After two months of market speculation about its financial difficulties, the Youth Camp Health Group (
After the decision was made public yesterday, Youth Camp's outlets were swamped by disappointed gym members demanding reimbursement.
This is "the biggest setback since Youth Camp was established," chairwoman Pure Tsai (蔡純真) said at an emergency briefing yesterday morning to announce the decision.
Youth Camp, operator of the nation's first fitness-center chain, was founded in 1977. It currently has 25 outlets in Taiwan, with around 250,000 members.
Tsai acknowledged that the opening of the Taipei 101 Oxy Gym in the Taipei 101 building was the main reason behind the company's worsening financial situation.
"Incomplete risk assessment, restrictions by contracts and regulations, procrastination in renovations and the Taipei 101 building's thwarting of our leasing progress have all dented our capital and affected our recruitment of new members," she said, reading from a statement.
In a bid to weather the crisis, Tsai said that all Youth Camp outlets except the one in Taipei 101 will be temporarily closed.
She said members of these fitness centers can still go to the Taipei 101 gym, exchange the unused portion of their membership fee for cosmetics or sign an agreement to postpone their membership for a year.
"After dealing with the financial problem, we'll reopen some outlets as soon as possible to serve our members," she said.
The abrupt decision triggered criticism from some members, who complained that they had not been given advance notice that the fitness centers would be shut down. They said they arrived at their favorite gyms yesterday, only to find a notice pasted on closed doors.
"They said I can only choose to bring cosmetics home or have my membership extended for one year. But, either way, any agreement we sign is nothing but a waste of paper, because we don't know when we will be able to collect the cosmetics," said a frowning Tsai Shuang-mei (蔡雙梅), who started training at Youth Camp over a decade ago and has more than NT$90,000 unspent on her membership card.
"I trust the company, but what is happening now is really the last thing I would have imagined," she said.
Another member said that the company had last month convinced her to buy another set of courses, worth over NT$70,000.
"They really should not have taken our cash prior to possibly going bankrupt," said the elderly woman, who wished to remain anonymous.
A consumer advocacy group called on the firm to detail the scope of its financial troubles and proportionally refund fees to members.
"Affected members can reject the alternatives offered by Youth Camp, as it has unilaterally altered [its part of] the contract, without seeking members' approval," said Terry Huang (
The foundation also urged prosecutors to investigate Youth Camp, bar the company's management from leaving the country and freeze its assets to facilitate future compensation.
The Consumer Protection Commission said that dissatisfied consumers can dial 1950 to lodge a complaint with their city or county government ombudsman.
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