Remember the old days when cancelling a gym membership required more mental fortitude than getting through a 6am body conditioning session?
It’s not like that anymore.
Well, not at PureGym anyway. I have signed up and cancelled my PureGym membership a number of times, and I have always done so online without any problems.
I should say at this early stage that I have nothing against PureGym. In fact, I think the very fact so many people want to know how to cancel or freeze their membership shows the value in their offer. Sometimes you fancy a change. Sometimes you are pressed for time and want to focus on sport instead of general fitness. Maybe you signed up while you were away working for a few months but you have your own home gym setup at your house. Maybe you have moved house.
People can use PureGyms in lots of different ways so there are numerous reasons a person might need to cancel – one of the big attractions to this brand is their flexibility.
So yes, I do like PureGym as a company and this article shouldn’t be mistaken for a negative opinion of them.
Sometimes though, things change and cancelling is the only sensible option, and here is how to do it.
Cancel via the App or Website
It’s really easy to cancel.
Just head to the Member’s Area, look for the tile that says ‘Your Gym Pass’ and click on the manage button.
Now you will see a screen like this:
Of course they will offer you upgrade options at the top, but the company don’t make finding the cancellation information difficult. It’s right there on the bottom right of the screen shot, with a little symbol of a snowflake.
I don’t think it’s supposed to be an insult! I think it’s a reference to the freeze option.
(You big snowflake)
Click the manage button again and you will get to the page you need to be on.
It will look like this:
Obviously, since you want to cancel you will hit the green button that says ‘Cancel My Contract Free Membership’.
At this point they will ask you why. There are a few pre-written options:
- The gym was too busy
- Financial concerns
- I’ve moved house
- Taking a break due to injury
…and a few others including the option to write your own feedback if you have something specific you want to say. It doesn’t matter what you select, this bit is for their own data analysis.
Confirm your cancelation underneath these options and you’re done, your membership will end on the last day of the month you have already paid for.
Freezing Membership
Perhaps you are going away for a while or you’ve just had a baby and won’t be able to make it to the gym for a few months.
This is where freezing membership can be the better option. The reason here is that you won’t have to pay a sign up fee to reactivate your membership like you would if you cancelled completely.
If you hit the orange ‘Freeze Your Subscription’ button rather than the cancelation button, you will see a screen like this:
Using the drop down, select how long you want to freeze for (you can update this as you go), hit the button and the deed is done.
Before deciding to freeze over cancelling though, think about how long you will be unable to attend the gym.
Plus members can freeze for 3 months of the year for free. After this it costs £6.99 per month instead of your regular monthly fee, so it’s still a saving. Core and Off-Peak members will have to pay this fee from the start.
This means that at some point, it will become more expensive to freeze than to cancel and re-join later:
- £6.99 x 3 months = £20.97
I’ve seen the joining fee go from free (during promotional periods) to as much as £30. I think I paid a £10 joining fee when I signed up about 12 months ago, so unless I was only freezing for a month I would have been better off to cancel than freeze.
Just bear this in mind when making your decision.
Cancel Your Direct Debit
The other way to do it is to cancel your direct debit via your banking app.
I would do this anyway just to be sure, even if you have already cancelled via the app or website, but you can use it as a one stop solution too if you like.
PureGym will see you have stopped paying and their system will stop letting you into the gym with your code.
You can’t freeze your membership this way though, so if you cancel your direct debit PureGym will take that as a full cancellation and you may have to pay a sign up fee if you want to join again.
If you want to avoid paying for the upcoming month you will need to cancel at least 4 working days before the next payment is due to leave your account. If I were you though, I’d do it well before to allow enough time for things to go wrong or get delayed.
It’s not the end of the world I suppose, but £20 is £20.
Problems Cancelling
If you look online, you will see people complaining about not being able to cancel their membership. In many cases, this is because they tried to do so too close to their direct debit date.
Once the process starts you have to wait until the next month to cancel, and there isn’t much PureGym can do about this so it’s no use baming them.
Another reason you may be struggling to cancel online is because you signed up for a fixed term contract and paid in full, rather than the more usual rolling monthly contract.
If this is the case, you will need to contact the PureGym team directly to arrange cancellation, on:
- member.services@puregym.com
There are no guarantees here, but you could get up to 50% of the unused membership back as a refund. If there are circumstances outside of your control, however, like a serious injury that prevents you from attending, make this clear because you have additional rights in this scenario.
The least likely reason is that you are signed up as part of a third party corporate membership package. It’s unlikely you would be confused about this, but it’s possible.
These are set up by employers usually as part of a benefit package, so if there was a reason you wanted this cancelled you would need to ask your employer to do it for you.