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Email template to dispute a gym charge

Your card was charged by the gym and it should not have been. The common cases: dues kept coming after you canceled, a yearly "maintenance" or "enhancement" fee showed up that nobody explained when you joined, you were charged during a freeze, or the same month was billed twice. You want the money back, not a credit toward dues you no longer want.

Do this by email because gyms handle billing at a back office, not the front desk, and the person you talk to in person often cannot issue a refund. A written request with the date, the amount, and why it is wrong gives them everything they need to fix it and gives you a record if you later need to ask your bank or card company to reverse the charge.

Before you send

  • The charge itself: the date it posted, the amount, and the last four digits of the card or the bank account it hit. Pull it from your statement, not from memory.
  • The reason it is wrong, with proof: your cancellation confirmation email, your freeze confirmation, or the contract page that lists the fees you agreed to.
  • Your member number and the name on the account.
  • The refund you are asking for. If there are several bad charges, list each one with its date and add them up.
  • Know your timeline. A dispute with your card issuer, called a chargeback, is typically available for about 60 days from the statement date, so do not let the gym run out the clock.
Subject Refund request for charge on [charge date], membership #[member number] 
Hi [gym name] billing team,

I'm [your name], member #[member number]. On [charge date] my [card ending in last four digits / bank account] was charged [amount] by [gym name]. I don't believe this charge is correct and I'm asking for it to be refunded.

[One sentence saying why the charge is wrong, with the date and any proof you are attaching. For example: that you cancelled on a given date and have the confirmation, that your membership has been frozen since a given date, that the fee is not in the agreement you signed, or that it duplicates dues already billed.]

Please refund [total amount] to the original payment method and confirm by email once it's done. If you believe the charge is valid, please send me the document that authorizes it so I can review it.

I'd appreciate a reply by [date, about seven days out]. I'd much rather resolve this with you directly than through my card issuer.

Thanks,
[Your name]
[Your phone number]

Everything in brackets is yours to fill in. Keep the rest as it is or change the tone to match how you write.

After you send

  • A reasonable gym replies within a week, either with a refund or an explanation and a document. Read the document. If it really does authorize the fee, you have your answer, even if you do not like it.
  • If they offer a credit toward future dues instead of a refund, decline politely and ask again for a refund to the original payment method. A credit is worth nothing if you are leaving.
  • If they say the refund is processed, it should appear on your statement within five to ten business days. If it does not, reply to the same thread with the date they promised.
  • If there is no reply or a flat refusal with no supporting document, file a dispute with your card issuer or bank before the window closes, attaching this email and your proof. Then stop the charges from recurring by updating the card on file or asking the bank to block the merchant.

Or don't send it yourself

Forward the job to myagent@standinfor.me and let StandIn run the whole thread.

StandIn is an email assistant that handles conversations with businesses for you. You write it one email saying what you need. It writes to the business, waits for the answer, follows up when they go quiet, pushes back on the number when it should, and brings the results back to your inbox for you to decide. You don't need to install an app or sign up. The first email you send is already the start of the task.

Hand this to StandIn opens an email to myagent@standinfor.me with the job already written out

To myagent@standinfor.me Subject Get a wrong gym charge refunded 
Hi StandIn,

I'd like you to get a gym to refund a charge that should not have been made.

The gym: [name, location, and the billing email or contact if I have it].
My account: [my name on the account and member number].
The charge: [date, amount, and the card or account it hit].
Why it's wrong: [canceled on date / frozen since date / fee not in my contract / billed twice], with proof: [attached or described].
Amount to refund: [total].

Please send the request, ask for the authorizing document if they say it is valid, follow up if they stall, and let me know before the card dispute window runs out if they have not paid.

Thanks,
[Your name]

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