Health studio services: contracts: cancellation.

Existing law requires every health studio services contract to be in writing and that a copy of the written contract be given to the customer at the time he or she signs the contract. This bill would, in the alternative, require that the contract be delivered by email to the customer at the time he or she signs the contract. Existing law requires the contract to include a statement that discloses the length of the term of the contract in at least 14-point type and requires the contract to contain on the first page the name and address of the health studio operator to which a notice of cancellation can be mailed and the date the buyer signed the contract. This bill would, instead, require the contract to disclose the initial or minimum length of the term of the contract and would, in the alternative, require the contract to be presented in an electronic format that is as equally legible as the printed contract. Existing law requires the contract to provide a description of the services, facilities, and hours of access that the consumer is entitled to and provides that any services, facilities, and hours of access that are not described in the contract are to be considered optional services and as separate contracts, as specified. This bill would, in the alternative, require a contract to state where the description of services, facilities, and hours of access that the consumer is entitled to is available on the health studio operator's Internet Web site and would provide that any services, facilities, and hours of access that are not described in the contract or on the health studio operator's Internet Web site are to be considered optional services and as separate contracts, as specified. Existing law authorizes a consumer to cancel a contract for health studio services within specified timeframes after the contract is executed, if the health studio fails to provide the specific facilities advertised or offered or if the health studio eliminates or reduces the scope of the facilities, as specified. This bill would specify that a contract for health studio services may be canceled by the buyer in person, via email from an email address on file with the health studio, or via first-class mail, and would require that the email address to which a notice of cancellation email is to be sent be on the first page of the contract. The bill would make other conforming changes.