The Santa Clarita Athletic Club is offering refunds or credit for future months to members who did not engage with their online services and continued to be charged while the facility was closed due to Los Angeles County public health orders related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The club initially closed its doors on March 16 in compliance with public health orders and has reopened in recent weeks.

In that time, the gym took a mixed approach to how they handled their accounts.

Members were sent an email when the gym was forced to close to inform them that all information about freezing or canceling an account was available on their website, according to Dina McBurney, General Manager of the Santa Clarita Athletic Club.

One gym member among those who allege they continued to be charged after the facility closed reached out to KHTS to share their correspondence with other members on the local forum Nextdoor regarding the issue.

The posts revealed a mixed experience, some members received a prompt response and pause placed on their account while others shared similar struggles to contact the gym.

While the Athletic Club facilities were closed for several months, the gym did continue to offer services to its members in the form of online, instructor-led classes, multiple times per day on Zoom.

Among the classes available were yoga, cosmosize, work-it, zumba and a number of others.

“We were doing everything to keep members engaged until we got the facility opened again,” said McBurney. “We’re still offering those classes online so they can stay home until they’re happy to come back.”

Some members that did not utilize the online service were among those that claim they continued to be charged.

However, McBurney asserts that she personally handled the management of member accounts during the closure.

“I was responding to members for four hours a day, every day, working for free, because it meant a lot to me to stay open,” McBurney said. “We had no phone service, all I had was my laptop.”

While McBurney attempted to stay on top of the hundreds of requests, the Athletic Club did receive over 400 credit card disputes, according to McBurney.

“I want to apologize to anybody that did not get handled appropriately,” McBurney said.

She also confirmed that any members who were charged during the closure can contact the club and expect to receive full reimbursement or credits towards future months.

While some wanted to pause or cancel their membership during these uncertain times, other members have rallied around the local establishment.

Many members insisted on leaving their accounts active during the closure to help the business stay afloat.

One longtime patron of the gym who has typically paid his dues in cash even came by to drop off nearly $300 as a show of support for the Athletic Club.

“I think we would’ve gone under and put our 120 employees out of work if we wouldn’t have had some of our members still wanting to pay us,” McBurney said.

Those wishing to contact the Santa Clarita Athletic Club regarding their account are encouraged to email info@santaclaritaathleticclub.com.

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