A Planet Fitness employee reportedly told a customer that members would be charged regardless of whether their credit card was declined, despite the recent COVID-19 announcement. The company’s policy has sparked outrage online and calls for changes in its billing practices.
The health club chain has now changed its policy to allow members who are “not able to return” their membership. The new rule includes those with expired COVID-19 cards, along with members whose credit card will not be accepted for payment due to being locked out of the system.
The “planet fitness lawsuit 2021” is a class-action lawsuit that was filed against the company in January of this year. The plaintiffs allege that Planet Fitness violated COVID-19 by charging members regardless of their membership status.
A client has filed a class action lawsuit against Planet Fitness, alleging that the club is still collecting membership fees despite the fact that it is closed due to the coronavirus.
Plaintiff Antonio Holloway claims that instead of offering customer service to resolve the problem, the gym has routed any billing queries to a phone line that simply indicates the club is closed.
Holloway argues that by charging his credit card, the gym has broken its agreements with him and other alleged Class Members, claiming that they have incurred financial damages in the sums charged.
The plaintiff, a Georgia citizen, claims that on January 8, 2015, he signed a contract with Planet Fitness in which he agreed to pay $19.99 a month for access to any of their fitness centers.
Do you have a gym membership that was charged during the COVID-19 shutdowns? Click here for legal assistance.
According to the plaintiff, the defendant closed Holloway’s gym during the first week of March 2020 owing to the coronavirus epidemic. The defendant, on the other hand, debited the plaintiff’s bank account for $19.99 on March 18, 2020.
Holloway says that when he tried to contact Planet Fitness by phone and online chat, he received no assistance due to an artificial voice message.
According to the Planet Fitness class action complaint, the defendants guaranteed unrestricted access to its fitness facilities at any franchise location as part of the “Black Card” membership, which Holloway possesses.
According to the plaintiff, the defendant began shutting all of its fitness centers indefinitely in reaction to the coronavirus in early March 2020, and by the end of the month, all locations countrywide had been shuttered.
Holloway claims that the defendants claimed on the Planet Fitness website that no members would be paid membership fees during the time the fitness facility was closed, but that some of their members were invoiced before the clubs closed.
The lawsuit also claims that many other Planet Fitness members have been subjected to the same post-closure costs and are experiencing the same difficulties in obtaining a refund as the plaintiff.
1) Whether the defendant engaged in the wrongful alleged conduct; 2) whether the defendant violated state laws by charging the March 2020 membership fees without allowing access to their fitness centers; 3) whether the defendant breached its contract with the plaintiff and Class Members; and 4) whether the defendant misrepresented unlimited access to their fitness centers.
The plaintiff claims that the defendant has agreed to give access to its fitness facilities to the plaintiff and Class Members in return for payment of membership fees.
Planet Fitness allegedly broke these contracts by collecting and keeping the plaintiff’s membership payments even while the facilities were closed, according to Holloway.
The Planet Fitness class action complaint alleges that “in conjunction with the sale of their fitness center memberships, Defendants make an explicit guarantee that Plaintiff and Class Members will have unrestricted access to all fitness center locations.”
This isn’t the first time a gym has been sued for collecting membership fees when the exercise facility is closed due to the coronavirus.
A client filed a class action complaint against New York Sports Club at the end of March, alleging that the gym was continuing billing her membership fees despite the fact that the club was closed.
The plaintiff was paying $69.99 per month for unrestricted membership to the New York Sports Club in that class action. She says the gym debited her credit card for that amount in early March, but she hasn’t been able to use the gym or use the gym services since the middle of the month.
She says she contacted the New York Sports Club, asking how they planned to handle membership payments while the club was closed, but she never received a response.
In the Planet Fitness class action case, there are two possible classes. The first is a National Class, which consists of “all individuals in the United States who were charged membership fees by Defendants after their fitness facilities were shuttered owing to the COVID-19 virus.”
“All individuals in Georgia who were charged membership fees by Defendants after their fitness facilities were shuttered due to the COVID19 virus,” according to the Georgia Class.
Andrea S. Hirsch of the Hirsch Law Firm and Tina Wolfson of Ahdoot & Wilson PC are representing the plaintiff.
Antonio Holloway v. Planet Fitness Franchising, LLC et al., Case No. 1:20-cv-01868-CAP, is a class action lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
“Are gyms still charging during lockdown” is a question that has been asked by many people. Planet Fitness, the gym chain that is being targeted in lawsuits, says members are charged regardless of COVID-19. Reference: are gyms still charging during lockdown.
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