Planet Fitness users find loophole for ‘inconvenient’ canceling policy

PLANET Fitness users were frustrated with the gym after realizing they’d have to jump through hoops to cancel their memberships.

The discount gym offers limited cancelation methods, but some members found a loophole in the policy.

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Planet Fitness has made it tough for users to cancel their memberships, offering only two main ways to do so.

Fitness fanatics can either visit their home club in person to cancel their memberships or mail a written notification to their home club requesting to cancel, according to the chain’s website.

Based on membership type and home club location, some Planet Fitness members may be eligible to cancel their membership online.

Some users called out the gym in the A**hole Design thread on Reddit.

“How is this still acceptable business practice in 2024 when the World Wide Web is over 30 years old?” asked one member in a post from January.

“I know this is probably a common complaint but f*** gyms that do this,” they fumed.

“Planet Fitness has one of the worst sign-up/cancelation procedures of any gym,” concurred another member.

“They need to have an instant unsubscribe option like other membership services,” wrote a third. “They’re counting on you to say, ‘It’s more inconvenient for me to keep my membership than to cancel in person.'”

EASY OUT

A Planet Fitness member found a loophole in the strict cancelation policy and shared a “pro tip.”

They suggested visiting the chain’s website and changing your home club and address to somewhere in California, claiming Planet Fitness would then permit you to cancel your membership online.

“Just canceled my membership a couple weeks ago doing this,” they said.

Several Redditors noted that California law requires gyms with online options for signing up to offer consumers an online option to cancel gym memberships.

Others, however, pointed out issues they encountered with the loophole.

One member said the change address option online “conveniently sucks a**” and regularly failed to work.

Gym Cancelation Laws

Planet Fitness is one of several gyms that don’t permit online membership cancelations.

However, certain US states have enacted laws that require gyms offering online sign-ups to also provide online cancelation options.

Several of these states include:

• California
• New York
• New Jersey
• Illinois

Another Planet Fitness user shared they had forgotten their password but the chain would never send the email to change it.

“I actually wonder if the system is broken on purpose,” they wrote.

Other Planet Fitness users shared alternatives for halting membership payments.

One said they moved continents yet the gym insisted they come back to the US to cancel their membership, so the user changed their credit card information to “an obviously fake number.”

“They never followed up for payment and about a year later they canceled my account,” wrote the user.

Another gym member suggested disputing the charge.

“Then it becomes someone else’s problem. I’ve done this with several subscription services that wouldn’t take no for an answer,” they said.

One Planet Fitness user canceled their membership after “gym attire” got them kicked out.

Plus, a gym user canceled their membership two years ago and was still charged – they were refused a refund because of the fine print.