If you’ve ever felt like canceling your LA Fitness membership was harder than running a marathon, you’re not alone, and now, the federal government is stepping in.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed a lawsuit against LA Fitness parent company Fitness International and its subsidiary Fitness & Sports Clubs, accusing them of using “unfair and unlawful” tactics to make it nearly impossible for customers to cancel their memberships.
According to the FTC’s complaint, the gym chain has raked in hundreds of millions in unwanted recurring charges through these complicated cancellation procedures.
“The FTC’s complaint describes a scenario that too many Americans have experienced — a gym membership that seems impossible to cancel,” said Christopher Mufarrige, Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, in a statement.
The Fine Print (and the Pain Points)
LA Fitness, along with brands like Esporta Fitness, City Sports Club, and Club Studio, all owned by Fitness International, operates over 600 clubs nationwide with 3.7 million members. The FTC says many of those members have struggled to cancel their accounts, facing a choice between two frustrating options: going into a gym in person or sending a cancellation form by mail.
Both options come with unnecessary hurdles. Canceling in person often requires finding a manager during limited hours, while mailing in a form means printing it from the website (assuming you can log in), paying postage, and hoping it doesn’t get lost in the shuffle.
The FTC called the process “opaque, complicated, and demanding,” and claims the company has failed to adequately disclose these policies up front, often signing consumers up for recurring services with different cancellation rules.
“Click to Cancel”? Not Quite
Although LA Fitness now offers online cancellations for certain subscription types, the FTC says even that option is hard to find and still puts unnecessary burdens on users. Notably, customers still can’t cancel their memberships through the mobile app.
This lawsuit comes as the FTC tries to enforce new “click to cancel” rules to protect consumers across industries, an effort that’s been met with legal pushback and is currently paused by a federal appeals court.
What the FTC Wants
In its suit, the FTC is seeking:
- A court order to block LA Fitness from continuing its alleged practices.
- Refunds for consumers who’ve been affected by the complicated cancellation process.
As of now, Fitness International hasn’t issued a comment on the case.
A Pattern in the Fitness Industry
This isn’t the first time a major gym has come under fire for shady cancellation practices, but the FTC’s latest action is one of the most high-profile crackdowns on the issue.
