Anytime Fitness Witham - During the COVID lockdown, they shutdown around 20th of March. They did not give members a pro-rata refund as they put it, it'll cost them about £10k instead, they asked members to pay £10 per month to keep their services going. This act was unlawful as this was not on the contract. I did not agree to this but they took the full payment of £35.99 anyway for April. I went on to cancel my DD and informed them that I would not be paying this money and that I would utilize what was already paid for the first month after the gym re-opens.
The gym re-opened on the 25th of August and they went on to charge clients a pro-rata fee of £8. I drew their attention to the fact that they had not refunded members for the unused time in March and they said it'll cost them about £10k to give refunds but will cost each member only £8.13 each. I could not see the sense in that argument so I refused to pay the £8.13. As my contract expired in July 2020, I asked them to keep the money paid in April as my 1-month notice. At first they refused and showed me section 11 of their contract that states "the club may be temporarily closed for periods of up to 2 weeks each year for maintenance purposes. We reserve the right to add an annual facility maintenance change of up to but not greater then the equivalent of 1 month's membership fees". I drew to their attention that it was a pandemic and not maintenance. I still refused and someone in the team called me and after I thought I had resolved this and moved on. They went and set up an unauthorized direct debit. Remember that I had canceled this. They have taken 2 payments so far. According to my DD guarantee, I can get this back from my bank. I hope my bank gets it back from them.
The company is money hungry. Be on your guard. I will NOT recommend them to my worst enemy. They care nothing about people. I hope they shut them down again during the winter. They do not know the contents of their contract or care to honor it even if they did. Be very cautious they will use any text in the contract to keep your money. My contract expired in July and they have continued to take the money even though I have paid the 1-month notice.
Get your money back if they made you pay £10 to freeze your account. This move was unlawful because there was nothing written in the contract. The freeze clause only applies if you have requested it. I did not! Speak to Citizens Advice Bureau if you doubt this.
Get your money back if they then added more time to your contract due to COVID. You are free to leave if your contract came to an end because the contract made no provision for a pandemic scenario. If they refuse to give a refund, seek advice from Citizens Advice Bureau. This company should not be allowed to do this to people, especially if we all went through and continue to go through the tough times.
Length of Use: 6–12 months
Bottom Line: No, I would not recommend this to a friend
