Gym chain CityFitness fined $1.12m for misleading customers

9 Jun 2026

CityFitness Taupō is one of the chain's 66 clubs nationwide

Photo: Facebook / CityFitness NZ

Gym chain giant CityFitness has been ordered to pay $1.12 million fine after admitting they misled customers about membership fees.

The Commerce Commission said the country's largest gym business advertised the cheapest memberships at $6.99 a week and added 3 percent, which they called a transaction fee.

But the fee was compulsory and the Commission said the gym was therefore attracting new members with a publicised cost that did not exist.

Deputy chair Anne Callinan says the transaction fee was misleading and, rather than a transaction fee, it was designed to lift the company's profit.

She said the message to business was simple: "Be honest with your customers".

Auckland District Court Judge David Clark said the decision was made at the highest level of the company.

"CityFitness disregarded the rights and interests of potential members in preference to looking after its own commercial interests. A falsehood was created to do this.

"Although ... there is nothing wrong with a business protecting itself against high inflationary costs, it must do so in a manner which is responsible, coherent with market practice, and consistent with [Fair Trading Act] principles."

The fees were paid by approximately 125,000 people, generating the company an additional $1.6 million dollars.

The company admitted eight charges under the Fair Trading Act.

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