By: Natasha Archary
Why do gyms make it so difficult to cancel your membership?
Trudie Broekmann, Consumer Law Expert joins Refilwe Moloto on Kaya Biz to give some insight into why signing up to a gym in January is so easy but try cancelling the membership and it feels nearly impossible.
“Trying to get out of a gym membership is almost as difficult as trying to get out of a Telkom contract and have them never bill you again.
If I can give a little bit of legal background, a gym contract is generally a fixed-term contract and traditionally it was a 24-month contract.
A fixed-term contract is one of the areas that the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) was brought in, to even the playing field between suppliers and consumers.
As consumers we were always on the back foot, going up against this colossal, like David and Goliath fight.
What the CPA says for fixed-term contracts, that means the duration of the contract is specified, is that the consumer has the right to cancel the contract at any stage of the contract by giving the supplier 20 business days notice in writing.”
Trudie says this will then mean the contract should come to an end but the member would need to be liable up until the end of the notice period. This means you will need to pay whatever your monthly fees are.
Trudie also says that if the fixed-term contract has almost run its course, it’s illegal for gyms to automatically renew the contract.
This comes down to another provision in the CPA, which states under Section 14 and applies to gym contracts, that the supplier has to give a member notice before the expiry date of the contract.
It has to be not more than 18 days before the end of the contract and not less than 40 business days.
