logo
Equinox and SoulCycle Customers in New York May Receive Refunds Over Membership Cancellation Issues

Equinox and SoulCycle Customers in New York May Receive Refunds Over Membership Cancellation Issues

Yahoo02-06-2025

New York Attorney General Letitia James announced a $600K settlement involving the Equinox Group over allegedly difficult cancellation agreements with customers
'The Equinox Group made it challenging for customers to end their membership, costing them time and money,' she alleged
The fitness group must also improve its disclosures moving forwardEquinox and SoulCycle customers in New York may soon be entitled to cash back due to difficulty canceling memberships.
On Friday, May 30, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced a $600,000 settlement from the fitness company, claiming Equinox, Equinox+ and SoulCycle made it 'hard for New Yorkers to cancel their membership.'
James alleged Equinox Group failed to clearly disclose its subscription terms and did not provide consumers with the subscription acknowledgment required by New York law.
'New Yorkers should be able to cancel a membership they no longer use or want without breaking a sweat,' James said in a statement.
'The Equinox Group made it challenging for customers to end their membership, costing them time and money. As a result of my office's settlement, New Yorkers can now cancel their membership with Equinox, SoulCycle, or any of Equinox Group's brands much faster.'
PEOPLE reached out to the Equinox Group for comment but did not immediately hear back.
"Prior to being made aware of this inquiry, we had already begun to make changes to our terms and conditions in conformance with all statutory requirements, and our policies are in full compliance. We are pleased that this matter is resolved," an Equinox and SoulCycle spokesperson said in a statement obtained by CBS News.
According to the terms of the settlement, Equinox Group must now pay $600,000 in penalties and change its subscription practices, as well as offer refunds to subscribers who tried to cancel their membership but were unable to.
Of the complaints mentioned by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG), Equinox was accused of using 'hard-to-understand terms and conditions' within the company's documents, which ultimately made the cancellation process 'complex, difficult, and time-consuming."
'This settlement requires Equinox Group to pay $600,000 in penalties and provide refunds of up to $250 to eligible New York subscribers who filed complaints with the Equinox Group, Federal Trade Commission, Better Business Bureau, or the Office of the Attorney General of the State of New York between February 9, 2021 and December 31, 2024,' per the OAG press release.
Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Eligible residents who first became subscribers or attempted to cancel their subscription between Feb. 9, 2021, and Dec. 31, 2024, can claim their portion of the settlement by emailing Equinox Group by Aug. 2, 2025.
SoulCycle subscribers should email NewYorkAGclaims@soul-cycle.com . Equinox Gym and Equinox+ subscribers should email NewYorkAGclaims@equinox.com.
Subscriber restitution requests must include their name and the phone number or email address associated with their account.
Read the original article on People

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Texas Center for Legal Ethics Celebrating 35 th Anniversary
Texas Center for Legal Ethics Celebrating 35 th Anniversary

Business Wire

timean hour ago

  • Business Wire

Texas Center for Legal Ethics Celebrating 35 th Anniversary

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Texas Center for Legal Ethics is marking 35 years of elevating ethics and professionalism in the practice of law. 'The need for ethics education and to promote professional civility in the legal profession is absolutely timeless,' said Judge Audrey Moorehead. Share 'The need for ethics education and to promote professional civility in the legal profession is absolutely timeless,' said Judge Audrey Moorehead, who is the organization's immediate past chair. The Center is an independent, non-profit organization created to promote the values laid out in the Texas Lawyers' Creed, which includes working to improve the legal system while abiding by the state's rules of professional conduct. The Center aims to be a leading source of ethics education by offering courses, speakers and continuing legal education seminars for state lawyers and other interested parties. The organization provides more than 13,000 hours of continuing legal education to Texas lawyers each year. Patrice Childress, chair of the organization's board of trustees, said the Center offers an array of resources to help Texas attorneys represent their clients in a professional manner, while giving proper respect to the law, other attorneys and justice itself. 'At the end of the day, it's how we best zealously advocate for our clients,' she said. The Center boasts more than 800 resources available for lawyers and others interested in legal ethics, including about 40 courses on its website. Its Justice James A. Baker Guide to Ethics and Professionalism in Texas, which is required for new lawyers in the state, has been completed by almost 90,000 attorneys since its creation. 'It's a key piece of every lawyer's education,' Ms. Childress said. About Texas Center for Legal Ethics Founded in 1989 by Chief Justice Pope and two other retired Texas Supreme Court chief justices, the Texas Center for Legal Ethics promotes the values contained in the Texas Lawyer's Creed, fulfilling its founders' vision to be the leading center of knowledge and resources for ethics and professionalism in Texas. For more information, visit the Texas Center for Legal Ethics website at

Making elections more democratic? In NYC, it's like ranking ice cream flavors.
Making elections more democratic? In NYC, it's like ranking ice cream flavors.

USA Today

timean hour ago

  • USA Today

Making elections more democratic? In NYC, it's like ranking ice cream flavors.

The candidates for mayor in the nation's largest city are, arguably, as diverse as the residents they seek to represent. NEW YORK − The candidates for mayor in the nation's biggest city are, arguably, more diverse than the residents they seek to represent. Among those in New York City's June 24 primary election are a disgraced former governor; a democratic socialist state representative (and former rapper); a street performer named Paperboy who dons a clown face; and a former hedge fund executive trying to channel Mike Bloomberg. With so many options, New Yorkers will choose their next mayor like they pick ice cream in the summer. The city's ranked choice system allows voters to choose their top five candidates for mayor, plus top picks in other city races. More: Can an AOC-backed socialist upset Andrew Cuomo in the New York City mayor's race? Even if your top choice doesn't make it, you can still get flavors, or candidates, you prefer. Ranked choice 'allows for people to vote in a way that expresses how they feel,' said Susan Kang, an associate professor of political science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. The system aims to give voters more choices in a crowded field of nearly a dozen Democratic and a handful of Republican mayoral hopefuls in closed primaries for both parties. It also hopes to bring up candidates from underrepresented backgrounds, often without access to vast campaign war chests. Primary lessons: Trump rules, Dems are revved. NYC's melee is next. The system, first approved by voters in 2019, has been used in elections around the country − from Alaska to Maine, and from San Francisco to tiny Woodland Hills, Utah (population 1,571). Other places, including Washington, D.C., have more recently adopted it. Australians use the system. Winning New York City's Democratic primary is almost always a ticket to City Hall in a city that's about two-thirds registered Democrats. How Cuomo vs. Mamdani shows ranked choice voting Andrew Cuomo, New York's longtime governor who resigned in 2021 after multiple women accused him of sexual harassment, had led comfortably in polls. Many voters see Cuomo, 67, as an experienced moderate executive who can fight President Donald Trump. But with ranked choice, state Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, the 33-year-old democratic socialist calling to freeze rents, has inched ever closer to Cuomo. That's because under ranked choice, a candidate has to get more than 50% of the votes to win. While polls have Cuomo ahead, he's unlikely to win a majority of first-round votes. At each round, candidates with the fewest votes get eliminated. Voters who ranked less-supported candidates first will have their subsequent choices allocated to their next-ranked candidate. More: How many NYC Democratic mayoral candidates are running in the primary election? New York first used ranked choice voting in 2021. With many candidates vehemently opposed to Cuomo, their supporters' next-round votes can help Mamdani, who is endorsed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive star. The process continues until there are two candidates left. Cuomo is favored to win, though polling has tightened between the former governor and Mamdani. Cross-endorsements, cooperation The city's first time using ranked choice, in 2021, resulted in the narrow, eighth-round victory of Eric Adams, the swaggering, scandal-plagued mayor. (Adams dropped out of the 2025 Democratic primary, opting to seek reelection as an independent.) Back in 2021, Adams' last standing opponent, Kathryn Garcia, received a late endorsement from candidate Andrew Yang after he was knocked out. 'The ranked choice voting system enables you to take advantage of being someone's second- or third-place vote,' Yang, now a third-party advocate, told USA TODAY. 'A smart candidate will try and capitalize on that.' In 2025, there are more cross-endorsements between Mamdani and other candidates to Cuomo's left, such as city Comptroller Brad Lander and former lawmaker Michael Blake. Ranked choice challenges Under this relatively new system, voters need to know how to correctly rank their choices. In a 2023 study, Lindsey Cormack, an associate professor at the Stevens Institute of Technology, found higher levels of voided ballots in lower-income areas and communities with lower educational attainment. There were also issues among people who speak a language other than English. 'Anytime you change a system, you make it nominally harder, or at least the capacity for errors goes up, because there's just more boxes to tick,' she said. Complicating matters, New York City's primaries use ranked choice, but the general election does not. Nor do state or presidential elections. Only growing beyond June 24 primary election Politicians and experts agree that, with time, voters can get used to their new system. For now, ranked choice appears to continue expanding across cities and states. In November, Washington, D.C., approved ranked-choice voting. Christina Henderson, one of the district's at-large representatives and a Brooklyn native, supported ranked choice to help people dissatisfied with polarized politics. 'If provided the right information, they can make the right choice for themselves,' Henderson, an independent, said. 'Now, the key is providing the right information.' New York City's primary is June 24. Early voting is underway.

Zohran Mamdani wants to spend $65M on trans medical treatment — including for minors — if elected NYC mayor
Zohran Mamdani wants to spend $65M on trans medical treatment — including for minors — if elected NYC mayor

New York Post

time2 hours ago

  • New York Post

Zohran Mamdani wants to spend $65M on trans medical treatment — including for minors — if elected NYC mayor

Mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani wants to spend $65 million toward transgender treatment – including for minors – if he's elected to lead New York City. The Queens assemblyman, who is locked in a close race with former governor Andrew Cuomo in Tuesday's Democratic primary, says on his campaign website that the money would be funneled to public providers to help transgender New Yorkers. About $57 million would be allotted for public hospitals, community clinics, federally qualified health centers and nonprofits with another $8 million for more expanded services, according to the campaign website. 3 Zohran Mamdani is running to be NYC's next mayor. Robert Miller 3 People gather in Union Square to show support for transgender youths. REUTERS The Democratic socialist's campaign said the spending is necessary because private Big Apple hospitals had stopped providing gender affirming care for minors under threats from the Trump administration earlier this year. President Trump signed an executive order aimed at restricting gender transition procedures for patients younger than 19, but that measure has been blocked by a judge for now. Trans care for youth has been a controversial issue with critics arguing children and teens are too young to move ahead with something so permanent while supporters believe the treatment helps handle gender dysphonia that could lead to mental health problems. 3 Zohran Mamdani is currently a assemblyman for Queens. Paul Martinka Mamdani also vowed to go after private medical institutions that continue to deny trans youth care, stating he would work with state Attorney General Letitia James and local district attorneys in the five boroughs to 'investigate and hold public hearings on hospitals that deny trans youth their rightful healthcare and hold them accountable to the law.' Providing trans care to city youth is in line with the state constitution and city laws, according to Mamdani's campaign.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store