Tweet
Ruling expected after the Office of Fair Trading warns fitness centres for a second time within a year over unfair agreements
A crackdown on gym contracts that customers cannot cancel is expected next week after the Office of Fair Trading warned fitness centres for a second time within a year not to sign people up to unfair agreements. The OFT is likely to focus on long-term contracts that do not allow members to cancel if their circumstances change. The move comes after a story about LA Fitness published by the Guardian caused a outrage on the social networking website Twitter. The chain had refused to drop fees owed by Hannah, a heavily pregnant woman and her unemployed husband.
The couple, who have a young child, were about to be made homeless and could not afford to pay the remainder of their two-year deal with LA Fitness. Hannah wrote to the Guardian's consumer champions' column for help, but despite repeated arguments by the...Read more here--: Gyms face crackdown on long-term contracts | Money | The Guardian
- Hi & Welcome to the AAD Consumer Forum
We're a FREE consumer debt and legal forum offering help, support and debate in many areas of day-to-day life. You will need to Register a Free Account before you can join in with the discussion and contribute with your own posts. Remember to also check out the FAQ's so you can get to grips with how the forum works ready to start posting your new topics. Read about the new GDPR 2018 Rules and how it affects you as a member of AAD.
ealth and fitness club operators LA Fitness and Dave Whelan Sports ('DWS'), which together have nearly half a million members, and Harlands Group, a gym management company which manages over 900,000 customer contracts, have agreed to give consumers better cancellation rights and make their contract terms more transparent following an OFT investigation. This follows agreement earlier this year by Bannatyne Fitness Limited, David Lloyd Leisure Limited and Fitness First Clubs Limited to change their contract terms. The OFT is also today writing to 20 other health and fitness operators, highlighting contract terms and commercial practices which may be considered unfair and advising them to review their contract terms.
The undertakings to the OFT from LA Fitness, DWS and Harlands Group include:
Cavendish Elithorn, OFT Executive Director, said:
'As a result of our investigation, millions of gym members now have better contract terms, including improved cancellation rights that prevent them being unfairly locked in if their circumstances change. This should be a warning to the rest of the industry that we will not hesitate to take action where we find evidence of consumers being treated unfairly.....Read more here