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Boston Sports Club has been hit with a class action complaint in Massachusetts federal court by gym goers who claim that the company is still charging them monthly fees even though their facilities are closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Four plaintiffs say that in March 2020, Town Sports International closed all of its Boston Sports Club locations because of the impact of COVID-19. Due to the virus, the gym furloughed all of its Massachusetts-based employees, the plaintiffs state.
However, despite the fact that they closed their gyms, Town Sports allegedly still charged consumers for services that they couldn’t provide.
Town Sports wrongfully accumulated wealth from its members despite the fact that they received numerous requests from customers to cancel memberships, freeze accounts, or refund charges to their credit cards, the Boston Sports Club class action lawsuit maintains.
Are you a member of any of the Town Sports gyms including Boston Sports Club? Get legal help here.
The plaintiffs argue that charging for services that they could not provide to customers is a direct violation of the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Statute and is a breach of the contract that was signed between the two parties.
Charging members for services not rendered “constitutes a rather sinister breach of contract in light of the financial strain felt by many of its members during this challenging and unprecedented time in our history as a country,” according to the Boston Sports Club class action lawsuit.
In addition, the plaintiffs say that Town Sports knowingly and willingly engaged in unfair and deceptive practices by preventing consumers from cancelling their memberships.
According to Massachusetts law, customers of gyms have the statutory right to cancel memberships when the gym changes the operation of a health club or location.
Despite this, the plaintiffs maintain that on April 1, 2020, Boston Sports Club sent out a backdated email to their customers to show them how to “pass up” the opportunity to upgrade and freeze their accounts. Prior to that, the gym allegedly told their customers that they would address membership-related issues once they were back up and running again.
The lawsuit states that, regardless of the issues concerning the notice, Boston Sports Club charged consumers membership fees even when it was unable to provide access to its facilities.
According to the plaintiffs, Town Sports knew in mid-March 2020 that they would not be able to provide health club services to consumers due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Town Sports knowingly and willfully engaged in unfair and deceptive practices, in violation of M.G.L. c. 93A, Section 2, by initiating and accepting automatic payments for services that it knew it would not provide, including those charged to and received by the plaintiffs,” the Boston Sports Club class action lawsuit argues.
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healy has stated that the conduct of Town Sports is in violation of state law and has said that the company’s actions are “completely unacceptable,” the plaintiffs say.
The common questions of law in this class action lawsuit includes whether Town Sports intentionally charged consumers membership fees knowing that those members would not be able to access their facilities.
Prospective Class Members in the Massachusetts action include: “All BSC members in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as of March 1, 2020 who were forced to pay membership fees after the closing of the BSC location or locations at which those members were entitled to access services.”
This is not the first lawsuit against Town Sports related to their charging consumers membership fees when their gyms are closed.
At the end of March, customers in New York City filed a class action lawsuit against Town Sports because they charged fees when their gyms were closed.
The plaintiff in that case says that Town Sports charged her credit card on March 1. However, on March 16, she claims that New York Sports Club stopped offering her access to the gym as well as gym services.
She says that the gym is now closed, but New York Sports Club is still charging her credit card for membership to the gym.
That class action says that New York Sports Club is engaging in fraudulent consumer conduct as it had represented to consumers that it would provide access to their facilities in exchange for membership fees.
In addition, the plaintiff in the New York lawsuit states that many gyms have been contacting their members stating that they will be suspending their membership fees due to being closed because of the coronavirus.
The plaintiff is represented by Leonard H. Kesten, Michael Stefanilo, Jr., and Erica L. Brody of Brody Hardoon Perkens & Kesten LLP.
The Boston Sports Club Closure Class Action Lawsuit is Paul Delvecchio, et al. v. Town Sports International LLC, et al., Case No. 1:20-cv-10666, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
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