Remember Youfit?
Back in March, I posted on my blog about a terrible time I was having cancelling my subscription with them starting in mid-Feb. By March, they had closed locations everywhere because of COVID (good job!) but their corporate number only directed to (closed) local locations before hanging up.
No one could pause their contract payments, $20-30/mo + membership fees. So they were taking money for club services no one could use, without offer of extending our services to compensate. I would have been good with like “hey, we were closed two months, so keep using the gym for two months after the date your contract expires since you paid for it. You’re good.” Other people should have had the option of “hey, I need that money.”
I tried to contact them through e-mail, but got no responses. I tried to message them on Twitter and Facebook, but got no responses. They kept charging my account, though! And sent out mass-emails saying that it was okay to do that because they had to keep paying rent on their facilities!
Look, I have to pay rent, too- even if I make no sales on my online business. I still have to pay for my meds, my endless doctors, being disabled and not getting SSI, my cat needed $4k in surgery... but I don’t get to just... *charge my customers* for that because I just want to for nothing in return, unauthorized, no *consent*, and say “lol well I got bills to pay”.
So I FINALLY got ahold of an open gym at the end of April during Florida’s first ‘reopening’ and cancelled my account. It took about an hour.
... in June... they started charging my account again.
::facepalm:: bitches like I wouldn’t notice. So I filed AGAIN. THIS is why I pay with Paypal; I can just easily dispute charges. My bank, though, charges $30 to chargeback a company- more than Youfit fraudulently charged me. This is probably why Youfit’s target audience, younger Millenials and GenZ, either don’t fight charges and so Youfit keeps the money they wrongfully took, or they can’t afford to do that every month. Paypal is free to dispute charges with.
I posted on Twitter AGAIN that Youfit was STILL charging me. The corporate account told me to call their 1-888-968-3481 number. Which asks for a zipcode. Which directed me to every closed location before hanging up. Again. The nearest location is 22 miles away round trip. The next one is ~26mi. I had to figure out where the nearest open club still was and get the zip code there to get their number.
THAT club said I had to go there in PERSON to cancel my membership. It has to be done IN PERSON.
uguggughhhhh
Here’s where it gets FUN! Lots of math and some speculation ahead:
I went to the dentist today. Nearby is a closed Youfit location. I checked the door. There’s a bunch of papers taped to it, but I can’t see too well. I wish I hadn’t left my phone in the car.
On the door is an eviction notice dated 6/18/20. Youfit for that one location is in arrears to the tune of $41,300+ including rent, water, property taxes, and lot maintenance shared fees. They’ve only been closed since March. They couldn't get rent relief or out of their contract I guess. But here's the thing:They closed around beginning of March. Assuming it was fast to get the suit together, let's say they closed 3/1-6/1 before suit went up.
3 months.$41,300+ (we'll make the math easy) / 3 = $13,767 per month in rent.
They owe more than that, so for ease of math, let's say $13800. Let's say they had 500 regulars. A lot of people for that one location.That's $27.60 per person just for rent.
So how did Youfit charge $20/mo for a limecard for all kinds of services extra when just the rent for ONE location costs almost $30, not including staff, exercise equipment, equipment maintenance, etc?
THIS is likely why they are scamming people out of their money all this year. They are counting on people not fighting them or not knowing what their primary clientele (younger millenials and Gen Zers) to know how take them on. Banks charge for chargebacks, often $30 or more- that's more than Youfit charges. So YF keeps the money and GenZ is stuck with predatory charges.
