Trying to cancel your LA Fitness membership shouldn’t feel like escaping a subscription version of Hotel California, but the Federal Trade Commission says that’s exactly what millions of members faced. On August 20, 2025, the FTC sued Fitness International and Fitness & Sports Clubs—operators of LA Fitness, Esporta Fitness, and other chains—for making cancellation “exceedingly difficult” across 600+ locations affecting 3.7 million members. This isn’t just about gym bureaucracy; it’s about an industry deliberately trapping customers in recurring payments.
The Cancellation Gauntlet
LA Fitness turned membership exits into obstacle courses designed to exhaust customer persistence.
The barriers read like a masterclass in user hostility. You could only cancel in person, weekdays from 9am-5pm—precisely when most people work. Even then, you had to speak with a specific Operations Manager who was conveniently “unavailable” most of the time.
Online cancellation required your original signup email, “key tag number,” and partial account details that most customers couldn’t retrieve. The LA Fitness app, perfect for booking classes, mysteriously couldn’t handle cancellations.
“The FTC’s complaint describes a scenario that too many Americans have experienced—a gym membership that seems impossible to cancel,” said Christopher Mufarrige, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.
Phone or email cancellations were routinely rejected. Printed forms required certified mail delivery. Some customers who stopped payments through their banks discovered they were still being billed under different account numbers.
Pattern of Subscription Abuse
This lawsuit extends the FTC’s broader crackdown on subscription dark patterns across industries.
LA Fitness memberships range from $30-$299 monthly, often requiring first and last month payments upfront. The FTC argues these practices violate federal laws requiring clear disclosures and easy cancellation for auto-renewing subscriptions.
This case follows similar actions against Uber, Adobe, and Amazon—part of a regulatory pattern targeting companies that make subscribing effortless but canceling torturous. The FTC’s “click-to-cancel” rule, which would require cancellation to be as simple as signup, was blocked by federal court just before July 2025 enforcement. But existing laws still apply, and this lawsuit signals that subscription trickery won’t hide behind legal technicalities much longer.
