Woman claims that she was 'fat shamed' by a gym after trying to cancel her membership

A woman has complained that she was "fat shamed" when she tried cancel her gym membership.

Posting on TikTok, Lexie Rowe hit out at gym chain Anytime Fitness, and said: "I'm pretty sure Anytime Fitness fat shamed me" after they were difficult when she decided she no longer wanted to go to the gym.

“I had my membership for about six months and I never used it," she explained.

“I went in to the lady at the office during business hours and said, ‘Hi, I’d like to cancel.’

“I have plenty of friends that have had Anytime Fitness memberships who canceled them either over the phone, online, in-person, or whatever… and it wasn’t an issue, as it shouldn't be.

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“But when I went in and said, “Hi ma’am, I’d like to cancel my membership,’ she said, ‘I’m not going to do that for you until you have three sessions with a trainer'" and allegedly added she wanted to see her "try first".

They had a back and forth with no avail and Lexie questioned: "Is that legal?"

Take a look at her story here:

Reacting to her story, Anytime Fitness apologised.

The chain commented: "Hi, Lexie. Thank you for bringing your experience to our attention. As you can imagine, with our purpose to help people reach their total health and wellness goals, we take these situations seriously.

"Our records confirmed what you have stated, that your membership was cancelled back in 2019. One of the offers we do extend to returning members is the set of three free training sessions. However, no one should be forced to take the training sessions when attempting to cancel their membership - that is absolutely not our policy, nor a practice we endorse.

"Since the pandemic there has been a total turnover of staff at that particular location. As you have not been a member since 2019, all we can do is apologize we are sincerely sorry that this was your experience.

"Obviously, we don’t wish this to be an experience that any other member has with Anytime Fitness. We will share your story as a reminder to our owners, staff and teams that we must treat all our members - even those who seek to cancel their memberships – with dignity and respect."

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