There have been so many heartening stories coming out of this crisis. Globally, we’ve seen the introduction of the “balcony party”, which I hope will stay “a thing” after the quarantines have passed. Here in Wallingford, people like Kenn Herman are working on 3-D printed face masks for healthcare workers. Parents (and grandparents) are putting teddy bears in windows for kids out for isolated walks to count. Pet owners are rallying around local businesses like Wally Pets to ensure the businesses and their staff remain healthy. And businesses that are not able to operate traditionally, like Commune Yoga, are finding ways to still provide value to their community with online yoga classes.
Unfortunately, not everyone is exercising good judgement. Emerald City Athletics, the gym at the corner of 40th and Stone way, has been telling clients who want to cancel or pause their gym membership that they must come in in person to do so, otherwise the gym will continue to charge their credit card or draw directly from their bank accounts each month for membership. This despite the fact that the gym is closed due to coronavirus, so not only are they unable to deliver the service for which they are charging, but coming in in person to cancel is literally impossible.
One member seeking to cancel forwarded this email to me, confirming ECA’s position:
To make any permanent changes to your membership, including cancelling, we are required by law to have a physical document with a signature from both parties (the member and the club) of the contractual agreement.
This is, of course, nonsense. No such law requiring a “physical document” exists, as the existence of services such as Docusign and Hellosign demonstrate. The law allows for legally binding documents to be signed electronically, and there are dozens of solutions available to do so. Even if that wasn’t the case, every one of us has had dozens of experiences entering legally binding agreements online. ECA knows that they could take cancelations electronically or by email, the same way those of us who have signed up for or canceled electronic services like Netflix without a “physical contract” have done innumerable times.
In their (very limited) defense, they are saying that they will “freeze memberships for one month”, but that to cancel recurring charges without coming in, members have to physically go to the post office and send a certified letter requesting the change.
A primary care worker recently posted to Facebook:
They gave me the option to send a certified letter basically repeating my email (which can be legally binding, come ON!). This 1) put me at risk by leaving my house for a non-essential reason, and 2) put everyone else around me at risk since I work in primary care and have not been able to self-isolate like the rest of y’all.
What followed was a slew of 84 comments and 107 reactions from people echoing similarly bad experiences with the business (“I could go on a rant about them!! But I’m gonna keep my mouth shut and be peaceful:)) If I have to be grateful for something it’s that I will no longer give another dollar to that place!! “, “ECA is the worst! We went for one consultation where they made me choose which woman in a bikini I wanted to look like (Um, what?) and then harassed us for months.”, “My wife and I were in a car accident a couple years ago and couldn’t work out for awhile (we’re fine now) and they made it extremely difficult to cancel our memberships, ended up taking longer and brought us into our next payment, which they refused to refund when we were finally able to cancel. They are not good people.”, “I was with them. They lied to me more than once about policies regarding going on temporary hiatus. I hate them and I hate their company.”)
Obviously, ECA has a history of dragging their feet to prevent people from ending their memberships, but frankly, that seems to be par for the course in the gym business (as one commenter wrote, “What is it about canceling gym memberships?? It’s notoriously difficult. Are they all run by the mob, or what?”). Still, with the governor issuing an executive order that people “shelter in place”, with so many people going to heroic lengths to protect each other by avoiding public activities, for this business to suggest that people must go to the post office to send a certified letter, or else they will continue to charge them is…not in the spirit of the times. Whether you work out at home or in the gym, you may look for high-quality, all-natural protein powders to help with your muscle gains. Read this article to learn ‘should you train abs when bulking?’.
Shame on you, ECA, shame on you!
(I emailed ECA for comment on their policy, but after 24 hours still have not received a reply.)
Thank you Jordan. It is helpful to know which businesses to avoid. The gym I attend paused all memberships the day they closed for the duration of the pandemic. Stay safe everybody. Social distancing! Six feet is sweet, eight feet is great.
We had a fire in our building a little over two years ago. An entire unit burnt down; we were lucky that the whole building didn’t.
The front door was propped open to help vent the strong, acrid smell of fire and smoke after it was put out. ECA took this as an opportunity to trespass our building and tape a flyer about their gym on every resident’s door.
They are a scummy business through and through. Anyone who wants to should simply call their credit card company and explain the situation. The merchant can be blocked.
Correction: They’re located on the corner of 40th & Stone
Fixed, thanks!
Fixed!
Jordan, unfortunately your information is not entirely accurate or current. Posting outdated, and in some instances one-sided information is harmful to a local business; as everyone knows it. much the same it would be harmful to any of the local businesses in our wonderful Wallingford area. ECA is indeed reachable during this time even know the doors are temporarily closed to the public. Someone may call the club and get information on the voicemail message to know how to get answers to their questions. ECA is not forcing people to physically show at the club during this time in order to process a cancellation request! The website is updated and apparently you didn’t know this. Exciting At-home workouts are being built and posted to the website, also proper nutritional information, also incredibly useful tips to shop and cook/meal prep. ECA is not going to just hurriedly post a bunch of random, generic stuff pulled off the internet like some folks are doing. ECA is creating fresh and proprietary content that goes along with what the members expect to receive. Is ECA perfect? -of course not. Is ECA doing its best to manage things during this season? -Absolutely. Again, ECA is proactively doing everything in its power given the circumstances to deliver Fitness, and Motivation to its members. If you had a bad experience with ECA in years past, then we are definitely sorry! ECA is trying to build a solid company and have a wonderful community of fitness believers. ECA HIGHLY values and appreciates all of its members. Thanks for reading.
So how do members make cancellation requests?
Hello Matt. The staff is working from home due to the COVOD-19 and the order from the Gov’t to Stay at home for the time being. The quickest course of action would be an email to [email protected]. There is a bit of a backlog of emails that are getting replied to. please don’t expect a reply within minutes 🙂 but rest assured, ECA has extra staff doing admin duties to get answers to the members in as little time as possible. Thanks for your patience Matt 🙂
Mark, you’re not contradicting anything I said in the article. I have copies of email from ECA saying that someone has to go to the post office and mail a certified letter in order to cancel, which is what I said in the post. Requiring people to do that during the government mandated “Stay at Home” period is dangerous, and ECA’s statement that they are “legally required to have a physical document” to request cancelation is false. Would you like to respond to that?
Hello Jordan, not sure exactly what letter you are referring to; maybe it was one sent out in the very early stages of this whole Coronavirus ordeal that has been changing day to day. Our standard practice is a cancellation form signed and turned into the club directly (a carbon copy goes to the member for their peace of mind and satisfaction) or simply a letter sent to the club via certified mail from the local post office which gives the sender their guarantee and tracking proof the letter was in-fact delivered to the club. Of coarse during this COVID-19 Season we have made adjustments temporarily to the policy. Members can mail a regular letter (non-certified) to the club (admin department) directly if an underlying health issue specifically prevents them from leaving the house and dropping a letter in their outgoing mailbox. Most people though are walking their dogs and taking walks so dropping a letter in the mail really isn’t difficult or strenuous. That being said, if it’s not possible for someone to do so, then the admin department can be reached via email and the cancel or freeze request can be handled that way. IN speaking with other gyms that we have relationship with, its been descovered many people are not cancelling because they know this COVID-19 era will pass soon enough and they will be dying to get back into the gym without having to reenroll, pay fees, etc. etc. Hopefully this gives you and the readers here the response that was needed. Have a great week! For anyone interested, even non-members, we are providing really nice at-home workouts on our website! wwww.emeraldcityathletics.com
Ballard Health Club froze ALL of their membership monthlies, and asked folks to unfreeze if they could to keep things going. Can I repeat this loudly enough: THEY FROZE ALL OF THEM. WITHOUT BEING ASKED. ECA has a rich history of scamming and bad billing practices. Mark J should just say We Screwed Up And We Are Sorry, not backpedaling.
I’m a member of BHC and PROUDLY allowed them to keep charging me whilst they are closed because they are nice people and a reputable business.