Cancellation process is terrible

Gym company , Umlazi , Durban . They have salesman lying to us giving false advertising saying it’s a month to month membership and can cancel at anytime . I was no longer working near that branch and also didn’t feel safe attending the gym anymore so I needed to cancel . They advised me that I need to pay R1900 in cash first then they cancel it so now I’m pay 199 every month for free because they won’t cancel my “month to month” membership this is a total ******* . More worse when I get told it’s a 36 month membership 😔