When joining a gym, a written and signed document is necessary for both parties (subscription contract, membership contract, etc.).
This contract describes the services promised as well as the obligations of each of the parties. When you subscribe on the internet, the gym must allow you to accept the subscription conditions (your contract), before your commitment, by means of a checkbox for example.
Ask for a trial session before committing.
Check your physical aptitude with your doctor, even if the room offers endurance tests: these are often a little light.
Check with your insurer that you are covered by liability insurance. If this is not the case, now is the time to take out one: the advice is particularly valid for people who are not covered by multi-risk home insurance (young people living with their parents, people staying with friends, etc.).
Dare to ask for the contract before registering: you must be able to read it quietly, outside the place of sale.
Ban the delivery of a blank check, that is to say on which you have affixed only your signature without indicating an amount. This practice is strongly discouraged, being a source of many disappointments.
What information should the gym give you before any contract?
The gym must comply with the provisions relating to consumer information by communicating to you, before any subscription subscription, the following essential information:
the information provided for in Article L. 111-1 of the Consumer Code, such as the essential characteristics of the service, the price of the service, the date or the deadline by which the professional undertakes to perform the service or the information relating to his identity, his postal, telephone and electronic contact details and his activities (e.g. opening hours, schedule of activities, franchises or networks of sports halls, etc.), insofar as they do not emerge no context, the possibility of having recourse to a consumer mediator,
the terms of payment, the terms provided for the processing of complaints,
the duration of the contract, or if it is a contract of indefinite duration or tacit renewal, the conditions for its termination.
When the contract is concluded remotely (Internet, mail, etc.), you must obtain communication of the aforementioned information, as well as information relating to the right of withdrawal (conditions, deadline, methods of exercise). The professional must also provide you with a standard withdrawal form which you will only need to complete and return to him to withdraw ( article L.
Does the gym have to tell you its prices?
Sports halls have the obligation to inform the member, by displaying within the establishment, the prices, all taxes included, of the services provided. The member must also have a description of the rates offered (administrative fees, registration fees, paid options, etc.). In the event of a price increase during the extension of the contract, the member must be informed (sending a letter, communication media, etc.).
The DGCCRF, in its 2020 survey , revealed that some sports halls used misleading commercial practices (highlighting a monthly subscription price without specifying the restrictive conditions, “presence of sports coaches” while that the courses are actually given by videos, etc.), within the meaning of articles L. 121-2 and L. 121-3 of the consumer code.
Also be careful about additional fees and paid options, in some low-cost gyms , which can increase the price of the subscription. Take the time to read the contract to dissect the prices.
The gym offers a multi-year subscription plan
Choosing a subscription for one or two years increases the risk of subsequent disputes with the gym: for example, impossibility of following lessons due to moving, health, pregnancy or closure of the establishment due to judicial liquidation. For the Unfair Terms Commission (CCA), a gym membership contract for more than six months is a long-term contract ( Recommendation No. 87-03 on contracts offered by for-profit sports clubs of the CCA ).
Even when you are committed to the gym, your contract may provide for causes allowing you to terminate your subscription at no additional cost or without having to pay all of the remaining installments. Find out from them to find out what the causes are (moving, unemployment, major accident, etc.)
Remember to ask the gym for short-term formulas, per ticket per session for example, or for a month because it only very rarely offers them. Especially since the contract becomes firm and definitive as soon as you affix your signature or validate it on the internet.
You have been invited, by telephone, to come and collect a gift (bathrobe, etc.) from the gym.
And once there, you signed a subscription contract. In reality, you have been the subject of a solicitation which falls within the scope of off-premises sales ( Article L. 221-1 of the Consumer Code). It is the offer of a gift made by telephone that causes your visit to the place of performance of the provision of services, in order to lead you to sign a subscription contract.
