Virginia Code 59.1-296.2:1: Prepayment contracts; prohibited practices; relocation; refund
A. No health club shall sell a health club contract on a prepayment basis without disclosing in the contract the date on which the facility shall open. The opening date shall not be later than 12 months from the signing of the contract.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 59.1-296.2:1
- Commissioner: means the Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services, or a member of his staff to whom he may delegate his duties under this chapter. See Virginia Code 59.1-296
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Facility: means a location where health club services are offered as designated in a health club contract. See Virginia Code 59.1-296
- Health club: means any person, firm, corporation, organization, club or association whose primary purpose is to engage in the sale of memberships in a program consisting primarily of physical exercise with exercise machines or devices, or whose primary purpose is to engage in the sale of the right or privilege to use exercise machines or devices. See Virginia Code 59.1-296
- Health club contract: means an agreement whereby the buyer of health club services purchases, or becomes obligated to purchase, health club services. See Virginia Code 59.1-296
- in writing: include any representation of words, letters, symbols, numbers, or figures, whether (i) printed or inscribed on a tangible medium or (ii) stored in an electronic or other medium and retrievable in a perceivable form and whether an electronic signature authorized by Virginia Code 1-257
- Initiation fee: means a nonrecurring fee charged at or near the beginning of a health club membership, and includes all fees or charges not part of the monthly fee. See Virginia Code 59.1-296
- Month: means a calendar month and "year" means a calendar year. See Virginia Code 1-223
- Monthly fee: means the total consideration, including but not limited to, equipment or locker rental, credit check, finance, medical and dietary evaluation, class and training fees, and all other similar fees or charges and interest, but excluding any initiation fee, to be paid by a buyer, divided by the total number of months of health club service use allowed by the buyer's contract, including months or time periods called "free" or "bonus" months or time periods and such months or time periods that are described in any other terms suggesting that they are provided free of charge, which months or time periods are given or contemplated when the contract is initially executed. See Virginia Code 59.1-296
- Prepayment: means payment of any consideration for services or the use of facilities made prior to the day on which the services or facilities of the health club are fully open and available for regular use by the members. See Virginia Code 59.1-296
- Relocation: means the provision of health club services by the health club that entered into the membership contract at a location other than that designated in the member's contract. See Virginia Code 59.1-296
B. No health club shall close or relocate any facility without first giving notice to the Commissioner and conspicuously posting a notice both within and outside each entrance to the facility being closed or relocated of the closing or relocation date. Such notice shall be provided at least 30 days prior to the closing or relocation date. If a relocation is to occur, the Commissioner and the facility’s members shall be provided with the address of the specific new facility at the time of this notice.
C. No health club shall knowingly and willfully make any false statement in any registration application, statement, report, or other disclosure required by this chapter.
D. No health club shall refuse or fail, after notice from the Commissioner, to produce for the Commissioner’s review any of the health club’s books or records required to be maintained by this chapter.
E. Unless it so discloses fully in 10-point bold-faced type or larger on the face of each health club contract, no health club shall sell any health club contract if any owner of the health club, regardless of the extent of his ownership, previously owned in whole or in part a health club that closed for business any facility and failed to:
1. Refund all moneys due to holders of health club contracts; or
2. Provide comparable alternate facilities with another health club that agreed in writing to honor all provisions of the health club contracts or at another facility operated by the originally contracting health club.
F. No health club that has failed to provide the Commissioner the appropriate surety pursuant to § 59.1-306 shall sell a health club contract unless that contract contains a statement that reads as follows: “This club is not permitted, pursuant to the Virginia Health Club Act, to accept any initiation fee in excess of $125 or any payment for more than the prorated monthly fee for the month when the contract is initially executed plus one full month in advance.”
Such disclosure shall be printed in 10-point bold-faced type or larger on the face of each contract.
1990, cc. 392, 433; 1993, c. 686; 2003, c. 344; 2004, c. 988; 2010, c. 439; 2014, c. 459.