Planet Fitness ripping us off , making it hard to cancel

I’ve been a member of Planet Fitness through Liberty since 08/03/2016. For “Duration and Cancellation “ The contract states “Minimum membership period is for a fixed term of 12 months , after which my membership will continue on a month to month basis until I give Planet Fitness 1 (one) calendar month written notice to cancel my membership by emailing ***”It further goes on to say “ I accept that I will pay Planet Fitness a 30% cancellation penalty should I cancel my membership before the end of my minimum membership period or “fixed term”

I was out of the country for 6 months 13 July 2019 and returned 05 January 2020 during which time I had to pay a reduced fee of R125.00 for freezing my membership for 6 months (July to December 2019)

My fixed period ended in March 2017 , so from then I have been on a month to month basis , I gave Planet witness notice that I will be cancelling my membership and that February 2020 would be my required 1 months notice.

I went to Planet Fitness Wanderers to cancel and they put me through to customer service who stated that I have to pay a cancellation fee of +-R759 , they worked out a ridiculous calculation. I then sent the cancellation email to which I received a response stating that someone would call me . I received the call and the customer service person acknowledged my request to cancel but stated that I have to pay membership fees until April 2020 . I explained that my notice period was Feb how can I pay until April. He said I had a 24 month contract which is not true because from March 2017 I have been on a month to month membership. I should not be charged a cancellation penalty because my fixed period had ended March 2017 , my 6 month freezing period had ended in December 2019 (during which I paid albeit a reduced fee ) , I gave 1 months written and online notice.

Planet Fitness wants to charge a cancellation fee and add 6 months Extra to my contract . This is wrong , probably doing this to get me to change my mind about cancelling. They want to continue to ***** my money after cancellation.