Fitness fiasco: NYC launches compliance blitz to crackdown on gym membership ‘subscription traps’
Fitness buffs work up a sweat at HIIT the Deck Boxing Gym. Photo by Gabriele Holtermann
NYC is helping its residents enjoy healthy, fun and scam-free workouts at gyms across the Big Apple through a new warning initiative launched on Thursday.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani, along with the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) launched a citywide crackdown on “subscription traps,” sending warning notices to 187 big-name gyms and health clubs, including PureGym, Planet Fitness and Equinox.
The action, according to the mayor, targets “hard-to-cancel” memberships and deceptive advertising. City officials began sending the warning letters on Feb. 19.
The letters urge businesses to comply with state law governing membership cancellations and with the city’s Consumer Protection law, which prohibits deceptive advertising, like bait-and-switch pricing, that makes cancellations intentionally difficult. The outreach follows Mamdani’s Jan. 5 executive order directing the DCWP to lead a citywide crackdown on hidden junk fees and subscription traps.
Common membership and subscription traps at gyms include misleading free trials, automatic renewal and simply making it difficult to cancel a membership.
“New Yorkers shouldn’t need a personal trainer to cancel a gym membership,” Mamdani said. “If a company makes it easy to sign up but nearly impossible to walk away, we will enforce the law and protect your time and your money.”
amNewYork called and emailed Equinox , PureGym, and others to ask about their cancellation policies and their responses to the mayor’s compliance blitz, and is awaiting responses from each company.
A review of major gym websites, including those cited by the DCWP, showed a lack of transparency regarding cancellation policies.
Planet Fitness offered the most readily accessible information, though amNewYork still had to navigate multiple tabs to find it.
“To end your membership, we offer multiple convenient ways for you to manage your account,” information reads. “You can send written notification via mail to your home club requesting to end your membership, visiting your home club in person, or logging into your account online through the member portal on the website. Some policies and procedures may vary by location based on state and local guidelines. If you have additional questions, please contact your home club.”
A spokesperson for the gym chain said the company is in compliance with local and state requirements.
“At Planet Fitness, we are proud of our mission to provide an exceptional member experience, and we believe our policies are already in accordance with applicable local and state requirements,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing to offer a welcoming, affordable and high value fitness experience to NYC residents.”
Gym membership traps in NYC
New York gym-goers are applauding the administration’s effort. Some New Yorkers said they choose to work out by running or frequenting smaller, community gyms to avoid the hassles that sometimes coincide with larger wellness centers.
Rich Candia of Staten Island has been going to the same local for 1,520 consecutive days in a row. After experiencing poor customer service at other gyms several years ago, he is happy he found a place that works for him.
“I really believe that many of these facilities rely on the revenue from people that never bother to cancel their membership,” he said. “They need to make the process effortless. I think that they make it difficult on purpose so that they continue to collect the revenue from people that are no longer using the facility and sometimes this can go on for years.”
Sylvia, another Staten Island resident, said she changed her bank card so LA Fitness would not keep charging her after she wanted to cancel.
“I asked to cancel, but I was told I couldn’t,” she said. “No more gyms for me.”
Sylvia’s experience is not uncommon. According to the DCWP, the department received dozens of complaints from consumers struggling to cancel their gym memberships.
“Going to the gym is good for your health, but having to jump through hoops to cancel an unwanted membership is a waste of your time and money,” DCWP Commissioner Sam Levine said.
He added that the city’s new warning to gyms makes clear that DCWP will take “aggressive enforcement action against gyms using deceptive tactics that hurt consumers, as well as honest businesses playing by the rules.”
