Stick It To The (Wo)Man!
OK, so in an attempt to get fit, Janine (my cousin's wife who is now my co-worker/boss) decided she wanted to join a gym closer to her new home (she lived in Norwood her whole life and had a gym membership there until she moved to Wrentham and it just became a hassle to drive 20 minutes to the gym. Since I am always at work these days, she asked if I wanted to join. Since I have not been going to Curves, I figured I would look into it with her. There is a really nice Boston Sports Club literally 8 minutes from her house which she had already checked out and was told by the Gym Manager (Laura) that it was going to be $50/month. I know that is a lot, but they have a really nice facility including a pool, so I figured I could spend the $10 more than I am already paying to not go to Curves. So, we went Tuesday night and looked at it but no one from Membership was there (it was 9pm) and we had to make an appointment to meet with Becky the following day.
So, Wednesday we go at 1:30 to meet with Becky and discuss membership. It's all going great, we are ready to sign up and with my membership I am able to go to the Franklin location anytime and then any other Boston Sports Clubs locations (or New York, Washington or Pennsylvania for that matter) during the off peak hours which are 8-11am; 2-4pm and 8pm to close (10pm) and unlimited on Weekends - which is perfect since I can go to the Fenway location over the weekend if I ever get that ambitious). Anyways, we are all already to sign up for the 2006 special (which is $20.06 initiation fee, $39.00 processing fee - down from $149.00 initiation and $39.00 processing fee) but the one year commitment is $59.95 a month, not the $50.00 we had in our minds. So Janine mentions that she had met with Laura a while back and she thought it was $50.00 a month. So Becky goes to get Laura. The meeting took over and hour and Laura basically talked down to us, and was just downright rude. She was like "I would never have said that", blah, blah, blah and so basically she wouldn't honor $50 a month and wanted up to do a 2 year contract since that is the only way it would be $50 a month and she just did a shitty sales pitch (come on, both of us are in Sales!) and she was condescending. We asked if there were people who paid less monthly dues in her facility and she was like "no, everyone pays the same throughout the clubs, blah, blah, blah. So we walked, we didn't join and we told her we were going to look for a different deal. And she let us leave! She did ask if she could call us the next day to follow up. So we said sure.
So we called the Weymouth BSC and asked about their membership dues. Janine told them that she was leaving for Maine in the AM and wanted to make sure she got the $20.06 deal that was only running until 12/31 so they quoted her over the phone (which they "aren't supposed to do") and it was the same deal, except that the monthly dues are $39.95 - that is a TWENTY DOLLAR A MONTH DIFFERENCE. So, we drove to Weymouth and signed up there. The only catch is that we can only use the Franklin facility during off peak hours, but those hours are good for us since we aren't 6am gym people and we work until 8:30 nightly.
Laura called us yesterday and we just told her we were researching other gyms and looking for better deals. Then last night we went to the gym after work at 8:30 and worked out in HER facility. All for $39.95 a month. And it felt good, too.
Moral of the story: Never accept a shitty sales pitch, especially when their big push is that they were raised by good parents. What does that have to do with me being at the gym, huh???
So, Wednesday we go at 1:30 to meet with Becky and discuss membership. It's all going great, we are ready to sign up and with my membership I am able to go to the Franklin location anytime and then any other Boston Sports Clubs locations (or New York, Washington or Pennsylvania for that matter) during the off peak hours which are 8-11am; 2-4pm and 8pm to close (10pm) and unlimited on Weekends - which is perfect since I can go to the Fenway location over the weekend if I ever get that ambitious). Anyways, we are all already to sign up for the 2006 special (which is $20.06 initiation fee, $39.00 processing fee - down from $149.00 initiation and $39.00 processing fee) but the one year commitment is $59.95 a month, not the $50.00 we had in our minds. So Janine mentions that she had met with Laura a while back and she thought it was $50.00 a month. So Becky goes to get Laura. The meeting took over and hour and Laura basically talked down to us, and was just downright rude. She was like "I would never have said that", blah, blah, blah and so basically she wouldn't honor $50 a month and wanted up to do a 2 year contract since that is the only way it would be $50 a month and she just did a shitty sales pitch (come on, both of us are in Sales!) and she was condescending. We asked if there were people who paid less monthly dues in her facility and she was like "no, everyone pays the same throughout the clubs, blah, blah, blah. So we walked, we didn't join and we told her we were going to look for a different deal. And she let us leave! She did ask if she could call us the next day to follow up. So we said sure.
So we called the Weymouth BSC and asked about their membership dues. Janine told them that she was leaving for Maine in the AM and wanted to make sure she got the $20.06 deal that was only running until 12/31 so they quoted her over the phone (which they "aren't supposed to do") and it was the same deal, except that the monthly dues are $39.95 - that is a TWENTY DOLLAR A MONTH DIFFERENCE. So, we drove to Weymouth and signed up there. The only catch is that we can only use the Franklin facility during off peak hours, but those hours are good for us since we aren't 6am gym people and we work until 8:30 nightly.
Laura called us yesterday and we just told her we were researching other gyms and looking for better deals. Then last night we went to the gym after work at 8:30 and worked out in HER facility. All for $39.95 a month. And it felt good, too.
Moral of the story: Never accept a shitty sales pitch, especially when their big push is that they were raised by good parents. What does that have to do with me being at the gym, huh???
posted by Maggie @ 8:03 AM
4 Comments:
At 3:35 PM,
JoviFan said…
Don't even get me started on gym stuff! I have been a member of my fair share of fitness facilities, and have found most of them to be unnecessarily overpriced.
First I started off at Bally's. Similar to your story, Maggie, I had to go to the ends of the earth to make them commit to a price. When I walked into the facility for the very first time, I simply asked if they had any printed material available, showing their various rate/membership practices. They offered me everything from a tour to the club, to a free ten-minute consultation with a personal trainer, to a Bally's water bottle. Everything, that is, but the simple piece of paper I requested. I quickly figured out that they had no such material, leaving me to assume that everybody was in there paying different fees. Those people who were stupid enough to pay 1,000 dollars down for three years and then 50 dollars a month thereafter did just that. People, on the other hand, like me, who believe in advocating for themselves as consumers, will go to the mat with the membership guy to negotiate a better price.
It took a total of three visits to get the membership rate I wanted. I had absolutely no intention of joining for three years. That was out of the question. Bally's representatives assured me that I'd be so satisfied with the gym that even after three years I'd never want to leave. I asked, "If you're so confident about that, why not just let me join on a month-to-month basis?" They stammered something about contracts and paperwork, etc.
It took me halfway through the second visit to whittle the duration of the contract down to one year. That accomplished, I told the guy I had no intention of paying 50 dollars a month. Within the blink of an eye he said, "Ok, you can pay 40." My reply? "If you're that quick to drop it to 40, let's make it 30." He agreed. There were some other things he was trying to make me sign up for, so I walked out again. On my third visit, I outlined MY terms of contract and pointed out that I had, not only my checkbook, but also my workout clothes. I was going to work out somewhere that day, be it at Bally's or elsewhere.
I ended up hating Bally's, and never went. They got plenty of money out of me in the long run. In spite of my superior negotiation skills, I still lost out.
I then joined Curves. I didn't find the workouts very challenging, and I was often confused by the fact that the women working there were walking around in stiletto heels and faux fur while consuming entire boxes of Dunkin Donutes munchkins. They didn't really appear to be completely ready to jump on a machine and demonstrate the exercises.
I am now at Healthhworks Fitness in Cambridge. The membership fee is through the roof, and they try to charge extra for EVERYTHING, but I never do any of the "extras" so I don't pay a cent more than I should. I do pay extra to have a towel and locker becuase where I don't have a car, I can't be bothered to walk there with all my stuff every single time.
I was once using a computer to do my email in the gym on a computer located nearby the soda machine. I had used it before and thought it was there for members. This bitchy gym employee came over and yelped a cry of disbelief that I was on the computer. She said, very bitchily, "That computer is NOT for public use!" I replied, "Good, I'm glad, because as a 93 dollar per month paying member of this club, I'd hate to think that a member of the general public could just walk in here and use the stuff I pay so dearly for." She turned on her heel and walked off to the fitness desk where she proceeded to berate me to some fool named Brittney.
Whatever!
At 10:32 AM,
Mo said…
Why Maggie? Why are you choosing to ignore me? This is my public plea for you to get in touch with me...I've had enough of this nonsense!!!
At 11:07 AM,
Anonymous said…
Yay for getting good deals and sticking it to the man! (woman!) You should tell the stupid woman how much you are paying to use her gym. And kudos on getting to the gym. I've been skiing once and to the gym twice since NYE and I doubt I have yet burned off the chinese food, dip, nachos, and about 9 beers. oh well. :)
At 10:36 PM,
Anonymous said…
come on mags, get with the program, blog!
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