Why You Might be Trapped In That Gym Membership Forever

For consumers, many subscriptions can feel like Hotel California – you can check out any time you like (it’s easy to sign up) but you can never leave (and forget about canceling). Harkening back to the mail-order CD club Columbia House, automatically renewing subscriptions are now everywhere and for everything, from gym memberships and ED medications, to meal kits, movie tickets and home internet packages. Americans spend an average of more than $1,000 a year on recurring subscriptions. There are even subscriptions to help you get out of subscriptions!

Which is precisely the point: Consumers don’t like paying for things they no longer want – or never wanted in the first place. Many consumers have complained of being lured in by a free trial or enticing discount offer, only to be unwittingly enrolled into a negative option offer by a company that didn’t make the terms clear before taking payment information.

In addition, one of the top complaints we see from consumers is difficulty getting out of autorenewing subscriptions. Consumers are frustrated with the obstacles that many subscription companies put in front of them when they attempt to cancel. From having to fill out a lengthy questionnaire or needing to send a snail mail letter to being told to visit in person or schedule a call with customer service, many companies make the process unnecessarily burdensome. Sometimes it may even require the moral support of a good friend.

This is why consumers rejoiced upon hearing the FTC announce in October an updated Negative Option Rule that features a “Click to Cancel” provision requiring companies to make subscriptions as easy to cancel as they are to sign up for. Posts on X were notably exuberant in mocking Planet Fitness, notorious for its difficult to cancel memberships, when the final rule was unveiled:

Planet Fitness execs panicking after thr FTC makes it easier to cancel your gym memebership….about time! pic.twitter.com/xjSOMQxTSc

— Chris from Massachusetts AKA TommyboyTrader (@autumnsdad1) October 16, 2024

So basically the Planet Fitness rule https://t.co/qt0kxgfXV4

— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) October 16, 2024

The reaction from the business world was also swift – as we reported just last week, multiple petitions were filed in federal courts in the immediate wake of the amended rule being finalized seeking to get the rule changes thrown out. In response, TINA.org filed a brief supporting the FTC’s rule.

Now, two members of Congress are dipping their toes into the maelstrom. Last week, reports circulated that Sen. Mike Lee  (R-Utah) and Rep. Laurel Lee  (R-Fla.) are trying to rally support to kill the “Click to Cancel” Rule through a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution. Pursuant to the CRA, Congress can use special procedures to overturn new rules created by federal agencies for a period of  60 days (note: a wide range of rules passed in the previous administration could be on the chopping block).

In opposing the rule, industry voices have cited the high cost of implementation, that consumers “love subscription arrangements” and that the rule would leave consumers with “more hoops to jump through.” This last bit was clearly written by someone who’s never tried to cancel their Planet Fitness membership. The FTC, meanwhile, has estimated benefits over a 10-year period to be between $6.1 billion and $49.3 billion.

It’s puzzling why Congress would want to stamp out a rule so widely popular with consumers and so beneficial to the economy. Dealing with deceptive, predatory or simply unwanted subscriptions should not be a partisan issue and as TINA.org’s investigations of more than 100 products and services sold through problematic subscription programs have shown, they span a multitude of industries affecting nearly every single American.

That’s why it’s important to voice your opinion on this matter with your members of Congress. Let them know if you’ve been burned by an automatically renewing subscription and urge them to oppose the CRA to eliminate the Click to Cancel Rule.