EDIT 6/2013: For some reason, I get a lot of traffic to this page. (I guess a lot of people are pretty frustrated with Planet Fitness, huh?)

Anyway, here’s a basic letter you can copy, paste, fill out and print in order to easily cancel your membership:

To: Manager, Planet Fitness

From: (your name)

Date: (insert date)

Please cancel my membership to Planet Fitness immediately or upon the expiration of my contract, whichever eligibility date is first. DO NOT automatically renew my membership. I will be contacting my credit card processor or bank to prevent any further charges after my cancellation date.

Thank you for your cooperation.

___________________

(Sign above and type your name here)

(Insert your address here)

Hopefully this helps any visitors avoid some of the frustrations I went through.

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Here’s the original blog post:

So I was a member of Planet Fitness for about a year when I lived in Logan. I liked that I could work out a any time of the night and how there was always a staff person present. When I signed up, the rep gave me the impression I would be signing a one-year contract that I’d have to renew.

Turns out the charges auto-renew month-t0-month after the first year is over. This has cost me $120 since I thought my contract ended.

These business practices are unethical and lame. You don’t have enough faith in your product or brand to be straightforward with your customers? Before this, if there were a Planet Fitness location in Provo, I would have signed up. Now, I’m never going to join their gym again and will encourage my friends to also avoid them. Need a gym? In my opinion, don’t go with Planet Fitness.

Here’s an open letter I’m sending to cancel my account.

——

Matthew R. Hall
[Address redacted]

Planet Fitness Logan
640 S. 80 E. Ste. 120
Logan, UT 84321

28 June, 2012

To whom it may concern,

I am writing to formally request my account be cancelled and the charges on my credit card stopped. Though I was under the impression my account was for a one year contract when I signed up, apparently your business model isn’t that straightforward. A notice that my account would be automatically renewed would have been appreciated, but as it is you’ve now collected over $100 from me since I stopped using your gym. Congratulations. Underhanded business practices win again.

Of course, I’m sure this is a corporate policy, and that makes it easier for me not to recommend any Planet Fitness location to my friends. (Seriously, guys, not even a notice or phone call to give me a heads up?)

As stated, cancel my account. Do not charge my account again. Any attempt to contact me by phone, letter, or email, even as a ham-fisted apology, will be seen as harassment, and I will take legal action. (The only exception to this would be to mail me a check refunding me what I’ve paid since April. I’d accept that as long as there wasn’t some lame note telling me how sorry you are about this because if you were actually sorry, you’d change your policy and require a written contract renewal the same way you’re requiring me to write and mail a stupid letter to cancel.) Don’t take the legal action warning as an empty threat–I’ve done it before.

Have a great day, and enjoy my money.

Matthew R. Hall