Licensing System For Fitness-plan Sellers Urged

The chairman of the Hong Kong Recreation and Sports Professional General Union said the authorities should implement a licensing system for gym trainers and sales staff to tackle the problem of overselling of gym membership contracts.

Lee Yuet-man said he welcomes the proposal of the Consumer Council to have a seven-day mandatory cooling-off period for long-term contracts signed with fitness centres.

But Lee said a better way to protect consumers from being harassed into signing long contracts maybe ushering in a licensing system on those who sell packages and put a limit on the time of contract they can sell. In Australia, trainers can not sell a contract that is over 12 months, he said.

He also told RTHK's Janice Wong that people in his industry feel that contracts below certain amounts should be exempted from the proposed cooling-off period.

The Consumer Council proposal would allow buyers to change their mind on long-term contracts. The watchdog's proposal also aims to cover beauticians, and timeshare firms.

Nelson Ip, the founding chairman of the Federation of Beauty Industry, said the measure was unfair as it targets the whole industry just because of the mal-practices of a few.

But Consumer Council chairman, Wong Yuk-shan, disagreed. He said the decision to focus on the long-term contracts signed with beautician, fitness centres and time share firms was made after a two year study.

He pointed out that there were over 3,700 cases involving HK$130 million linked to beauty and fitness centre sectors in a period of five years.