Planet Fitness is a ****

In February 2023, I entered into a two-year membership contract with Planet Fitness. I was not provided with a copy of the contract, nor did I receive any communication from Planet Fitness during the contract period. When the membership term ended earlier this year, I was surprised to find that debit orders were still being processed against my account. Upon raising the matter with the Vanderbijlpark branch, I was informed that my contract included an automatic renewal clause. However, this was never disclosed to me, and we later discovered that my email address had been incorrectly captured, which explains why I never received the contract or renewal notifications. The matter was escalated to Head Office, and following a discussion with a sales agent, we agreed that the original membership would be cancelled and replaced with a new membership at a rate of R299 per month, as opposed to the cancelled contract’s R449. While the first two debit orders reflected the agreed rate of R299, in August I was again charged R449, contrary to the agreement. Despite raising this with the branch, I received no assistance. On 15 September, I spoke with an agent named Thulani, whose response was dismissive and unprofessional, implying that the fault lay with me rather than acknowledging the errors caused by Planet Fitness. Although I was later contacted by a sales manager who confirmed that a new contract should have been signed, no such contract has been provided to date, and my matter remains unresolved. This raises serious concerns about Planet Fitness’ professionalism and compliance with the consumer protection obligations.