Can a gym management company deny my faxed cancellation which is not stipulated in the membership agreement?

Question

I faxed & emailed a cancellation notice to my gym's management company 63-days before renewal. I have email & fax receipts documenting the date.  Late on day 59 they informed me by email that they don't accept faxed/emailed cancellations and that they require 60-days notice which starts on the post marked date on the mailed envelope.  None of this is written into the contract.  The contract states “Renewal terms may be cancelled at any time provided a 60-day written notice is delivered to ABC Financial…” and that's it, no other terms or conditions.  I looked up a NJ law definition for written notice and it states "including any representation of words, letters, symbols, numbers, or figures, whether (i) printed in or inscribed on a tangible medium or (ii) stored in an electronic form or other medium, retrievable in a perceivable form".  The company is threatening to charge me another month plus fees if I opt out of automatic payments. Does New Jersey 56:8-42 protect me?

Jonathan Rudnick · Answer

I agree with your analysis and you properly revoked the renewal per the terms of the contract that they prepared and both of you signed.  Under basic contract law if the terms are clear than that what you do and that is what govern the conduct.  NJSA 56:8-42 does apply to your transaction but that addresses cancellation at the beginning of the contract, not at the end.  Nice work.

Q: Can a gym management company deny my faxed cancellation which is not stipulated in the membership agreement?