24 Hour Fitness is one of the largest gym chains in the United States. It has more than 400 locations in 17 states and more than 4 million members.
For a no-commitment, month-to-month membership, 24 Hour Fitness charges $42 to $52 per month, depending on how the level of membership. That works out to $500 to $625 per year.
By canceling your 24 Hour Fitness membership, you can save up to $625 per year per person.
How to Cancel 24 Hour Fitness Memership
The best way to cancel your 24 Fitness membership is in person at your gym. Additionally, you can cancel online, by email, or by phone at 888-243-5002 or 800-432-6348.
Unofficially, there have been a lot of reports that emails and phone calls to 24 Hour Fitness about membership cancellation were ignored.
One proven strategy to deal with this is to call and pretend you were signing up for a membership instead of canceling one. That way, someone will pick up your call.
To get a real person to talk to, follow this script:
- Call 888-243-5002, 800-432-6348, or 833-636-0003
- A recorded message asks “Are you a member?” You answer “No.”
- A recorded message asks “Do you want to purchase a membership, or something else?” You answer “Purchase”
- At this point, a rep will then pick up. Now you can firmly let them know you want to cancel your membership
- If no rep picks up, call from a different phone line
Your cancellation request is subject to any obligations of your membership agreement. For example, if you have signed up for a membership with a 12 months commitment, you will not be able to cancel before your 12 months are up. Similarly, if you have prepaid for say 12 months, you will not be able to get a refund for the amount you have prepaid.
You can get a copy of your membership agreement by logging in to your account on the 24 Hour Fitness website. The terms of your membership can be found on your agreement.
24 Hour Fitness Cancellation Policy
You are entitled to a cooling-off period of 3 days, which means that if 24 Hour Fitness is notified of your purchase within 3 days of it, you will receive a full refund.
Basic Monthly memberships: Your request to cancel will be processed once your account has been canceled. Your last month’s dues will be applied.
Commitment Monthly memberships: During the Commitment Period, if you have a commitment monthly membership, you are not obligated to cancel it.
The commitment period can be found on the first page of any membership agreement. Certain exceptions may be made, such as death, relocation, or military deployment.
You may cancel after the Commitment Period by providing 24 Hour Fitness with a notice. Due to your request, your monthly payments will be stopped.
You must provide written notice of cancellation at least 14 days prior to the date of your membership due date.
24 Hour Fitness Reputation
24 Hour Fitness has a (well deserved) reputation of underhandedness in how it deals with its members.
In 2007, it settled a class-action lawsuit brought against it by 1.8 million current and former members over its practice of continuously charging for membership fees long after it had received membership cancellation requests.
In 2010, a court found that 24 Hour Fitness did not act in good faith in dealing with its members.
In 2020, 24 Hour Fitness shut down all its gyms in March in response to the spreading COVID 19 pandemic. However, it continued to charge membership fees despite that none of its gyms was open. Emails and phone calls to its customer service department were ignored.
The situation got so bad that disgruntled members set up a dedicated Twitter account @Cancel24HrFit to share tips on how to cancel their memberships.
Later on, many people found that months after the cancellation of their membership, the company quietly reactivated their membership and tried to sneak in a charge onto their credit card bills.
Now that you know what kind of company you are dealing with here, it is not an exaggeration to say that canceling your 24 Hour Fitness membership is a serious undertaking that requires vigilance and determination.
