GoodLife Fitness fined over robocalls

GoodLife Fitness has been fined $300,000 for using automated calling devices, known as robocalls, to contact its members without their prior consent.

The company has already paid the penalty to the Receiver General for Canada, the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission announced in a news release Tuesday.

Under Canadian telemarketing rules, a client must provide "express consent" to receiving robocalls from a business before such calls can be made. The rule went into effect when the CRTC launched its national Do Not Call List in 2008.

GoodLife, which has 750,000 members and 275 clubs across the country, was found to have committed 60 violations of the rule between May 1, 2010 and December 15, 2010, which led to a fine of $5,000 for each one.

It was calling its members to tell them about new club openings.

The fine is part of a settlement that also includes Goodlife agreeing to:

• Stop using robocalls without consent.
• Review its policies for complying with telemarketing rules.
• Publish notices about the violation in newspapers and on its website.
• Organize a business education event at the Can-Fit-Pro Consumer and Wellness Show in Toronto this past weekend "to foster compliance with telemarketing rules."