In regard to the growing popularity of physical fitness in Taiwan, business disputes in the fitness center industry have been on the rise since 2014. Numerous dispute cases have been brought against the World Gym Fitness Center (hereafter referred to as World Gym), a registered Hong-Kong company. The Department of Consumer Protection, Executive Yuan (hereafter referred to as the DCP), taking into consideration the circumstances under which the number of fitness clubs and the number of club members have increased year after year, and recognizing the need to better understand how disputes arise and how to resolve them, has consistently called on the relevant authorities and businesses to convene meetings to discuss these matters. Actually, as of 2016, the number of dispute appeals made by consumers has fallen sharply.

By gaining a deeper understanding of the increase in dispute cases against World Gym, with the excessive marketing of fitness training programs and the time limits to take multiple coaching courses bought by consumers being the most controversial, the DCP has asked the Sports Administration, Ministry of Education (hereafter referred to as the SA), local government consumer protection officials and sports fitness businesses to convene meetings to urge businesses to incorporate internal control mechanisms in their business dealings, including:
1) Fitness training courses should be managed effectively, and should not be marketed too heavily.
2) The number of courses and the time limits to take the courses should be tailor-designed for consumers so that they can avoid the necessity of completing the courses within a specified time period.
3) When purchasing fitness courses, consumers should be clearly informed that contracts cannot be cancelled once they expire.
4) In the event that multiple coaching sessions overlap, the second coaching session will only begin upon completion of the previous coaching session.
5) Businesses are advised to take the initiative to notify consumers when their membership is about to expire.

The DCP has occasionally asked World Gym to file reports on how improvements are being implemented. Although the number of World Gym centers increased and its businesses grew quickly during a two-year period, the number of consumer complaints has shown a clear downward trend since 2016.

The DCP has stated that World Gym appeal prevention and resolution mechanism has shown significant effectiveness. The SA has been asked to urge other fitness centers to follow the example of World Gym, and encourage them to take concrete measures to prevent consumer disputes from happening.

Consequently, the DCP advises consumers to pay heed to the following points when joining a fitness center:
1) Peruse the agreement in detail in order to put the contract review period to good use.
Before purchasing a fitness center program, in addition to listening to explanations of the program contents by fitness center service staff, the contract should be reviewed in detail, with a contract review period of at least three days. Consumers should make sure to read it carefully to avoid future disputes. Moreover, any areas of the contract or spoken promises from fitness center staff that are not initially clear should be written out clearly in the contract.
2) Consumers should bear in mind their personal time schedules and physical fitness when purchasing a fitness course.
Consumers should consider time and physical strength when purchasing a course, and by no means should a consumer bow to peer pressure and end up purchasing too many courses, which may lead to disputes because a course could not be completed. At the same time, it is important to pay attention to public safety at fitness centers.

If one encounters cause for a consumer dispute, call the consumer service hotline 1950 to make an appeal with local government consumer protection officials or visit the DCP webpage (cpc.ey.gov.tw) to make an online appeal, thereby safeguarding your rights and interests.