F45 collapse around Australia. Will the same happen here?

PHOTO: F45

Once-loyal F45 customers are fuming as many of their local gyms have suddenly collapsed, which has left them hundreds of dollars, and in one case thousands, out of pocket.

The fitness industry has endured a massive shake-up since the Covid-19 pandemic and many gyms are going into liquidation as government stimulus packages have dried up.

News.com.au previously reported that at least eight F45 Training gyms – known for their functional high intensity interval training (HIIT) classes that take place in 45 minutes – had ceased operating. Now three more defunct gyms have come to light.

The highest individual liabilities of one of these gyms was just under $600,000 and F45-branded equipment is up for sale at incredibly cheap prices as creditors try to recover their losses.

Jane* learnt via email in August last year that her F45 gym in the Melbourne suburb of Werribee was shutting down, as was neighbouring gym Hoppers Crossing, run by the same owners.

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But then the mum-of-one’s disappointment switched to outrage when her refund was not forthcoming, despite paying for half a year’s membership up front.

“We were so upset. They owed me just over $1000 and I thought ‘when am I going to get my money back’?” Jane, 39, told news.com.au.

The offer Jane was sent last year before the gym collapsed.

Her payment. She was also charged an extra $150 by accident.

Jane, who works in the financial services industry, said there were signs the Werribee studio was on its last legs before it shut down.

F45 gym-goers follow a TV screen for their HIIT exercises in videos that the head office team creates, she explained. However, at the beginning of last year, the videos showed training routines that involved equipment her local gym did not possess.

“The videos had rowing machines and skiing ergs, and … different sort of bikes, we never got those,” she said. “We got suspicious.”

Jane had been a F45 customer since 2017 and had been paying about $50 a week to exercise there.

But in May last, the gym put out a promotion that captured her attention.

“They did an offer, $1000 up front for six months, which worked out to be $39 a week. I thought I might as well.”

Her desperate texts with a F45 staff member.

The email notifying her that both F45 Werribee and Hoppers Crossing were closing.

She made the payment on June 1 through her credit card but realised after three weeks that the company was still charging her $50 a week due to a mix-up.

This meant when the gym collapsed in August, she was owed more than $1000.

Jane pestered staff members for her money back over text messages and they ended up having to sell gym equipment to return her funds.

Another Melbourne customer, who preferred to remain anonymous, is also furious after paying $99 for a F45 competition – only for her gym to shut down.

An eviction notice on Port Melbourne’s doors.

A similar eviction notice on the doors of F45 Gisborne, in Victoria.

The anonymous customer trained at the F45 Port Melbourne franchise in the city’s CBD but it suddenly closed after landlords repossessed the property.

“Money taken for the latest challenge at $99 per head and not refunded,” the Port Melbourne customer told news.com.au.

“Essentially taken money on top of membership for a service not provided.”

The landlord is owed around $163,000 in unpaid rent, according to an eviction notice plastered over the gym’s door.

The business owes $138,900 in unpaid rent, $5000 in deferred rent and a further $19,400 for unpaid utilities.

Just last week, the Port Melbourne branch gym had a winding up application taken against it.

As well as owing debts to the landlord, the gym also appears to owe debts to Bizcap AU, a small business loan service, which lodged the winding up application in court.

Then there was the F45 franchise in Yeppoon, in coastal Queensland, which owed an eye-watering $600,000 to creditors when it went into bust.

On September 9 last year, Yeppoon’s F45 went into liquidation, with Michael Beck of Worrells appointed as the liquidator.

F45 Gisborne has also shut up shop.

A non-functioning screen in a shutdown F45 studio.

Mr Beck told news.com.au that the Yeppoon business owed “just shy” of $600,000 to creditors.

Despite the substantial debt, the gym only had about $15,000 in assets after he sold all the equipment.

The largest debt was for $300,000 to the gym’s owner. There was also $25,000 owed to staff from unpaid entitlements and superannuation.

A further $30,000 was owed to the ATO while $6,000 was owed to the landlord.

The gym had to shut down as it went from making $45,000 a month to just $25,000 per month, according to Mr Beck.

A customer does a push up outside F45 Runaway Bay, the Gold Coast, which has also shut.

Over in the Gisborne F45 franchise in Victoria, the gym had eviction notices plastered onto its door and the landlord took possession of it last month.

News.com.au understands the business owed at least $125,000 to the landlord when the gym was seized.

“The tenant is given notice that the landlord has retaken possession of the premises in the name of the whole pursuant to its rights under a written lease dated November 11, 2019,” one of the eviction notices reads.

And at the end of January, the Runaway Bay F45 franchise in Queensland’s Gold Coast also closed its doors forever with no explanation to customers.

Three weeks ago, Jamie*, who preferred to remain anonymous, rocked up to the Runaway Bay gym, as he had done for the past five years, to find the premises locked.

Jamie was upset at the lack of notice about the gym’s closure, saying that management hadn’t sent an email or a social media post, saying it was like the gym had “no care in the world” about its customers.

In October last year, a Melbourne F45 branch in the suburb of Sunshine also went under, having been barred from entering the venue by the landlords.

The following month, Brisbane gyms in the suburbs of Newstead, Stafford and West End all shut down owing $100,000 each to creditors.

At the same time, the F45 gym in Mount Barker, South Australia, also went under.

These kettlebells are selling for $2 a kilo.

This stack of dumbbells was put up for sale for just $3 a kilo.

News.com.au attempted to contact the mobile number attached to the Werribee and Hoppers Crossing gyms for comment but the number rang out.

In a statement to news.com.au, the F45 head office team said they tried to provide support to struggling franchises as it impacted the health of the entire business.

“We recognise that the success of our franchisees is integral to F45’s overall success, and we continue to take steps to support our valued franchise network,” a company spokesperson said.

There are nearly 500 F45 studios in the country, the spokesperson added.