FTC Sues Gym Chains for Making It Hard to Cancel Memberships

The Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against the operators of several gym chains, including LA Fitness, on Wednesday over allegations that they make it too difficult to cancel memberships. And that’s probably welcome news for anyone who’s had the displeasure of trying to cancel with their gym.

The companies being sued by the FTC are Fitness International and Fitness & Sports Clubs, which own gym chains like Esporta Fitness, City Sports Club, and Club Studio. The largest chain, LA Fitness, has over 600 locations across the U.S.

The 22-page complaint, which has been posted online, details how the FTC believes LA Fitness and others have created a cumbersome process for consumers to cancel. For starters, members are required to log in to their website and print off a cancellation form. But users are encouraged at sign-up to use the LA Fitness app and a QR code, meaning that many people apparently don’t know their login information for the website. There’s no way to cancel through the app, according to the FTC.

Customers who don’t know how to log in with their credentials need to jump through even more hoops to get them. The user must provide the original email address used to get the membership account, the “key tag number” handed out when they signed up, and the first five digits of the bank account or credit card number listed on the account, according to the complaint.

The cancellation form isn’t made publicly available on the company’s website and can only be found after users log in. And the form must be printed out, a very real hurdle for many households in the year 2025.

Even if you figure out how to log in with your credentials and print out the form, customers are required to either mail the form or bring the form to a physical location, where they’ll face even more hurdles. The FTC says customers are required to send cancellation forms via registered or certified mail. And even though most LA Fitness locations are open seven days a week, often for 19 hours a day, cancellations are only accepted between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., when most people are at work.

Nobody really wants to take PTO to cancel their gym membership. And that’s how people can get stuck with gym memberships they no longer want.

The FTC’s press release announcing the lawsuit also alleges that LA Fitness has trained staff to reject requests to cancel by phone or email. And “consumers who try to cancel their memberships by stopping charges to their bank or credit card find they are rebilled, often under new account numbers.” The FTC says that violates the FTC Act and the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act (ROSCA). Cancelling with nothing more than a click on the app seems like it would be a reasonable and consumer-friendly way to conduct business.

“The FTC’s complaint describes a scenario that too many Americans have experienced—a gym membership that seems impossible to cancel,” Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a press release.

“Tens of thousands of LA Fitness customers reported difficulties—cancellation was often restricted to specific times or required speaking to specific managers who were often not present or available. The FTC will not hesitate to act on behalf of consumers when it believes companies are stifling consumers’ ability to choose which recurring charges they want to keep.”

LA Fitness is far from the only business that seems to thrive on cumbersome auto-renewal policies. How many times have you signed up for a digital subscription of some kind and failed to cancel before you were charged again? It seems like an increasingly popular business model these days. And the FTC has taken notice.

After this article was published, Fitness International, the operator of LA Fitness, sent a lengthy statement attributed to Jill Hill, President of Club Operations:

We are disappointed that the FTC has chosen to pursue this complaint. The allegations are without merit, and the statute the FTC relies upon – the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act (ROSCA), enacted almost 15 years ago – was designed to address only online retail transactions, does not require any specific method of cancellation, and has never before been applied to the health club industry. We remain confident that we will prevail in court.

It is important to note that most of our memberships, and all of our personal training memberships, are purchased in person at our club locations. Even so, 18 months before the FTC’s new ‘Click-to-Cancel’ rule was scheduled to take effect, we proactively launched an online cancellation option for all members, regardless of how they originally signed up. With just a few clicks, members may cancel online – a step we voluntarily implemented well ahead of regulatory deadlines. Although a federal court of appeals recently invalidated the FTC’s ‘Click-to-Cancel’ rule, we have chosen to keep our online cancellation program in place to provide members with yet another simple way to cancel. Members also have always had the option to cancel in person at any club, or by mail, and those who wish to do so can and do cancel in such fashion.

Our company works diligently to comply with all health club state laws regarding membership cancellations and to offer at a minimum every cancellation method specifically required by each state. Over the years, the company has taken many steps to improve its enrollment and cancellation processes.

Fitness International remains dedicated to providing accessible, high-quality fitness options while maintaining compliance with all applicable laws. We will continue to defend our practices vigorously while ensuring our members receive clear, simple, and fair membership experiences.