How to cancel a gym membership by mail

To cancel a gym membership by mail, find the notice period and the cancellation address in your contract, write a short signed letter with your name, member number and the date the membership should end, and send it by Certified Mail with Return Receipt. Keep the mailing receipt and the delivery record until the last charge has stopped. Some states protect written notice directly: New York requires health clubs to accept cancellations by mail, and California contracts must print the address where a cancellation notice is mailed.

Last reviewed October 25, 20268 official sources

Start with your contract

Gym memberships are contracts, and the contract decides how and when you can leave. Find your copy before you write anything. If you signed on paper, it is usually in the welcome pack. If you joined online, check the confirmation email or the account area of the club's website or app.

Look for these details and write them down:

The notice period, for example 30 days before the next billing date.
Whether notice counts from the day you send it or the day the club receives it.
The address for cancellation notices. It is often a head office or a billing address, not your local club.
Any minimum term, and what happens if you leave before it ends.
Annual or maintenance charges and the date they are billed.
Whether the contract names a method, such as written notice or a form.

In California, every contract for health studio services must show on its first page the name and mailing address of the operator to which a cancellation notice is mailed, an email address for cancellations, and the date you signed (Cal. Civ. Code § 1812.85(b)(2)).

If you cannot find the contract, ask the club for a copy in writing. You can still send your letter while you wait. Use the address on your latest bill or on the club's website, and check our gym and fitness guides for the address we hold for your club.

How to cancel a gym membership by mail, step by step

Work out your deadline
Take your next billing date and count back the notice period. If notice counts from receipt, allow for delivery time as well: USPS lists First-Class Mail at 1 to 5 days. Our cancellation deadline calculator does the counting for you.
Write a short letter
Give your full name as it appears on the membership, your address, your member number and your home club. Say plainly that you are cancelling the membership, give the end date you want, and ask the club to stop all future charges and confirm the cancellation in writing.
Sign and date it
Sign the letter by hand and keep a copy. California's health studio law, for example, describes the cancellation as a signed and dated notice.
Send it by Certified Mail with Return Receipt
Certified Mail gives you a mailing receipt and shows when the letter was delivered or that delivery was attempted. Return Receipt adds the signature of the person who accepted it.
Keep the proof together
Store your copy of the letter, the postmarked receipt, the tracking number and the return receipt in one place. USPS does not keep copies of your receipts.
Check your statements
Watch the next two billing dates. If a charge appears after the date your cancellation should have taken effect, use your proof to ask for a refund and, if needed, dispute the charge.

The cancellation letter template builds the letter for you with these details in the right order.

If your gym is in New York

New York General Business Law § 624

Source: New York General Business Law § 624, health club cancellation rights (New York State Senate)

You can cancel within three business days after you receive a copy of the written contract. The notice goes by United States mail or email to the address in the contract, and money paid must be refunded within ten business days.
After those three days you can still cancel if a doctor's order shows you cannot use the club for more than three months because of a significant physical disability, if you move your home more than 25 miles from any club the seller operates, or if the services stop being offered as the contract states. The estate of a member who dies may cancel too.
The club must accept the cancellation no later than three business days after it receives your notice.
The club must accept cancellation by methods including website, email, telephone, mail or in person. If you joined through its website, it must also accept cancellation through the website.
For a membership that renews each year, the club must accept cancellation of the renewal if you ask within fifteen business days after the renewal takes effect. For a monthly renewal, the window is three business days.

The club may ask for reasonable evidence when you cancel for disability or a move, so include a copy of the doctor's note or proof of your new address with your letter.

If your gym is in California

California Civil Code § 1812.85

Source: California Civil Code § 1812.85, contracts for health studio services (California Legislative Information)

You may cancel before midnight of the fifth business day of the health studio after the date of the agreement, excluding Sundays and holidays.
The cancellation is a signed and dated notice that says you are cancelling. It is sent by first-class mail, by email from an email address on file with the studio, or delivered in person.
Money paid must be refunded within 10 days after the studio receives the notice, except for services you received before cancelling.
If the studio eliminates or substantially reduces facilities described in the contract, such as a pool, you may cancel and receive a pro rata refund.

California's automatic renewal law also applies to memberships that renew on their own. Among other things, it requires that you can cancel in the same medium you used to sign up, which includes mail (Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17602(f)). Our guide to automatic renewal laws by state covers it and the rules in other states.

Common mistakes that keep the charges going

Telling the front desk and leaving it there. A conversation leaves no record of the date or what was agreed.
Accepting a freeze or a cheaper plan when you wanted to leave. Both keep the membership alive. If you want to cancel, say so in writing.
Sending the letter to your local club when the contract names a different address.
Posting the letter close to the deadline without allowing for delivery time.
Throwing away the receipt once the tracking shows delivered. It is your proof of the mailing date.

Your goal is a record that shows what you asked for and when the club received it. The letter, the receipt and the delivery record together give you that.

If the gym keeps charging you

Write to the club with the date your letter was delivered and list every charge made after the cancellation should have taken effect. Ask for those charges to be refunded. If you paid by credit card, you can raise the charge with your card issuer as a billing error, in writing, within 60 days of the statement that first showed it. The FTC's advice is to dispute charges that continue after you cancel. Our guide on what to do when a company keeps charging you walks through each step.

Questions about how we handle a letter for you are answered in our help center and on how it works.

Send your cancellation by certified mail

Tell us the company you want to leave. We write a formal cancellation letter, mail it by certified mail the next business day and send you the delivery proof.

Start your cancellation

Sources

Official pages we read on the review date.

This is general information, not legal advice.

How to cancel a membership that requires a letter
Why some contracts insist on written notice, how notice periods are counted, and how to meet the rule with proof.
How to cancel a contract with a notice period
Count back from the renewal date, add mail transit time and send the letter so it arrives inside the notice window.
Certified Mail for cancellations: what it proves
What the mailing receipt, tracking and Return Receipt each prove, and how to keep them so they still count months later.
What to do if a company keeps charging you after you cancel
Your proof, a letter to the company, a billing dispute with your card issuer within 60 days, and where to complain.