Mr$.$ Riccio purchased a $12-$month membership to MegaGym. After using the facility for seven months, however, he learns that he must travel for work, and so he writes the gym for a partial refund to cover the five months that he cannot use. Below is the claim refusal message that he receives in response; read the refusal message and answer the questions with your partner.

Dear Mr$.$ Riccio:

You are one of nearly $500$ individuals who took advantage of our membership campaign and joined the MegaGym physical fitness program. We're glad that you have been able to use our outstanding training equipment and our workout classes for the past seven months.

Because of the success of our membership campaign, we have been able to add a number of state$-$of$-$the$-$art equipment units, including a high$-$tech motorized treadmill with a computer that monitors a jogger's progress. This and other improvements to MegaGym depend on the contracts signed by individuals like you. We hire employees, schedule workouts, and purchase equipment based on the number of contract memberships in effect.

To allow membership contracts to be broken would make it impossible for us to fulfill our commitments to our employees and to our members. Although your contract payment cannot be refunded, we can deactivate your membership. When you return from your overseas assignment, you may resume your active status and use the remaining five months of your membership.

Enclosed is a form for you to return regarding the status of your membership. You can count on MegaGym to help you get back in shape when you are able to resume your membership.

Sincerely,

Anthony Wong, General Manager

The main idea in this message is bad news. Which sentence announces the bad news? Underline that sentence.

Look at that sentence again $-$ how does the writer de$-$emphasize the bad news in that sentence?

What does the opening paragraph discuss? Is it on topic?

What does the second paragraph discuss? Why is all this background information important? Who benefits from the quality of the MegaGym?

Does the closing mention the bad news? What does the closing paragraph discuss?