No Customer Service!

Good day,

I am reporting my complaint regarding my experience with Planet Fitness, specifically the Carnival Mall branch and the way my membership contract was handled.

I initially app**** for membership at the Carnival Mall branch in January 2025. Currently, I am a student teacher at a primary school in Brakpan, where I reside, while also studying through UNISA. Please see attached supporting documentation confirming my student status.

Although the membership contract was registered in my name, my mother offered to pay the monthly membership fees on my behalf, as I was already responsible for funding my own studies and could not reasonably afford the additional monthly expense.

The sales consultant who assisted us at the time was Danie. Unfortunately, the information provided to us regarding the membership contract, payment arrangements and monthly fees was, in our experience, unclear and/or incorrect.

We initially signed the membership contract but were subsequently asked to return to the branch and sign the contract again. This already caused confusion regarding the agreement we had entered into.

In addition, we specifically requested that the debit order date be changed to a more suitable date. This request was made at the time of signing and was communicated to the sales consultant. Despite this, our request was apparently never actioned, nor were we provided with any feedback regarding whether the request had been submitted or approved.

I am extremely unhappy with the way this matter was handled. As a customer, I believe I was entitled to receive accurate information about the contract I was signing, the applicable monthly fees and the debit order arrangement. Where a customer specifically raises a request or concern, I also expected the request to be properly recorded, considered and responded to.

Following numerous telephone calls, emails and attempts to resolve the matter, the membership contract was eventually cancelled on 10 July 2025.

Despite the cancellation, I was still being debited for the membership even after the contract had been cancelled. This was extremely concerning and added further frustration to an already unacceptable customer experience.

I was subsequently informed that I was required to pay cancellation fees. I was extremely upset by this, particularly given the circumstances leading up to the cancellation and the repeated attempts made to resolve the matter with Planet Fitness.

I find it extremely difficult to understand how this can be considered fair or reasonable. On the one hand, Planet Fitness seeks to hold me strictly liable for the terms of a contract, including cancellation fees, because I signed the agreement. Yet, on the other hand when I raised legitimate concerns and specifically requested assistance with the debit order arrangements, those requests were not properly addressed or actioned.

If Planet Fitness expects customers to comply strictly with the contractual terms they have signed, then customers should reasonably expect Planet Fitness to honour its responsibilities under that same agreement and to properly attend to reasonable customer requests.

This matter has now been ongoing for more than a year and despite our repeated attempts to resolve it, the situation has continued to escalate. I have enclosed all correspondence for ease of reference, i.e. original complaint, confirmation of cancelled contract, correspondence form the previous branch manager).

I have now been informed that an amount of more than R3,500 is allegedly outstanding on the account. I strongly dispute this amount and do not accept liability for this alleged outstanding balance. I am not willing to make payment towards an amount that I believe has arisen as a result of unresolved issues, continued debits following cancellation of the membership, and Planet Fitness's failure to adequately address our repeated requests and concerns.

In addition, I would like to formally lodge a complaint regarding Dean, the Branch Manager at the Carnival Mall branch. Unfortunately, my interaction with him further exacerbated an already extremely frustrating situation. I found his handling of our concerns to be unprofessional and demonstrated, in my view, a lack of understanding of the issues we were attempting to raise and resolve. In addition, while visiting the branch, we attempted to contact your Head Office to seek further assistance. We raised our query with the call centre agent who answered the call and requested assistance, however, the call was subsequently ended, and we were unable to resolve the matter any further.

Given that we had already made numerous attempts to resolve this matter through calls, emails and direct communication with Head office, we approached the Branch Manager in good faith with the expectation that he would take ownership of the matter and assist us in reaching a fair and reasonable resolution. Unfortunately, our concerns were once again not adequately addressed, which left me even more frustrated and dissatisfied with Planet Fitness's approach to customer service.

It has been longer than a year and this matter is still not resolved!

Thank you, From a very unsatisfied customer!