A user of a former gym in Wokingham that closed last month will not have to pay for non-existent services thanks to help from Wokingham Today.
John Branigan contacted Wokingham Today after we highlighted the demise of the Anytime Fitness franchise business in Peach Street in June.
He explained how he had paid an annual fee for membership earlier this year through his company, and was worried he would have to continue to pay until the end of his contract next year.
He told Wokingham Today: “It looks like I will spend the next nine months paying back the money to my company scheme through salary deductions for a gym that doesn’t exist anymore.”
His company worked with a third-party company called Gymflex.
They specialise in providing companies with gym memberships to offer to their employees as staff benefits.
Because they buy memberships in bulk, they claim to offer discounts of up to 40% from standard gym membership rates.
From a legal perspective, his options did appear limited.
Jonathan Dinsdale, a senior associate solicitor in Blandy & Blandy’s Dispute Resolution team, told Wokingham Today: “It is often the case that employers offer, as part of their package to their employees, benefits such as subsidised gym membership.
“These benefits are often administered by third-party providers and it is therefore critical that the terms and conditions of the contract with the provider of those services are studied in detail to ensure that the employee is protected if the provider becomes insolvent or goes into liquidation.
He urged employers to take care when setting up automatic deductions from staff salaries to make sure that these can be easily cancelled if the benefit provider is no longer able to provide the service that was it was contractually obliged to do.
Mr Brannigan contacted the sole director of the company that operated the franchise in Wokingham, and was told there was no prospect of a refund.
When contacted by Wokingham Today, James Shillaker, CEO of Incorpore, the company behind Gymflex, stressed he believed the matter was the responsibility of Anytime Fitness.
He said: “Our relationship with Anytime Fitness is strong and they are an ethically sound company that we enjoy working with. The sum involved is circa £275 and the wheels are in motion to have this returned to the employer, and therefore your reader.”
