Hello JLife, bit of an embarrassing situation here that has just jumped into my consciousness.
I moved apartments 2 years ago and joined a new local gym. My plan was to cancel my old anytime fitness membership.
Well… I didn’t. Somehow it didn’t make it onto my moving checklist and I totally forgot about it. Key point: at around that time I also got a new credit card. So for the last 2 years I suppose I’ve essentially been not paying for (or using) my old membership at anytime without having really realised it.
I suppose they would have been sending me mail to my old address to request payment.
So my questions:
– how screwed am I? Will I have a horrible credit score? Will they have sold my debt to a third party collection agency?
– what is the best course of action? Contact anytime? I am a bit concerned that they’ll also stick me with a huge bill (9000×24 months) even though I’ve not been using their service… I was still a member. My friends just recommended I bury my head in the sand as I’ve “got away with it” but my concerns with this course of action are all related to point 1 above…
Any advice appreciated!
J
10 comments
Probably nothing will happen as you will lose membership if you stop paying. Maybe after a grace period.
> how screwed am I?
Well, eventually it’ll end up in court.
> Will I have a horrible credit score?
Only if it goes to court and they receive a judgement against you.
> Will they have sold my debt to a third party collection agency?
Very likely.
> what is the best course of action? Contact anytime?
Pre-emptive action is generally advisable. If they have any information that ties to your real ID (driver’s license, residence card copy, etc.) then they can eventually have a summons filed.
> I am a bit concerned that they’ll also stick me with a huge bill (9000×24 months) even though I’ve not been using their service… I was still a member.
That is what quite commonly happens, and is within their legal right.
> My friends just recommended I bury my head in the sand as I’ve “got away with it” but my concerns with this course of action are all related to point 1 above…
These things rarely just go away. Anytime is in the middle of changing payment processors/management so followup will be spotty for a while, but the debt will keep climbing. There have apparently been cases in the court for 4-5 years of unpaid gym fees.
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I was able to convince Asuwell to just take money directly from my bank. When they werent able to take money from my bank, they simply stopped my membership too. As for your credit score, it is most likely unaffected.
As soon as you stop paying you can’t enter the gym anymore. Ask but I think they’ll just probably consider you “gone” and not follow up legally.
it won’t end up in court( the number of members not paying is obscene) .. but it may hurt your credit … if you want to join a gym in the future… or it may not
I pay in cash but and signed up before corona started and just stopped going/paying for many months and when I picked it back up and went in again to pay for the membership again I just paid for the new month and didn’t have to pay for all the months I didn’t pay for but didn’t use the gym for. I think they won’t charge you because you didn’t use the facility.
It’s not like your membership card has been clocking in every month, so surely you can negotiate something. Of course there’s some language on your contract that explains what kind of trouble you’re in
If I was in your shoes, I’d get a copy of the contract and make sure you understand where you stand before calling them to negotiate
If you’re worried about it, go to the gym and explain the situation. Unlikely that you’re on the hook for the full 2 years. Highly doubt that it will end up in court. Companies generally don’t chase after every non-paid invoice as usually it isn’t really worth it. At the end of the day though, nobody on this board knows how they’ll react but my guess it’ll be fine if you have a reasonable explanation. I’m sure you’re not the first person that hasn’t paid their gym bill.
My friend did the exact same thing as you and I had a Japanese friend who works at the gym, he told me they just took him off the members list after 2 missed monthly payments. Figured as he was a foreigner he went back to his home country (which he did).