Crunch Fitness class action overview:
- Who: Plaintiff Meng Gao filed a class action lawsuit against Crunch Holdings LLC.
- Why: Gao alleges Crunch Fitness charges members mandatory junk fees.
- Where: The Crunch Fitness class action lawsuit was filed in California federal court.
A new Crunch Fitness class action lawsuit accuses Crunch Fitness of charging members mandatory junk fees.
Plaintiff Meng Gao’s class action lawsuit claims Crunch Fitness engages in a deceptive practice called “drip pricing,” which involves advertising only a portion of a product’s total price to attract consumers.
Gao alleges Crunch Fitness advertises specific prices for gym memberships, which are misleading because the company imposes a mandatory, undisclosed annual fee that is only revealed late in the checkout process.
Gao argues that this practice prevents consumers from accurately comparing prices across competitors and manipulates them into paying junk fees they did not anticipate.
The Crunch Fitness class action argues deceptive fees harm consumers by preventing accurate price comparisons and manipulating them into unexpected costs, while simultaneously disadvantaging honest businesses that provide upfront pricing.
Gao wants to represent a class of all consumers who purchased a Crunch Fitness membership online while in California and were charged an annual fee or other mandatory fee not displayed with the initially advertised price of the membership.
Crunch Fitness class action: Gym’s checkout process violates California law
Gao claims Crunch Fitness’ checkout process involves drip pricing and is illegal under California law. The Crunch Fitness class action lawsuit alleges the gym chain advertises and displays prices for memberships without showing the amount of a mandatory annual fee, which all members must pay.
The plaintiff claims he suffered economic injury by paying for a “junk fee” and overpaying for his membership.
“Plaintiff reasonably relied on the price of the membership initially displayed to him on the website,” the Crunch Fitness class action lawsuit says. “The price of the membership was a substantial factor in Plaintiff’s decision to make the purchase.”
Gao asserts Crunch Fitness is guilty of violating California’s Consumer Legal Remedies Act, False Advertising Law and Unfair Competition Law.
The plaintiff demands a jury trial and requests declaratory and injunctive relief and an award of damages for himself and all class members.
Also in California, a consumer is suing secondhand fashion retailer Depop for charging unlawful hidden fees when making purchases on its website.
Have you ever paid a mandatory junk fee to Crunch Fitness? Let us know in the comments.
Gao is represented by Ryan J. Ellersick of Zimmerman Reed LLP.
The Crunch Fitness class action lawsuit is Gao v. Crunch Holdings LLC, Case No. 5:26-cv-01170, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division.
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82 thoughts onCrunch Fitness class action alleges gym charges mandatory junk fees
When I first signed up it was 1 cent, then it upgraded to standard membership. Overtime, I noticed I was constantly getting charged $30- $60 nearly 2-3 times a month. Now I tried to canceled it, but I’m still facing over $200 in fees.
I signed up for Crunch in I think 2023 in Georgia. They did eventually hit me with a higher monthly fee. But more than that, they wouldn’t cancel my membership when I requested it. I moved a few hours away from the “home gym” in 2024. I called and requested to cancel it. They told me id have to come in to the home gym to cancel it. The next time Im in town visiting friends I go in to cancel it. I get told there is no employees there who could cancel it. I go back home to Florida and try to call to cancel again the next week. I get told I cant do it over the phone. By this point they’ve drafted about $200 from my bank. So I put a stop payment on it through my bank. Sure enough they call saying the payment didn’t go through. When they do so I try to cancel again and they still wouldn’t let me. It gets sent to collections. Collections still calls me occasionally.
I have the whole process documented from when I filed a complaint through the BBB. Which also didn’t help my case any.
They told me $10 a month which sounded like a great deal. After the first monthly payment ($10), I’ve been charged $30 every month. I’m a college student and felt those funds in my core at the end of every month.
When I first signed up the deal was 1 cent down and then I would only have to pay for monthly subscriptions after that. That ended up not being true because ive gotten charged a $68 fee everyday, which i’m assuming is the annual fee. Which does not make sense at all because it told me the annual fee was $10 and even then I would only have to pay my monthly membership fee due to paying 1 cent down. I tried to view my membership agreement and coincidently it tells me there’s an error and it cant be located. They were also EXTREMELY dishonest about membership fees and I am still getting charged for sessions despite me canceling.
I’ve had a crunch membership since 2022 and am hoping to get something from the lawsuit
the crunch fitness here in Gainesville Ga has scammed me with training fees My trainer was terminated and they still charged me after I cancelled changed the description after I did a stop payment with my bank they never sent a cancelation statement and now they are holding on to money that I paid into training which they were not clear about in the beginning, I have 16 days on the books that they refuse to refund me they gave nothing showing their policy for refunds or cancellations, I went to resolve with one manager she didn’t care she just wanted me to have another trainer, I said had you all would have informed me that my trainer had been fired i might would’ve chose another trainer but you all still charged me for another service that IM not using after he was terminated and didn’t tell me and refused to refund my 16 days on the books which I was paying 285.00 every two weeks another manager reached out to me months later after i cancelled to see what he could do to help but i explain the whole situation he told me to come see him that following Monday but he wasn’t there they said he was out sick and never returned my call. I just want a refund I don’t want another trainer. Plus, I still have a membership until I can get my refund for my training service. I have all emails and bank statements all this started around December 2025 and I filed with the BBB