We have all had that knock at the door. You are usually just sitting down to dinner or are up to your elbows in dish water.   You answer the door to find someone “just happens to be in the area” and has extra material for paving your driveway, has a ladder handy to wash your windows, or has a vacuum that you just have to hear about. We often feel hesitation around starting a conversation with a door to door sales person but we do it anyway because we want to be polite. And then we don’t know how to end the conversation. 

As this is the time of year that people begin working on their new year’s resolutions, we thought it would be useful to provide some more information around gym membership contracts. Gym memberships as well as other types of memberships for fitness purposes (i.e. yoga, or swimming lessons) all fall under the category of continuing services contracts.

Do you know what a continuing service contract is? Do you think it is a contract which:

a) Provides for instruction, training, or assistance in body building and exercising
b) Applies to weight loss facilities and self defense lessons
c) Includes dance lessons
d) Gives the consumer access to membership to a health studio or gym
e) All of the above

Around this time of the year when it gets nicer outside, the Inquiry team begins receiving more calls about direct sales contracts.  Why might this be so you ask?  Typically direct sales contracts are made when a salesperson comes to your home (uninvited) and sells you a good or service.  This however does not apply to sales under $50.  Picture a door to door vacuum cleaner salesperson or someone offering a lawn care service.