He gave me a Fit n Fast membership pack. I considered myself defeated and made my way to their orange brand continuous payout streaks.

In the meantime, I have decided to try to get my money back from Fitness First.

I combed through my bank statements and noticed that at some point the debits labeled “Fitness First” had changed their labeling to “Ezi-Pay”. That’s why I missed them.

He added up to $ 1,946.10

I called the Fitness First head office and spoke to a very annoyed woman who listened to my pathetic story of lax vigilance over bank statements and practically yawned advising me to get a signed affidavit and send to “the litigation team”.

Loading

A sort of secret trap must have opened and swallowed it as soon as she spoke to me, because after receiving my affidavit, I never had a response again and I was never able to reach her again. phone.

The real fly in the ointment was: I had no written proof that I had ever intended or attempted to cancel this membership.

I cut my losses and continued with Fit n Fast.

Six months later I was bored again and wanted to cancel. This time, it’s sure.

I brought a typed letter to the front desk and handed it to the Lycra bunny of the day. She assured me that she would “activate this” at the end of the day. I didn’t believe him for a second.

Loading

I went straight home and called the bank. After all, I’m saying who can and can’t withdraw money from my bank account.

Well, sort of. This is what a member of the Commonwealth Bank contact center staff told me.

If you give the gym your credit card number for the bi-monthly membership payments, the only way to stop them from taking your money on your side is to cancel your credit card.

However, if you give them the details of your savings account for direct debits – the BSB and the account number – you can actually stop the debits on your end by calling your bank and revoking the authorization to verbally debit.

Under the Australian Banking Association Banking Code of Practice, banks are required to process such cancellations themselves.

And if the bank tries to tell you to “contact the merchant”, it is violating the bank code.

Unfortunately for me, I had given Fitness First (and by default Fit n Fast) my credit card numbers. So I did what any self-respecting financial fool would do. I canceled my credit card and waited 10 days for a new one.

Believe me, this is the only way.

A spokesperson for Fitness First said the channel offered a variety of membership options and posted information on how to cancel online. Fit n Fast did not respond to requests for comment.