Trying to cancel your GoodLife Fitness membership? It's a lot harder than you might think. 

The old gag about how difficult it is to cancel a gym membership appears to have become a reality for many Canadians who have been struggling to cancel their account at GoodLife Fitness since the gyms reopened.

A number of posts to social media have highlighted the frustration of many people for being unable to cancel their gym membership online.

Meanwhile others claim their attempts to call or otherwise contact GoodLife fitness have proven to be fruitless, with customer service agents in short supply.

With many feeling unsafe returning to the gym in a time where variants continue to spread, the decision to cancel their gym membership until they feel safe to return is an understandable one.

However, the difficulty in doing so has a lot of people sweating even without taking a step onto the treadmill.

@GoodLifeFitness Why is it impossible to quit my membership? I have called ,I have left my number, I have done the chat,I’ve tried to cancel online and nothing works. Why does NOBODY respond?

— Lori M (@mumathepuma) August 11, 2021

Others are saying their problem goes even further than simply not being able to cancel.

Some have made claims that they did cancel their membership months ago and yet are still being charged as if they hadn't.

Not GoodLife fitness charging my account after I already cancelled my membership mid-COVID??🥰

— jl🌈 (@jeanlucglam) August 12, 2021

The problem is not one being experienced by only a handful of people either. One look at the mentions on GoodLife's official Twitter account will see a stream of irate customers attempting to get similar problems solved.

@GoodLifeFitness going out of your way to ensure no one can get to a customer service rep. 9-5 business hours and calls getting dropped. Live chat simply won't work.... meanwhile I keep being charged hundreds of dollars even though I've canceled membership in December

— Vlad 🌹 (@416Vlad) August 10, 2021

To their credit, GoodLife claims that the vast majority of memberships can easily be cancelled online however specific plans such as corporate memberships or members still on their original contract exist as exceptions. 

An adequate explanation why GoodLife can't use technology to cancel all types of memberships has not been forthcoming, though.

Further, the link to cancel a membership is buried deep within the website. There's no obvious mention of it anywhere on the busy homepage.

You need to scroll all he way down to the footer and click on Contact Us and then search for it in the Frequently Asked Questions.

"The majority of GoodLife Memberships can be managed directly through the portal on our website. For a large portion of our Members, the portal also includes the ability to cancel online," explained a GoodLife representative to blogTO.

"GoodLife cares deeply about the satisfaction and experience of our Members and encourages anyone who is having difficulty managing their Membership online, to call our Clubs directly."

One GoodLife member told blogTO he recently found the fitness chain withdrew  $93.46 from his bank account even though he had not been back to the gym or was aware that GoodLife had re-activated his membership without any communication. 

When he went to cancel the membership and get a refund he says the membership portal on the website didn't give him this option but only allowed him to "freeze" the membership for a maximum of six months and at a fee of $10 per month.

The website also directed him to a 1-800 phone number. A pre-recorded message on the phone indicated GoodLife was unable to respond due to heavy call volume and directed him to visit the website.

He then sent an email to the address indicated on the website, members@goodlifefitness.com, only to receive an automatic reply that read "any notices or requests to adjust or cancel your membership that have been sent to this email will not be actioned as this inbox is not monitored."