Fitness First Sues Sick Member for $200
Gym chain Fitness First has taken a former member who says she could not work out due to medical problems to court over a $200 cancellation fee.
54 year old Ms Suh Yuk Chong signed up for membership with the huge gym chain, which operates close to 100 clubs in Australia, then found she could not continue exercising due to her medical conditions which include included lupus [a potentially fatal, chronic autoimmune disease] and sleep apnea.
She was expected to pay a $200 cancellation fee, so Ms Chong took the matter to a legal tribunal claiming she should not have to pay the fee due to her medical conditions.
The tribunal found in favour of Ms Chong in September, but Fitness First appealed the decision and the courts ruled in favour of Fitness First, and ordered her to pay the $200 fee.
Within hours of the decision Fitness First had paid the money back to Ms Chong and said it was forced to pursue the case only to protect the integrity of other businesses.
“We had to appeal not because of her $200 but because of the tribunal’s decision to ignore the contract. Their decision would have an impact on all businesses
Fitness First do have some nice clubs, and their range yogalates is second to none; but if you don’t read the m’ship contract you can find yourself paying more than you bargained. One sure fire way around this is to pay in full, if you get sick or lose interest or whatever, you can transfer the m’ship for a lot less that a cancellation fee.
Apparently, if you want to cancel membership, FF get you to fill and sign a form 7 layers deep. Each sheet is sent off to differing departments. If one sheet is ‘misplaced’, you need to go through the whole process again… could take months I guess.