S'pore True Fitness customer spent S$21,000 on lifetime membership for himself & 2 daughters, did not expect gym to close this abruptly

On September 10, True Fitness and True Yoga announced the immediate closure of all their outlets, citing insurmountable debt as the reason behind their sudden shutdown. This abrupt closure left both employees and customers in a state of shock and confusion. Many customers who had invested heavily in the gym's lifetime membership programs found themselves left high and dry.

One such customer, Chen, revealed that he had spent S$21,000 on a Lifetime Founder VIP membership in 2014, which included his two daughters. The membership, valid at overseas branches in Thailand and Taiwan, granted access to a private lounge and personal locker. Chen noted that even the VIP members were still required to pay an annual fee of S$107. The Suntec City branch had once offered a private lounge with massage chairs and coffee machines exclusively for VIP members.

Another affected customer, Lin, had joined the gym in 2017 and spent about S$10,000 on a lifetime VIP membership in 2020. She was informed that it was the last year the gym was issuing lifetime VIP memberships. Neither she nor the other members anticipated that their lifetime cards would become useless with the sudden closure of the gym.

Upon learning about the closure, affected customers formed a WhatsApp group to support each other and share information. One customer, Yang, had previously signed a three-year membership package with her husband, which was set to expire in November. She subsequently purchased an additional three-year package with a three-month membership, totaling over S$2,600.

Yang discovered the gym's liquidation proceedings on September 12 and created a WhatsApp group with other affected members, currently numbering around eight. Together, they hope to assist one another in navigating this unfortunate situation.