My gym won’t let me cancel my membership, what can I do?

Gym contracts are standard form consumer contracts, which means the Australian Consumer Law’s unfair contract terms regime applies with full force, and it is now backed by penalties, not just unenforceability. Terms that impose excessive exit fees bearing no relationship to the gym’s actual loss, lock you into automatic rollovers without clear notice, or make cancellation deliberately difficult are precisely the species of term the regime targets. Several states also impose fitness-industry-specific rules, including cooling-off periods for new memberships and caps on how cancellations operate.

Read your agreement and separate what it actually requires from what the front desk claims: the notice period, the exit fee and how it is calculated, and the cancellation method. Then cancel in writing, email, not a conversation at the counter, stating the date, quoting the relevant clause, and requesting written confirmation. Permanent moves beyond a reasonable distance from the gym, and medical conditions preventing use, are recognised cancellation grounds in many agreements and state codes; attach the evidence (lease, employment letter, medical certificate) rather than asking permission.

On the money side: you control your payment instrument. A direct debit can be cancelled with your bank directly, and for card-based subscription billing you can instruct your bank to block the merchant, useful when a gym keeps charging after a valid cancellation. Expect the gym to claim the contract survives the payment cancellation; your written cancellation and the trail of their refusals is the answer, and any attempted debt collection over post-cancellation fees can be disputed and reported. The escalation path is your state Fair Trading or Consumer Affairs body, which handles gym cancellation complaints in volume.