Gym membership. We haven't been for the last 7 wks, becasue I miscarried. Refund denied .

[Oblomov]

My friend said that sometimes they freeze things, if you are going on holiday for a long time. Or that in sympathyy, they might not charge us for this month - £90 per month, so we nearly haven't been for nearly 2 months £180, so not to be sniffed at.
I went today to ask.
Totally denied. She said there was nothing she could do.
I know I am playing the sympathy trump card, but is it worth persuing this , asking again, with a different member of staff.
Or do I stand NO CHANCE ?

ours asks fo a doctors note

yeah i would try again
i got mine frozen while pregnant with high blood pressure

I think that you have no chance I am afraid.
Sorry to hear of your troubles .
I suppose if you just spoke to a receptionist you could perhaps write to the membership manager.

Have alook in your contract or T & C's...then speak to another member and tell them your local newspaper would be interested in this kind of scrooge like behaviour at christmas time...?

When I couldn't go because I'd had an accident they insisted on a medical note with the amount of sick leave I got. And I was in a neck brace and covered in cuts and bruises, so it was pretty obvious I wouldn't be using the gym any time soon. Can you not get a note from your GP?

I got mine frozen when I had a premature baby. They are being tossers

I think the point is that you are asking for it after the event as it were. Many gyms freeze if you let them know in advance but I have never heard of one that will do it retrospectivly.

If you contact the manager then they may add the months on to the end of your contract, but tbh I htink you will be very lucky if you manage it.

Sorry to hear of your troubles, I am sure this is not a situation you really want to be dealing with.

I used to work in health clubs. The memberships are dealt with through a finance company. Try to write to them maybe they can do something. You probably won't get a refund but you may be able to cancel it on medical grounds. Have you got your contract?

Try instead of asking for refund to ask for credit to use against future months fees. Make sure you ask the membership people, not the receptionist.

If it is a chain of gyms, try writing to the head office and say that the policy should be rethought to consider circumstances like this. Do they expect a woman to have a MC and her first thought to be, "I must contact the gym"

Sad behaviour IMO.

I called it a refund in the title, becasue I didn't know how else to explain it, but I didn't say that to the lady. I just explained the situation and asked if there was anything she could do, could she 'help'.
I could check my terms & conditions, but I suppose I was just hoping for a bit of sympathy for the £180 spent and maybe, for her to freeze us next month, but allow us to use - or something like that.
Some are saying yes and some of you are saying not a chance.
I was jst asking. Not harm in asking them. I thought they might be a bit more sympathetic. Or maybe they are used to hearing every sort of sob story.

And it was the membership lady I spoke to.

I would take in a doctors letter, that's what my friend did when she had an ectopic pg and they just cancelled the direct debit for a couple of months.

I rang her. And very politely said... that I ..... appreciated that she was under no obligation, I but I ..... wondered if she would reconsider and if anything could be done.
She said she would ring me back.

Talk to the local paper. They are being totally unreasonable.

And I played the sympathy card again, really heavily, told her I had been very ill diabetically, admitted to Kings hospital (2 hrs away) , so dh , couldn't use gym either, and that it had been really traumatic Then I had a D*C and had been really ill.
NOTHING.
No emotion at all.
Suppose I was playing on the old sympathy vote a bit too much.

I work for a large fitness company,and we would always freeze an account under these cicumstances. As someone else said a refund is slighty different as it needs to be referred to the finance dept.I would certainly ask some strong questions about this decision and maybe look round for another gym if they can not show some compassion for there customers.

Read your contract, some do if you can provide a doctors note.

Lots of people join gyms with the intention of going and sign the contract which normally is for a year. I'm sure in exceptional circumstances they will allow you to cancel but it is in the hands of the finance company to have the final decision.

They have got back to me. They will charge me £50 in January, rather than £90.
It doesn't seem like alot to me, but I suppose I should be grateful for anything, right ?

I would tell them by acting in this way they have lost yours and your dh's business for the next year. At £90 x 12 thats alot of money...

I suppose £40 is better than nothing so perhaps try to feel grateful for it. And next time you go, steal some rolls of loo paper or something

Oblomov .

I think a strongly worded letter about money clearly being more important to them than the welfare of their clients might be worthwhile.

And advise them that your friends have decided not to renew their memberships due to the way you have been treated.

And that it might all be in the small print, but human compassion and management
responsibility and decision-making are not mutually exclusive.

(And your uncle is Max Clifford / Rupert Murdoch/ Michael Moore - delete as appropriate - and he is very interested in the situation? )

Sorry you're going through all this, though.

Dh thinks I should cancel our membership, over their lack of customer care, including the fact that the membership lady was nigh on abrupt, and poor offer.

I would really advise you to check your contract with them and see what it says. This should be your starting point.

Do you know if it says anything about freezing/refunds etc??