How to quit the gym (or anything)

By Christopher Solomon

Everybody seems to have a story about the inexplicable charge that keeps appearing on a credit card, or the gym membership that just won't die -- long after motivation to hit the weights has.

But trying to extricate yourself from deals like these can be frustrating, even when you have every right to terminate them. Perhaps the most infamous is the guy trying to cancel his AOL account. But these are more than annoyances; over time, $21.99 a month for a service you no longer use can seriously dent your bank account.

Here's some advice from the experts about how to cancel some of the subscriptions and memberships that have proved to be the most difficult to shed, plus some guerrilla tactics to try if things get ugly.

Cell phone contracts

One of consumers' biggest gripes is getting locked into long contracts with cellular companies, says Ben Popken, editor of Consumerist.com, a Web site that offers an irreverent, often snarky take on the headaches companies cause consumers.

People have many reasons to drop their cell-phone contract, says Popken: dissatisfaction, finding a much better deal elsewhere, or simply not wanting a phone anymore. But companies make them pay to break the contract, usually to the tune of $175 or $200. That's exorbitant, he says. "It's pretty obvious that that $175 is not to open up space on the airwaves."

But you've signed a contract. You're over a barrel. What can you do? Here are a few ideas:

• Put your contract on the block at Celltradeusa.com. This is a legal online auction for cell phone contracts. "Basically it's an entire transfer of contract," Popken says. The downside, according to Consumerist.com, is that you've got to pay $20 to actually trade, and you sometimes need to offer perks and inducements to lure someone to buy your contract.

• If you're unhappy and you know it … If you're unhappy with the service, says Popken, you could simply tell the carrier that the service is not up to par, which is a legitimate excuse for getting out of the contract. But getting out may take a while. Contact the company and say that if you're not released from your contract because of your dissatisfaction, you'll complain to the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, the Better Business Bureau and the state attorney general's office in the state where the company is incorporated. Then begin to do so, and create a paper trail. Companies don't like that, Popken says. Once, after a goof by his cell phone company and much ensuing argument, Popken finally asked a customer service representative for the address of company headquarters so he could write a complaint. The representative immediately knocked $400 off of his bill, he says.

• Give your phone a vacation. Some users report telling their cell carrier that they were leaving the country for an extended period, and the carrier allowed them to put their cell phone in "vacation" mode for as long as six months -– so they could toss it in a drawer and not use it -- and reduced the monthly fee for that period to just $5 a month (which beats a $200 termination fee).

Then there are what Popken calls "the black-hat workarounds" (as suggested by a former customer service rep for a cell-phone company) that you can employ to get out of that contract without paying that onerous termination fee:

• Die. This one, Popken concedes, requires a bit of commitment. Death will usually get you out of the contract with no penalty. Of course, a company demands a death certificate or death notice.

• Join the military. Actually, even that's not enough. But sending a copy of your deployment orders should do the trick.

• Move (or say you're moving). Tell the company you're moving to a place that doesn't have cell coverage -- "for example, Cambodia," suggests Popken, helpfully. The company will want some kind of documentation of the new address, he says, "But they don't have the means to follow up." (You don't have to be as exotic as Cambodia: Study the coverage map and say you're moving there.)

Escape from AOL

If Internet gripes are any judge, few experiences generate as much frustration as trying to cancel an AOL account.

"Basically my experience in canceling AOL is that it was long, tedious and certainly appeared to be the case that they tried to make it as difficult as possible," says Dave Taylor, an author, blogger and management consultant who answers technology-related questions at AskDaveTaylor.com. "I get these heart-rending e-mails from these vets and pensioners, and their credit card is still getting gigged, and they have no idea what to do."

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