Friends! Chandler can't do it, so he brings Joey along, but they always bring out the hot spandex chick.
I have no life.

Ohhh Georgia you beat me to it!!! "Oh yeah, gym member. I try to go four times a week, but I've missed the last 1200 times" Oh Chandler!!
But it's Chandler and Ross....and I had too much time on my hands in my first year of university and watched too much Friends.

I remember that episode. Ross ended up joining as well because of the spandex lady and then they tried to cancel their bank accounts... haha

It's Ross? Oh weird, I don't remember that at all.
At least I'm not alone in memorising Friends episodes. I don't do it intentionally, of course...

Oh this has happened to me. Wound up to get out of it i had to get a letter from a doctor saying I couldn't exercise.

I still can't let the dire frustration of cancelling my gym membership to Crunch fizzle out and die. I'm still angry as hell at those guys. It's like you sign over an arm, a leg, your soul as well as your entire bank account for a gym membership.

it's FRIENDS, it's FRIENDS!! Chandler brings Ross to help him "quit the gym" and then Ross ends up joining!! I love Friends, so hilarious.

Oooh.. I remember that episode..Friends, right?
It's pathetic that I know that.

I think it was seinfeild too....

Definitely Friends...

I had the cancellation issue with Bally's, Gold's and Crunch. It was nearly impossible to get out of the memberships. I had to send in certified letters, visit them directly, issue stop payments, call and harass them to stop charging my card. It was a MESS. Now I belong to a local gym that I love. Jack LaLanne and Tony Curtis used to work out there!

I once belonged to the Y for a year after I thoguht my membership ran out, since I had thought I had only joined for a year, this was before online banking, so I didn't realize that they were still taking money out of my account. I think that they should be more explicit when you sign up for a year, that it is not just 1 year, it is your whole life or until you cancel.

There's a clause in my gym contract that I can stop my membership if I move somewhere where there was not my particular gym within 25 miles. In March that happened, so I followed the instructions on the contract to get out of the membership (write to a certain address stating the above) and I went above and beyond what the contract stated by including a copy of my records of changed address from the DMV web site just in case.

The financial institution for the gym calls my former residence (where my parents still live) and tells my mom that I need to send proof to them such as mail with my new address sent to me by a credit union (I don't belong to one), a voter's card, or any from a list of a bunch of other random things. I try to get my voter's card immediately, but the silly Election Commission here likes to take their time. So, it is now May and I am still trying to get out of the darn contact (the gym, which I stopped attending years ago - my bad - mind you). I sent the voter's card in once I got it during the month of April and I still haven't heard anything. I am going to be livid if I see this month's membership fee debited from my account, considering my voter's card is even dated as registered on March 6! *Sigh*

this sucks for my friend b/c my friend put hers and a friends gym membership on her credit card. i've been noticing that our friend isn't going often and so i know my friend whos credit card is being charged will soon have to deal with this. hah.

yeah, it definitely was Friends. as i was reading your post, I totally thought about that episode. Yup it was chandler who wanted to cancel his membership, but couldn't do it alone, so Ross went with him. then once they're there, a hot rep convinces Ross to join as well. so they're both stuck with memberships and they decide to cancel their accounts at the bank. to which, joey comments that they went be bank buddies anymore. well, they go to the bank and find it difficult to cancel their accounts as well, since there is a hot lady helping them out. eventually, chandler and ross, instead of closing their accounts, they end up with a joint checking account. isn't it sad that i remember to such detail? i know, but i have this odd thing, where i remember the most useless things.

sucks about the membership. that had always made me vary to join a gym.

After all of the horror stories, try this method:

I belonged to a Gold's in CA. My company built a brand new gym for employees, so about a month before I was ready to give it up my membership I sent a letter (yes a letter) to Gold's a month before I was ready to quit (right after I was charged the latest dues). It said something to the effect of:

I wish to terminate my membership as of (insert date). Please confirm receipt of this letter. Contact me if there are any problems, otherwise, I will assume that this matter has been resolved.

After that, it was done! No extra monthly charges assessed, nada.

Friends! I was thinking of that episode even before I read the question.

My dad had a really big problem with that...I think it was Gold's Gym that kept charging him for months after he canceled his membership. I think it took him about a year to get the whole issue settled.

Are you serious????

I was thinking of joining crunch, but now I'm totally freaked out! Is this even legal?

It's illegal for them to continue charging. I recently received a refund from my old gym (24 Hr. Fitness) because these two girls filed a lawsuit and they won and the gym had to reimburse everyone who filled out the paperwork to participate in the lawsuit. So I filled out the paperwork and then like three years later I got a check in the mail. Now I do it through my work and when you quit, payroll just doesn't pay them anymore and also doesn't deduct it from my paycheck. That's the best way I think.

I don't have any stories but I know the show is Friends!

Oh FitSugar I can hear your agony, a very familiar situation but yours sounds already outrageous! Did you get the money back that they were taking for the extra 6 months after you already had quited????

I was in a 10 month contract with Dragons (LA Fitness) here in the UK. I call them up to cancel 2 months before the end of the contract and they tell me that I would need to pay £100 to get out of it.

Hmmmmm.. £100 or wait 2 months? So I wait the 2 months and call them up like 4 times before I can get the confirmation letter saying that my membership will end on the 30th April 2007.

It was like PULLING TEETH. The gym basically was in a DISGUSTING state and they were refurbishing the women's changing rooms for like a month and we had to change in the men's (one toilet, light was broken in it) so I got fed up with it and decided to cancel.

I've since joined Fitness First and can recommend them. They are really nice and I've had no problems at all with them.

Yeah, it was Friends Chandler tries to quit the gym so he takes Ross with him to help him quit and then Ross ends up signing up as well. So then they go to the bank nd tell them they want to quit the bank. I've seen this episode a million times and when I cancelled my last gym membership I actually said, "I wanna quit the gym."

Ross and Chandler...lol...they ended up with a joint checking account. That episode is classic!

Before canceling my NYC Crunch gym membership I went online and read that they keep billing you.

So I close my account and...
They send me an email today saying I haven't paid!
I call in and they don't even have me, like a cancel member!
They what I copy of my cancellation.
So how come they can call their 14th street gym and tell them to send it?
Is true!
they keep billing you!

The best way to cancel your membership is with a doctor's note saying that you cannot exercise. I was informed of this by a sales representative at my gym. Hope this helps.