Arizona AG asking gyms to change in-person membership cancellation policies
Independent Newsmedia
Posted 4/1/20
Arizona's attorney general is calling for some of the biggest gyms in the state to allow members to cancel their plans in other ways than in person due to COVID-19.
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Arizona AG asking gyms to change in-person membership cancellation policies
Posted
Independent Newsmedia
Arizona's attorney general is calling for some of the biggest gyms in the state to allow members to cancel their plans in other ways than in person due to COVID-19.
Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced Thursday that his office has sent letters to three gyms with locations in Arizona — Life Time Fitness, Mountainside Fitness, and Planet Fitness — encouraging them to change in-person cancellation policies.
In the letters, the Attorney General's Office urges the gyms to allow consumers to cancel their memberships remotely during, at a minimum, the time a national and state health emergency is in place.
Also, gyms have not been categorized as an essential service by Gov. Doug Ducey's executive order and therefore are not open in Arizona. Despite being closed to the public, each gym has indicated on its website that consumers are still required to cancel in-person, according to a release.
“In a time when Arizonans are being advised to stay home and social distance, businesses shouldn’t be requiring customers to cancel memberships in person when they're not even open to the public,” Mr. Brnovich stated. “While I recognize these businesses are facing difficult times like all Arizonans, gyms should remove boilerplate cancellation policies and adopt a transparent, common-sense approach that does not force consumers to put themselves at risk.”
The letters question both the legality of requiring in-person cancellation in general and specifically during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The AGO recently launched a COVID-19 Consumer Protection webpage that contains up-to-date warnings about emerging scams and includes links to the latest information from the AGO and other consumer authorities.
If you believe you have been the victim of consumer fraud, you can file a consumer complaint by visiting the Attorney General’s website. If you need a complaint form sent to you, you can contact the Attorney General’s Office in Phoenix at (602) 542-5763, in Tucson at (520) 628-6648, or outside the Phoenix and Tucson metro areas at (800) 352-8431.
Independent Newsmedia is reaching out to each gym chain about their policies.
Life Time sent the following statement:
"I would like to confirm that we have been and are, in fact, accepting email – in addition to U.S. mail which has been accepted for the past several years — as a method of providing notice of membership cancellation during this time. The standard cancellation notice still applies; however, no membership dues will be assessed until the clubs reopen. Members also have the option of putting their memberships on hold during this time period."
