HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE :/

When I moved to Johannesburg, I decided to try Virgin Active. One of the Sales Consultants (Virgin Active Cresta) informed me of one of their promotions - monthly payment of R499 and having access to all the clubs in South Africa.

Based on the information he provided, I signed a two-year contract. My mistake was that I did not fully read their T&Cs since I assumed that it’s the USUAL T&Cs. However, this was not the case. After a year, and without any notice an amount of R890 was deducted from my account. When I inquired about the reason, I was told that I am no longer a YOUNG ADULT and this had been mentioned in their T&Cs.

It was a first time that I heard of YOUNG ADULT, which meant that after the age of 25 I had to pay the normal rates of Virgin Active. I explained to them that I did not expect anything to that effect to be in their T&Cs (I mean why would anyone sign a 2 year contract, if they knew that they are unable to use the terms of their agreement in the second year!) and the Sales Consultant did not even MENTION that to me.

The more I explained that there had been a misrepresentation by their Sale Consultant (whom no longer works for Virgin Active), the more I got ignored! All I wanted to do was to cancel my contract because as a YOUNG ADULT (as they say) I would not able to afford it!

“It is an established common law principle that if a party proposes a contract term that is 'particularly onerous or unusual', the term will not be incorporated into the contract unless it has been fairly and reasonably brought to the counterparty's attention.

I phoned many people at the club I used to go to as well as the Head Office and all the responses were as follows: "we will send an email to the sales manager and we will investigate your case". Needless to say that no one ever cared enough to follow up with my matter (they were happy with their monthly fee that was being debited from my account and from what I have seen that is what Virgin Active only cares about).

I had to downgrade my contract and also suspend it for some time because I could not use the downgraded contract since it was for a club that was far from me. I am basically paying for about 4 or 5 months to Virgin Active without using their facilities (I have moved to Viva and I cannot be happier).

I know that I am not the only one who has had problems with Virgin Active, I just wanted to share this so that you all CONSIDER CAREFULLY BEFORE SIGNING A CONTRACT WITH THEM.