Legal Question in Consumer Law in Massachusetts

I have a question about gym membership fees being taken out of my checking account via my Debit Card. I had belonged to a gym, and had authorized them to take the monthly fees ($30) a month from my checking account. In 2006 I had thought that I had cancelled this membership(I cannot locate any documentation to reflect this), and have not been to that gym since 2006. I regretfully do not check my monthly bank statements, but I recently did, and noticed that the gym was still taking monthly fees which are now $47.95 a month. I went to the gym in person to tell them about this, and they said that they could only take care of it going forward. They also cannot locate any paperwork. I also know that my original Debit Card used had since expired in 9/08. So, I asked them how they were still able to use that card. In looking at their system, they told me that the expiration date was updated on 9/28/08 to the new expiration date of 9/11. They don't know how it was updated, and said that I would have had to have authorized it, which I did not. Any advise as to how I can get these monies refunded? Thank you.


Asked on 12/03/09, 11:49 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Dmitry Lev The Lev Law Firm

You could write a demand letter to the management of the club, citing the consumer protection statute - Chapter 93A. Read over the chapter for the requirements of what a demand letter must contain in order to preserve your right to sue if necessary. An attorney could do this for you and in certain instances the court will award you the attorney fees as well. Be careful, however, as many health club contracts have fine print about early cancellations, or that your cancellation had to be in writing, etc, etc. You could go through the efforts of trying to get your money back only to learn that they had the right to charge you all along. Though, I agree, the debit card authorization issue sounds sketchy.

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Answered on 12/09/09, 12:01 am


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