BEWARE: Planet Fitness and Landau Attorneys

My son took out a Planet Fitness ("PF") contract in Oct 2017. He wanted to cancel it in April 2018 and called PF to make arrangements. NB, the account was up to date!! PF emailed him to say he had to pay R1 724 to settle the contract as it was in the "minimum term". He then read the contract and found that it says that he can cancel with a reasonable admin fee. The contract actually does not mention "minimum term". CPA mentions a reasonable admin fee of R100 to cancel a contract. He then called the head office who just transferred the call thru to the branch (Scottsville Pietermaritzburg). He made two calls to the branch, but the Branch Manager was "never in" and did not return calls. He also emailed the PF agent who issued the contract, but the agent did not respond to any of the emails.

So Planet Fitness would not cancel the contract unless he paid R1724. He appealed to them via email and explained that he was trying to cancel the contract and they had not acted ethically or in line with their own agreement, but there was NO response.

In August it was handed to Landau Attorneys who have been harassing him. They are just as bad. Their consult who called in August, Pam, heard the case and said she would take it up with PF. So my son emailed her the long email trail, and we never heard from her again, despite appeals from us to her to "please respond". Then this year, Landau have said that my son owes then R4300. When asked why their consultant, Pam has not done her role as she offered to correspond with PF, Landau just give this corporate stance of :The contract was never settled. When explained again and again that he tried to settle it with PF and that their only response was to pay R1724, Landau continue to give the same response that the contract was never cancelled. So in summary, my son tried to cancel the contract in April 2018, but PF would not cooperate or act within the bounds of their own legal agreement. As a result it has gone to the attorneys and they have been just bad. It will appear that Landau did not intend to resolve the issue so that they could accumulate legal fees. Today was my final appeal to Landau Attorneys as I retold the entire story to the third consultant (Lynelle Johnson) we have dealt with. Their stance remains that the contract will only be cancelled if we pay the, now ridiculous, settlement. Clearly they are not interested in fairness. I have now approached the National Consumer Commission and lodged a complaint against Planet Fitness and Landau Attorneys.