Bannatyne's Gym

Sonea Fifer

Sonea Fifer

Sonea Fifer

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Joined
13 Dec 2006
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On the forest moon Endor
Just wondering if any of you guys are members?

My wife and I enquired about joining our local one earlier today - we were advised of the £60.00 joining fee and the monthly £70.00 charge for a joint membership which would be off peak, this suits us due to work and uni commitments.

We were also advised that its a 12 month minimum term contract - is this the norm?

Just wondering if there's any members in here that can give us some feedback on them before we hand over the cash and potentialy get tied down with them for 12 months.

Thanks in advance
 
It is the norm for Bannatyne's Gymns.

I was a member of the Wakefield one, but refused to give them any more of my cash. Very poor customer service, hard sell (which put me off from the outset but the gymn was well placed for me) and the obligatory 12 month contract.

I wouldn't put any more money in that greasy sweaty's pocket (no offence) if i could possibly avoid it.
 
Thanks for the swift reply there Gilly - I must admit we didn't feel pushed or pressured into a sale and we've not commited to anything yet.

The package they offered actually didn't seem too bad - it includes swimming, steam room, sauna and various different classes ranging from pilates to body combat all of which are included in the monthly price.
 
Been going to one since mid 2005. Its a decent gym but I've had enough it. I'm ending my membership then joining a smaller/cheaper gym.
 
slambo69 said:
Uni commitments you say...?

Is it possible to joing a gym at your university? would be a lot cheaper surely.
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I see your logic and agree - however my personal circumstance are that am working full time Fri-Mon and my wife's the one at Uni full time.

Her Uni is in Stirling which is a good 40/50 min drive away from our house. The Bannatyne's gym we're looking at is only two mins up the road from me - so yes it probably would be cheaper (possibly better) to join the Uni gym. Unfortunately it wouldn't be very practical for us :(
 
I was a member once, and they enforced the 12months policy to the law! I had pneumonia and glandular fever so obviously I couldn't go the gym for a while and even tho I had doctors notes and what ever they refused to freeze my account and made me keep paying the monthly fee.

Needless to say Bannatynes will NEVER get another penny from me.
 
Jumping said:
I was a member once, and they enforced the 12months policy to the law! I had pneumonia and glandular fever so obviously I couldn't go the gym for a while and even tho I had doctors notes and what ever they refused to freeze my account and made me keep paying the monthly fee.

Needless to say Bannatynes will NEVER get another penny from me.
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Before i start, i've been stung by Bannatynes too, but not as above. I would say though that yes, it probably wasn't good publicity for Bannatynes to do the above but it is what you agreed. You agreed to pay Bannatynes a sum of money, they then spread that over 12 payments (this is your membership/credit agreement). If you had bought a car, taken out a bank loan etc and hadn't taken out any 'sickness' protection (not something i personally would do for less than £5k, and most certainly not for something like the £500 per year the Bannatynes membeship would be) you would still have to pay that so what is wrong with Bannatynes doing the same?

My situation was that i had been a member for over 2 years and went to cancel and they told me it would have to 3 months written notice i would have to give, they even pointed out the clause in the contract that stated as such. I mooched around the internet and found a court judgement had been filed and won by a customer that found this to be illegal as Bannatynes also had in the contract that they could sever your membership with 1 months notice. In the end i just wrote in, quoted the court case/judgement and included a printed copy of it and stated that they would have 1 months notice from the date i 'special delivery'(ed) the letter to them. Never had anything back from them after that and the payments ceased to be taken.
 
holy crap! I've not been to a gym for a good couple of years but it still surprises me when I see people parting with that much cash per month for so little! The one I went to was £30 per month and I got sauna, jacuzzi, courts and a third off everything else. Now people are paying £35+ for way less than that!
 
I've never been to that branch of gym but £70 for the both of you isn't that bad value wise but I'd make them chop the £60 joining fee off right away. Use it as a bargaining tool.
 
kefkef said:
Before i start, i've been stung by Bannatynes too, but not as above. I would say though that yes, it probably wasn't good publicity for Bannatynes to do the above but it is what you agreed. You agreed to pay Bannatynes a sum of money, they then spread that over 12 payments (this is your membership/credit agreement). If you had bought a car, taken out a bank loan etc and hadn't taken out any 'sickness' protection (not something i personally would do for less than £5k, and most certainly not for something like the £500 per year the Bannatynes membeship would be) you would still have to pay that so what is wrong with Bannatynes doing the same?
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Yes but at the end of the day if they had let me freeze the account so that I could come back when I was healthy enough to do it, that would have been fine and I would probably have kept goign there. I don't have a problem paying for a service that I use but quite clearly I couldn't do it, and I had doctor's slip to prove it.

I jsut recenetly joined a new gym that is ran through the local council, and they will let you freeze your account on medical grounds.
 
Where abouts in Scotland do you live?

JJB Fitness Clubs have to be one of the best value gyms around. £32-£36 a month (That's Peak Use) (Students £30). No contract or joining fee. You can use any JJB gym in the UK. Swimming pool, sauna, jaccuzi. Good free weights. Free use of squash courts. Free classes etc etc.

Got them in Aberdeen, Coatbridge, Dundee, Glasgow and Inverness.

/pimp ;)

http://www.jjbfitness.co.uk
 
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Bannatynes Livingston is where i go, £10 quid joining free, £46 unlimited access, which suits me as im off during the week a lot, and I play football there three times a week, now with discount. Overall it worked out cheaper than joining another gym in my area and playing football there for full price.
 
TripleT said:
Where abouts in Scotland do you live?

JJB Fitness Clubs have to be one of the best value gyms around. £32-£36 a month (That's Peak Use) (Students £30). No contract or joining fee. You can use any JJB gym in the UK. Swimming pool, sauna, jaccuzi. Good free weights. Free use of squash courts. Free classes etc etc.

Got them in Aberdeen, Coatbridge, Dundee, Glasgow and Inverness.

/pimp ;)

http://www.jjbfitness.co.uk
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agreed, I go to a JJB gym and its spot on !
 
No JJB here, I live in Dumfries.

I'm waiting for the council's new flagship sport and leisure centre to open up, so im currently using a smaller council gym. At least it makes me go to the gym again :)
 
JJB are ok, I've been a member for nearly 5 months now... I won't be renewing my membership when the 6 month contract is up next month though.

Fine for most gym goers I suppose but too many niggly faults imho. Benches are awful, bars are poor and they use those awful octagon shaped weights!!

Good machines though.
 
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