Anytime Fitness gym in Bugis says sorry for wrongly charging member $60 ‘tailgating fee’

SINGAPORE - The management of the Anytime Fitness gym in Bugis has publicly apologised to a member who was wrongly charged a $60 “tailgating fee”.

The member, who was referred to as Alan by the gym’s staff, shared his account of the incident in a TikTok video on Wednesday, which has since amassed over 750,000 views.

The video, which comprises a chain of text messages between the gym staff and Alan, begins with the staff informing him that he was seen leaving the gym door open on Monday night, resulting in an unknown woman entering the gym without tapping her key fob.

Despite acknowledging that it might have been an accident, the staff told Alan that they would be charging him a $60 “tailgating fee” if he could not verify that the unknown woman is a member of the gym.

He was given seven days to pay up or be banned from Anytime Fitness Bugis and all its sister outlets.

Alan replied that he was not aware that someone had followed him into the gym and the consequence was “very unfair”.

Disputing the fee, he pointed out that the gym has closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras, and said: “(If) you can’t identify her, then how am I to identify her?”

He also asked if he was supposed to push the woman out and close the door before asking her to enter with her key fob.

Undeterred, the staff said it was Alan’s “sole responsibility” to ensure the door was closed behind him, and that they had explained this policy to members during registration as part of the membership’s terms and conditions.

Alan later went to Anytime Fitness to appeal against the fee and review the CCTV footage. But he could not identify the woman and ended up paying the $60.

He said he had signed up for the gym membership in February and would not continue with the Bugis branch of the 24-hour gym franchise after it expires.

In an apology posted on its Instagram page on Wednesday evening, the management of Anytime Fitness Bugis said “the interpretation of the incident was erroneous” and admitted that the actions taken by its staff were a mistake.

It said: “Members in good standing should not be penalised for a lapse in our security systems.”

“Proper reparations” will be made to Alan, it added.

When contacted by The Straits Times on Wednesday and Thursday, a staff member of Anytime Fitness Bugis said it would not be commenting further on the incident.

In a separate TikTok video posted on Wednesday, Alan showed a screenshot of the terms and conditions of his membership policy.

One of the terms states that members must not allow others to use their key fob and should alert the gym immediately if it has been lost or stolen.

Should members violate this policy, they could be charged a $30 guest fee and have their membership suspended, or both. Their membership could also be cancelled and subject to a cancellation fee.

Alan wondered if that rule applied to his situation, as he did not allow the woman to enter using his key fob. There was no mention of tailgating in the terms and conditions.

However, he highlighted another term that stated that Anytime Fitness maintains the right to modify its policies without warning and that all members have to comply.

Speaking to his TikTok audience, Alan said: “I’ll just let you guys think about it, but for me, I definitely feel that this is very fishy.”