Phoenix, Arizona - Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced Thursday that his Office has sent letters to three gyms with locations in Arizona – Life Time Fitness, Mountainside Fitness, and Planet Fitness, encouraging them to change in-person cancellation policies. In the letters, the Attorney General's Office (AGO) urges the gyms to allow consumers to cancel their memberships remotely during, at a minimum, the time a national and state health emergency is in place.
Additionally, gyms have not been categorized as an essential service by the governor's executive order and therefore are not open in Arizona. Despite being closed to the public, each gym has indicated on its website that consumers are still required to cancel in-person.
“In a time when Arizonans are being advised to stay home and social distance, businesses shouldn’t be requiring customers to cancel memberships in person when they're not even open to the public,” said Attorney General Mark Brnovich. “While I recognize these businesses are facing difficult times like all Arizonans, gyms should remove boilerplate cancellation policies and adopt a transparent, common-sense approach that does not force consumers to put themselves at risk.”
The letters question both the legality of requiring in-person cancellation in general and specifically during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The AGO recently launched a COVID-19 Consumer Protection webpage that contains up-to-date warnings about emerging scams and includes links to the latest information from the AGO and other consumer authorities.
If you believe you have been the victim of consumer fraud, you can file a consumer complaint by visiting the Attorney General’s website. If you need a complaint form sent to you, you can contact the Attorney General’s Office in Phoenix at (602) 542-5763, in Tucson at (520) 628-6648, or outside the Phoenix and Tucson metro areas at (800) 352-8431.