Fitness fiasco: NYC launches compliance blitz to crackdown on gym membership traps

"NYC is helping its residents enjoy healthy, fun and scam-free workouts at gyms across the Big Apple through a new warning initiative launched on Thursday. Mayor Zohran Mamdani, along with the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) launched a citywide crackdown on subscription traps, sending warning notices to 187 big-name gyms and health clubs, including PureGym, Planet Fitness and Equinox. The action, according to the mayor, targets hard-to-cancel memberships and deceptive advertising. City officials began sending the warning letters on Feb. 19."

"The lettersurge businesses to comply with state law governing membership cancellations and with the city's Consumer Protection law, which prohibits deceptive advertising, like bait-and-switch pricing, that makes cancellations intentionally difficult. The outreach follows Mamdani's Jan. 5 executive order directing the DCWP to lead a citywide crackdown on hidden junk fees and subscription traps. Common membership and subscription traps at gyms include misleading free trials, automatic renewal and simply making it difficult to cancel a membership."

"New Yorkers shouldn't need a personal trainer to cancel a gym membership, Mamdani said. If a company makes it easy to sign up but nearly impossible to walk away, we will enforce the law and protect your time and your money. amNewYork called and emailed Planet Fitness, Equinox , PureGym, and others to ask about their cancellation policies and their responses to the mayor's compliance blitz, and is awaiting responses from each company."

Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection launched a citywide crackdown on gym subscription traps, sending warning notices to 187 gyms and health clubs, including PureGym, Planet Fitness, and Equinox. The lettersurge businesses to comply with state laws on membership cancellations and with the city's Consumer Protection law that bans deceptive advertising and bait-and-switch pricing. The initiative follows a Jan. 5 executive order targeting hidden junk fees and subscription traps. Common traps include misleading free trials, automatic renewals, and making cancellations difficult. Major gym websites showed inconsistent transparency about cancellation policies.

Read at www.amny.com