Police report lodged after sudden closure of UFC Gym Singapore

SINGAPORE: In February, UFC Gym Singapore told its members it would be temporarily closing its sole remaining premises for renovation. 

But its members got a rude shock when they recently found that another tenant, Anytime Fitness, had taken over the CityLink Mall space, with the fate of their memberships left hanging in the balance.

UFC Gym Singapore is a franchise of Ultimate Fighting Championship, the world's biggest mixed martial arts promotion. 

It opened its first outlet here at CityLink Mall in March 2019, offering mixed martial arts classes and personal training. It later opened another outlet at City Square Mall.

The City Square outlet closed in 2022 due to "challenging market conditions" and losses from the COVID-19 pandemic, the gym said on its social media pages on Nov 10. 

UFC Gym Singapore said it could not refund unused portions of memberships or personal training services in cash, and would transfer memberships to the CityLink outlet instead. 

One of its gym members, who wanted to be known as Ms Zhang, said she is owed S$850 (US$640), following the closures. 

"I've been owed unfinished personal trainer package and gym membership, they didn't answer to these unpaid services at all," the barista, who is in her early 30s, said. 

Instead, WhatsApp texts and emails to the gym have gone unanswered, she said, showing screenshots. 

She told CNA that she could not go to the CityLink outlet as it was out of the way for her. 

The CityLink outlet also failed to refund her, claiming that it ran under a different owner, Ms Zhang said.  

Another member of the City Square outlet, who wanted to be known as Kevin, 31, said he had around S$500 of his membership left when the gym closed its doors.

"After a lot of back-and-forth arguments, they made an 'exception' to transfer my membership. No one (wanted) to buy it despite a 50 per cent discount, so I gave it to a friend for free, but even so, she couldn't use it as the gym started 'exciting renovations'," Kevin, who is in sales and marketing, told CNA. 

SUDDEN CLOSURE AFTER RENOVATION ANNOUNCEMENT

The CityLink renovation was announced to members in a Feb 28 email, which stated: "We would like to advise you that we will be upgrading our gym over the coming months to offer you the best in training options and facilities."

It added that the gym would be closed during the upgrades, with memberships placed on hold but would return to normal upon reopening.

The announcement contained the email address of the gym's managing director Barnabas Huang. 

However, UFC Gym Singapore's premises at CityLink have since been taken over by gym operator Anytime Fitness.

When CNA visited, it observed Anytime Fitness' advertisements on the boards covering the unit previously occupied by UFC Gym Singapore, although the latter's advertisement board was still on a nearby wall. 

When contacted, Mr Huang declined to comment, claiming that he was bound by a non-disclosure agreement without elaborating.

Members have since filed reports with the police and the Consumer Association of Singapore (CASE). 

The Singapore Police Force confirmed that a report was lodged and investigations are ongoing.

CASE president Melvin Yong, said that the consumer watchdog received two complaints against UFC Gym Singapore's sudden closure from Feb 1 to May 9 this year. 

Mr Yong said consumers reported that the gym's premises at CityLink was closed due to renovations. 

"However, they later realised that UFC Gym’s website was down and its premises at CityLink had been vacated. Consumers also complained that they were unable to contact UFC Gym," Mr Yong said. 

As UFC Gym Singapore is no longer operating, CASE advised consumers to lodge a claim at the Small Claims Tribunals.

"While consumers may enjoy savings per use over time for longer term memberships, CASE advises consumers to consider shorter term memberships or pay-per-use options as it is generally challenging for consumers to recover their monies for prepaid memberships in the event of sudden business closure," he added. 

A similar scenario played out on a larger scale in 2016, when fitness chain California Fitness closed all its outlets in Singapore, leaving thousands of members with millions in unclaimed memberships, according to a report by the Straits Times.