31–40 of 229 posts
There’s also tricks like requiring certified letters to cancel the membership. One I went to required two. You also paid a fee upfront that was like being there for half a year.
Gym would not respond to emails asking for cancellation form, nor pick up the phone during office hours.
Then stood by their cancellation policy of 30 days despite the weeks of messages left. 30 days from time of signing the form.
Shady business.
Agree with the general economics, but this caught my eye: > a gym customer needs quite a bit more space compared to the retail customers in the rest of the high street Where I live, the two gyms nearest to me are not on a high street - they are effectively in residential areas, which I believe has lower rents. The gyms that are on the high street are 'super gyms' that are significantly more expensive.
I have seen “high street” gyms use office space and even basement space. While being a short minute walk from the high street. My current gym is upstairs. Upstairs entry is not something most shops want (unless you are niche maybe like a wedding shop). There are tricks to get lower rent.
I've been a gym rat for almost 20 years now, and I'm probably the worst customer for gyms. I only workout at 24*7 gyms and being an early bird I get there at 430 and I have pretty much the whole gym for myself. I am there 6 days a week and I always shower at the gym. Further, I use the corporate discounts available to join the memberships. With all that, it comes down to approx. $50 a month for membership and I used…
no that's the best customer for gyms. The ACTUAL way gyms make money is by heavily over subscribing a fixed amount of resources (machines/benches/space). You finding some random time to go to the gym instead of just canceling has barely any marginal cost over some one just not going and you'll talk positively about having a membership.
There’s also tricks like requiring certified letters to cancel the membership. One I went to required two. You also paid a fee upfront that was like being there for half a year.
It’s bizarre that consumers collectively agree to these terms. If I started a business that was this anti-customer, I would assume there would be zero customers willing to take that deal. Moreover, why hasn’t anyone introduced a brand that doesn’t have all these awful features?
Sorry to blunt, but if you think that's bizarre...I don't think you understand human behavior very well.
Any gym owners can chime in? My local gym seemed pretty normal this January so far (but I am in Australia where many people book their holidays during forced shutdown periods). Also the gym seems to have the same pricing whenever except sometimes there is “no joining fee” which is a weird thing to me but hey? My gym is independent. A famous world brand of gym I used to belong to seemed to make their money by making i…
Personally as a member of an independent gym for a few years now, I have also not seen an increase in activity at the beginning of the year. Most of the members tend to be pretty consistent and I've been now 5 days this new year at different peak times and seen only one new face. Good independent gyms are very expensive to run.
I've been a gym rat for almost 20 years now, and I'm probably the worst customer for gyms. I only workout at 24*7 gyms and being an early bird I get there at 430 and I have pretty much the whole gym for myself. I am there 6 days a week and I always shower at the gym. Further, I use the corporate discounts available to join the memberships. With all that, it comes down to approx. $50 a month for membership and I used…
There’s also tricks like requiring certified letters to cancel the membership. One I went to required two. You also paid a fee upfront that was like being there for half a year.
It’s bizarre that consumers collectively agree to these terms. If I started a business that was this anti-customer, I would assume there would be zero customers willing to take that deal. Moreover, why hasn’t anyone introduced a brand that doesn’t have all these awful features?
# Require certified mail (100% sure on these)
- LA Fitness
- Planet Fitness
- Gold's Gym
- Retro Fitness
# Let you cancel online / do not require in person or certified mail (From memory based on my research)
- Orange Theory Fitness
- Blink Fitness
- Equinox
- 24 hour fitness
(edit: formatting, clarification)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s bizarre that consumers collectively agree to these terms. If I started a business that was this anti-customer, I would assume there would be zero customers willing to take that deal. Moreover, why hasn’t anyone introduced a brand that doesn’t have all these awful features?
I think a significant number of people at least enter into the agreement thinking it's a feature. Roughly: - Going to the gym sucks, and I don't want to go - I should force myself to go to the gym anyway - Gyms are expensive, and hard to cancel - The pain and shame of canceling, combined with ongoing cost, will be a motivator for me to actually go to the gym In short, I think a lot of people erroneously believe that…
I've been a gym rat for almost 20 years now, and I'm probably the worst customer for gyms. I only workout at 24*7 gyms and being an early bird I get there at 430 and I have pretty much the whole gym for myself. I am there 6 days a week and I always shower at the gym. Further, I use the corporate discounts available to join the memberships. With all that, it comes down to approx. $50 a month for membership and I used…
Doing it at 430am is their second favorite customer other than someone that doesn't come at all.