Do you agree with Gyms charging people that don't turn up

[Raymond Lin]

I go now and again so opted for the PAYG option, it works out that had I paid a monthly subscription, I need to go twice a week to make my money's worth. I go once a week and that works out just under the sub, and if I can't go or on holiday, I am not losing money.

 

[Jokester]

My town there's one council run (sports centre) and one private (non-chain). Predominantly chains in Aberdeen but presumably 2-3 council ones as well, not massively more though.

Ideal situation for a business getting money from punters who don't use the facilities.

 

[Hades]

3) Taking money out of peoples pockets for a service they are not receiving.

But they are receving the service. They signed up for membership of a gym and that is what the gym is providing them every day.

 

[Rich1988]

And most Gyms are owned by the local council.

Not around here, each large town may have one, usually small and under equipped gyms thats council run to 20 larger privately run gyms.

 

[Yellow_Sun]

My local council gym "Better" a non for profit company charges me £29.99 a month, an online deal and never goes up.
No joining fee, you can leave at any time without a payment penalty, so its win win for the customer.
For that I get unlimited access to the gym from 0630-2230 M-F & 0700-2130 on weekends.

Private gyms are their to make money hence they charge you for everything, even to pee in some cases*
If I wanted to pay top £££ and get charged over the top, plenty to choose from locally!



Note~* OK that's not true!

 

[Diddums]

Not around here, each large town may have one, usually small and under equipped gyms thats council run to 20 larger privately run gyms.

I used to work for a company maintaining the council leisire centre boilers. We went to evey single one in the south of England and I can confirm that there is usually one per council, two at most.

 

[Haggisman]

Surely giving people a free get-out if they don't use the gym is going to make it more likely for people to not use the membership they've paid for? At least if they're stuck in their contract for a year they might figure since they're paying for it they may as well go occasionally

 

[Deleted member 66701]

And most Gyms are owned by the local council.

Erm, no they aren't.

 

[CREATIVE!11]

As a previous gym rat (I now work out at home) most commercial gyms really really irritate me with their predatory tactics and underhaded methods they use.

I used a few different ones when living in the city center, I hated them with a passion (they also clearly oversubscribe their gym too due to it always being crowded) but had nowhere else to go. Now I have a little squat rack and bench at home dumbells etc don't have to deal with their nonsense.

 

[fez]

Its your own look out if you are paying for something you don't use. By your stats as well, either Gyms are making ridiculous profits or they are being kept open by people paying who don't go so they would close if those people didn't pay.

If everyone used their internet to stream hi def content at the same time it wouldn't work, if everyone decided to go shopping at the same time it wouldn't work etc etc.

I am all for people being responsible for themselves. If you don't want to pay for it, cancel it. Why on earth should it be up to the gym to manage peoples money.

 

[Glaucus]

i don't see how you cant agree with them.

however there are two changes i would like to see implemented.
easy way to do a payment break and cancel. So using their website rather than currently having to hand deliver a letter during manned office hours. In fat i think this should be law with all similar sort of contracts, just like amazon services like audible so easy to do a payment break or cancel.
cancelled my eye care monthly payment the other week, the opticians didn't even know how to do it and just told me to cancel the direct debt.

and secondly especially ones that use electronic swipe in, let me see how many people are in and historical use. That way much easier to plan going in at a quite time, nothing worse than going and either having to wait ages while the buff show off muppets make them selfs look like idiots or ditching routine and doing something different. Also be helpful if they got rid of half the cardio which i have ever seen more than like 25% in use and expand the free weights section, which is constantly busy until about 11pm then starts picking up again at 6am.

 

[Roar87]

It's not a gyms job to be a public health service as someone else said, it's a private business where you pay for a service. Honestly why are people this soft that they want everyones hands holding in life.

 

[TS7]

@Glaucus - Pure Gym and The Gym offer a live counter of number of people currently in the gym and list busy and quiet times based on these stats. You can also cancel by cancelling the direct debit. Bannantynes require you to send them an email to cancel.

'Hand delivered letter' is pretty archaic practice

 

[Glaucus]

'Hand delivered letter' is pretty archaic practice :p

but yet is what my gym is, contract says written letter, but has no address or how to send it.
and as you say there are better gyms, but you are kind of tied to what is close by.

 

[Puzzled]

Another point is that all the people not turning up are actually subsiding the cost of membership for the people who use it. There's are a reason why people can join a gym for as little as £14.99 with no contract, it's because of the business model which accounts for a large proportion of people who won't turn up.

I mean you can have a limited numbers gym, there's many in London but you'd be paying £100 a month.

This ^^

It's also why they can become unusable in January peak times as everyone signs up as a new year resolution. Then they stop in February and subsidise everyone else.

I should know, I paid for months without going. Could have cancelled anytime but you keep it going in the belief you will make use of it and so you can keep telling people that you have a gym membership

 

[touch]

It's just like blaming education, doctors or the government for people being fat.

You need to take responsibility for your own health and stop blaming other people.
This is not the gym's responsibility.

 

[Lopéz]

Gyms have changed a lot. I live in two cities, so I have two gym memberships - one with The Gym Group, one with Simply Gym. Neither are difficult to cancel, neither have fixed terms, neither costs more than £20 a month, both have tonnes of equipment (my local Simply has the biggest free weights room in the area)
Neither has any "predatory" tactics or underhand methods. I pay, turn up, use the facilites, and go home. If I don't need them any more I cancel. That's it really.

 

[semi-pro waster]

It's not a gyms job to be a public health service as someone else said, it's a private business where you pay for a service. Honestly why are people this soft that they want everyones hands holding in life.

For the council run gyms you could argue they are part of a public health service. It'll vary according to where you are how prevalent private gyms are compared to council facilities so it's a bit curious seeing people saying that another persons local experience is wrong.

As has been mentioned the January sign-ups typically subsidise the other gym goers throughout the year so they do benefit others by not sticking to their good intentions.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

I go now and again so opted for the PAYG option, it works out that had I paid a monthly subscription, I need to go twice a week to make my money's worth. I go once a week and that works out just under the sub, and if I can't go or on holiday, I am not losing money.

you can put your sub on holiday mode with Virgin Gyms, so you don't need to pay for a month your away. it needs 30 days notice or some crap though.

 

[Raymond Lin]

you can put your sub on holiday mode with Virgin Gyms, so you don't need to pay for a month your away. it needs 30 days notice or some crap though.

No virgin gym here and PAYG gives me the best flexibility.