A former member accused Anytime Fitness of charging $120 to his bank account "without consent" but the gym said the fee was a fine for a "tailgating" incident.

Speaking to AsiaOne on Monday (Nov 20), Novan Tan said that he had been a regular at the gym franchise's Jurong East Central outlet since March last year.

The 21-year-old student added that he was always cautious of his surroundings when entering the gym with the key fob, saying: "I only let my guard down when my friends, who are also members, are behind me."

On Nov 16, however, Tan was shocked to discover that $120 was withdrawn from his bank account by Anytime Fitness.

In a text exchange seen by AsiaOne, the gym owner wrote that the transactions were penalties imposed for allowing non-members to enter the gym on two occasions.

"Even if there was [a fee], I have to PayNow it. You should not take it out of my account," Tan replied.

Taking to TikTok on Saturday (Nov 18), Tan uploaded CCTV footage of one of the alleged "tailgating" incidents that the gym had sent to him.

The clip showed Tan tapping his key fob at a reader to enter the gym. He was followed by two other members who similarly entered the premises with their passes.

Tan told AsiaOne that he later received a $55 refund from Anytime Fitness after they admitted that they had "mistakenly" imposed a penalty over this particular incident.

But he felt that the gym could have informed him before imposing the hefty fines in the first place.

"What the gym owner did was make false accusations before taking the money out of my bank account without consent," Tan said.

"Even debt collectors do a better job."

Texts and calls to Tan repeatedly ignored: Anytime Fitness

Responding to AsiaOne's queries, Anytime Fitness Jurong East clarified that the penalty was not due to the incident shown in Tan's TikTok video.

A spokesperson said that the "tailgating" fee was imposed after Tan lent his key fob to a friend to enter the gym on another occasion.

The gym had reached out to him to verify this incident for several months, but their texts and calls were "repeatedly ignored", they added.

"After sufficient notices and many delays, we had no choice but to proceed with the charges," the gym's spokesperson said. "The member only responded after we proceeded with the charges.

"Since this incident, we have provided the member with a partial refund as he gave the needed verification for other tailgating occasions."

Anytime Fitness reiterated that their "tailgating" policies are in place to prevent unauthorised usage of the gym, and for the safety of members and staff.

AsiaOne was unable to view the CCTV footage evidence of Tan lending his key fob to a friend. 

ALSO READ: Anytime Fitness apologises after member fined for not noticing stranger tailgated him to enter gym

chingshijie@asiaone.com

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