Here's how to protect yourself in fitness deals

Before you join a fitness club, you should know what these companies can and can't do under the law, and how you can protect yourself.

After you sign up, you have a 10-day cooling-off period to cancel your membership, starting from the day you receive a written copy of the agreement.

Use the facilities and make sure you're happy with your choice. You don't need a reason to cancel. You just need to provide notice.

Your membership contract can't go for longer than one year. This will limit your losses if the club goes under.

The club can renew the contract only by notifying you at least 30 days in advance and giving you the chance not to renew.

If you find your membership has been renewed and you haven't been notified, you can demand your money back.

Fitness club memberships are among the top 10 complaints received each year by the Ontario Ministry of Government and Consumer Services. Chris Ferguson, head of the consumer protection branch, said he's working with several fitness chains to rewrite their contracts. One area of concern is a clause that makes customers accept a new location.

"A change in location is almost always material," Ferguson says. "You should get a fresh chance to accept or back out of the contract."

David Belfer had a contract with Momentum Fitness in Mississauga. He paid $299 for a one-year membership to last until Dec. 1 of this year. The contract said members would agree to a transfer to facilities of similar quality within five miles of the club if it stopped operating at the original address.

"I wanted the clause taken out, but they refused, saying this was a standard gym contract," he says.

Momentum Fitness went out of business last May and arranged with the Fitness Institute nearby to take over memberships.

Belfer was happy to switch to the Fitness Institute, a more expensive club. But he didn't like being asked to sign a new contract that would begin the day after the Momentum contract expired.

"I took the case up a couple of notches to a senior person who said, `Look, sign our new contract that will give you six months free at our club. If you don't like the deal at the end of your original contract, we'll simply tear up the contract and you're free.'

"My statement to him was, `Just put this offer in writing on your contract.' His reply: `Come on, just trust me.'"

I called Steve Roest, owner of the Fitness Institute, who promised to give Belfer his six months without binding him to a membership afterward.

Roest said, however, that he needed new members in general to sign contracts to protect the company from liability. He also said new members were given a 30-day cooling off period, instead of just 10 days.

"We got over 100 people from Momentum who took the free six months and are leaving now. Another 100 people are flipping over to us. No one had to make an annual commitment coming in," Roest said.

Belfer, however, has found another club that will honour his six months' prepaid membership at Momentum, and will take post-dated cheques instead of automatic monthly debits.

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