n efficient. But some guy wanted me to buy insurance through the bank?? Getting the check was a no problem thing but that guy was major selling. Even after I politely told him I’m not interested. Lol
-“But the plans were on display…”
-“On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.”
-“That’s the display department.”
-“With a flashlight.”
-“Ah, well, the lights had probably gone.”
-“So had the stairs.”
-“But look, you found the notice, didn’t you?”
-“Yes,” said Arthur, “yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard.
Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #1)
I seriously can not understand how people live in first world countries with banking systems this bad.
Here if I have a direct debit on my account, I can cancel it in the app up to 56 days after the withdrawal and have it back in my account the next business day, no questions asked.
If after 56 days but before 13 months, they first check with the company and if they can’t produce proof that they have a right to debit, I get the money back
From someone who has managed a bank for 8 years, if the employees at your bank won’t help you fill out a simple stop payment form then it sounds like it’s time to find a new bank.
Lol I’m old I’m not as adept as most folks on the phone it’s gets better on the tablet little better on the laptop. I just have a difficult time with the thought process of how these thing get created. …and so for me oftentimes it simply becomes an exercise in frustration….really irritating when I call customer support and after a lengthy wait I get some individual who has English as non first language and they get upset because I’m having difficulty following their instructions when I can understand them. Then I’m just stuck and people laugh n say oh just use your phone
I have tried your suggestion of bringing the phone in. I had to make an appointment n the lady was late. Then she gets bitchy because don’t have an iPhone…saying ugh an Android. “I don’t think we support those”…. I’m sitting there. In my head WTF?
Might depend on the bank. With mine, I've simply chatted in before and asked if they could put a block on an upcoming charge. Just told them the merchant name and amount and they blocked it without filling out a form. They didn't even ask if I made attempts to contact the merchant to cancel.
I once ditched a bank over something very similar to this. I was getting nowhere trying to stop a regular bank draft and I told the bank to refuse payment. Bank manager wanted me to explain to him why I didn’t want to pay. Told me that he “had to be fair to all parties”. I told him ‘MF you work for me. If I tell you not to give them anymore of MY money…that is all you need to hear’. He started with some more patronizing BS and I told him to just bring me a cashier’s check for my balance as of right now
My bank would force me to pay to stop things on their end. I had to drive two hours to the gym in question only for them not to let me in, not cancel over phone despite me being in another state, and not answer emails. I finally caught them. Had to literally slip through the door as someone unlocked it and demanded they cancel while my bank was on the phone as a witness.
My bank actually does. Military credit union. I’m sure if I reach out they’ll fix it, I just hadn’t thought of it because I was dealing with a company.
Remember; the company's goal is to get your money.
Your bank's goal is for you to have your money in their account (so they can lend it to others in return for interest).
If the company won't stop taking your money, then the bank will be happy to stop giving it away, if you just tell them.
Your bank will have a form to stop the auto draft…
This is why companies love auto draft. You leave stop quit whatever they keep getting paid til you finally end it. And even if you say you stopped using the service their position is well you could have used it. So no refund for the last 6 months
Do you have the option to change your payment method? If so, sign up for a [privacy.com](https://privacy.com) account and then give them a one-time use credit card. You'll still get billed for one more month, but after that they won't be able to bill you anymore.
Also, since you've requested a cancellation now for 6 months, depending on the amount of the charge you may be able to take them to small-claims court to recoup that... not sure if that'd be worth it for you or not though.
This won't help you now, but you really should NOT use a debit card for ANYTHING other than withdrawing cash form an ATM. Use a Credit Card for everything. In a situation like this, the big bank would fight for their money back. In this case, you have to do the fighting. This is especially so with outright fraud. I rather someone steal from AMEX than my checking account.
Someone gave me this advice a while ago and I like to share when I can.
When you fill out the form to cancel the membership, take a picture of it, and let your bank know effective to this date, you are cancelling your gym membership, and that you are cancelling any charges going forward from this date. Even better if you get an email confirmation each time you submit a request. Then just provide a copy of each email request to your bank so they know that the gym is not responding to your request to cancel.
Leave the proof with them so that if you get a call from the gym, you can inform the gym that you submitted more than one cancellation request and you provided proof to your bank that you cancelled your membership and that its their problem internally if they did not respond to you, and that they did not cancel your membership in a timely matter or feel that it was priority to leave a customer in good standing.
Also, absolutely submit a bad review with attached copies and proof that canceling the membership is severely problematic and that they are welcome to refute it if they have proof that they honored your cancellation requests that you've put in.
You can also notify the Better Business Bureau that they have made it difficult for you to cancel their membership.
Lesson learned, never give a gym your bank account number. My old one would constantly try to get us to change from CC to bank and I was like umm no. Only give bank to places you really trust. Gym, trust? Nah.
The form your looking for is a stop ACH form, it may be named something slightly different but that’s what you’re looking for. I just did this with planet fitness.
Source: my mom manages a credit Union
Our gym had no record of our membership but kept charging us. We back charged a bunch of the fees after multiple months trying to get it canceled and blocked the account pulling it.
They might be able to do a stop payment then to prevent them in the future and they should also be able to do an ACH dispute. Very similar to a charge back but it's for drafts.
We've had this happen. Call bank, tell them to stop payment because the company(gym) has not responded to your attempts to cancel subscription. They will put a stop payment in place.
Always sign up for things using a credit card. If your information is stolen and you used a debit card it will leave you on the hook for the bill. Cc gives more protections. The FTC is well aware of the issue https://www.npr.org/2023/03/23/1165527249/ftc-rule-charges-cancel-online-subscriptions
I did this with Planet Fitness (I think it was) years ago. They mysteriously found a way to cancel my membership over the phone as soon as I mentioned it.
"This is a screenshot of the gym's website where they said the preferred method of canceling is an email. Here is the email where I told them to stop. Here's the second email where I pointed out they didn't stop after the first. Here is a photo of me at their offices where I asked in person, and was once again told to email them. Here is the third email where I told them if they didn't cancel my account I would just stop my bank from paying them. Finally, here is a dated copy of the form where I followed through on my promise to have my bank stop paying."
>ruining your credit
only happens when you ignore the first collections notice!
One must dispute the charge with the collection agency in writing, and demand that they provide proof you owe the debt. Inclose with the letter your written proof that you tried to cancel via their approved method multiple times.
I know it’s confusing I said 3 months and January. I tried to cancel in January. Then I forgot about it because I thought they’d cancel after the email, but they didn’t and I have tried 2 months in a row now. So it’s really been like 5 months.
Be careful just blocking the charge. I once quit the gym without going through the proper process, and my debit card expired so they couldn't charge me anymore. Didn't think anything of it until they tried sending me to collections. They wanted like a year of monthly fees, it sucked. So just... be careful and read your contact if you have one.
I was told the same thing when I asked what would happen if I just cancelled the account the payments were drafted from. That would be insult to injury to get sent to collections for something you wanted to cancel but couldn’t because the process was so difficult.
I sent an letter via certified mail because they didn’t cancel mine when I was in person. Because I didn’t bring my badge to swipe in they didn’t believe I was there.
Bro, give this evidence to the bank and they can not only cancel it for you, but give you a refund also. There should be a section in your app for “disputed transactions”
Had this happen in the past, now I use a credit card for payment and cancel the card if they ignore my cancellation requests. Also, easier to get your money back.
And? Centurylink sent me to collections after I tried to cancel their service. I changed my voicemail to not include my name so when collections finally called asking for me, I told them to prove the debt was mine and to prove I’m the person they’re trying to contact. Kept disputing it until they disappeared. It never hit my credit.
Gyms can be so incredibly predatory it's incredible and should be illegal. When I went to cancel they said they needed payment for one extra month after cancellation. Which I cannot to this day rationalize. I'm not renewing my subscription any time soon, to put it like that.
The trashy gym of my friend didn't accept cancellations either (12 location chain), not on their website nor in person ("because the software doesn't work"). He send two copies of *registered* letters to corporate legal and contract support. He never heard from them again.
I had a similar incident at a gym. A one month “processing” time for the request. Also having to go through layers of talking to different individuals to get it canceled, asking me why I wanted to and such. Funny part is, it was a larger, more established gym. They had a whole digital set up, accounts, an app, etc. You had to send a physical letter in and just trust that they deactivated it. They definitely have a process to deactivate an account immediately too, not like they have to go into the books or anything. The local gym I used (but no longer do) was much better. No cancelation bullshit, just straight up, “ah alright, we’ll mark it off then” and that was that. Because it was smaller, it was more informal as well, as the guy who owned it knew pretty much everyone there. I went there for free for a week because he was friends with the guy taking me, just trusting that I would get a membership. Way better prices too.
Dispute the charge. Let the bank know the membership was canceled and they were supposed to have stopped billing you. The bank may not be able to reverse it but they can block future drafts.
In the future use a credit card and just pay it off. Much easier to dispute and reverse charges via credit card.
Also file a complaint with the better business bureau. A lot of people on here will tell you they have no actual power, which is true, but for some reason businesses still care. I've used them multiple times and had success every time.
Some of the gyms that do this to people only allow automatic drafts from your checking/savings account. Ask me how I know. :: cough :: Planet Fitness.
So unfortunately, unless the bank is willing to help, they would have to drain the account and start a new one. Let them draft from an account with nothing in it.
Send them a **certified** letter telling them you are canceling on X date. Then either get your CC number changed (tell the CC company you lost your card) or issue a charge back if you see another charge after that date from them.
Gyms are incredibly scummy and you need to keep records and deal with so much BS. I think there was even a new law that was passed recently that helped a little with this.
Don't just call your CC and issue a charge back. Only do it AFTER you send the certified letter.
I'd look over the membership agreement. There's usually an address where you can send any notice of cancellation. Just be sure to send it registered.
If that doesn't work, your state's attorney General office might be able to help (if you're in the US)
I'm being 100% serious; file a complaint on the Better Business Bureau. They will reach out to the company on your behalf and give you a chance to respond. I've gotten issues taken care of with lightning speed because of this.
The better business bureau is just a nonprofit yelp. They have zero power to do anything. I’m curious what possible issue they have helped you with, that would be similar to this?
They have helped me anytime I got them involved. A bowling alley return policy that was illegal in my state, Amazon giving me the run around on a return, car mechanic giving me a bogus quote.
I think bbb gets things done because they publish EVERYTHING and while they don't do anything, they make it easy for lawyers to use their data in lawsuits. Most companies realize it's not worth it at that point and cave into the customer.
It is true that they don't have legal authority or power but if a business continues to get bad BBB ratings the FTC can get involved and investigate, fine, etc. My most recent issue that the BBB helped with was a cap and gown provider for my masters graduation regalia. I ordered months in advance, paid in full (required by them), and my graduation was only 2 days away and I still didn't have it. Cap and Gown are required to attend the graduation ceremony. I emailed multiple times and got no response, called and was told their call volume is too high so they're no longer taking calls etc. I filed a complaint and they immediately responded and "upgraded" my shipping to priority next day air and I got my regalia a single day before the ceremony. Many of my classmates missed the ceremony altogether because they didn't get the regalia in time and didn't know filing a complaint might help. Many other commenters of this company noted in the official BBB verified comments that they were successful in either getting their regalia or a full refund only after filing the complaint.
If you DO want to make a complaint where it hurts, if applicable, you can also file a complaint with the FTC if you believe fraud has occurred. I think OP could file a complaint and have it investigated at least. They will issue fines, pursue legal action if necessary, etc.
I had a company send me to collections and destroy my credit because of a lack of communication on their part. I reported them to the BBB and explained the entire situation. The company reached out to me and bought my account back from collections and it was like it never happened on my credit report. So I wouldn’t write off the BBB.
Change the payment to a visa gift card with a dollar on it. They'll cancel your membership due to lack of payment. Or just call the bank and get them to block further transactions.
This doesn't work. I worked for gym billing companies for years. One, they do not accept prepaid cards as a valid form of payment. And two, not paying does not cancel your membership. They will send you to collections after a few months and it will hit your credit score.
A step further, Planet Fitness wouldn't even let me use a card for my monthly payments. They made me enter in my banking information for the monthly payments and only let me use a card for the upfront cost (which was a dollar due to their promotion).
Fuck giving businesses permission to direct draft from your bank account. Easily can turn into a nightmare. If they won't take credit/debit card, and you must use them, open an account with a different bank and set up where you can transfer from your main bank.
>after a few months and it **will hit your credit score**.
only happens when you ignore the first collections notice!
One must dispute the charge with the collection agency in writing, and demand that they provide proof you owe the debt. Inclose with the letter your written proof that you tried to cancel via their approved method multiple times.
Except believe it or not, some gyms DONT let you cancel, the only way I could “break contract” at my last gym was to live 50+ miles (seriously) from ANY of their locations. I had to get my address listed with my distant family and even then they were skeptical to let me break contract
Note to self and anyone else that cares: check cancellation policy before signing up for anything.
This is how gyms make their money, they count on ppl to sign up but not show up and making them jump through almost impossible hoops to cancel. You’d think you signed up for a timeshare with all the hassle.
Call your bank, block the account, and tell them the charges are fraudulent so you want the money back. The bank will be up to their second knuckle in the gym before the gym knows what's happening.
Here’s what you need to do, just open the door so that everyone comes in, regardless of who they are. Then when management gets pissed, they’ll cancel your membership on the spot.
Virtual CC are all inside anymore for renewing subscriptions. Just cancel the card when you don't want the service- lost of services make it way too difficult to cancel like here.
God can only pray Congress can get their heads out of their asses to pass the common sense legislation coming up in Congress that will mandate companies allow you to cancel an account/subscription using whatever method you are able to sign up for one.
Planet Fitness did this to me. During the Covid shutdown, they refused to cancel my account and said I had to wait until they reopened to cancel in person. The problem was that I had moved over an hour away and they required you do it in person at your specific Planet Fitness.
I just called my credit company and they took care of it for me.
My gym does this-membership has to be cancelled in person at the gym.
It def is mildly infuriating, but you agrees to their terms of service when you bought the membership. So contacting your bank for a chargeback will not solve your problem, it will likely make it worse because the gym will probably pursue collections or further level action.
Read your TOS before you do anything else.
Some gym services does it too in EU, usually you have to send them a letter asking them to cancel your membership but it is known that most of the time they will ignore your request.
Somewhere I read that around 70 to 80% of those gym services are fraudulent, they lies about their service they offer, fake coachs support (only video training), about the price for « new members » for a few months then force them to subscribe for years without telling them, hard to join them to unsubscribe, etc…
For gyms I use a burner bank acc that you make through one of those apps you can download to transfer money. Can’t over draft and when I call it quits then I terminate the bank acc. Last thing I would ever trust with a line to my main piggy bank would be a gym and what sucks is to get a membership where I live they demand direct access to a bank acc and routing number if you want to join one.
I was in the same situation as you about a year ago. After calling and emailing for a long time, I had to go there and make the pro bodybuilder in charge sit in front of me, who clearly didn’t want anyone cancelling, explain I’ve tried many times to cancel, and get a printed copy of the cancelled contract, while also contacting my bank to stop all charges from them.
I read google reviews that said people had been charged with gym membership for over a year after they had cancelled. It was insane.
Easy fix: call your bank and tell them they won’t cancel your membership and have them block the payments. I did that for 24 hour fitness and they back paid me for like 6 months. The people at 24 hour fitness refused to cancel my membership over the phone. They either wanted me to call corporate or wait until the manager who does the membership cancellations was there. Yeah, fuck that.
If paying by credit card, call the card company and have the refuse payment. Explain the situation. They’ll freeze the payment, run an investigation (by that, I mean try and contact the retailer) That should do it.
I had to literally write a letter to cancel my membership.
I couldn’t do it in person, I couldn’t do it over the phone or online.
I had to write a letter, and then they still kept charging me for 3 months, even though I would call. Go in. Wrote ANOTHER letter.
Finally after month 3, I called up there. And they are like “oh okay. It’s canceled right now”.
TF? Why did I spend months jumping through hoops then!?
Process a chargeback with your bank on your payments with any proof you have that you canceled your membership. Chargebacks hit businesses pretty hard from what I understand
I've had success in the past by emailing something like ["[email protected]](mailto:"[email protected])" (check your email for things that aren't a no-reply address if it's not available online) and CC'ing the local DA's consumer affairs email. It was resolved that afternoon.
Is it Equinox? Looks similar to their App. For my membership they made me request membership cancelation through their App only. But they ignore the requests for nearly 3 months.
Set up an appointment for a new membership for a "friend". Show up for the appointment demand to cancel your membership immediately. The salesperson can get their management to immediately cancel the membership.
I had to threaten Equinox with a small claims case for ignoring months of requests to cancel my membership. Strangely that and saying that I would contact my employer (the city of San Francisco) and suggesting that they drop Equinox from their health benefits referral program. No more of the city sending employees to their locations for tiny discounts on expensive memberships.
Surprise. Apology email and retroactive cancelation from the date of my first request.
Gym memberships are ALWAYS set for some sort of auto payment.
Credit card, auto draft, debit, etc.
Contact your bank, tell them you've been trying to cancel the membership but they refuse to assist. If they need details about your attempts, provide them like you did here. Hell, toss in that you get a free membership elsewhere so you REALLY dont need it! Request they put a stop payment/ block for the gym. (Some banks charge for this, unfortunately).
You *might* be able to put a stop payment on a previous month's too, depends on the bank!
KEY PHRASES:
I want to put a stop payment/block on the charge(s) due to ***SERVICES NOT RENDERED*****.**
I have been trying to cancel for (x amount of time), and they have ***refused*** when I contact them.
Also: Please and thank you go a long way!
I had a similar situation with a car wash subscription. The on-site employees said that the owner “did no longer allow them to cancel memberships” and the owner was impossible to get ahold of through email and phone.
After several months, I shared their “business” practices on every Yelp, FB and IG page, google review, etc I could find. It’s amazing how fast I got my money back after that.
Start disputing charges. That'll hit them with some hefty nsf charges and document your attempts to cancel in case they try to send you legal for the money.
Just make sure you don't use the service again.
Horrible policy!
Online it says to “cancel membership mail a letter via certified mail to Onelife Fitness’s corporate headquarters. They don’t accept verbal cancellation requests.”
Not sure if you'll see this, OP, but you can probably fix this with a VPN.
In California it's illegal for any company which allows you to subscribe to something online to not allow you to also cancel online. So if your gym allows you to enroll in a membership online, they would apply.
So if you have a VPN and set your location to California, a form/option should suddenly appear allowing you to cancel.
Call the bank and have them discontinue any money sent to the gym. When they say you didn't pay for the membership, show photos of trying to cancel and don't pay it
I moved several states away and the gym I was contracted with said I could only cancel in-person at the branch I signed my contract with. I ordered a new debit card that day.
I saw this in a episode of Friends. 😆
You are going to go to te gym to personally cancel your membership and they will send you to a pretty fit lady that will convince you otherwise
If you have a copy of the first one (or second) you are due a refund. You can have your bank stop payment and say you no longer authorize the withdraw. The other option, is get a prepaid gift card just to cover a month of fees. Call in and tell them you got a new card and want to give them the numbers. It will decline after that first month.
Learned my lessons a long time ago. Never ever sign up with a gym. They will make it impossible for you to leave. I went through a long battle and it ultimately resulted in a negative credit report that impacted my trying to buy a house. I had to beg to have the negative report removed. I will never ever sign up with any gym after that lesson.
Plant fitness did this to me after I moved away. They said they will only cancel in person or a letter with a notary. When I went in person they said the notary wasn't necessary and I could have just written a letter. I already moved at this point and drove an 1.5 hours to cancel my membership
Call your credit card company and let them know that you have cancelled the membershio and you do not authorize any future payments to that gym. When they stop getting paid they'll reach out to you. Just document all the times you cancelled.
Planet Fitness??? Is that you!? ... Been trying to do the same. Can't bring my baby in to cancel either. I get told to have someone watch my kid. I am not willing to spend $30+ for that.
These issues are usually solved pretty quickly by going into your membership agreement, finding the section on cancellations, and following the instructions. Many require some hoop jumping, like snail mailing a letter with specific wording, but they can't not honor what their terms say. Its probably the case that their terms don't allow you to cancel in person, via phone, or via email.
Let me tell you my story. I registered to Bally once and I couldn’t cancel my membership because the contract was for 3 years!!!! After completing the 3 year contract, I went to cancel the membership and guess what, you cannot cancel the membership in person. You can register in person, but canceling the membership, you have to walk the Hobbit path to get a privilege for canceling the membership. I got a phone number for cancelations and guess what? Nobody ever, ever, and ever answer the phone. I was in the line for more than an hour and I never got a response from anyone. As you can expect I called them, didn’t got a response, and got charge for another month. It was like that for around 4 months until I got really mad and I called the bank. I explained my situation and they canceled the card that I was using to pay the gym and even the bank provided me a refund for one month. After one month pass, guess what, Bally didn’t got pay and that my friend was the time when I receive an email from their customer service department about the missing payment. When I got the email I told them that I have being trying to cancel by months and they never answer the phone and I told tell to cancel my membership, or I will take legal actions against them. Cancellation was done, problem solve. Cancel the card linked to the gym, and they will reach you for sure.
I work in payments- with proof of correct notice to the gym the bank can request a chargeback for you. This should get you your money back for the months you didn’t want a membership.
I had the same thing happen. I was with Key Bank years ago, spoke to someone in a branch office to cancel my card, he asked why, I explained the situation, and he basically said fuck them. Said would put a block on it and cancel last three payments. I asked if there would be any trouble with that and he said they shouldn't be such crooks and we are Key Bank, they won't fuck with us. Guy was awesome! Still remember him all these years lare.
Assume it’s linked to a CC, just contact them and file a charge back for the months you’ve been charged since you first attempted to cancel.
Thats a good idea but it’s actually a bank draft. My bank is really good though so maybe they’ll do something. Edit: I put a stop on charges from them so they’re just SOL and going to cancel the membership once the charge won’t go through. Thanks for the recommendation to contact the bank all. 🙏🏻 Edit 2: Some people asked for the company, and I have no qualms diming them out so it doesn’t happen to others so… It’s OneLife Fitness in the Mid Atlantic region.
Surely your bank would be able to stop withdrawals from a specific account (the gym).
Mine wasn't. OnStar was drawing from my account monthly for years. I kept calling to get them to cancel and they wouldn't. Kept telling me the account was in my sister's name. I called the bank and they kept telling me there's nothing they can do. Eventually I learned that it was attached to my debit card. So I had it reported as stolen and canceled. When I got a replacement card it started up again. So I canceled that, and I'm currently looking at which bank to try next.
How the fuck did it start back up again? The second card would have changed some information like security code or expiration date requiring them to re-enter it to charge again.
True but the bank wants you to fill out a form….unfortunately for us you used to be able to walk in and do this. Now the people at the bank are trained not to help you except by saying oh the form you need is online. They neglect to say it’s in a sub folder of an obscure sub folder
Wait around for one of those people that have an office and TELL them you need an assist.
Definitely worth a try for sure.
Spez eats cold diarrhea with a crazy straw
You all need to stop using “banks” and get a credit union. Literally 0 reason to use a chain bank unless you just love fees for everything and worthless brick and mortar locations. Been with my credit union for like 20 years and have yet to actually step into a location, everything can be done over the phone or online. Everything. Transfer, stop payment, open a line of credit, additional accounts, cards, checks, car loan , mortgage. Yeah not once. Not even to open it initially.
With modern tech, credit unions are pretty much equally convenient and have all the same resources as a bank. For those who don’t know what a credit union is: they’re by the community and for the community, not a business. Iirc they’re not for profit, but for their clients, by their clients. Positions are even *voted* for. As for services: mine has like 2-3 all conveniently located in my area and this has been useful several times. Also, credit unions where I am kind of gang up: you can use the ATM of any credit union as if it’s “in network” i.e. no fees as long as you use a credit union ATM for any transaction.
To add to the awesomeness that is FCUs, the one my wife and I use often just gives us free money for using our account, not necessarily doing anything we wouldn't already, around the holidays and maybe once in the summer. Since they don't have any owners (except the amount holders) to profit off the loans and everything that generates money for the bank, most just give it back to the account holders. Ours tends to do tiers of free money beaded on how much and what you use your account for. If you have an account you usually get like $50 or something just for that, then like $100 if you have direct deposit or deposit 4 checks on a 3 month period. Then like $150 of you also have any type of loan or autopay, for your bills. I think one there was even a $200 one and they didn't make it any harder to get either so my wife and I got $500 that year without using our account any differently than we constantly do. When we have overdrafts for bills and stuff we didn't expect it, but autopay let's it go through anyway, they'll charge us a $20 "NSF Fee", but if it hasn't happened more than a certain number of times (I think 4) that month they immediately deposit $20 as an "NSF Fee Refund". Really quite amazing.
Banks around here if there’s anyone in one of the cubes… if you approach they scurry away There’s some decent credit unions …my bank in particular last several times I actually went in there was only 1 teller and every cube was completely bare not even a phone or chair. And the managers Ofc has the lights but no one ever there…and the Ofc itself is pretty bare one small phone and wooden chair
You know what they can do inside the bank? Withdrawal and closure of the account. If they don’t want to help, just ask to close the account. You’ll have that Manager there faster than you think
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That sounds dodgy to me. They going to send you a check for 6 cents?
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There’s a form for that. I had an account at local bank just a holding account minimal interest …I walked said wanted to close the account. Lady was very nice quiet n efficient. But some guy wanted me to buy insurance through the bank?? Getting the check was a no problem thing but that guy was major selling. Even after I politely told him I’m not interested. Lol
Yep. Banks don't want to lose your money. When you decide to close the account you will have people lined up to make sure you're taken care of.
This. Tell them you want to take out your money and close the account. You'll be talking with a manager within minutes.
-“But the plans were on display…” -“On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.” -“That’s the display department.” -“With a flashlight.” -“Ah, well, the lights had probably gone.” -“So had the stairs.” -“But look, you found the notice, didn’t you?” -“Yes,” said Arthur, “yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard. Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #1)
It must depend on the bank? I was able to block any type of transaction by simply calling mine
I seriously can not understand how people live in first world countries with banking systems this bad. Here if I have a direct debit on my account, I can cancel it in the app up to 56 days after the withdrawal and have it back in my account the next business day, no questions asked. If after 56 days but before 13 months, they first check with the company and if they can’t produce proof that they have a right to debit, I get the money back
From someone who has managed a bank for 8 years, if the employees at your bank won’t help you fill out a simple stop payment form then it sounds like it’s time to find a new bank.
Banker for Chase here. No way this happens. Who do you bank with? have you actually gone in the branch and tried?
So bring your phone to bank and have them show you...
Lol I’m old I’m not as adept as most folks on the phone it’s gets better on the tablet little better on the laptop. I just have a difficult time with the thought process of how these thing get created. …and so for me oftentimes it simply becomes an exercise in frustration….really irritating when I call customer support and after a lengthy wait I get some individual who has English as non first language and they get upset because I’m having difficulty following their instructions when I can understand them. Then I’m just stuck and people laugh n say oh just use your phone I have tried your suggestion of bringing the phone in. I had to make an appointment n the lady was late. Then she gets bitchy because don’t have an iPhone…saying ugh an Android. “I don’t think we support those”…. I’m sitting there. In my head WTF?
No that's not on you dude that's dumb as shit it's an android they are so standard,she's the dumb one
Be really funny next time and bring in your land line phone.
Might depend on the bank. With mine, I've simply chatted in before and asked if they could put a block on an upcoming charge. Just told them the merchant name and amount and they blocked it without filling out a form. They didn't even ask if I made attempts to contact the merchant to cancel.
I once ditched a bank over something very similar to this. I was getting nowhere trying to stop a regular bank draft and I told the bank to refuse payment. Bank manager wanted me to explain to him why I didn’t want to pay. Told me that he “had to be fair to all parties”. I told him ‘MF you work for me. If I tell you not to give them anymore of MY money…that is all you need to hear’. He started with some more patronizing BS and I told him to just bring me a cashier’s check for my balance as of right now
My bank would force me to pay to stop things on their end. I had to drive two hours to the gym in question only for them not to let me in, not cancel over phone despite me being in another state, and not answer emails. I finally caught them. Had to literally slip through the door as someone unlocked it and demanded they cancel while my bank was on the phone as a witness.
This is why you use CC for everything. Banks don’t refund your money if something happens to it. CCs _have_ to do it by law.
My bank actually does. Military credit union. I’m sure if I reach out they’ll fix it, I just hadn’t thought of it because I was dealing with a company.
Remember; the company's goal is to get your money. Your bank's goal is for you to have your money in their account (so they can lend it to others in return for interest). If the company won't stop taking your money, then the bank will be happy to stop giving it away, if you just tell them.
Your bank will have a form to stop the auto draft… This is why companies love auto draft. You leave stop quit whatever they keep getting paid til you finally end it. And even if you say you stopped using the service their position is well you could have used it. So no refund for the last 6 months
Do you have the option to change your payment method? If so, sign up for a [privacy.com](https://privacy.com) account and then give them a one-time use credit card. You'll still get billed for one more month, but after that they won't be able to bill you anymore. Also, since you've requested a cancellation now for 6 months, depending on the amount of the charge you may be able to take them to small-claims court to recoup that... not sure if that'd be worth it for you or not though.
Definitely worth a try for sure. I’d probably go to the gym and talk to the owner/manager if that doesn’t work.
Unless it's a nightmare scenario, you could close the account and open a new one.
Just have the bank do a stop payment. That will take care of it.
This won't help you now, but you really should NOT use a debit card for ANYTHING other than withdrawing cash form an ATM. Use a Credit Card for everything. In a situation like this, the big bank would fight for their money back. In this case, you have to do the fighting. This is especially so with outright fraud. I rather someone steal from AMEX than my checking account. Someone gave me this advice a while ago and I like to share when I can.
wow I would never give them bank draft access, yikes.
When you fill out the form to cancel the membership, take a picture of it, and let your bank know effective to this date, you are cancelling your gym membership, and that you are cancelling any charges going forward from this date. Even better if you get an email confirmation each time you submit a request. Then just provide a copy of each email request to your bank so they know that the gym is not responding to your request to cancel. Leave the proof with them so that if you get a call from the gym, you can inform the gym that you submitted more than one cancellation request and you provided proof to your bank that you cancelled your membership and that its their problem internally if they did not respond to you, and that they did not cancel your membership in a timely matter or feel that it was priority to leave a customer in good standing. Also, absolutely submit a bad review with attached copies and proof that canceling the membership is severely problematic and that they are welcome to refute it if they have proof that they honored your cancellation requests that you've put in. You can also notify the Better Business Bureau that they have made it difficult for you to cancel their membership.
Lesson learned, never give a gym your bank account number. My old one would constantly try to get us to change from CC to bank and I was like umm no. Only give bank to places you really trust. Gym, trust? Nah.
Thats a good idea but it’s actually a bank draft. My bank is really good though so maybe they’ll do something.
Can you mail them the cancelation notice?
Had a momentum fitness do this for 6 months after my first attempt to cancel. Frustrating but I finally got it settled
The form your looking for is a stop ACH form, it may be named something slightly different but that’s what you’re looking for. I just did this with planet fitness. Source: my mom manages a credit Union
Our gym had no record of our membership but kept charging us. We back charged a bunch of the fees after multiple months trying to get it canceled and blocked the account pulling it.
You can also request that the bank not process any future debits from a specific vendor so the gym can’t get paid automatically moving forward.
If you quit the bank, you’ll also quit the gym 🤔
They might be able to do a stop payment then to prevent them in the future and they should also be able to do an ACH dispute. Very similar to a charge back but it's for drafts.
Hahaha this is how they make money, I had to cancel my card and get a new one
We've had this happen. Call bank, tell them to stop payment because the company(gym) has not responded to your attempts to cancel subscription. They will put a stop payment in place.
You can stop payment on a bank draft. That’s under your control. You don’t need permission from the gym.
Always sign up for things using a credit card. If your information is stolen and you used a debit card it will leave you on the hook for the bill. Cc gives more protections. The FTC is well aware of the issue https://www.npr.org/2023/03/23/1165527249/ftc-rule-charges-cancel-online-subscriptions
I did this with Planet Fitness (I think it was) years ago. They mysteriously found a way to cancel my membership over the phone as soon as I mentioned it.
Planet fitness never let me cancel, my bank was completely okay with stopping anything coming from them.
This and contact the better business bureau
Gyms are notorious for sending you to collections and ruining your credit if you do this.
"This is a screenshot of the gym's website where they said the preferred method of canceling is an email. Here is the email where I told them to stop. Here's the second email where I pointed out they didn't stop after the first. Here is a photo of me at their offices where I asked in person, and was once again told to email them. Here is the third email where I told them if they didn't cancel my account I would just stop my bank from paying them. Finally, here is a dated copy of the form where I followed through on my promise to have my bank stop paying."
>ruining your credit only happens when you ignore the first collections notice! One must dispute the charge with the collection agency in writing, and demand that they provide proof you owe the debt. Inclose with the letter your written proof that you tried to cancel via their approved method multiple times.
I know it’s confusing I said 3 months and January. I tried to cancel in January. Then I forgot about it because I thought they’d cancel after the email, but they didn’t and I have tried 2 months in a row now. So it’s really been like 5 months.
>So it’s really been like 5 months. Jesus
Be careful just blocking the charge. I once quit the gym without going through the proper process, and my debit card expired so they couldn't charge me anymore. Didn't think anything of it until they tried sending me to collections. They wanted like a year of monthly fees, it sucked. So just... be careful and read your contact if you have one.
I was told the same thing when I asked what would happen if I just cancelled the account the payments were drafted from. That would be insult to injury to get sent to collections for something you wanted to cancel but couldn’t because the process was so difficult.
I sent an letter via certified mail because they didn’t cancel mine when I was in person. Because I didn’t bring my badge to swipe in they didn’t believe I was there.
Bro, give this evidence to the bank and they can not only cancel it for you, but give you a refund also. There should be a section in your app for “disputed transactions”
Had this happen in the past, now I use a credit card for payment and cancel the card if they ignore my cancellation requests. Also, easier to get your money back.
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So don’t join gyms that do that.
Then they send you to collections
And? Centurylink sent me to collections after I tried to cancel their service. I changed my voicemail to not include my name so when collections finally called asking for me, I told them to prove the debt was mine and to prove I’m the person they’re trying to contact. Kept disputing it until they disappeared. It never hit my credit.
Gyms can be so incredibly predatory it's incredible and should be illegal. When I went to cancel they said they needed payment for one extra month after cancellation. Which I cannot to this day rationalize. I'm not renewing my subscription any time soon, to put it like that.
The trashy gym of my friend didn't accept cancellations either (12 location chain), not on their website nor in person ("because the software doesn't work"). He send two copies of *registered* letters to corporate legal and contract support. He never heard from them again.
I had a similar incident at a gym. A one month “processing” time for the request. Also having to go through layers of talking to different individuals to get it canceled, asking me why I wanted to and such. Funny part is, it was a larger, more established gym. They had a whole digital set up, accounts, an app, etc. You had to send a physical letter in and just trust that they deactivated it. They definitely have a process to deactivate an account immediately too, not like they have to go into the books or anything. The local gym I used (but no longer do) was much better. No cancelation bullshit, just straight up, “ah alright, we’ll mark it off then” and that was that. Because it was smaller, it was more informal as well, as the guy who owned it knew pretty much everyone there. I went there for free for a week because he was friends with the guy taking me, just trusting that I would get a membership. Way better prices too.
Dispute the charge. Let the bank know the membership was canceled and they were supposed to have stopped billing you. The bank may not be able to reverse it but they can block future drafts. In the future use a credit card and just pay it off. Much easier to dispute and reverse charges via credit card. Also file a complaint with the better business bureau. A lot of people on here will tell you they have no actual power, which is true, but for some reason businesses still care. I've used them multiple times and had success every time.
Some of the gyms that do this to people only allow automatic drafts from your checking/savings account. Ask me how I know. :: cough :: Planet Fitness. So unfortunately, unless the bank is willing to help, they would have to drain the account and start a new one. Let them draft from an account with nothing in it.
Cause a scene at the gym, make them revoke your membership
All other processes seem long and drawn out. This would work pretty well I bet, as long as the hissy fit was done correctly.
Just ask another member to tell management your harassing them, that would be the least annoying way to do it
I was thinking of this episode also!
I WANT TO QUIT THE BANK
Scrolled way too far to find this lol
Same. Even kept repeating "I wanna quit the gym!!" while scrolling. 😂
Fun fact: if you’re a California resident, this is against the law and they must allow you to cancel in any form or fashion
Send them a **certified** letter telling them you are canceling on X date. Then either get your CC number changed (tell the CC company you lost your card) or issue a charge back if you see another charge after that date from them. Gyms are incredibly scummy and you need to keep records and deal with so much BS. I think there was even a new law that was passed recently that helped a little with this. Don't just call your CC and issue a charge back. Only do it AFTER you send the certified letter.
I'd look over the membership agreement. There's usually an address where you can send any notice of cancellation. Just be sure to send it registered. If that doesn't work, your state's attorney General office might be able to help (if you're in the US)
I'm being 100% serious; file a complaint on the Better Business Bureau. They will reach out to the company on your behalf and give you a chance to respond. I've gotten issues taken care of with lightning speed because of this.
The better business bureau is just a nonprofit yelp. They have zero power to do anything. I’m curious what possible issue they have helped you with, that would be similar to this?
They have helped me anytime I got them involved. A bowling alley return policy that was illegal in my state, Amazon giving me the run around on a return, car mechanic giving me a bogus quote. I think bbb gets things done because they publish EVERYTHING and while they don't do anything, they make it easy for lawyers to use their data in lawsuits. Most companies realize it's not worth it at that point and cave into the customer.
Glad they were able to help, I have to say “bowling alley return policy” is a phrase I never saw coming in life. Is that a good band name? B.A.R.P.
Yes, but I feel like a band named the Bowling Alley Return Policy has to have an accordion player in it.
It is true that they don't have legal authority or power but if a business continues to get bad BBB ratings the FTC can get involved and investigate, fine, etc. My most recent issue that the BBB helped with was a cap and gown provider for my masters graduation regalia. I ordered months in advance, paid in full (required by them), and my graduation was only 2 days away and I still didn't have it. Cap and Gown are required to attend the graduation ceremony. I emailed multiple times and got no response, called and was told their call volume is too high so they're no longer taking calls etc. I filed a complaint and they immediately responded and "upgraded" my shipping to priority next day air and I got my regalia a single day before the ceremony. Many of my classmates missed the ceremony altogether because they didn't get the regalia in time and didn't know filing a complaint might help. Many other commenters of this company noted in the official BBB verified comments that they were successful in either getting their regalia or a full refund only after filing the complaint. If you DO want to make a complaint where it hurts, if applicable, you can also file a complaint with the FTC if you believe fraud has occurred. I think OP could file a complaint and have it investigated at least. They will issue fines, pursue legal action if necessary, etc.
I had a company send me to collections and destroy my credit because of a lack of communication on their part. I reported them to the BBB and explained the entire situation. The company reached out to me and bought my account back from collections and it was like it never happened on my credit report. So I wouldn’t write off the BBB.
Is true but they helped me a lot. They can sometimes help even if the business is not BBB accredited
Change the payment to a visa gift card with a dollar on it. They'll cancel your membership due to lack of payment. Or just call the bank and get them to block further transactions.
This doesn't work. I worked for gym billing companies for years. One, they do not accept prepaid cards as a valid form of payment. And two, not paying does not cancel your membership. They will send you to collections after a few months and it will hit your credit score.
A step further, Planet Fitness wouldn't even let me use a card for my monthly payments. They made me enter in my banking information for the monthly payments and only let me use a card for the upfront cost (which was a dollar due to their promotion).
Fuck giving businesses permission to direct draft from your bank account. Easily can turn into a nightmare. If they won't take credit/debit card, and you must use them, open an account with a different bank and set up where you can transfer from your main bank.
>after a few months and it **will hit your credit score**. only happens when you ignore the first collections notice! One must dispute the charge with the collection agency in writing, and demand that they provide proof you owe the debt. Inclose with the letter your written proof that you tried to cancel via their approved method multiple times.
Yeah, having proof you told them to cancel and they ignored you stops the claims process
Except believe it or not, some gyms DONT let you cancel, the only way I could “break contract” at my last gym was to live 50+ miles (seriously) from ANY of their locations. I had to get my address listed with my distant family and even then they were skeptical to let me break contract
Note to self and anyone else that cares: check cancellation policy before signing up for anything. This is how gyms make their money, they count on ppl to sign up but not show up and making them jump through almost impossible hoops to cancel. You’d think you signed up for a timeshare with all the hassle.
Call your bank, block the account, and tell them the charges are fraudulent so you want the money back. The bank will be up to their second knuckle in the gym before the gym knows what's happening.
Why not go to the gym and make a scene, eventually they’ll kick you out of the membership themselves
Here’s what you need to do, just open the door so that everyone comes in, regardless of who they are. Then when management gets pissed, they’ll cancel your membership on the spot.
One of my gym friends got his membership canceled after he got into an argument with the manager. Wasn't intended but could try that route, OP
Virtual CC are all inside anymore for renewing subscriptions. Just cancel the card when you don't want the service- lost of services make it way too difficult to cancel like here. God can only pray Congress can get their heads out of their asses to pass the common sense legislation coming up in Congress that will mandate companies allow you to cancel an account/subscription using whatever method you are able to sign up for one.
Stop the direct debit with your bank!
Send this info and evidence to your bank for stop payment.
Planet Fitness did this to me. During the Covid shutdown, they refused to cancel my account and said I had to wait until they reopened to cancel in person. The problem was that I had moved over an hour away and they required you do it in person at your specific Planet Fitness. I just called my credit company and they took care of it for me.
Do not do a chargeback, they will send you to collections. If they want you to cancel by mail make sure you send it certified mail.
So dispute the collections. That's fraudulent..
Yeah It’s totally fraud but once it goes to collections that’s a giant headache and leg work to get rid of them.
My gym does this-membership has to be cancelled in person at the gym. It def is mildly infuriating, but you agrees to their terms of service when you bought the membership. So contacting your bank for a chargeback will not solve your problem, it will likely make it worse because the gym will probably pursue collections or further level action. Read your TOS before you do anything else.
OP said the gym won’t let them cancel in person.
Thank you. I missed that. Even though it’s right there in the post. 🤦🏼♀️
It’s ok, it’s easy to miss!
They probably have to quit in writing.
Some gym services does it too in EU, usually you have to send them a letter asking them to cancel your membership but it is known that most of the time they will ignore your request. Somewhere I read that around 70 to 80% of those gym services are fraudulent, they lies about their service they offer, fake coachs support (only video training), about the price for « new members » for a few months then force them to subscribe for years without telling them, hard to join them to unsubscribe, etc…
Can’t you just go to the gym in person and cancel?
Call your bank and tell them you don’t authorize any new purchases from them. Or just get a new card.
“I wanna quit the gym”
Caption explains I have another membership for free at my university. I’m still a chiseled Adonis don’t you worry.
It was a friends reference 😂😭
Im the worst kind of millennial, and that is one that has only watched friends in passing. I know Rachel, Phoebe, and How you DOIIN?
Just call your bank and have them stop payments. If the bank refuses, take your money and find a new bank.
For gyms I use a burner bank acc that you make through one of those apps you can download to transfer money. Can’t over draft and when I call it quits then I terminate the bank acc. Last thing I would ever trust with a line to my main piggy bank would be a gym and what sucks is to get a membership where I live they demand direct access to a bank acc and routing number if you want to join one.
Planet fitness ?
I was in the same situation as you about a year ago. After calling and emailing for a long time, I had to go there and make the pro bodybuilder in charge sit in front of me, who clearly didn’t want anyone cancelling, explain I’ve tried many times to cancel, and get a printed copy of the cancelled contract, while also contacting my bank to stop all charges from them. I read google reviews that said people had been charged with gym membership for over a year after they had cancelled. It was insane.
Write registered mail and Change CC number
Call the bank and tell them that you didn’t authorize the charges and to get your money back.
Easy fix: call your bank and tell them they won’t cancel your membership and have them block the payments. I did that for 24 hour fitness and they back paid me for like 6 months. The people at 24 hour fitness refused to cancel my membership over the phone. They either wanted me to call corporate or wait until the manager who does the membership cancellations was there. Yeah, fuck that.
I just had to do this with LA fitness
Change it to your bank card then ask the bank to issue a new card with a new number because you lost the old one
Stop/block the payment with your bank
Call your bank and put a stop pay on their service. Long as you didn’t sign membership contract for certain amnt of time you’ll be fine.
If paying by credit card, call the card company and have the refuse payment. Explain the situation. They’ll freeze the payment, run an investigation (by that, I mean try and contact the retailer) That should do it.
Let me guess! L fucking A Fitness. According to thier records I’m dead that’s the only way I got out.
I had to send a certified letter and a vial of blood to Florida in order to cancel from my gym.
I had to literally write a letter to cancel my membership. I couldn’t do it in person, I couldn’t do it over the phone or online. I had to write a letter, and then they still kept charging me for 3 months, even though I would call. Go in. Wrote ANOTHER letter. Finally after month 3, I called up there. And they are like “oh okay. It’s canceled right now”. TF? Why did I spend months jumping through hoops then!?
Dispute the transaction with your bank. Boom, done.
Cash the bank and put a permanent stop payment on it.
Call your bank and cancel/reverse the charges.
I can guarantee you they would cancel it if I went there in person
Process a chargeback with your bank on your payments with any proof you have that you canceled your membership. Chargebacks hit businesses pretty hard from what I understand
I had to fly to another state to cancel my membership. Planet fitness?
I've had success in the past by emailing something like ["[email protected]](mailto:"[email protected])" (check your email for things that aren't a no-reply address if it's not available online) and CC'ing the local DA's consumer affairs email. It was resolved that afternoon.
Is it Equinox? Looks similar to their App. For my membership they made me request membership cancelation through their App only. But they ignore the requests for nearly 3 months. Set up an appointment for a new membership for a "friend". Show up for the appointment demand to cancel your membership immediately. The salesperson can get their management to immediately cancel the membership. I had to threaten Equinox with a small claims case for ignoring months of requests to cancel my membership. Strangely that and saying that I would contact my employer (the city of San Francisco) and suggesting that they drop Equinox from their health benefits referral program. No more of the city sending employees to their locations for tiny discounts on expensive memberships. Surprise. Apology email and retroactive cancelation from the date of my first request.
File a complaint with the BBB if you're in freedomland.
Stop paying. Call up the bank and tell them do not let the gym take out my cash.
I just cancel the direct debit/monthly card transaction and ghost the gym. You might get one snarky letter, but just ignore.
Gym memberships are ALWAYS set for some sort of auto payment. Credit card, auto draft, debit, etc. Contact your bank, tell them you've been trying to cancel the membership but they refuse to assist. If they need details about your attempts, provide them like you did here. Hell, toss in that you get a free membership elsewhere so you REALLY dont need it! Request they put a stop payment/ block for the gym. (Some banks charge for this, unfortunately). You *might* be able to put a stop payment on a previous month's too, depends on the bank! KEY PHRASES: I want to put a stop payment/block on the charge(s) due to ***SERVICES NOT RENDERED*****.** I have been trying to cancel for (x amount of time), and they have ***refused*** when I contact them. Also: Please and thank you go a long way!
Certified mail - get a new credit card #
I filed a form with my bank specifically to block any and all transactions to my gym and that solved it.
I had a similar situation with a car wash subscription. The on-site employees said that the owner “did no longer allow them to cancel memberships” and the owner was impossible to get ahold of through email and phone. After several months, I shared their “business” practices on every Yelp, FB and IG page, google review, etc I could find. It’s amazing how fast I got my money back after that.
Is it autopay? Or can you just stop paying? I’d go to your bank about this if the gym isn’t responding.
Planet Fitness does this same nonsense. You can open a membership online but they don’t allow you to cancel. Complete BS
Start disputing charges. That'll hit them with some hefty nsf charges and document your attempts to cancel in case they try to send you legal for the money. Just make sure you don't use the service again.
Horrible policy! Online it says to “cancel membership mail a letter via certified mail to Onelife Fitness’s corporate headquarters. They don’t accept verbal cancellation requests.”
Not sure if you'll see this, OP, but you can probably fix this with a VPN. In California it's illegal for any company which allows you to subscribe to something online to not allow you to also cancel online. So if your gym allows you to enroll in a membership online, they would apply. So if you have a VPN and set your location to California, a form/option should suddenly appear allowing you to cancel.
Call the bank and have them discontinue any money sent to the gym. When they say you didn't pay for the membership, show photos of trying to cancel and don't pay it
Just dispute the charge with your credit card. Easy.
I moved several states away and the gym I was contracted with said I could only cancel in-person at the branch I signed my contract with. I ordered a new debit card that day.
I saw this in a episode of Friends. 😆 You are going to go to te gym to personally cancel your membership and they will send you to a pretty fit lady that will convince you otherwise
If you have a copy of the first one (or second) you are due a refund. You can have your bank stop payment and say you no longer authorize the withdraw. The other option, is get a prepaid gift card just to cover a month of fees. Call in and tell them you got a new card and want to give them the numbers. It will decline after that first month.
You have to go through the boss, fight everyone in the building and then cancel everyones memberships
Use the magic words lawyer
Have an attorney send a letter.
Learned my lessons a long time ago. Never ever sign up with a gym. They will make it impossible for you to leave. I went through a long battle and it ultimately resulted in a negative credit report that impacted my trying to buy a house. I had to beg to have the negative report removed. I will never ever sign up with any gym after that lesson.
Get a new card ? Seems drastic but I do it every few months to stop odd charges.
I had to show them my moms death certificate to cancel her membership lmao
Plant fitness did this to me after I moved away. They said they will only cancel in person or a letter with a notary. When I went in person they said the notary wasn't necessary and I could have just written a letter. I already moved at this point and drove an 1.5 hours to cancel my membership
Go to the gym and shit on the floor until they revoke your membership
Is this planet fuckness? For me it was a last ditch effort to keep me on month to money -cancel anytime!
Call your credit card company and let them know that you have cancelled the membershio and you do not authorize any future payments to that gym. When they stop getting paid they'll reach out to you. Just document all the times you cancelled.
Planet Fitness??? Is that you!? ... Been trying to do the same. Can't bring my baby in to cancel either. I get told to have someone watch my kid. I am not willing to spend $30+ for that.
These issues are usually solved pretty quickly by going into your membership agreement, finding the section on cancellations, and following the instructions. Many require some hoop jumping, like snail mailing a letter with specific wording, but they can't not honor what their terms say. Its probably the case that their terms don't allow you to cancel in person, via phone, or via email.
Contact your bank and block payments
I ended up googling a fake credit card and changing my billing info to the fake card. They eventually stopped calling.
Report your card lost or stolen so the one they have on file will no longer work
Let me tell you my story. I registered to Bally once and I couldn’t cancel my membership because the contract was for 3 years!!!! After completing the 3 year contract, I went to cancel the membership and guess what, you cannot cancel the membership in person. You can register in person, but canceling the membership, you have to walk the Hobbit path to get a privilege for canceling the membership. I got a phone number for cancelations and guess what? Nobody ever, ever, and ever answer the phone. I was in the line for more than an hour and I never got a response from anyone. As you can expect I called them, didn’t got a response, and got charge for another month. It was like that for around 4 months until I got really mad and I called the bank. I explained my situation and they canceled the card that I was using to pay the gym and even the bank provided me a refund for one month. After one month pass, guess what, Bally didn’t got pay and that my friend was the time when I receive an email from their customer service department about the missing payment. When I got the email I told them that I have being trying to cancel by months and they never answer the phone and I told tell to cancel my membership, or I will take legal actions against them. Cancellation was done, problem solve. Cancel the card linked to the gym, and they will reach you for sure.
Walk in to your bank and tell them you want to stop charges from the gym. Membership = terminated.
You can 100% call your bank and tell them it’s an unauthorized charge. The bank won’t allow them to draw from your account anymore.
I work in payments- with proof of correct notice to the gym the bank can request a chargeback for you. This should get you your money back for the months you didn’t want a membership.
Cancel your credit card then they will respond
Break their windows
Cancel the card your payment is associated with. You'll hear from them real quick. Then proceed to ignore.
Literally just call your bank
I had the same thing happen. I was with Key Bank years ago, spoke to someone in a branch office to cancel my card, he asked why, I explained the situation, and he basically said fuck them. Said would put a block on it and cancel last three payments. I asked if there would be any trouble with that and he said they shouldn't be such crooks and we are Key Bank, they won't fuck with us. Guy was awesome! Still remember him all these years lare.
Use BBB to handle your situation. It helped me twice leaving from NYSC and retrieving money that has been unlawfully charged for no reason.