Gym members vent fury at chain

The director of troubled women’s gym Configure Express, which is caught up in legal action, has resigned.

Greg Peters stood down as a director of the company in October, following the closure of three franchises in the North Island.

As of January, three more gyms Papatoetoe, Manukau and Kilbirnie have shut up shop.

Last week, Peters said Wendy Mackay had taken over as the director and was ‘‘coming up to speed’’.

On the Companies Office site, Mackay’s name is recorded as Mackaypeters and she has the same residential address as Peters.

In a statement, Mackay said she could not comment about specific gyms as there were legal issues involved.

‘‘Legal action...has commenced against several franchisees that have breached the terms of their franchise agreements, and we will be doing what we can to assist members with refunds once we ascertain the exact position.

‘‘We have already stopped the payments of all those who were paying by direct debit to the affected gyms and that transaction services (the direct debit collection company) are holding funds for any refund payments required.’’

In the meantime, a number of members have vented their frustration on the company’s Facebook page to no avail.

One said she was forced to move her membership from the Papakura branch to the Manukau branch, following the closure of the former.

‘‘I strongly suspect that the franchise owners of Manukau and Papatoetoe fought to keep the good name going and their own businesses above water - but I don’t think they could have expected any compensation for all those new members from...greg Peters.’’

She wrote to the company’s head office to get some reassurance she would get what she was owed.

Another said: ‘‘Three months after the Queen Street Configure Express closed without warning - less than two weeks after I signed up - I have still not been refunded as promised.

‘‘I’ve reported you to the Commerce Commission and intend to take further action.’’

Mackay said she understood their members were unhappy.

‘‘And [they] have a right to be, but I am endeavouring to put this right and have had our operations manager (who has been away for the last six weeks) email members with updates as they come to hand.

‘‘Further refund payments I know are scheduled to go out this week, now that she is back.’’

Configure Express had changed its business model as the market changed, she said.

‘‘Those that wouldn’t or couldn’t adapt have closed or in some cases we have allowed them to rebrand.

‘‘New gyms based on the new model and still being women-only will open this year.’’