Fitness First
Reviews and Complaints

To whom it my concern.

I would like to terminate my contract in your company as early us possible.

I whas to match Hurt and Wounded in my emotion due to the Harrassment and verbal abuse one of your employee .even my couple Guest experience trauma that time .

For further information and clarification .plz sent your number and I call you back.

I am not Happy to visit your place again .Hope someday I will be Heal plz allow me to cancel my contract .so that you will not charge me monthly

I sent the below information to Hornsby on Friday 16 June as well as a response to a threatening SMS that I received whilst abroad. This is an ongoing issue and no one has got back to be about this:

I am abroad at the moment so do not have all the specific details about who I spoke to and when. I have an ongoing issue with my membership. I have now received threatened action by SMS against me if I do not pay.

I had signed up for one month's membership at Hornsby. When I signed up, I did say that I just wanted the month's membership. They did not tell me at the time that more would be taken out after the month despite me saying when I signed up that I only wanted to join for a month. I phoned just before my membership finished to find out what was my last day and at that time they said that I would have to pay another month. I said that this was not right and they said they would get back to me to discuss it. They did not. I kept phoning as the direct debit was still being taken out of my account. I have spoken to countless people at Hornsby. My friend who has been a member there texted someone she knew at the club but they didn't get back to her.

Eventually I talked to an employee at Fitness First as I went in to see them. I told her my story thus far and she agreed that my membership could be put on hold without cost until the issue was resolved because I was paying but because of the discrepancy, I was not attending the club. I kept trying to resolve things and phoned countless times to sort this. I was told that a manager would get back to be within three days but this did not happen. I kept trying to call and at one time was told that the manager was there and I was put on hold. I waited 40 minutes on the phone as it had been difficult previously to get through - although noone came back to me.. I eventually hung up.

After a couple of weeks, money started coming out of my account again and my membership had been taken off hold without any consultation with me. I phoned again and there was no luck. I contacted my bank and they cancelled the direct debit for me. I have now been receiving requests for payments and the last one was a threat of action if I did not pay. I will be sending this information to Fair Trading as I have not been able to resolve this with Fitness First Hornsby. I am quite disgusted about how I have been treated and the stress of this has affected me greatly as it has been an ongoing issue for so long and no one has taken it up to resolve it.

Furthermore, I will be sending this information to Fair Trading.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards, Marjolein (Jo) Pink

I have made my membership subscription payment on June 1, 2023 at 3.04 p.m. via Trustbank debit card.

My bank balance has been deducted in the amount of SGD 144.34, but the membership status still remains suspended (meaning I never cleared my outstanding). I write in to Fitness First for help.

A customer service officer, Miss Geena Kaur called me and asked me to make a payment again because she claimed that they never saw any payment or that funds had been paid through.

I have explained to her that there should be a notification or a message on their system or portal that there's a fund coming in and they need to approve the funds. But Miss Geena who is work and make this call from Fitness First Headquaters said that she never deducted my money; she can see through the whole system and portal of their company due to she is working in HQ. And so she is very sure that there are no impending funds, and she asks me to make a payment again!

As I have mentioned a thousand times to her that, as the bank has already mentioned to me, the funds have been sent out and are just waiting for the merchant's finance department to approve and claim the funds from the bank, then that transaction will be complete. But this Miss Geena is unhelpful to do so just push me back to bank side and judge that I never make the payment for my membership subcription!

What should me as a consumer need to teach how their need to do on ehtir own duty?

My money out and merchant never claim it and approve it, why do I need to be suffer?

These group of trainers do not look aesthetically fit to become trainers. Their muscle are the size of a Sesame seed. How do members expect to see that these trainers can train them till they look like incredible HULK? They can't even build bulk muscles themselves. One even have protruding tummy. Another flabby backside. The previous batch of trainers were all very muscular. Wonder why all left?

Email with with medical certificate sent 16/3 (as requested for termination of membership)

Response (From: Hornsby Fitness First) 18/3/2023

Hi Daniela,

We hope this email finds you well.

Thank you for your medical certificate. In your account, you have 10months remaining in your membership value.

The pregnancy medical cancellation can only cover 9 months. However, if you have an updated certificate that states

your due date, then we may action a cancellation for your account.

This was read as the membership was cancelled for 9-months, however membership charges have continued to be deducted.

The email response is intentionally (in my opinion) vague as to weather the membership has been cancelled (for 9-months) otherwise intentionally delaying a cancellation by requiring another doctors appointment and certificate. To limit the cancellation based on pregnancy to 9-months, where the expectation is the mother whom recently gave birth, can, or is expected to head strait back to the Gym is unrealistic. This, if in fact, is a policy of Fitness First, then it is clearly aimed at getting as much revenue from the customer using any means available i.e. unethically or immorally.

Asked to cancel membership on 20th November 2022, I had paid for 2 weeks membership and wanted to cancel early, staff said he would do it for me, and I texted him the day before and he said it would be done.

However it was not done and they kept trying to charge me, so I cancelled the direct debit for my bank.

And now they say I owe them a crazy amount like 400 dollars, it’s a complete scam.

I contacted FF on the customer support line to change to a cheaper contract and afterwards received email with pricing and terms as confirmation, However from then on FF has charged me double the price on the contract ever since for a real long time. I have written countless emails and made countless calls. They even confirmed me on the phone either the contract or the charge was wrong. But it was them who made the mistake, however the charge was never corrected.

Therefore I have made the charge back for the wrong charge so they monthly fee stops. However now I received the bill with huge amount of money, however still based on the double payment.

I regret to inform you that you have withdrawn the fee amount even though I have requested via phone to CANCEL my membership in your club, this was done by phone approximately 24 Jan. Unfortunately, it seems your team member who replied to the phone was not professional to update the system or provide me with the right needed action and surely I can't be penalized for this. and again who received the below email 3 days ago had taken no right action towards the cancellation. It's very disappointing after years being a member in your club to treat us like that and to keep withdrawing unauthorized amounts without our approval. Also I need to highlight the un professionality and the way treated by FF Mirdif Manager

We have been overcharged, not the first time. Every time we call we are being told fitness first will issue refund. Never happens! Such a waste of time and money!

Not mentioning the facilities that are extremely outdated, dirty, and almost half of the equipment is broken.

In addition to calls, we have tried emailing. Guess what, never got any reply.

Can’t wait for the contract to run out...

My wife enrolled to Fitness First last year, and to enroll they would call you daily and follow up with you all the steps, and within no time you are enrolled (of course immediately after we do the payment). Days passed by, and my wife gets a knee injury and requires medical intervention, pain killers and expensive physiotherapy sessions. This suffering is nothing compared to the suffering that we are going through with Fitness First management in Mirdif City Center, wherein we submitted for cancellation and refund of her membership (with the needful medical reports requested from their end), and for the past 6 weeks I have been following up with them, reaching to nowhere except getting promises from their management, who doesn’t seem to care about your well-being (although they are a health promoting firm), yet their only focus is our pockets and our money, while our health is their last concern (if any)!

I have approached Fitness First-Mirdif City Center branch front desk back in 27/12/2022 and submitted my wife medical condition report (knee injury) for processing the refund of the membership fees as since she won’t be able to do any physical activity anymore. Their in-charge (Mr. Gaurav) have taken all needful documents from my end, and promised for 2~3 working days to process the same. Many follow ups later, and after 3 weeks waiting, he requests for my identification documents (which should have been requested from day one), yet upon submitting the same, he changes his words and promises for another 2~3 WEEKS for processing! Apart from the already passed 3 weeks from my original request, they still need another 3 weeks, which evidently shows their lack of transparency and false promises made to customers.

Now with 6 weeks passed, and escalating the subject matter to his superior (Mr. Hubert) and their Fitness First Support, yet again lack of response or care is seen as well.

Unfortunately, we have enrolled along with 5 other families from our friends, and looking at such experience that we have been through, all of them have made up their minds to avoid renewing their memberships, and they won’t as well commend anyone anymore to subscribe to the Fitness First firm in any of their branches considering such treatment and such lack of insanity!

And for the person behind their google reviews (with typical answer to raise our issues to their email i.e. [protected]@fitnessfirst-me.com), I would like to tell you that we have already raised it to this email, and even several times, yet alas! Like all other emails that we have sent to the concerned in your firm, no action is taken!

The suffering which me and my wife are going through are disrespected from the acts seen from your management in Mirdif City Center branch. The subject matter was not treated with the needful attention or care from the concerned and regardless of my continuous follow ups, the responses from their end are disappointing (lacks the clarity and transparency in procedure/timeline).

My girlfriend who is a member of your company Alice Choy phone number ; [protected] she is much cheaper rate than myself she was offered discounts I would like the same rate as my partner or we will both be cancelling and she is outside contract too.

I have been offered 20.90 but they won't match the rate on my partner rate... its discrimination at its finest.

My name is Alexandre Dobelle [protected] please call me.

I was told if I lose my job n leave the country I can cancel membership immediately

I left dubai in august and the front desk staff told me that they will cancel immediately

Now I have been charged for 2 months since I have left and the management is being a thief and giving rubbish explanations for it

I am not being refunded - my cheques will bounce as suddenly they have debited my account for 2 months membership

Very unethical and unprofessional

Piotr has even stopped responding to my mails

I would like to make a serious complaint about a member of staff at Fitness First who has been bullying me ever since I joined the gym she makes rude remarks if she sees me or is in the same area I’m in she has also insulted me in front of the other gym members too like saying I am too slow and rude remarks which I have found disturbing as this is my local gym and now have a fear of going back because of this member of staff which is named Nat at the Solihull gym I would like some feedback about n what has happened about my complaint please and if it safe to go back there or not? I have a limited ability of movement and I find it very upsetting both physically and mentally that I am being bullied and right now I am devostated as even after I made a complain to the manager nothing is still done and Nat is still there bullying people I will not return until something is sorted out and I get an apology and some sort of compensation I have a disability and I am slower at movement so I don’t see why that was a reason to bully me or be mean about my movement as everyone has there own abilities

this club lacks management. something is broken everyday either a screen /my zone /equipment or steam room /sauna . staff is not bothered . members have to push for improvements . not customer friendly. no return on investment .staff changes regularly & like robots . not a good atmosphere. if no improvements will leave the club end of the month

Fitness First Castle Hill charging overdue account during lockdown periods for [protected]. I'm now forced to pay over $1500 for the entirety of the 18month contract.

I'm happy to pay back arrears for dates the gym was open to public and usable.

Grossly unfair that the entire contract needs to be paid out.

I've tried calling and talking to the staff who directed me to ARMA group, yet the outcome always is:

1) pay the entire arrears to Fitness First plus ARMA groups shockingly high late fee (which is almost double the arrears fee to begin with OR

2) Pay out the >$1500 contract to ARMA Group.

Fitness first are doing great in terms keeping up with physical wellbeing, but lack in the area of mental wellbeing, especially for those of us who are trying to become better versions of ourselves by literally trying to stay afloat in such difficult times.

I recently had similar experience with fitness first singapore, for which I would classify as unauthorize suspecious payment activities.

My contract with them ended 28 feb 22, and I have made full upfront payment.

One day, I received an email my membership is suspended due to change in payment details.

When I enquire further details: they mention it is because my credit card is not valid and I need to update them my credit card number otherwise my membership is suspended.

I asked them to clarify : why do you need my credit card info while (1) I do not owe you any money (2) I do not purchase any new service

Later, I was told if I do not submit my new credit card, I cannot make booking in my app, not acct suspended (please note that earlier I was told my acct was suspended)

Under covid rule and regulation, member must make booking via the app. If you connect the story together, they literally tell me : if I do not provide my credit card details, I cannot go to gym, how cunning.

We exchange a few emails and they are not transparent in their explanation : still ask for my credit card number

Side note: I change my credit card recently so apparently they find out they couldnt charge my credit card hence contacting me.

How this is resolve? I mention I will dispute the case with consumer association group and subsequently, they offer free one month trial. They mention due to system error so they accidentally charge a payment to my credit card.

Would I take action and accept one month free trial? The answer is no, as I intended to further escalate the case based on the following ground: breach of consumer trust, mishandling of consumer data.

In August 2020 I took out a 1 month membership then in April 2021 I took out another 1 month membership these are £59 instead of the normal £44 these I presumed where valid for the month ive just looked at my statements and realized they have taken£59 a month since august 2020 which obviously I have not used as I never realized I had a membership I've contacted them today and they have offered to refund £59 for April where I paid it twice as I took out a month membership as I never realized they were already taking the money

They just anyhow bill people. They don't have a system and they did not do their due diligence! Not only that, the billing period, amounts and credits all differ from what the Customer X-perience folks said.

The experience is really X-tra lousy! The customer service people did not follow up and took forever to reply. In fact, they did not reply until I asked them one month later.

And they still did not solve my problem.

They are totally incompetent.

Today I am very disappointed because I caught the personal trainor disallowing me from using the equipment. She wasn't training a client but she was using the equiptment by herself and I thought she finished but she tried to stop me and then when I did another workout another trainor is making an excuse to stop me and use the equiptmemt After that, I wanted to do other workout another trainor yelled at me ... How can i feel comfortable as a client if I was treated like that? I am a membership and I truly believe that as a customer... There is a policy called "Customers are always RIGHT" . We shouldn't be treated wrong atleast its better they educate or talk softly.. Show empathy... This is a health club not only a part of achieving a healthy body physically but also mentally "MIND"... HEALTHY MIND= HEALTHY THOUGHTS.

I have signed up for a six months package with Fitness First Hong Kong Sheung Wan location, stating to the sales that I am leaving Hong Kong for good by early Feb 2021.

By Mid Dec 2020, gyms were closed due to Covid-19, businesses were reimbursed by the government and clients were not charged for the period it was closed. By end of December, I've wrote an email to Fitness First HK asking to early terminate my contract. Their customer service replied that my 6 month contract shall end by late March 2021, and I would have to pay till end of March 2021 regardless. So I stayed on to honor my contract.

By late Feb 2021, I emailed the gym again to give them one month notice about my contract termination by end of March. However I was told by their staff that my contract period has been "updated"(without any notice or agreement from my end) that it shall end till end of May. The staff claims that it is Fitness First's policy to charge min 6 months of payments for the 6 month contract. This was no where mentioned in the contract, nor expressed by their sales when I signed up. I have told their sales explicitly that I am leaving HK for good by Feb 2021 before signing up. I still paid one extra month (March) as the min contractual period is 6 months. So I went reasoning with their staff, they simply said it is their internal policy and I have to pay an extra two months even though I wont be using it.

By early March, I returned their membership card and told them that I am taking off and will pay till end of March as stated in my contract. By then I have already given my termination notice by email and in person. In May, I received another demand note asking for June payment. Reason being I did not fill out their termination notice form (which I was not told or given when I was giving them my termination notice in person), so the termination notice only kicked in in late May 2021, hence the extra month.

This is a complete nonsense and unethical practice so I told them I won't pay more than I am obligated to. Ever since then I've been getting harassment calls from collecting agencies hired by Fitness First at random hours all day everyday. I've shared my email thread with the collecting agencies to prove that my contractual period was only to end of March 2021 as stated by their customer service staff in Dec. The collecting agencies understands my argument yet FF continued to hire the agencies to harass me. I have reached out to Fitness First by email to resolve this matter and they simply ignored my email and sent more collecting agencies to bombard my phone.

I am sharing this with whoever out there to watch out for these sick unethical behaviors by FF, and I'll be filing a complaint with Consumer Council to hopefully put this to a stop. I highly advise anyone who is thinking of joining Fitness First to think twice unless you are sure you can commit to a period longer than the contractual period.