Gym membership contracts

[seraphim]

My sons pretty good financially, but got caught up in a membership with a personal trainer. There was a month cancellation policy - he could cancel in the first 30 days - but he somehow messed and missed the deadline. Now he's stuck with a one year contract he can't afford.

Any recommendations on dealing with it; or is he pretty well stuck?

State of Ohio, if it matters.

Thanks.

 

[Walt34]

Legally, he's stuck. Practically, it is not in the business's best interest to make people angry with them so he can talk to the manager, explain that he's had a change in financial circumstances, and ask to be released from the contract.

They are well within their rights to say no and hold him to the agreement. Perhaps if he offered to pay an agreed-upon fraction of the remainder due by paying say, one-third or one-half of the remainder, they would be more willing to release him from it. Courtesy will go a long way with this.

Otherwise, he's stuck.

 

[Midpack]

Legally, he's stuck. Practically, it is not in the business's best interest to make people angry with them so he can talk to the manager, explain that he's had a change in financial circumstances, and ask to be released from the contract.

They are well within their rights to say no and hold him to the agreement. Perhaps if he offered to pay an agreed-upon fraction of the remainder due by paying say, one-third or one-half of the remainder, they would be more willing to release him from it. Courtesy will go a long way with this.

Otherwise, he's stuck.

+1. Hat in hand asking for mercy is probably the best approach, and the sooner the better. Hopefully he'll find a solution, if not he'll learn a valuable lesson about CONTRACTS. We can't count on them being enforced selectively. IOW if we want providers to honor contracts with us, we can't be surprised when they expect us to hold up our end of the bargain.

 

[nash031]

Almost all of those introductory rate period contracts have an early cancellation fee that is still less expensive than paying for the whole year. Subsidized cell phones, zero closing cost mortgages, DirecTV, etc... all of these are promotions I've taken advantage of over the course of time and all of them had prepayment/cancellation penalties, but it's still cheaper than continuing to pay for something you don't use/need. Check the fine print...

 

[seraphim]

Thanks - there is a 1/2 cancellation fee if he's moving more than 25 miles away. It still out of his reach. If he has it, he'll use it, so.... I might help him out as his birthday present. Thanks for the replies, though.