AG HEALEY SECURES REFUNDS FOR FORMER BOSTON SPORTS CLUB MEMBERS WRONGFULLY CHARGED BY WORK OUT WORLD
Work Out World Purchased Accounts from BSC and Charged Thousands of Consumers Without Their Consent; Company Will Provide Full Refunds and Pay $62,500 in Penalties
BOSTON – As part of her ongoing litigation against Boston Sports Club (BSC), Attorney General Maura Healey announced today that Work Our World (WOW) has agreed to pay $62,500 in penalties, in addition to providing full refunds for thousands of consumers, to resolve claims that the fitness gym purchased BSC memberships and subsequently charged consumers without their consent.
The consent judgment, entered in Suffolk Superior Court, alleges that, following BSC’s closure and subsequent bankruptcy during the COVID-19 pandemic, V Fitness, LLC and One Fitness, LLC (both d/b/a Work Out World), located in Waltham and Canton, improperly assumed over 3,100 BSC memberships without the consumers’ written consent. Massachusetts state laws prohibit the assignment of a contract from one health club to another without the written consent of the buyer.
“At a time when consumers were being strung along by BSC, Work Out World created another hassle for consumers by forcing them to either pay for or cancel gym memberships they never signed up for,” AG Healey said. “Today's settlement secures full refunds for thousands of consumers who were impacted by Work Out World’s unlawful practices.”
According to the AG’s complaint, BSC did not obtain written consent from consumers to transfer their gym memberships to WOW, as required by the Commonwealth’s Health Club Act. Upon receipt of the memberships, WOW did not confirm that consumers had consented to the transfer. WOW also sent misleading emails to consumers about their membership status and improperly charged consumers for memberships that they did not agree to.
Under the terms of the AG’s settlement, WOW is required to void any membership contracts obtained from BSC for their Waltham and Canton locations and provide full refunds to any of these consumers who were wrongfully charged membership fees after their accounts were transferred without their consent. WOW has already begun providing tens of thousands of dollars in refunds to consumers upon request, and all remaining impacted consumers will be fully refunded automatically. WOW must also pay $62,500 in penalties for their role in this case. Failure to comply with the terms of the settlement could trigger an additional penalty of $62,500.
The AG’s Office became aware of the membership transfers through its BSC investigation. The AG’s lawsuit against BSC and the remaining defendants, including New TSI Holdings, Inc. and former CEO Patrick Walsh, remains ongoing.
In November 2020, AG Healey sued BSC after the company charged consumers for membership dues when the gyms were closed, repeatedly failed to honor consumers’ membership cancellation requests, and refused to refund impacted consumers as it originally promised. In March 2021, the AG’s Office secured $127,000 in refunds for hundreds of BSC members through the company’s bankruptcy process.
Consumers with questions about their refunds can contact WOW’s Member Services at 781-785-0168 or contact the AG’s Office at 617- 727-8400.
This case is being handled by Division Chief Shennan Kavanagh and Assistant Attorneys General Ann E. Lynch and Matthew Lashof-Sullivan, of AG Healey’s Consumer Protection Division, with assistance from Senior Investigator Colleen Frost from the AG’s Civil Investigations Division.
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