S1E111: True Fitness closure: Why most members will get $0 back

Published on 17 Sep 2026

If you’re a customer with a pre-paid package with a business and it closes, will you ever get your money back?

True Fitness and True Yoga customers and employees were left in the lurch last week after the businesses shuttered. Many have unused memberships, packages and services, and members have reported losses of more than $609,000.

And it’s not just gyms. Prepayment packages are common at nail salons, spas, interior design and renovation firms, and bridal studios.

When these businesses close, what happens to consumers’ money, and are there ways consumers can be better protected?

In this episode of The Usual Place, Natasha chats with:

• Jeremy Ko, a fitness entrepreneur who has opened 25 fitness gyms and three climbing gyms, and had to close three of them, and

• Debby Lim, a senior partner in Dentons Rodyk’s Litigation and Dispute Resolution Group. She was also affected by the recent closure of True Fitness, having been a member since June 2025.

Highlights (click/tap above):

2:08 What’s happening with the fitness industry?

6:44 Red flags that customers could possibly look out for

10:17 Is this the end of the “mega-gym” concept?

14:11 Why are True Fitness and True Yoga under “provisional liquidation”?

18:25 Why Jeremy’s gyms don’t offer prepayment packages

21:15 The hard-selling vs just saying no

26:08 Law reform needed to “save us from ourselves”?

30:10 Why aren’t more businesses signing up for CaseTrust accreditation?

34:39 Is consumer protection anti-business?

Host: Natasha Ann Zachariah (natashaz@sph.com.sg)

Read Natasha’s articles: https://str.sg/iSXm