If Fit 24 goes bankrupt, members will become creditors with difficulty claiming their rights.

The major shareholder of Fit 24 Joint Stock Company still made a promise about the reopening date of this gym system with related partners, but time is running out.

While Fit 24 members were expecting the gym chain to overcome its difficulties and reopen, by the end of October 2024, there was initial information about the possibility of the Fit 24 gym chain closing completely, meaning that Fit 24 Joint Stock Company - the owner of the gym chain - had to go through bankruptcy proceedings because it was no longer able to pay its debts.

Currently, Fit 24 not only owes its employees' salaries, but also owes the gym's rent. If after another week, until the end of October 2024, Fit 24 still cannot find a new source of finance to reopen, the possibility of a complete closure and bankruptcy of the company is very high, because Fit 24 cannot occupy the rented premises for too long, incurring additional costs.

Meanwhile, according to information from the Investment Electronic Newspaper - Baodautu.vn , the major shareholder of Fit 24 Joint Stock Company still made a promise about the reopening date of this gym system with related partners in October. Time is running out, while Fit 24 needs to have a source of fresh money injected immediately, at least enough to pay off the premises debts, pay part of the employees' salaries and pay operating costs when reopening the gyms.

According to the Enterprise Law 2020, an enterprise is recognized as bankrupt when it simultaneously satisfies two conditions: The enterprise is unable to pay its debts, that is, the enterprise fails to fulfill its debt payment obligations within 3 months from the due date and the enterprise is declared bankrupt by the People's Court.

According to current law, when a business goes bankrupt, its assets will be inventoried and divided in the prescribed order. The first priority is secured debts, then bankruptcy costs, then debts of wages, severance pay, social insurance, health insurance for employees. Next comes debts arising after the opening of bankruptcy proceedings, then financial obligations to the State and debts (unsecured) to creditors.

According to Associate Professor Dr. Bui Xuan Hai, Arbitrator of the Vietnam International Arbitration Center (VIAC), in the case of customers buying Fit 24 membership cards, the rights of the parties must be determined based on the contract. If a customer buys a membership card that is still valid, but Fit 24 closes and cannot be used anymore, the remaining value of the membership card can be determined, and it is recorded as an unsecured debt.

But determining the monetary value that Fit 24 must pay back to its members requires a judgment or decision from the people's court. According to bankruptcy law, the payment of these debts is ranked last in the order of priority in the event of bankruptcy.

Regarding the contract to buy training packages with personal trainers, Mr. Hai said that we must look at who is the subject of the contract to sell the training package. If it is Fit 24, we can ask Fit 24 to take responsibility as with the membership card; but if the subject of the contract is an individual trainer, we will ask that person to take responsibility.

It is known that when carrying out bankruptcy procedures, the bankrupt enterprise is only responsible within the scope of the remaining assets of the enterprise. If the company is no longer able to pay the debt, that debt cannot be collected. When a business goes bankrupt, there will be no one to represent it to pay the debt.

The contract lacks provisions to guarantee members' rights in the event of company closure.

According to the investigation of the reporter of the Investment Electronic Newspaper - Baodautu.vn , membership contracts and training packages with trainers of gym centers are often very simple and lack provisions to protect customers in case of disputes.

A customer who works out at the Fit 24 Ho Xuan Huong branch said that he signed a training contract with a personal trainer more than a month before the system closed, but has not yet received a training contract with the company's stamp, so now there is no contract to see what the terms of the contract are.

Many other customers also shared that because they trusted Fit 24, their signed training contracts were "lost somewhere". Many members bought training cards, training packages with the value and number of sessions corresponding to the training period of 1 to 2 years before they expired. However, at Fit 24, there is a system of books to track members' training sessions and timekeeping for trainers, so it is completely possible to access data on membership card benefits and training packages with PTs of each customer.

All contracts at Fit 24 are stamped as non-refundable and non-cancellable.

Some Fit 24 members in District 7, Ho Chi Minh City, have gone to Fit 24 community groups on social media, saying they have filed a lawsuit against Fit 24. The anonymous FB account, which recorded a clip, said that some people who practice at Fit 24 in District 7 were upset because the gym suddenly closed, while no Fit 24 representative worked with members, those who bought membership cards, and personal trainer training cards at Fit 24.

The problem that upsets Fit 24 members is that despite owing employees salaries since mid-May and being in a difficult financial situation, the company still offers promotions with more attractive prices than before to sell membership cards and personal trainer training contracts to customers. Many customers who have just bought gym cards and training packages for a few days have received notice that this gym chain has suddenly closed.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/neu-fit-24-pha-san-hoi-vien-thanh-chu-no-kho-doi-quyen-loi-d228145.html