Suit Seeks to Halt Fitness Firm From ‘Bombarding’ Consumers With Unwanted Texts

SoulCycle, a national fitness company that offers indoor cycling and spinning workout classes, “engages in aggressive telephonic sales calls to consumers” to promote its goods and services with no regard for consumers’ rights under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, even after consumers ask the company to stop contacting them, alleged plaintiff Ian DiFalco’s class action Tuesday (docket 1:24-cv-03103) in U.S. District Court for Southern New York in Manhattan. DiFalco, a Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, resident, seeks injunctive relief to halt SoulCycle’s “illegal conduct,” which has resulted in the invasion of privacy, harassment, aggravation and disruption of the daily lives “of thousands of individuals,” said the complaint. DiFalco also seeks statutory damages on behalf of himself and members of the class, and any other available legal or equitable remedies, it said. SoulCycle in January began “bombarding” DiFalco with telemarketing text messages to his cellphone, it said. He responded “stop” to one of the text messages Jan. 26, but SoulCycle ignored the opt-out request and continued to bombard DiFalco with more unwanted telemarketing text messages, it said. Upon information and belief, SoulCycle doesn't have a written policy for maintaining an internal do not call list, as the TCPA requires, said the complaint. It also doesn’t inform and train its telemarketing personnel on the existence and the use of any internal do not call list, as the statute also requires, it said. To the extent that SoulCycle ever had any consent to contact DiFalco for marketing purposes, that consent was “expressly revoked” Jan. 26 when he responded to SoulCycle with the word “stop,” it said. The unwanted telemarketing text messages caused DiFalco “actual harm,” said the complaint. He estimates that he has wasted 15-30 seconds reviewing each of SoulCycle’s unwanted messages, it said. Each time, DiFalco had to stop what he was doing to either retrieve his phone or look down at the phone to review the message, it said. He also wasted 15 minutes locating and retaining counsel for this case in trying to stop SoulCycle’s unwanted solicitations, it said.