Gyms in Laredo

Send that notice to the gym's home office with proof of what you paid, and keep the certified mail receipt; the refund is due within 30 days. Under §702.304 the contract must show that right in boldface, capitals or underlining in at least 10-point type, next to the line "do not sign this contract until you read it or if it contains blank spaces."

Later in the contract's life you can still cancel, with a refund of unearned payments, if:

• the gym closes and offers no other facility within 10 miles,
• it moves more than 10 miles away,
• it stops providing the services it advertised, or
• you die or become totally and permanently disabled, in which case your estate can cancel.

Contracts can't run past three years, and financed memberships can't require payments beyond five. If a disaster or other event outside the owner's control makes the gym unusable for 30 days or more, your term must be extended by the time lost.

The Texas Secretary of State registers health spas, which covers businesses selling memberships for exercise instruction or the use of exercise facilities. Exempt are tax-exempt nonprofits, member-owned clubs, dance and aerobics-only studios, rehab providers and school programs. A covered gym needs a certificate for each location, renewed yearly for $100, posted where members can see it, with its number in your contract. A contract signed while the gym was unregistered is void.

Search the SOS health spa list online to see the registration and whether security is posted, or open the PDF list of locations, refreshed every Wednesday. Unless exempt, each location posts $20,000 to $50,000 by surety bond or certificate of deposit, scaled to how much it holds in prepaid memberships.

Laredo gyms exempt from security

A gym can skip the security if it never requires contracts or prepayment over 31 days, financing, automatic bank drafts or initiation fees. Established gyms can also qualify by swearing every three years to assets over $50,000 per location, five years under substantially the same ownership and no closure complaints. An exempt gym has no security posted for your location, so ask how long the contract runs before you prepay.

Some gyms sell memberships before they open. Texas makes them deposit those prepayments in an FDIC-insured escrow account within 14 days and keep it until 30 days after opening, unless they qualify for an exemption. If the gym doesn't open within 180 days of its first sale, or doesn't stay open 30 days, prepaying members are generally owed a full refund.

When an open gym plans to close or move, it must post notice at each entrance at least 30 days ahead and notify the SOS, except after a fire, flood or act of God. Members who lose money can claim against the posted security by sending their contract and proof of payment to the SOS by certified mail within 90 days of the closure notice appearing on its website.

Forbes Health, citing Statista, put the average U.S. membership at $28.58 a month in 2021, with a range of roughly $10 to $300. Fixr puts basic gyms at $15 to $40 a month and well-equipped ones at $50 to $100. Neither is a Laredo survey, but they help you spot an outlier quote.

For a billing or contract dispute, call the Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division at (800) 621-0508; the SOS only handles registrations and security. Health Spa Act violations count as deceptive trade practices, and members can sue. See our Texas gym guide for the full Act, the Laredo hub for other services, and gyms in McAllen for another South Texas option.