ONCB offers help to True Fitness members after closure
Gymgoers affected by the abrupt closure of True Fitness may get compensation if they seek the assistance of the Office of Consumer Protection Board (ONCB).
“You can come in as a group or an individual. We will pore over your contract with the fitness chain and, if laws allow, sue the firm for you,” ONCB deputy secretary general Pikanest Tapuang said on Friday.
He was responding to complaints from True Fitness members after the sudden closure of the chain’s facilities earlier this month. Some of the members signed long-term contracts with the international fitness chain for thousands of baht.
True Fitness at Esplanade Ngamwongwan-Khae Rai was closed on June 3, and the other outlet at the Exchange Tower closed its doors on June 8 without prior notice.
On its website, True Fitness describes itself as a part of the True Group, one of Asia’s largest fitness and wellness groups. It first entered the Thai market in 2006, opening an expansive outlet at the Exchange Tower that covered 3,700 square meters over three floors.
True Fitness is not the first fitness chain to shut down without notice to its members in Thailand. In 2013, California Wow suddenly went out of business causing damages to more than 1,000 people. While California Wow was sued for bankruptcy, it was found to have transferred more than Bt1.6billion out of Thailand.
