If you’ve cancelled your membership with one of Washington Sports Club’s six D.C. locations, you might want to check your billing statement: the D.C. Attorney General’s office is suing the health clubs and their parent company, Town Sports International LLC, for what he characterizes as deceptive and illegal cancellation and billing practices. Again.
About two years after the D.C. Attorney General’s office reached a settlement with Washington Sports Clubs and its parent company, A.G. Karl Racine says the health clubs still haven’t stopped breaking the law.
“It’s clear that Washington Sports Club is still making money by deceiving consumers, and that is not acceptable,” Racine said in a press release on Tuesday. “We are filing this lawsuit to protect District consumers and to warn businesses that if they profit by misleading and hiding information, we will hold them accountable for breaking the law.”
Back in 2016, Town Sports International had to pay $20,000 to customers that Racine alleged it had duped about the gym’s cancellation policy. According to the lawsuit, Washington Sports Clubs employees told prospective gym-goers that they could cancel their memberships at any time by simply notifying a gym employee. Turns out, that wasn’t true: the contracts new members signed required them to cancel in writing with 30 days’ notice. People who thought they had cancelled their memberships were continuously charged, month after month, because they hadn’t followed proper procedure.
As a part of its settlement, TSI agreed not to mislead customers about cancellation policies.
But Racine says they haven’t followed through on that promise, continuing to deceive at least 50 people signing membership contracts.
In its new lawsuit, the attorney general’s office alleges that TSI “makes misrepresentations about its cancellation policies and fees to lure consumer to purchase memberships.” Washington Sports Clubs’ employees allegedly tell prospective customers that they can cancel their memberships at any time for free, when in fact the contract states customers have to provide six weeks notice and pay a fee. Customers have been charged for years after believing they cancelled their memberships, sometimes even after they received an email confirming the cancellation, according to the lawsuit. TSI also allegedly declines to provide written contracts with its cancellation policies to its customers, even when customers request them.
The lawsuit also says that TSI charges customers undisclosed sign-up fees and then refuses them refunds; does not tell customers that their yearlong membership automatically renews unless they cancel it; and declines to inform members who sign up for trials that they need to cancel when their trial is over, or they will be charged for a monthly membership. According to the attorney general’s office, TSI does not allow customers to see their contracts when they’re signing up for memberships, instead verbally explaining the terms and having them sign via an electronic pad.
Racine is asking that Washington Sports Clubs be required to pay restitution to customers and pay civil penalties. His office also wants residents who were billed by the gym after cancelling their memberships to call the attorney general’s consumer protection hotline at (202) 442-9828.
Natalie Delgadillo