Who is responsible for catching a lapsed gym membership?

August 23, 2010 12:10 PM

My gym never notified me that my membership had lapsed, until today - 14 months after the fact. They want me to pay for the 14 months. Should I have to pay it?

I signed up for a yearlong gym membership a few years ago. I assumed that when my membership lapsed, my card would stop working, and that the gym would let me know that it was time to renew my membership. Or, at the very least, they would charge my credit card. As it turned out, nothing happened to notify me that my membership had lapsed for a full 14 months. I have continued to use the gym during this 14 month period.

Now they want me to pay for the lapsed year, and if I want to continue to use the gym, to purchase a new membership. I feel that the fault is theirs for failing to notify me that my membership has lapsed, and that I should not have to pay a full year membership for that year.

I'm willing to work something out with the gym, but the fact is, I can't afford to pay for the lapsed year, plus an additional year. How do you think I should handle this? Should I have to pay for the full 14 months? Should I pay a discounted rate for the lapsed time? Or should I not have to pay for it at all?

posted by anonymous to Health & Fitness (40 answers total)

If you used the service, you have to pay for it. You need to talk to the gym about setting up a payment plan.
posted by mr_roboto at 12:13 PM on August 23, 2010 [6 favorites]

Wow, seriously? You used a service for 14 months. Pay for it.
posted by telegraph at 12:14 PM on August 23, 2010 [11 favorites]

Now they want me to pay for the lapsed year, and if I want to continue to use the gym, to purchase a new membership.

I fail to see any justification for you not paying in any way. You used the gym, you were aware that you were supposed to pay for it, yet continued to use it after it expired. Why on earth do you think that you deserve a discount because they didn't chase you for money earlier?

If you couldn't afford to use a gym, then you shouldn't have kept using it.

Should I have to pay for the full 14 months?

Hell, yes.
posted by Brockles at 12:14 PM on August 23, 2010 [3 favorites]

You continued to use the gym. You're responsible for the cost. Still, you might try having a chat with the manager about their billing practices.
posted by smorange at 12:15 PM on August 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

I have continued to use the gym during this 14 month period.

Let me get this straight: your gym membership was paid through a certain date, and (because of an error that you were aware of and did not inform them about) your membership kept working for over a year after that without you paying, while you made full use of the (unpaid-for) services? I'm sorry you can't afford to pay for it, but the situation seems pretty clear to me.
posted by advil at 12:15 PM on August 23, 2010

I can't afford to pay for the lapsed year, plus an additional year.

Then you will cancel your membership immediately and pay off your debts. Sorry.
posted by thejoshu at 12:16 PM on August 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

You seem to have known full well that your membership expired after one year, yet you continued to use the gym?

Obviously the gym should have had better control of their membership and accounting system, but if you did in fact continue to use the facility even though you knew your membership had expired, well... you just got called out on your freeloading.

Legally I don't know what the answer is, but morally I do. Pay them back for the 14 months. See if they'll agree to a payment plan.

Suck it up and do the right thing.
posted by matty at 12:16 PM on August 23, 2010

They did not provide good customer service, but this doesn't mean that you shouldn't pay. Legally, I'm not sure that they can come after you for the money. Morally, you owe them money for a service that you used. It's tough to believe that you forgot for 14 months that you weren't being charged, because you were waiting for the gym to tell you. You had some responsibility to follow up here, if you knew that you were continuing to use their services without paying.
posted by SpacemanStix at 12:19 PM on August 23, 2010

The honest thing to do is to pay for the year you continued to use the gym after your membership lapsed. Yes, for the sake of their own best interests, they should have caught that you were using the gym for free. But it sounds like you knew very well that you should have been paying for it and just went right on enjoying your free ride. The gym should have the right to correct its mistakes. If you "can't afford" to pay for two years at once, find out if they're amenable to a payment plan — but I'm wondering what you did with the money you'd budgeted for gym payments last year. If you can't pay your debt to them and maintain payments for current gym use, quit for the next year and just go jogging and do some workout videos or some such.

That's the morally responsible thing to do. The morally irresponsible thing to do is quit that gym and join another and wait and see if your former gym has grounds to take you to small claims court or whatever.
posted by orange swan at 12:19 PM on August 23, 2010

You signed up for a year A FEW YEARS AGO and kept using the service. Yes, you have to pay. You are fully aware that you used the service. Talk to billing but don't expect any special snowflake breaks on the cost.
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 12:24 PM on August 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

The only thing I can see making sense here is that if there's a new member/joining fee (in addition to monthly fees) and they want you to pay that a second time because your membership lapsed, that might be unfair. But you are definitely on the hook for the monthly/quarterly/whatever fees for the time you used the gym.
posted by needs more cowbell at 12:28 PM on August 23, 2010

I feel that the fault is theirs for failing to notify me that my membership has lapsed

It's your own responsibility to keep track of when memberships lapse. Next time you sign up for something, just put a quick note to yourself on the calendar of your choice.
posted by corey flood at 12:29 PM on August 23, 2010

Your headline—Who is responsible for catching a lapsed gym membership?—is telling.

Who's responsible for catching it? Honestly, it doesn't matter. The real question that you seem to be avoiding: Who's responsible for paying for a service that the customer used for 14 months? The customer, not the provider. If you can't pay for the additional year, then you'll have to quit, but either way you're responsible for the past year.
posted by blazingunicorn at 12:29 PM on August 23, 2010

I'm not sure why you think you should not have to pay for services that you used. It's not as though you didn't know you were using it.
posted by DWRoelands at 12:29 PM on August 23, 2010 [2 favorites]

As it turned out, nothing happened to notify me that my membership had lapsed for a full 14 months.

Except, you know, that you were never charged for that time, and apparently never checked your credit card bill to see that.
posted by The Michael The at 12:30 PM on August 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

If this happened to you, it could've happened to a lot of people- what a shitty payment tracking system they must have, that someone could keep coming to the gym for over a year without paying. I would try to negotiate on the balance for the months you weren't being billed- perhaps they'd be willing to give you some months for free.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 12:30 PM on August 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

Because they didn't catch it, they might be willing to let you pay in installments.
posted by small_ruminant at 12:30 PM on August 23, 2010

I feel that the fault is theirs for failing to notify me that my membership has lapsed, and that I should not have to pay a full year membership for that year.

Yeah that didn't work when I was 19, got hit with a late charge and told Discover "I didn't get a bill so I didn't know I had to pay!"

Sorry, it doesn't hold water here either. You knew you were getting something for nothing. You were taking a risk that you calculated would benefit you. And it did... for well over a year. But now the gravy train is over.

The right thing to do is pay for your last 14 months. If you wish to continue with the gym, you'll pony up for those services as well. You can certainly have a word with the manager, after you pay for the 14 months, about their billing practices and timely charges if it makes you feel any better.
posted by jerseygirl at 12:38 PM on August 23, 2010

As it turned out, nothing happened to notify me that my membership had lapsed for a full 14 months.

Your own brain notified you, dude.

So it's not that you weren't notified, it's that nobody tried to force you to pay up. Do you really want to be the sort of person who will take things that they know aren't free, and won't pay unless they are forced to/"caught?"

Could it be that they might have even been letting it slide not because of lackadaisical customer service, but because they assumed good faith on your part and assumed you would pay up, and didn't want to put you in the position of being hounded? That sort of thing happens in places with a lot of "regulars" where it's a community of sorts.
posted by Ashley801 at 12:38 PM on August 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

I feel that the fault is theirs for failing to notify me that my membership has lapsed, and that I should not have to pay a full year membership for that year.

Imagine a situation where a gym autobills on the first of the month, but auto-cancels if you don't show up in the previous month. Except that the auto-cancellation checker doesn't work, and you get billed for 14 months before you notice the charges. Whose fault is that?

You thought you'd got one over on them, and got caught; pay up, take it as a lesson learned, and stop trawling for excuses.
posted by holgate at 12:39 PM on August 23, 2010 [3 favorites]

This happened to me yeeeeeears ago when I moved from NYC back to Philly and NY Sports Club continued charging me for the next nine months or so months. I guess the small print says that you need to cancel in writing whereas I spoke with one of the branch managers and canceled in person, which at the time I was told was sufficient. I went in to discuss it in person with the same manager who I canceled with and they negotiated a settlement with me that was considerably less than what I owed but it was still a major tax on me for being a moron who doesn't check his bank statements.
posted by The Straightener at 12:47 PM on August 23, 2010

So let's say you have a client. They agree that they'll pay you $50 for a widget, terms are net 30 days. You send the widgets and say, I'll be sending you a bill. Thanks!

The client receives his widgets, loves them. You forget to send the bill.

Does the client no longer owe you the money when you realize in 120 days that you haven't received his check?

We all know the answer here.
posted by bilabial at 1:00 PM on August 23, 2010

You definitely have to pay the full amount. But I can sympathize that it's annoying to get hit with more than a year of back payments all at once, especially if you were operating under the assumption that it had been taken care of. Recently someone cashed a check I had written eight or nine months ago and it caused me to overdraft (I had the money, but not in that account) -- he was certainly well within his legal rights and I should have been keeping a better record, but I would have still appreciated a heads-up.

If I were in this situation I would approach the gym and see if you could work out a payment plan of some kind, keeping in mind that they are not under any obligation to let you off the hook here. It would probably help to be straightforward and apologetic: don't try to imply that they are at fault. They may also be more willing to strike a deal with you if it includes paying for the coming year. If that doesn't work out, I think your only real recourse is to borrow the money and/or use a credit card (or come up with the money in some more creative, less high-interest way).
posted by en forme de poire at 1:01 PM on August 23, 2010

If I were the owner-manager of this gym here's what I'd be willing to do for you: continue your membership and pay this time for at least 14 more months and I'll forgive the money you owe; if you leave or cancel for any reason, you owe me the fees you would have paid if you'd gone the full 14 months.

I'd do this because I think it would maximize my profits given the possibility you'd continue your membership beyond that 14 month period.

You clearly do owe the money, but the best interests of the gym lie not in blind enforcement of contracts, but in maximizing profits.
posted by jamjam at 1:13 PM on August 23, 2010

I don't think the OP tried to cheat the system, but rather assumed that the credit card was auto-charged at the appropriate time and that's why the membership kept working. And of course, the #1 time that gym memberships get cancelled is when it's time to pay for another year of service. So letting you accrue a year's worth of debt and then trying to collect after-the-fact could be construed as shady behavior on the part of the gym. Yes, the ethical thing to do would be to pay for the time you used. Practically speaking, if the gym wants to retain you as a customer they'll probably work something out, if not you can probably walk away and go to another gym (not legal advice).
posted by unrulychild at 1:23 PM on August 23, 2010 [4 favorites]

My first piece of advice is to ignore all the rudeness in this thread.

My second piece of advice is to look into how you can pay back the past 14 months. If they want you to sign up again with new fees or increased rates, I would say it's time to look for a new gym that will give you a decent deal. If you can somehow find a way to get workouts in for the next four months than you could easily get a great sign up deal there or probably somewhere else for the new year.
posted by P.o.B. at 1:25 PM on August 23, 2010

I'm not clear on whether or not you knew you weren't getting billed. I don't look at my bank statements closely and I could easily go months without noticing that I wasn't getting billed. If my key fob worked I'd assume all was well with my account. So I do think this is mostly the gym's fault. Whether it's an honest mistake on your part or you took advantage of the situation doesn't really matter that much at this point. Many states have specific consumer protection laws related to gym and other membership billing, so you may want to investigate that to see if it applies. To extract yourself from the issue, I'd plead ignorance to not being billed - didn't notice - you're bad, but you don't have 14 months of a lump sum payment available. I suspect you locking in another year or 2 of membership will make it go away. In the end, the gym hasn't lost anything as there isn't any variable cost to your being a member. It's not like you were receiving a physical product every month and not paying for it.
posted by COD at 1:29 PM on August 23, 2010 [6 favorites]

Either a) You tried to work the system or b) you weren't on top of your finances, making sure that the automatic credit card charge happened. Unfortunately, either way, it's your fault. Try to work out a payment plan, I bet they'll be willing to accommodate you.
posted by coupdefoudre at 1:34 PM on August 23, 2010

This is almost exactly what happened with my roommate and the internet bill.

He paid the bill for a little while, then stopped sending in payments (without my knowledge). We still continued to get internet at the apartment. Presumably, Comcast sent him past due statements with each month's bill, but he's usually the one around to get the mail so I don't know. A month ago, the internet turned off. I called Comcast to see if there was an outage, and they told me the bill hadn't been paid in at least 5 months.

I confronted the roommate about this and he said that they should have turned it off sooner or called him to let him know. He called Comcast to get the internet turned on for the several remaining weeks on our lease, and Comcast wanted him to pay the past due balance before turning on the service again. (Well, duh.) But he balked at the idea; how dare they require him to pay for services he had already received before letting him use the service again?

You used the gym just like my roommate used the internet. It is not unreasonable at all for the gym to want you to pay for back services, especially if you intend to sign up for another year. If you really have a problem with it, switch gyms.
posted by phunniemee at 1:37 PM on August 23, 2010

He paid the bill for a little while, then stopped sending in payments (without my knowledge). Presumably, Comcast sent him past due statements with each month's bill, but he's usually the one around to get the mail so I don't know.

I don't know how similar this is. Sending in a few payments sort of implies that you know how the billing is supposed to work. My read on the question is that the OP never got a bill and seems to have been under the impression it was being renewed automatically, in which case you might not expect to see a physical bill. To me that seems a little more understandable than what happened with your roommate, which seems more like just blatant deception or carelessness (by the way - yikes! sorry about that).
posted by en forme de poire at 1:47 PM on August 23, 2010 [2 favorites]

I don't know how similar this is.

Whoops! I left out a crucial part of my no-internet sob story!

I confronted the roommate about this and he said that they should have turned it off sooner or called him to let him know...

...because he said he thought he had automatic payments. I said, "oh, I didn't realize Comcast had auto pay, when did you sign up." His answer? "Well, I didn't, I thought they just did it...automatically."

Wut.
posted by phunniemee at 2:08 PM on August 23, 2010 [2 favorites]

If it was me, I would switch to a new gym and, if the fees had originally been paid by bank draft, get in touch with my bank to make sure they can't take any more. If the gym had not wanted you to go there without paying, they should have stopped you from going in when you stopped giving them money.

Of course, I'm not an insufferable holier-than-thou.
posted by frobozz at 2:10 PM on August 23, 2010 [2 favorites]

Do you have the original contract for the one-year membership? Check the fine print. If there's anything that indicates that time beyond the one year will be billed monthly or anything else requiring termination from your part, I think you should accept responsibility for paying. If the membership was supposed to automatically terminate, then it was lousy of you to keep using the service but they probably can't come after you for the money. If it's the latter case and you can't afford to pay, then cease use of their facilities and never return again - you exploited a loophole, but don't expect them to just accept that and welcome you back on normal terms.
posted by Terriniski at 3:23 PM on August 23, 2010

You thought you'd got one over on them, and got caught...

Yes ... it's akin to folks who have been getting free cable service and when Comcast, Time Warner, etc. catch the mistake they seek back payment for services rendered.

Sorry, no free ride is due you in this situation.
posted by ericb at 4:14 PM on August 23, 2010

Hm. I think they have an obligation to tell you that your membership has lapsed and charge you accordingly.

I didn't keep track of my dining hall meals very carefully this year, and figured that when I ran out of meals each week, my card would stop working. I think my meal plan was for 15 meals a week, and I doubt that I ever went above 18 or so. Some weeks I'm sure I didn't use all 15. It's just not something that I really thought much about, and I certainly wasn't trying to cheat the system.

Until the end of the year, when they tried to bill me almost $700 (at $9.00 a meal, usually for oatmeal and coffee.) If I had known at the time that I was going over my allotted meals, I would have headed right back to my room for some .99 cent Top Ramen.

Although you (and I) should have been more careful, it's sort of sleazy for them to "trap" you into those 14 months retroactively. They should have informed you when your membership was due, and at that time given you the choice to continue and be charged, or stop coming.

With that being said, you used the gym and I ate the (crappy) food. You owe them something-- but I don't think that it should be the entire "past due" membership. See if they'll waive it if you sign a two year contract going forward.
posted by karminai at 6:05 PM on August 23, 2010

I don't think this is exactly like your dining hall problem karminai. With the dining hall, you agreed to a level of service (15 meals/week) with a fixed prepaid cost, and you expected to be notified before additional costs incurred, not a particularly unreasonable expectation. However with the gym membership, you agree to a fixed annual charge in exchange for unlimited service, continue to use that service, but a mistake causes you to not be charged until much later. The dining hall confronted you with costs you didn't intend to incur, while the gym just wants to charge you for the exact service you agreed to and continued to use throughout the year.

You got 14 months of float on your balance, that's your "reward" for the gym's mistake. The gym owes it to you to be reasonable in terms of working out a payment plan, because the large unexpected cost is due to their error, but you owe them the fees for the service you agreed to and used. If you're upfront with them about your inability to afford this and renew your membership, it is certainly in their interest to cut you a small break if you sign a new contract, but that's their option, not yours. Honestly, I'd look into finding a new gym, because these folks don't sound like someone you want to be doing business with, but even if you leave, you owe them for what you used and agreed to pay.
posted by zachlipton at 6:57 PM on August 23, 2010

Now, assuming the OP is an innocent victim that didn't find out about this error until recently, he's morally obligated to pay this debt since both parties thought there was an agreement. How this debt should be paid must still be agreed upon by both parties.

OTOH, since the gym did not to bill him, there was no legal contract during these 14 months. IANAL. If the OP wants to be a freeloading jerk, then the membership was canceled 14 months ago, and the gym let him use its facilities for free which was very nice/stupid of them. If I cancel my internet/TV but they still provide me free service for months, then I'm going to use it and not feel bad about not paying for it.

A smart gym should forget the "debt" and ask the OP to sign on for 2 years (w/o new member fees) to be billed annually, thus retaining a customer, else the OP can just find a new gym.
posted by jayne at 8:45 PM on August 23, 2010

If the gym contract explicitly stipulated that monthly fees after the first year would be auto-debited, and then messed that up, then I'd be more sympathetic with the OP here, but if that were the case, I think we'd hear it up front.

It's not like you were receiving a physical product every month and not paying for it.

Actually, I think it works the other way around here: active use is much more problematic than passive reception of goods/services such as cable TV/internet... or water from the tap, for that matter. If you let a magazine subscription lapse after a year (as opposed to explicitly cancelling it) but keep receiving copies, I don't think the magazine is justified in billing you for them. After a month or two, though, I'd be inclined to refuse delivery or return to sender.

(Which brings us back to this point: 14 months?)
posted by holgate at 10:13 PM on August 23, 2010

You should pay up as soon as you can, although they might be willing to let you pay in installments. I don't see them giving you a discount, unless it's a "if you pay it all in cash right now we'll give you 10% off" sort of thing.

If you don't pay, in the long run it will cost you a lot more in court fees, plus then if you're sent to collections it'll ding your credit history. Debts can easily quadruple or more in this way. And even if you tried to contest it, I don't think a lawyer or judge would excuse you from paying this.
posted by IndigoRain at 11:11 PM on August 23, 2010

Morally, I think you're responsible.

However, you owe it to yourself to see, from a legal perspective, what the statute of limitations is on backbilling in your state/province/country/whatever. I'm a commercial lawyer, so I can't speak to the protection for individual consumers, especially without knowing your jurisdiction, but I'm guessing there's legislation where you live entitled something like the "Consumer Protection Act" which would indicate how long a company can backbill an individual in a circumstance like this.

Find it, and figure out your rights.
posted by evadery at 7:19 AM on August 24, 2010 [1 favorite]