17 Aug, 2021 → by ClaimboUser837073
Bad attitude, horrible ethics in forcing customers to extend contract term unwillingly

1

I have signed up for a six months package with Fitness First Hong Kong Sheung Wan location, stating to the sales that I am leaving Hong Kong for good by early Feb 2021. By Mid Dec 2020, gyms were closed due to Covid-19, businesses were reimbursed by the government and clients were not charged for the period it was closed. By end of December, I've wrote an email to Fitness First HK asking to early terminate my contract. Their customer service replied that my 6 month contract shall end by late March 2021, and I would have to pay till end of March 2021 regardless. So I stayed on to honor my contract. By late Feb 2021, I emailed the gym again to give them one month notice about my contract termination by end of March. However I was told by their staff that my contract period has been "updated"(without any notice or agreement from my end) that it shall end till end of May. The staff claims that it is Fitness First's policy to charge min 6 months of payments for the 6 month contract. This was no where mentioned in the contract, nor expressed by their sales when I signed up. I have told their sales explicitly that I am leaving HK for good by Feb 2021 before signing up. I still paid one extra month (March) as the min contractual period is 6 months. So I went reasoning with their staff, they simply said it is their internal policy and I have to pay an extra two months even though I wont be using it. By early March, I returned their membership card and told them that I am taking off and will pay till end of March as stated in my contract. By then I have already given my termination notice by email and in person. In May, I received another demand note asking for June payment. Reason being I did not fill out their termination notice form (which I was not told or given when I was giving them my termination notice in person), so the termination notice only kicked in in late May 2021, hence the extra month. This is a complete nonsense and unethical practice so I told them I won't pay more than I am obligated to. Ever since then I've been getting harassment calls from collecting agencies hired by Fitness First at random hours all day everyday. I've shared my email thread with the collecting agencies to prove that my contractual period was only to end of March 2021 as stated by their customer service staff in Dec. The collecting agencies understands my argument yet FF continued to hire the agencies to harass me. I have reached out to Fitness First by email to resolve this matter and they simply ignored my email and sent more collecting agencies to bombard my phone. I am sharing this with whoever out there to watch out for these sick unethical behaviors by FF, and I'll be filing a complaint with Consumer Council to hopefully put this to a stop. I highly advise anyone who is thinking of joining Fitness First to think twice unless you are sure you can commit to a period longer than the contractual period.
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