All California Fitness centres closed

• FireIce

  20 Jul 16, 12:53

  All California Fitness centres in Singapore to close with immediate effect

   

   All California Fitness gyms in Singapore will be closed with immediate effect.
  

  In a media announcement shortly after midnight on Wednesday (Jul 20), Tim Reid and Theresa Ng of Ferrier Hodgson said they have been appointed as Provisional Liquidators of JV Fitness Pte Ltd, by the order of the High Court on Jul 19, 2016. 

  JV Fitness owns and operates the California Fitness centres located at Bugis, Raffles Place and Novena. 

  "JV Fitness does not have adequate liquid resources to continue its operations and therefore all outlets in Singapore will be closed from today until further notice.
  

  "The Provisional Liquidators will quickly explore options that may be available to enable the business to operate but for time being, it is necessary to cease the operations of the fitness centres with immediate effect," the media release said.

  - CNA/dl

   

   

   

   

   

   

  anyone affected?

• FireIce

  20 Jul 16, 12:54

  8 Things You Should Know about California Fitness’ closure in S’pore

• gekpohboy

  20 Jul 16, 13:05

  gym membership fee so expensive. Government one so much cheaper. Some more government got give us the free $100 activeSG money. who wanna buy the gym membership sia?

• FireIce

  20 Jul 16, 22:19

  California Fitness closed... what now for its members?

   

  California Fitness has ceased operations in Singapore, after the last two outlets at Novena and Bugis shut down on Wednesday (July 20).

   

  Customers could have bought gym membership packages at California Fitness up till the point of closure.

   

  Some of these packages involved a lump-sum payment of $4,000 for a two-year membership. Others are paid through monthly instalments of about $100 each via GIRO or credit card.

   

  Were you one of the gym's members who paid for a package you can't use anymore?

   

  Here are some tips from the Consumers Association of Singapore (Case), and lawyer Rajan Supramaniam on what you can do to try to get your money back.

   

  1. Cancel your monthly instalment

   

  If you are subscribed to a monthly payment scheme via credit card, Case's executive director Seah Seng Choon

   

  recommends contacting your bank immediately and asking for a chargeback due to non-delivery of services.

   

  "If the chargeback claim is valid, consumers would not be liable for that payment and any recurring payment to California Fitness," said Mr Seah.

   

  If paying via GIRO, you should instead ask your bank to cease GIRO payment to California Fitness.

   

  However, if the bank has already paid California Fitness in full, you may still be liable to monthly repayments.

   

  2. Get yourself a lawyer

   

  Mr Supramaniam recommends seeking legal advice from a lawyer, who can look at the clauses in the contract you've signed with California Fitness before informing you what you can do.

   

  "We need to look at the terms (that were agreed upon) before seeing what further action can be taken," he said.

   

  3. Contact the relevant authorities

   

  Mr Supramaniam also recommends exploring options with the Ministry of Trade and Industry, to see if they could render any assistance.

   

  An online petition on change.org for California Fitness to refund its victims has 2,024 supporters so far. Should the petition be successful, it would be sent to Trade and Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang.

   

  Mr Seah also recommends contacting Case for further assistance at their hotline number 6100-0315.

   

  From the time the announcement was made this morning up until 5pm, Case has received 225 complaints from consumers.

   

  Case is currently contacting the provisional liquidators and will update their advisory in due course.

   

  - TNP

• FireIce

  21 Jul 16, 10:14

  California Fitness: Refunds unlikely after gym's closure, say lawyers http://str.sg/45KW 

• QX179R

  21 Jul 16, 21:34

  Liquidator urges California Fitness Singapore members to be patient

  SINGAPORE: The liquidator for California Fitness said on Thursday (Jul 21) that it made the decision to close the gym chain's outlets in Singapore as the operator had significantly less cash than expected.

  
  

  California Fitness' Raffles Place branch closed abruptly on Jul 16 and its remaining two branches in Bugis and Novena were shuttered as well on Jul 20.

  
  

  In a media statement on Thursday, Ferrier Hodgson partner Tim Reid said: "The company is facing a shortage of cash, that is why we made the decision to close the gyms. We had anticipated that when we were appointed there would have been significantly more cash that would have enabled us to continue operations while we sought to identify a purchaser."

  
  

  He added that salaries for California Fitness staff had been paid just before Ferrier Hodgson were appointed, saying that "this has greatly reduced the cash available".

  
  

  Mr Reid said that as provisional liquidators of California Fitness, its immediate step has been to meet with the landlords of the operator's three outlets. Said Mr Reid: "We hope to have some agreement with the landlords whereby we can market the gyms for sale at the current premises. 

  
  

  "Providing we can reach agreement with the landlords we will be calling for expressions of interest shortly. The lack of cash means we need to move quickly."

  
  

  Mr Reid said that the liquidator is "fully cognisant of the concerns raised by members" and that there are "several steps that need to take place" for it to tackle the issue. "We need to first identify a purchaser acceptable to the landlords. It may be that a purchaser seeks all of the gyms or only some – we won’t know until we get responses to our calling for expressions of interests. Following which, a tripartite agreement will also have to be reached between the landlord, provisional liquidator and purchaser. We may also need the approval of the Court."

  
  

  The liquidator added that its role was to achieve the best outcome for creditors of the company. "As such, our efforts are in line with the concerns of members," said Mr Reid. "We appeal to members to be patient and await updates from us. Ferrier Hodgson will be posting information on a website shortly, to provide information to members."

  
  

  - CNA/dt
• FireIce

  22 Jul 16, 00:21

  the longer u drag, the lesser the chances of getting back anything

• ^Acid^ aka s|aO^eH~

  22 Jul 16, 09:50

  yeah, once cash flow runs dry, even after selling all the equipments, there might not be enuff to cover everyone's losses...

• QX179R

  22 Jul 16, 21:34

  HomeTeamNS offers free gym access to members affected by California Fitness closure

  SINGAPORE: HomeTeamNS will offer 800 of its members affected by the recent closure of California Fitness, six months of gym access for free, the association said in a media release on Friday (Jul 22).  

  
  

  Upon providing supporting documents on their California Fitness membership and packages which includes the California Fitness membership card as well as receipts, affected members can apply for the free access to work out at its Fitness Workz gyms in the HomeTeamNS Balestier and HomeTeamNS Bukit Batok clubhouses.

  
  

  HomeTeamNS is a non-profit association for the Singapore Police Force and the Singapore Civil Defence Force. The initiative is meant to ensure its members "will not have disrupted training, and encourage them to continue adopting an active lifestyle", the association said. 

  
  

  It also plans to provide part-time employment to 10 personal trainers affected by the California Fitness closure for the next six months. Said chief executive of HomeTeamNS, Agnes Eu: "While it is understandable that the focus would be on consumers, we should not forget that there will be staff affected by this incident. The temporary employment assistance will give a bit of time for personal trainers to secure new jobs at other gym outlets." 

  
  

  All California Fitness gyms in Singapore were shuttered suddenly on Jul 20. The liquidator has urged members to be patient as it looks for a buyer for the gyms.

  
  

  - CNA/am
• FireIce

  29 Jul 16, 00:49

  'No money currently' to refund California Fitness members after gym closures http://str.sg/4Sef 

• Autismtruthspeaking

  1 Aug 16, 14:48

  Pity the members, unlikely to get their money back now.

• Lironljh

  1 Aug 16, 19:10

  Yeah they surely lost alot of cash..

• The Code

  23 Aug 16, 15:29

  Quite surpised that there is still overseas fitness center here like Rizap which could charged $4k for their training course! http://sg.rizap-global.com/train-w-us