UPDATE: They cancelled the invoice after me sending them the below link and proving my new adress.
https://www.lex4you.ch/de/monatsthemen/kann-ich-mein-fitnessabo-vorzeitig-kuendigen-wenn-ich-umziehe
Thank you kind user for the tip: You saved me 390 CHF.
Two years ago I joined a local gym with a 12 month contract for 890 CHF. In the contract it stipulates one must cancel 1 month before the end, or it will be auto-renewed.
Important: I do not have a contract signed by both parties. They just e-mailed me a copy of the contract with their signature only.
Now I have moved towns but stupidly forgot to cancel it.
I got an email invoice for the next year, but said I dont want a membership since I moved, please cancel the invoice. The refused and here is where it gets interesting.
They are offering me a "weekend abo" for half price giving me access only in weekends "for people who live out of town". This product is not listed on their website. Even though I told them I will never use this, they insist on me accepting this, since if they make an exception for me they will have to do it for everyone "in my situation" (their words).
All communication is via e-mail.
My arm-chair legal take:
They have already agreed to cancel my contract by offering me a new contract with a completely different setup. Thus nulling and voiding their own rule of renewal. I could legally refuse this and pay nothing.
My two options:
- Pay the 390 CHF and move on with my life. Be glad at least I get a 50% discount for my stupidity.
- Bring the matter to my legal insurance and be difficult, hoping they will just cancel the invoice.
What say you?
https://old.reddit.com/r/Switzerland/comments/1dd6n8a/gym_forcing_me_to_renew_membership_need_advise/
Posted by d1r3cT-0rd3r
30 Comments
I would go for option 1
My reasoning is that my life is personally to short to be worrying about this, I have other things I would rather spend my time and energy on. My fault, my problem
This happens too often unfortunately. When you sign for a gym, it’s not the same as signing for other services like spa or pool. There’s legal intricacies that people don’t read..
You can try to sell your abo online to people who want to join, even give them the option of the 50% weekend thing. See where that pans out. If you can sell it, then you can easily change membership name.
Another thing, ask your gym if they can do a monthly subscription instead of a yearly. If they agree, Pay for one month and cancel atleast 2 weeks before month is finished.
Ask your legal insurance. That’s why you pay them.
3. Set a reminder (like Google Calendar) so you don’t forget to cancel membership next year.
>I do not have a contract signed by both parties.
Doesn’t matter. Such contracts do not need to be in writing, as long as you had a chance to see the terms of service before entering into the contract.
>They have already agreed to cancel my contract by offering me a new contract
No, they have not.
Sorry to say but you don’t have the law on your side.
For the first renewal, they have to send you a reminder for the auto-renewal.
You learnt a valuable lesson here, be glad it was only this cheap
Something if there is no gym near your new place, they can refund you
They’re not forcing you to renew, they’re asking you to comply with the contract you signed one year ago. Take the loss and move on, next time you’ll remember and won’t flush any more money in the toilet
Normally Gym contracts have a clause that you’re allowed to cancel at any moment in case of moving to a distance bigger than X Km from the Gym. Did you check your contract?
That’s why it is so important to read and understand the contract before you sign it. I would suggest contacting them and hope for goodwill. Otherwise, I would just eat the costs, take it as a lesson learned, and move on.
Unfortunately this predatory business tactic is still legal, you’ll probably have to pay:
https://www.konsumentenschutz.ch/online-ratgeber/automatische_verlaengerung_rechtens/
If they don’t have a copy of the contract with your signature, they have nothing. You don’t have to pay.
I think moving is a legal reason to cancel if there are no gyms close by
Gyms are just a scam to rip you off. Read the contract
whats the Gym‘s name?
For future: There is a simple method to turn auto-renewed contracts into fixed term. Sign the contract and hand in the notice on the spot for a year in advance. This way you won’t forget to cancel it.
People – Cancel your gym membership as soon as you have signed up for this very reason. Make sure you get the email that states the membership has been canceled. You can always renew, but make sure you cancel immediately.
100% option 1.
When i was 18 i joined a local Gym with a annual membership fee of 1200. Thats an insane price and fucking stupid from my side to even join them. I was in the gymnasium so my parents payed 600, i payed 300 and the rest the KK.
So as most of the gym journeys, the first 3 month i attended them regularly, then sporadically and after 6 month i quit.
Without a single word they prolonged my contract. My parents were not willing to pay, i was still im gymnasium. Well that really fucked me. They didnt even offer me a buy out clause. I proposed that i pay 300 bearbeitungsgebühren but they wanted all the money.
I blackmailed them and said i will tell all my friends, who are also clients, to quit the membership bc they are only looking for profit and have 0 customer orientation.
In the end i payed nothing lol. But damn that was a hard process.
sadly you probably won’t get far, as this is their business model.
Hell, they sell you a year, you go for 2 months and then quit, that’s how it usually goes for them with most people, that’s how they make money.
People then forget about it and they get another year for free, as they forgot to cancel it.
It’s fucking shady and you should just pay and write a review about them so other people don’t do the same mistake. Always make sure there is no auto-renewal on any long term subs.
I’m afraid you have to pay. Been there, done that. Welcome to the club of people who will never ever subscribe to a fitness anymore. Never. Ever.
Always always cancel any contract with an auto-renew clause right after you sign it so they can’t auto-renew. Also give their predatory practice as a reason and also include an insult in there, they deserve it.
Stand outside the gym and warn every person that walks in about this tactic so it doesn’t happen to anyone else. Once they see you doing this, they will cancel your contract in exchange for you leaving because they don’t want others to be reminded about this.
You don’t have to pay it. Was the automatic renewal clause in the contract itself or in the AGB?
You have been Switzerlanded.
Some gyms let you re-sell the membership to someone else (e.g. NonStop Gym), maybe you could try to explore that option if they let you?
>Now I have moved towns but stupidly forgot to cancel it.
And now you’re gonna give them more money as a reminder to not “stupidly forget” next time.
Your legal insurance has a hotline. Call them for advice, that’s why you pay the yearly premium after all.
If the automatic renewal is stated in the contract itself you probably won’t get out of it. If the automatic renewal is however only mentioned in the AGB you’re probably good to just ignore them.
Unexpected changes to the contract that are only mentioned in the AGB have to be specifically pointed out by the other party prior to signing the contract. In other words, if they didn’t tell you about the automatic renewal and only put it in the AGB, you can ignore it.
A gym once did this to me. There was no way out of it aside from transferring to someone else. So I waited at the desk and when someone came to subscribe I offered them my membership for half price and told them to cancel on the spot so there isn’t a renewal charge. I only saved 50% but the gym also lost.