UPDATE: Sie haben die Rechnung storniert, nachdem ich ihnen den untenstehenden Link gesendet und meine neue Adresse nachgewiesen habe.
https://www.lex4you.ch/de/monatsthemen/kann-ich-mein-fitnessabo-vorzeitig-kuendigen-wenn-ich-umziehe
Vielen Dank, lieber User, für den Tipp: Ich habe dadurch 390 CHF gespart.
Vor zwei Jahren habe ich mich in einem örtlichen Fitnessstudio angemeldet und einen 12-Monats-Vertrag für 890 CHF abgeschlossen. Im Vertrag steht, dass man 1 Monat vor Ablauf kündigen muss, sonst verlängert sich der Vertrag automatisch.
Wichtig: Ich habe keinen von beiden Parteien unterzeichneten Vertrag. Sie haben mir lediglich eine Kopie des Vertrags per E-Mail geschickt, die nur ihre Unterschrift enthielt.
Jetzt bin ich in eine andere Stadt gezogen, habe aber dummerweise vergessen, abzusagen.
Ich habe eine E-Mail-Rechnung für das nächste Jahr erhalten, aber mit der Nachricht, dass ich keine Mitgliedschaft möchte, da ich umgezogen bin. Bitte stornieren Sie die Rechnung. Sie lehnten ab und hier wird es interessant.
Sie bieten mir eine "Wochenend-Abo" zum halben Preis, sodass ich nur am Wochenende Zugang habe "für Menschen, die außerhalb der Stadt wohnen". Dieses Produkt ist nicht auf ihrer Website aufgeführt. Obwohl ich ihnen gesagt habe, dass ich es niemals verwenden werde, bestehen sie darauf, dass ich es akzeptiere, denn wenn sie für mich eine Ausnahme machen, müssen sie es für alle tun "in meiner Situation" (ihre Worte).
Die gesamte Kommunikation erfolgt per E-Mail.
Meine Meinung als Hobbyjuristin:
Sie haben bereits zugestimmt, meinen Vertrag zu kündigen, indem sie mir einen neuen Vertrag mit völlig anderen Konditionen angeboten haben. Damit haben sie ihre eigenen Verlängerungsregeln aufgehoben und ungültig gemacht. Ich könnte dies rechtlich ablehnen und nichts bezahlen.
Meine zwei Optionen:
- Ich zahle die 390 CHF und mache mit meinem Leben weiter. Ich bin froh, dass ich für meine Dummheit wenigstens 50 % Rabatt bekomme.
- Wenden Sie sich mit der Angelegenheit an meine Rechtsschutzversicherung, seien Sie hartnäckig und hoffen Sie, dass die Rechnung einfach storniert wird.
Was sagst du?
https://old.reddit.com/r/Switzerland/comments/1dd6n8a/gym_forcing_me_to_renew_membership_need_advise/
Von d1r3cT-0rd3r
35 Kommentare
I would go for option 1
My reasoning is that my life is personally to short to be worrying about this, I have other things I would rather spend my time and energy on. My fault, my problem
This happens too often unfortunately. When you sign for a gym, it’s not the same as signing for other services like spa or pool. There’s legal intricacies that people don’t read..
You can try to sell your abo online to people who want to join, even give them the option of the 50% weekend thing. See where that pans out. If you can sell it, then you can easily change membership name.
Another thing, ask your gym if they can do a monthly subscription instead of a yearly. If they agree, Pay for one month and cancel atleast 2 weeks before month is finished.
Ask your legal insurance. That’s why you pay them.
3. Set a reminder (like Google Calendar) so you don’t forget to cancel membership next year.
>I do not have a contract signed by both parties.
Doesn’t matter. Such contracts do not need to be in writing, as long as you had a chance to see the terms of service before entering into the contract.
>They have already agreed to cancel my contract by offering me a new contract
No, they have not.
Sorry to say but you don’t have the law on your side.
For the first renewal, they have to send you a reminder for the auto-renewal.
You learnt a valuable lesson here, be glad it was only this cheap
Something if there is no gym near your new place, they can refund you
They’re not forcing you to renew, they’re asking you to comply with the contract you signed one year ago. Take the loss and move on, next time you’ll remember and won’t flush any more money in the toilet
Normally Gym contracts have a clause that you’re allowed to cancel at any moment in case of moving to a distance bigger than X Km from the Gym. Did you check your contract?
That’s why it is so important to read and understand the contract before you sign it. I would suggest contacting them and hope for goodwill. Otherwise, I would just eat the costs, take it as a lesson learned, and move on.
Unfortunately this predatory business tactic is still legal, you’ll probably have to pay:
https://www.konsumentenschutz.ch/online-ratgeber/automatische_verlaengerung_rechtens/
If they don’t have a copy of the contract with your signature, they have nothing. You don’t have to pay.
I think moving is a legal reason to cancel if there are no gyms close by
Gyms are just a scam to rip you off. Read the contract
whats the Gym‘s name?
For future: There is a simple method to turn auto-renewed contracts into fixed term. Sign the contract and hand in the notice on the spot for a year in advance. This way you won’t forget to cancel it.
People – Cancel your gym membership as soon as you have signed up for this very reason. Make sure you get the email that states the membership has been canceled. You can always renew, but make sure you cancel immediately.
100% option 1.
When i was 18 i joined a local Gym with a annual membership fee of 1200. Thats an insane price and fucking stupid from my side to even join them. I was in the gymnasium so my parents payed 600, i payed 300 and the rest the KK.
So as most of the gym journeys, the first 3 month i attended them regularly, then sporadically and after 6 month i quit.
Without a single word they prolonged my contract. My parents were not willing to pay, i was still im gymnasium. Well that really fucked me. They didnt even offer me a buy out clause. I proposed that i pay 300 bearbeitungsgebühren but they wanted all the money.
I blackmailed them and said i will tell all my friends, who are also clients, to quit the membership bc they are only looking for profit and have 0 customer orientation.
In the end i payed nothing lol. But damn that was a hard process.
sadly you probably won’t get far, as this is their business model.
Hell, they sell you a year, you go for 2 months and then quit, that’s how it usually goes for them with most people, that’s how they make money.
People then forget about it and they get another year for free, as they forgot to cancel it.
It’s fucking shady and you should just pay and write a review about them so other people don’t do the same mistake. Always make sure there is no auto-renewal on any long term subs.
I’m afraid you have to pay. Been there, done that. Welcome to the club of people who will never ever subscribe to a fitness anymore. Never. Ever.
Always always cancel any contract with an auto-renew clause right after you sign it so they can’t auto-renew. Also give their predatory practice as a reason and also include an insult in there, they deserve it.
Stand outside the gym and warn every person that walks in about this tactic so it doesn’t happen to anyone else. Once they see you doing this, they will cancel your contract in exchange for you leaving because they don’t want others to be reminded about this.
You don’t have to pay it. Was the automatic renewal clause in the contract itself or in the AGB?
I possibly would pay the 390.- and move on.
If i’m correct my „Selbstbehalt“ for „Rechtschutz is 300.-, so yeaaah
If they don’t have a contract with your and their signature then there is no contract between you and them therefore you dont owe em shit
My suggestion: Whenever you make a contract with such a clause, put a reminder in your calendar for a couple weeks before the cancel period. Make it recurring, and ignore it if you want to renew. Otherwise act.
Doesn’t help you right now, but next time.
You have been Switzerlanded.
Some gyms let you re-sell the membership to someone else (e.g. NonStop Gym), maybe you could try to explore that option if they let you?
>Now I have moved towns but stupidly forgot to cancel it.
And now you’re gonna give them more money as a reminder to not „stupidly forget“ next time.
Your legal insurance has a hotline. Call them for advice, that’s why you pay the yearly premium after all.
Just don’t pay… Tell them to take you to small. Claims. Court… And if they do and win then just submit a letter asking to cancel for next year at the court hearing.
If the automatic renewal is stated in the contract itself you probably won’t get out of it. If the automatic renewal is however only mentioned in the AGB you’re probably good to just ignore them.
Unexpected changes to the contract that are only mentioned in the AGB have to be specifically pointed out by the other party prior to signing the contract. In other words, if they didn’t tell you about the automatic renewal and only put it in the AGB, you can ignore it.
A gym once did this to me. There was no way out of it aside from transferring to someone else. So I waited at the desk and when someone came to subscribe I offered them my membership for half price and told them to cancel on the spot so there isn’t a renewal charge. I only saved 50% but the gym also lost.
I feel legal insurance is generally a good idea and also just using it as an argument/protection when you feel someone is breaking the law or being a nuisance is a viable route to take.
You pay the insurance for a reason and you can always (usually online, within minutes) open a quick case and have them get back to you to see whether you have a claim. In most cases, people do tend to back off a bit when you say „Ich werde den Rechtsschutz einschalten falls XY weil Z „