Activ Fitness gym membership - early cancellation

Visas, Permits, Passports and Naturalization
1
Hello,

I am leaving Switzerland and am now in the process of terminating all my contracts with Swiss service providers. One of my headaches now is *Activ Fitness* gym.

I started the contract on 11.02.2022 and apparently in case of early termination they only refund in gradual percentages up until the 6th month of membership (50% of the contract price in the 1st month, 40% in the 2nd month, 30% in the 3rd month, etc.) and 0 refund starting with the 7th month.

Does anyone have any experience with them? Is this a new rule or has it always been like that with them? I cannot recall what their AGB was stating back when I subscribed. Also, they didn't send me a contract, only a confirmation of the contract (Vertragsbestätigung) and the link to their AGB which they sent me per email back then has already expired (how convenient).

I am quite surprised, I thought that if one leaves the country there should be no issues in cancelling contracts, especially a gym contract!

2
Ask them to send you the AGB? And yes, it is normal you are bound to a contract you signed for.

3

It’s pretty clearly spelled out here, under section 11, point 6:

https://www.activfitness.ch/en/tcs/#contract

The page says it was updated January 1 of this year, so these would be the terms in effect at the time you subscribed in February.

PS - No connection to them. I used Google.

4
Yes, my fault for just assuming that leaving the country is a good enough reason for early termination without consequences.

5
Thanks, I haven't noticed when the page was last updated.

6
In the meantime I noticed that the contracts are also non-transferable.

They really block any possibility for people to get out of their contracts...

7
Yes, many gyms play similar "dirty tricks", and as far as I know it's somehow only allowed in Switzerland.

Tons of them have "3 month notice for cancellation, otherwise pay up for another 12 months" (so yours is in fact even a bit "softer" in that regard ).

A franchise of one of them in Germany has 1 month notice in their T&C - I wonder if it's some EU regulation there (apparently not existing in CH).

8
No, cancellation periods of 3 months with automatic extension are also in other EU countries.

That is why it so often is said here: read the T & C‘s!

9
Lesson learnt!

I used to live in Austria in the past, never had issues with service providers, including with the local gym, when I told them I am moving to Switzerland.

I have the feeling too that Switzerland has a lot of grey zones and consumer protection is not very strong. In fact, I read that if you call consumer protection they charge you 60 CHF for any call over 15 mins. This definitely discourages people to contact them.

10
I see.

Still interesting that this one example company/brand (Evo) has differing "notice periods" in CH and DE.

11
@Alira one more thought based on the last few posts. Does your contract have a fixed end date, or is it one that would auto-renew? If there's a chance it would auto-renew, be sure to cancel now under the terms you have. Don't assume everything will be fine just because you moved and couldn't get money back.

12

So, learn to read contracts before you sign, nobody forces you to sign and you can change any terms that you like providing the counter party accept also.

13
Just wondering, as a friend of mine is in a similar situation,

What happen "Legally" if one decided not to pay? or leave SW without paying?