I don't want to pay my Clever Fit bills due to corona-lockdown

Daily Life, Swiss News and General Topics
1
Hello,

I've got an Abo in the Clever Fit Studio from 1.05.2020 until 30.04.2021. I've chosen to pay my bills until January(I still got 3 bills to pay, 207 CHF total) and then I decided to quit the gym and buy gym equipment to do powerlifting on my balcony.

Anyway, I've sent an email to quit my abo and asking if I have to pay the last 3 bills because they were already closed for almost 2 months last year and now they will be closed probably till 1st of April, so 5 months closed.

They answered me that yes, I have to pay the bills and the told me to check the website because they've got a Corona-Angebot with 3 options.

1- Give them the money without compensation

2 - Give this 2nd-Lockdown credit to a new member

3 - Renew my Abo and get this 2nd-Lockdown credit onto my new Abo.

I don't agree with the options and I was a bit upset with the answer because I kindly paid January and I didn't ask any compensation. Also, they are the only gym in Switzerland with this policy. So I replied them sending this article and saying I will not pay because It's my right

Then, another person sent me a reply, with a introduction about their policy, and finally saying this:

I had a misunderstanding with the word "verlängern". My swiss girlfriend told me that it means to renew my contract another year and I understand that it's extend my current Abo. Probably she is right but I am amused how this people can be so stubborn when you already told them you will not pay and it's extremely obvious that I'm right. What they are thinking they are? and NGO?

So I replied back and ask them what they mean with "verlängern" and told them I can accept to pay if they will extend my current abo (Because my gym stuff hasn't arrived yet). I sent my last email 2 days ago I have no answer yet, but I'm waiting for some kind of post/email threat. In case I receive something like this, what can I do? would a formal registered letter

work? Do I need a lawyer for such a letter?

thanks.

2
Just to clarify their 2nd option, this is what is written on the website:

That last sentence makes me laugh. What the hell is a Gutschrifts-Talon? It can be anything, a piece of paper saying "Danke"? a one day pass?

3
Hello

30.04.2021? That's like tomorrow in Swiss contractual terms.

So, first stay calm because you'll need it to think clearly. Precisely this morning I asked advice on how to cancel a GYM membership on this other thread.

https://www.englishforum.ch/other-ge...-problems.html

You understood "verlängern" right, it's an extension of your current membership. Usually in gym contracts there's a period of 1, 2 or 4 weeks before the end of the membership were you have to notify in written form that you don't want to extend your membership another year. Otherwise your membership is extended automatically another year according to the contract you signed a year ago.

Please don't shoot the messenger (me ) and read as soon as possible your contract to clarify the notice period you need to respect to avoid the automatic renewal of the membership for another year. I don't want to slander the gym, but there's a real possibility that they're keeping your busy via email until the notice period ends and you're liable to pay one more year.

So, keep calm, read the other tread and act as soon as possible sending a registered letter..... 30.04.2021 is tomorrow

@mods, thread merge?

4
So what did you think on 1st May 2020? That we would never ever have another lockdown again?

5
My gym specifically states that I need to give them notice three months before the end of my yearly membership if I want to cancel. Otherwise it will automatically renew.

FYI, my gym is also going to credit my account for the time they were closed due to Federal restrictions. I don't have the details of this, but expect (at least "hope") to have them once the announcement comes when I can return.

6
Your rights extend only to what's written in the contract. The archives of English Forum are littered with people complaining that their gym membership is somehow 'unfair', but the answer is always the same - you sign a contract, you have to accept the conditions that you agreed to. End of story.

Oh, and no, they're not the only gym in Switzerland with this policy. Whatever made you think that?

7
To be fair to the OP, the fitness center is not open and thus not delivering their services, and as the OP pointed out this article ( https://www.srf.ch/news/schweiz/fitn...ue-fitness-abo and https://www.konsumentenschutz.ch/onl...ss_abo_zahlen/ ) suggest that he would not need to pay for the period during which the fitness center cannot deliver its services.

From a "fairness" point of view: I do see an issue of a company demanding payment and not delivering any services (this has nothing to do with onerous termination provisions, etc.). However, one would need to look at the general terms and conditions in particular, since they may say that if the company is hindered from providing its services the recourse is limited to an extension of the membership or similar.

8
I find it interesting that only "the others" are supposed to carry the load.

They can't "deliver" due to force majeure, one that hit us all. (Yes I know, some think it's b the force of the government and believe, by writing an end date into a law it's all done )

They keep paying the bills so the gym is at least still there when people want to return. They would love to deliver yet fight for survival.

If someone found out that training at home is actually good enough, I like offer b very much.

If they'd offer me prolonging my membership for the months they were forced to be closed, I would say "thank you very much, that is kind of you".

But then I seem to be some kind of weirdo, thinking we should share the burden.

9
If I am paying for a service and the service is not (or cannot) be delivered, why should I as a counterpart be required to nonetheless pay for it? After all, the service provider is undertaking the business risk of providing the service and can (i) insure against business interruption, or (ii) accept the risk without insurance.

It would be something different if you enter into a joint venture with another party and contractually agree to share the risks (and the benefits). Then by all means the load can be spread out. But that really does not apply to a gym membership.

P.S. I do not want to diminish the strain that small (or large) businesses are under who are directly affected by the lockdown/Covid, and I am sure they appreciate any support by customers, but I am simply writing from a consumer perspective.

10
I would agree - also many businesses are getting government support, can fire staff (am sure many have) but consumers are expected to just continue to pay?

11
This type of issue - cancelling fitness club/mobile phone etc. contracts within the required notice period comes up very often. If you miss the cancel date, CH contracts "tacitly" re-new typically for ANOTHER year. CH firms are not required to remind you that your contract is coming up for renewal!

To address this issue, I would suggest that when you sign a contract for this type of service that you immediately send a registered letter (CHF 6.-) to cancel the contract at the end of the 12 or 24 months of the contract. This way you will not miss any deadlines. You will also allow you to take advantage of any special offers from other suppliers or the company who wants to keep you when the contract is up.

12
Or just put the automatic renewal date in the agenda so you don't forget to cancel membership/service/subscription when the time comes.

Most gyms do indeed offer to add "lost months due to being closed" to an existing contract. In my opinion, if customers decides to cancel the contract instead, terms of contract should be respected.

After all, this is a pandemic and it's neither the company's fault, nor the customer's.

13
Your last statement is true and therefore at best costs should be shared and not put fully on the customer whilst the gym can access state help, reduce fixed costs by firing people etc.

14
Do gyms have the right to access state help?

15
Sorry my mistake, I wasn't clear enough on my first post. When I said "I sent an email to quit my Abo", that was done. My Abo finish on 30.04.2021 . I knew I had to quit my membership with more than 3 months notice and I did it on January. They replied me sending me a confirmation email with a PDF as well. This is why I am so angry because they only offer compensation if I extend for another year my membership and they know I already canceled my membership. There is no compensation for the current year.

The problem is that I still got 3 bills to pay, the last 3 bills, and I am not willing to pay them

Well, yes I did, like many people I guess. But It does not matter what I thought on May, I would have to quit my membership on January. Also, on May I still wanted to go to the gym. This idea to build up a gym to do powerlifting just came on December and after one month of thinking about it, I just quit the Abo on January.

That is what I've read on the media, that the only gym not doing so is Clever Fit. They only do it when you extend for another year the membership

That is what is about all this stuff, sorry I didn't pointed out on my first post, it's written on the article. There is nothing at all written on the contract about to keep paying when the gym is closed due to a pandemic, zombie apocalypse or whatever. That's why they cannot do anything at all. For sure they will change the terms and conditions on the next contract.

I don't know if they are the only one, that's is what I read on many articles. At least, between the largest franchises, is one of the few ones doing that.

This is a translation for the article

Thanks for reading the article!

I actually asked for that on my last email, to extend my current abo around 4 months because due to corona I do not have my whole gym equipment yet (I bought it on January....) so I may find myself on May with no gym and no equipment.

I think so, they can take Kurzarbeit for the employees, like any other business.

I was even angrier after my girlfriend told me that this Clever fit wasn't paying bills for the first or second year here. They were many complaints from construction companies about the billing with this Clever fit, that they haven't received their payment. On the inauguration day on Regensdorf-Watt, the electricity company shut down the electricity that day.

Do you guys want to know something very funny? I've bought my gym stuff on two shops in Zurich. One shop had the items on stock and because they were heavy and the shop is only 20 min from my job, I decided to go and pick it up to save the shipping cost (quiet expensive because it was heavy). On my way to my job I camera radar caught me at 116 kmph on the Autobahn . I thought "what the hell".... once I arrived later on at home I checked online and just that section was 80 max, not 120. I hadn't seen the sign at the moment...

So I was very worry about my driving license, making some numbers about the speed and checking EF looking for information. After the initial letter to declare the driver, finally the fine came yesterday and it is 610 CHF. (280 fine and 330 CHF admin fee that I already checked on EF to find out that the abusive Gebühren is quiet normal)

I think the shipping cost were something like 120 CHF and I wound up paying 610 CHF. On top of that this clever fit wants me to pay the last bills when there is no gym to go...

16
Great! The issue is limited to 3 bills. I guess you may ask them to show in their terms and conditions where you should pay for a service you did not get. If they cannot prove it, the rechnungs have no base.

17
I will but I know that is not on the contract. I've just received a remainder today to pay the bill from February, that I've got 7 days to pay...I didn't want to be mean but now I may ask them for a refund for one or two months due to the first lockdown, because I think I can do it.

I found a consumer organization, https://www.konsumentenschutz.ch/beratung/

How can set a claim here? is there such a "claim sheet" like in UK? In my country, Spain, we have to fill a claim sheet. Keep one copy, give another one to the company and the third one to the government authority. is there something like that here?

18
Well, go back to that website and give them a call - right on the front page it offers telephone advice, so take them up on it.

19
Well, it's been long time without update.

I've send this people a letter telling them that I will not pay and there is no reason to pay because it wasn't on the contract. Furthermore, I've asked them to refund me 3 months.

they didn't reply me and I wasn't sure this was over. Yesterday I received a letter from Creditreform, a company who bought the debt and now they are asking me for money plus a fee. I will call on monday to this Konsumshutz organization to see what can I do.

20
Whelp, looks like they have called your bluff and unleashed the dogs of war.

You are in a world of pain now, best would be to pay what is owed to the Gym and tell creditreform to pound sand.

I don ́t get it, how can gyms get away with this kind of stuff in this day and age?