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Chris Lau

Affected members of now-closed gym chain California Fitness should get in touch with their banks as soon as possible to avoid further monetary losses, the city’s consumer watchdog and banking regulator have said.
Offering advice to what the Post has learned to be 100,000 customers whose membership fees are now on the line in wake of the chain’s city-wide closure on Tuesday, the Consumer Council urged those affected to contact their banks regarding refunds and termination of further autopayments.
“The Consumer Council recommends consumers [that they] should compile and carefully read their valid contracts and relevant transaction records,” a spokesman said regarding how customers should prepare themselves before approaching their banks.
Branches of struggling California Fitness shut down across Hong Kong
The council, which had earlier named and shamed California Fitness for its aggressive sales tactics, expressed deep concern over the closure.
It also urged the gym owners and landlords to make arrangements so that customers could retrieve their personal belongings.
In slightly over a week, between last Monday and noon on Tuesday, the consumer watchdog had received 540 inquiries and 141 complaints on JV Fitness, the spokesman said.
Self-help advice is also available on the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s website.
In wake of store closures, California Fitness staff stage protest march to Hong Kong police headquarters
The bank regulator’s executive director Carmen Chu said that those who paid automatically with their credit cards should send written instructions to the gym regarding the cancellation of the remainder of their payments.
She said: “If the merchant ignores the consumer’s instructions ... the consumer can provide a copy of the cancellation instruction to the card-issuing bank and ask it to help contact the merchant to seek reimbursement of the disputed amount and cancellation of the autopay arrangement.”
But she noted that although banks would do their utmost to provide assistance, there was no guarantee of success.
Chu also warned credit card users to pay attention to cases in which the banks paid the business in full first, before later on collecting the sum from credit card users in instalments. In such cases, even if a business has closed down, the customer still has to make monthly loan repayments to the bank, she said.
Offer for troubled Hong Kong gym chain California Fitness as debts hit HK$130m
Gym members who paid their fees through their bank deposit accounts might be in a better position, according to Chu, as they only have to ask the banks to cancel the autopay authorisation, without needing to involve the gym.
As for those who forked out a lump-sum payment with their credit cards, they might still be entitled to a refund for services they had not enjoyed, Chu said.
“Details [regarding refunds] for credit cards can be obtained from the relevant card-issuing banks.”
The Authority did not name the gym, but said the advice was given in the wake of “the recent closure of an outlet of a fitness centre”.
The sudden closure of a California Fitness branch in Whampoa last week left gym members and employees, who had not been paid their June wages, hanging.
Subsequently, a flurry of court actions emerged as creditors claimed at least HK$14.1 million on paper from six of the 12 outlets belonging to JV Fitness, which trades as California Fitness, mYoga and Leap.
All 12 centres have been closed since Tuesday.


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California Fitness

California Fitness members should contact their banks as soon as possible, Hong Kong’s consumer watchdog and banking regulator say

Like all the other branches, the California Fitness outlet in Kowloon Bay was closed on Tuesday. Photo: Edward Wong

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Hong Kong

Hong Kong economy

Consumer Council and Monetary Authority advise customers on cancelling payments and requesting refunds


Consumer protection in Hong Kong