Gold's Gym members frustrated as billing continues through pandemic closure
Members of a Calgary gym chain are questioning why they are still being charged full price despite the closure of Alberta fitness facilities amid a second wave of COVID-19 infections.
Some clients of Gold's Gym, which has two locations in Calgary with a third slated to open in early 2021, took to the chain's social media accounts to complain after the gym closed down Dec. 13 in accordance with public health orders but continued to bill members.
On the gym's Instagram page, more than a dozen members posted complaints about the practice shortly after the shutdown. Comments were disabled for most subsequent posts.
Arvinder Singh, a member at Gold's Gym for more than three years, said he was frustrated the company wasn't engaging with customer concerns. He said he has been out of a job since March due to the pandemic and estimated the continued charges would cost him $75 while the gyms are closed.
“They're basically dodging people's comments,” Singh said. “I'm pending for cancellation but they're still taking payments out for the next two payments.”
Kelly Maclachlan is the owner of Gold's Gym Calgary. He argued those upset with billing represent a tiny portion of members and compared gym fees to energy or phone bills, which continue during the pandemic.
“We have 15,000 members to the clubs. I don't care if one or two of them gets a little upset,” Maclachlan said.
“It's (those who) bought the membership and never use it anyway and probably never will, and are just waiting for their agreement to run out that are p---ed off ... It's just a couple of disgruntled members who never come anyway.”
Billing will continue until Jan. 13, one month after the closure began, Maclachlan said. If gyms are still not allowed to reopen, he said Gold's will freeze all charges.
Also a member at the gym is Rose Wang, who said even after she tried to cancel her membership, she was told she would still be charged more than $150 in future payments and cancellation fees. She since put a stop payment order on charges to her bank account from the gym.
“This lockdown brought to my attention that I'm not the only one who got unfairly charged,” Wang said. “It's not one or two people that are getting upset. It's a bunch of people who are getting overly charged.”
Maclachlan said Gold's is pursuing legal action to reopen the gym despite public health measures, saying a court date is set for Jan. 4 to challenge the restrictions on his business.
He added the gym purchased $2.5 million in equipment for its new Douglasdale location and said they gave away two cars to members following the spring lockdown.
“We're kind of looking for a little bit of compassion from people,” he said. “We've been closed two weeks. Support your local businesses, we would really appreciate it.”
Singh said he wanted Gold's to acknowledge they shouldn't have continued billing members.
The sentiment was echoed by Wang, who argued all members should be refunded for charges made while the gyms were not open.
“They should be doing things more ethically and more fairly,” she said.