‘Not my signature’: Anytime Fitness probes false signatures on contracts

Anytime Fitness has apologised over a string of incidents in which customers were signed up to branches with false signatures inserted into contracts they’d never seen, while others were made to sign blank agreements before terms of their memberships were added.

New customers attempting to join Anytime Fitness centres in NSW and Queensland have lodged separate complaints this week about contracting practices at the gym franchise, which has more than 780,000 members across more than 600 premises in Australia.

Michael Fraser had been growing dissatisfied with his longtime gym on the Gold Coast when, in mid-June, he inquired with a soon-to-launch Anytime Fitness in the suburb of Biggera Waters, a more convenient location for him.

He was offered a discounted rate over the phone and broadly agreed to the offer. Fraser was asked to leave his payment details with the club to reserve the terms as an inaugural member of the gym.

He was told that when the branch finally opened, he could go into the gym, show his ID, complete an orientation and pre-exercise questionnaire, before reading and signing a contract outlining his membership terms.

But on Tuesday, an email landed in his inbox claiming his membership had started, and his signed contract was attached, despite Fraser having had no further direct dealings with the gym.

The false signature, which mimicked handwriting, appeared three times throughout the contract, which included terms he felt were not reflected in the initial phone call he’d had with the gym. It resembled the template signatures available in common contract-management software.

“I just knew it wasn’t my signature, I don’t put dots between my initials,” Fraser said.

His colleague, Maddison Johnstone, who had also given her details, keen to sign up when the gym opened, similarly received an email about 24 hours later with a contract containing signatures that were not hers.

“I have never been sent an unsigned copy, and have never read or even sighted it. I never provided my signature, digital or otherwise,” said Johnstone, who was also surprised the length of the contract was 18 months. “It is something I would never have signed.”

“The gym isn’t open yet, so I am not sure how four weeks free starting yesterday makes sense,” Johnstone said.

Fraser and Johnstone are co-founders of Diligence Research, a consumer advocacy firm which has raised whistleblower concerns to push for reforms of systemic issues of laws governing franchise businesses. Fraser’s advocacy has included raising concerns surrounding what became a major wage fraud scandal for 7/11.

After Fraser aired a complaint about his experiences, Anytime Fitness launched an investigation. Its Australian chief executive, Simon Thompson, called Fraser directly on Wednesday.

An Anytime Fitness spokeswoman confirmed it had begun an internal investigation into the contracts. “Given the serious nature of this matter, we are reviewing all relevant documentation, systems, and processes to establish the facts,” they said.

Fraser and Johnstone’s experience is similar but separate to what Rachel Sarfatij alleges happened to her when signing up for the Anytime Fitness branch in the Sydney suburb of Randwick.

She had been going to a Fitness First but in an inconvenient location, and was wooed by a $6-per-week-for-six-weeks deal at Anytime.

“I went in, talked to them, got the spiel, agreed on a price and a year time frame.”

Sarfatij mentioned that she lived close to another Anytime location, and may visit that branch more, something the employee said would not be an issue.

She was then handed an iPad and asked to sign on a screen in which only the signature box, and not the rest of the contract, was visible.“I couldn’t see anything that I was signing, but I figured we had just verbally agreed on the terms, what else were they going to do?”

Immediately after signing, Sarfatij claims the employee then told her that if she went to another branch more frequently than the Randwick one, her membership would automatically shift there and she’d have to pay different fees.

She was also made to pay $69.95 for an electronic key fob to enter the gym.

When Sarfatij received the full contract via email, all the boxes that normally outline the details of a membership were unpopulated. Outside of her signature, the contract was essentially blank.

After a back and forth, Sarfatij said the gym manager admitted there was a technical issue, and Sarfatij asked to cancel her contract, which was within a seven-day cooling-off period.

“I had such a bad feeling in my stomach, I don’t trust being stuck in a contract with this gym,” she said.

But the manager emailed Sarfatij to refuse to return the almost $70 she had paid for the key. “As outlined in the membership agreement you signed, the key fob fee is non-refundable,” the manager wrote.

Citing a term in a contract the gym admitted Sarfatij never saw infuriated her. “If they admit the mistake with the contract, how can they refuse me a refund?”

The Anytime spokeswoman said there had been an intermittent technical issue with the third-party software it uses to populate membership agreements.

“While the technical issue has been resolved, it does not excuse the way the situation was handled … we regret the inconvenience caused,” the spokeswoman said. Sarfatij is yet to a receive a refund.

Speaking more broadly on the contract claims, the spokeswoman said: “We certainly take any matter relating to the integrity of our membership processes and the member experience extremely seriously.

“It’s disappointing that a situation like this can impact the trust our members, franchisees and club teams have worked hard to build over the past 18 years. That’s why we’ll take every necessary step to investigate thoroughly, establish the facts, and take action where appropriate,” the spokeswoman said.

The individual franchises were contacted for comment.

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