Hello, I am trying to get some advice about gym memberships. In January of 2009 I signed a contract for a 1 year gym/martial arts membership (Atlanta, Ga) and on July 14, 2009, I received a text from one of the instructors stating "the gym is now closed and students can commute to one of their other gyms," which is 20 miles away! I tried contacting the new gym owner via email telling him the gym was too far and I needed to cancel the membership. He admitted that the gym was inconvenient for the members to travel to and proceeded to say he had worked out an arrangement with a gym that was three miles away and all the members could go there instead! I proceeded to tell him I didn't sign a contract with that gym and the gym is not comparable to what I signed up for! He said that was the only options I had and couldn't release me from my contract. So, when the first bill arrived I sent this certified letter requesting cancellation: VIA CERTIFIED REGISTERED MAIL RE: CANCELLATION NOTICE - Martial Arts Student Agreement No. 5847- 12973 (the â??Agreementâ?), dated December 15, 2008, by and between (the â??Studentâ?) and (the â??Schoolâ?); School Number 4726 (the â??XXX Campusâ?); Member Rep. Number 211. To whom it may concern: Please accept this letter as formal written notice that Student is exercising its right to cancel the above-referenced Agreement, effective July 20, 2009, and to discharge any remaining enrollment fees owed under the Agreement. Please find attached a copy of the Agreement for your immediate reference. Student was advised via a text message from an instructor on July 14, 2009 that the xxxtown Campus of the School had permanently closed and that all student services were being transferred to the xxxx Campus. Furthermore, Studentâ??s financing of enrollment fees under ABC Financial Services were being assigned to Duvera Financial. Because the xxxtown Campus closed before Student could complete the services expressed or otherwise implied in the Agreement to be satisfied at the xxxtown Campus, Student is exercising its right to cancel the Agreement and subsequently discharge any remaining enrollment fees. I might also mention that pursuant to the Agreement, the Expiration Date is January 15, 2010; however, the record of ABC Financial Services contains a scrivenerâ??s error and defines the Expiration Date of January 15, 2011. July 20, 2009 Upon receipt of this notice, please forward to my attention a written response confirming the cancellation of this Agreement and the discharge of any remaining enrollment fees. If I should not receive a response within fifteen (15) business days from the date of this letter, I will turn this matter over to my attorney for resolution. While the School may not be governed as a â??Health Spaâ? under O.C.G.A Section 10-1-393.2, there are other legal rights afforded to the Student as a result of the aforementioned campus closure; therefore, I urge the School to govern itself accordingly. Sincerely, I sent this letter twice to ABC and once to Duvera Financial. I copied them both and received delivery confirmations. Now I just received my first letter from a collection agency. What should I do? Thanks for any help!!!
Check with your state's Attorney General. It sounds like you'll either need to enlist the help of someone with some real muscle or file suit on the grounds that they made it too difficult for you to use the service. This may or may not constitute a "material change" in the contract. This sounds like a matter that falls outside of consumer credit issues. The issue isn't really between you and the CA, it's between you and the gym. The CA will not (and should not) determine whether or not the gym caused you harm, they've simply been hired to collect a bill. It's kind of like telling a CA that you don't owe an AT&T bill because you didn't like your signal reception.
