Beware Virgin Active Predatory Fee Increases (90% increase in 4 months)

I am a student and have been with Virgin Active for about six years. My fees increased from the original amount of around R400–R500 to R809 over time, which I accepted, given that I was not in a fixed contract for most of that period.

In March 2025, a staff member at the Cresta branch spoke to my mother and suggested that I use Varsity Vibe to get R50 off every month. My mother then made the decision and signed the new paperwork on my behalf. That effectively amended my original contract and signature without my direct involvement.

In September, I suddenly received an email stating that my monthly fee would increase to R1 400 because I had turned 24. At no point during the Varsity Vibe sign‑up was it clearly explained that such a large age‑related increase would follow. When I contacted head office to try to cancel after seeing the R1 400, they would not allow me to cancel and instead offered three months at 50% discount: roughly R400 for one month and R700 for two months, after which the full R1 400 would apply again.

By then, I had already visited Planet Fitness, who offered me a nationwide contract at R699, which I signed, not realising that the Varsity Vibe arrangement at Virgin Active locked me into a 12‑month contract. Once I became aware of this, I cancelled Planet Fitness within their 5‑day cooling‑off period.

In November, I received another email from Virgin Active stating that my fee would increase again, this time to R1 500 due to “inflation”. That is roughly a 90% increase compared to the R809 I had been paying. Head office then suggested that I move from a nationwide contract to a Loftus‑only contract at around R1 200 before the latest increase (so closer to R1 300 now), while I am still a student and still supposedly receiving R50 off through Varsity Vibe.

In other words, I have effectively gone from about R800 for nationwide access to being pushed toward roughly R1 300 for a single club, plus an age‑related jump to R1 400 and then R1 500 within a few months, under a 12‑month contract I did not directly agree to and did not properly understand at sign‑up. None of these major increases were explained transparently upfront. In my view, this is unreasonable and predatory, particularly towards students.