Cancelling gym membership - Doctor's note.

kimberleigh30

I signed before I even knew I was pregnant at a major gym for sessions with a personal trainer.  I liked it at first then my trainer started cancelling on me or just not showing up for our sessions.  So I called last night to cancel and they said I?m stuck in this contract for a year and that I can work with another trainer, which I don?t want to.  They did say the only way I can get out of the contract was with a Doctors note. 

 

I feel weird asking my doctor to write me a note to get me out of this.  Has anyone done this before?  How do I bring this up to my OB?

jdouglas84

I've never even thought about this. I should have asked about it when I had really bad m/s. Do you have any pregnancy symptoms that would cause you to just take a break from going to the gym?

matc

You could fib to the Dr. about being too tired to work with the trainer and see if he would write you a note. With my first, they wrote me a note after delivering so that i wouldn't have to pay membership when I couldn't work out for 6 weeks. It's worth a shot.

rcollier_17

Just ask. Your doctor should definitely understand.

I hate gym membership stuff! I almost got suckered into a 3 year agreement and then when I went home and read the stuff realized it was a really bad deal. Thankfully the contract said I had 24hours to cancel so I did that right away! Whew!

Ncaminiti

people do this all the time at my job. We have a form letter where we put in the patient's info gym name and that due to a medical condition (blank) we have advised the pt to no longer continue with her physical activity.

SoonToBeTabor

I had the same issue with Bally's Total Fitness. I have JUST signed up for a 3 year membership when I found out that my pregnancy was high risk and wasn't able to exercise anymore. Instead of letting me cancel they said I needed a Dr. note OR had to pay them the $3,000.00 for the entirety of the membership. So I went and got a Dr.s note and they let me out of those few months of paying.

I thought it was stupid but whatever.

blackdollhouse66

I did go through something like this....Let your OB know that the gym is affecting your health and he/she usually would write a note. I lived in a 3 story apt and i couldnt deal with all the stairs and when i told my OB he wrote me a note and we got out of our lease early.

AMYfromKY

All you have to do is explain to your Dr that you aren't feeling up to working out and that the gym said it's fine to cancel, but legally you must get a Drs note.

Your Dr isn't going to mind writing one for you. 

jenfurleigh

Definitely ask for the doctors note. I was in a membership that was supposed to be for 3 years and I returned to school and was working full time and realized I had NO time for working out.  I talked to the people at the front desk and they said they could not help me, so I sent an e-mail to the corporate office explaining my situation and reminding them I had been a loyal customer for over 2 years and they canceled my membership right away.

Another thing you could say is that you wanted the specific trainer you signed up with but that he was not living up to his commitments and you do not want to work with another trainer. 

But the doctor's note sounds best of all!

MsTammy

Is this a gym that you will want to go back to after you have the baby?

If so, I would see if they have an "account hold" type of thing. I was able to only pay $5 a month to put my old gym membership on hold for however long I wanted to, rather then paying the full price. When I wanted to reactivate it, I could.

If it's not a place you want to go back to, then I would just ask your OB for the note.

adam+katie

I am a personal trainer (althought not a flaky one like yours!), and people bring dr.'s notes to my gym all of the time to cancel different things.  I bet your dr. has written a note like this before.  Just ask, it is more common than you think!

colacrock

I work at an Orthopedic Clinic and my doctors write notes like that for patient's quite a lot. Unexpected things happen and gyms have to be understanding of that. It's really not that much work for the Dr., all he has to do is dictate what he/she wants to be in the letter (what you tell him to put in) he gives it to transcription, they type it, put it on letter head, he signs it and then the office mails it for you. I would suggest giving your Dr's office the address to the gym so they don't have to search. I hope it works out for you!

Temp6313048411121614

I would do it.