24 hour fitness, whatup?

[chaska]

God, I hate salesmen. I'm looking into joining a gym. They won't quote prices over the phone. Anybody know how much it's gonna set me back for a bare bones membership? I want to get in cheap, get fit fast, and then beat it the hell outta there. :^)

Seriously, I'm not going for no damnfool lifetime membership or any other fleece the suckers deal. One month (+/-) at a time.

[Downtown Hound]

1. If they don't quote prices over the phone

don't bother with them. That's an age old salesman's tactic that they use to figure out what kind of thing you're looking for and then they'll present you with an option that's much more than you need or want. I had really bad experiences with 24 hour fitness, in which they kept withdrawing money from my bank account long after I'd quit. They stopped doing it and refunded my money, but still, that's pretty incompetent.

[Mr. McD]

2. They have different plans

I pay 15 dollars a month for gym access 4 days a week. I joined 3 years ago.

[Jon8503]

3. I belong to a good gym but that might not be the one for you. The YMCA is

one place you can look into and you can use any of them.

There are a lot of new gyms going up over the country that sounds like what you are looking for. No extras, towels, pools, saunas, just get in and out.

You need to know what you want then decide on the type of membership you want.

Be sure & check out the areas for cleanliness.

[Merrick]

4. I go to 24 Hour Fitness

but only because I have a lifetime free membership - a malfunctioning treadmill wouldn't slow down from full speed and I cracked my skull on the StairMaster behind me after I ran out of steam trying to keep up (or something like that). Anyway, I think the basic ones run about $25-30 / mo for the non-Sport club locations (no pool, basketball courts, etc).
As I intimated though, I wouldn't be a member if my membership wasn't free and it was practical to take bike rides around where I work during my lunch hour. The music is awful, most of the people are pretty yuppie-ish, and there just seems to me something inherently wrong with consuming electricity on a machine to disipate your own energy to the wind for no practical purpose. But then I think to much...

[bobweaver]

5. I belong to 24 Hour, and they will try to sell you the most expensive plan

but stick with the cheapest possible. They will periodically try to get you to upgrade it later on, when you arrive. They will also try to sell you expensive one-on-one training, which was something like $60 per hour a couple of years ago. My advice is to just go with the cheapest possible plan, even if it restricts you to certain days of the week. That's all you really need anyway.

[chaska]

6. Wow, you guys were just sitting here waiting for my question, weren't you?

I think these guys would be the best option for me.I go out of town on weekends a lot and they seem to be everywhere I go.

Question though: Do they require some big upfront money? Registration fees or other such BS? And are all the plans laid out in front of you, so there's no haggling, only choosing the right pre-priced plan?

If I could get in for only $20-30 and then a monthly payment of same, I'm down.

[bliss_eternal]

8. I pay about $19 or $20 a month

w/24 hour fitness. I think the plan I got it was $234 down. I go on alternate days of the week--Tues, Thurs, Sat, Sun. Or you can go on Mon/Wed/Sat or Sun.

I think we caught them during one of their specials, so I got a pretty good deal in that sense.

Let us know how it goes, and what plan you decide to go with. I'm going to see if I can find my original paperwork so I can be more specific for you--

Take care,
Bliss:)

[alexisfree]

7. I got it for $25 five months ago....

and is really good gym...the classes are the best ...stay away from the personal trainers …such an assholes...

[LosAngelesDemocrat]

9. I got lucky

I was with Bally's for a while from long, long ago. I remember that they told me that membership would be $360 for 3 years if I paid in full. If I didn't, they would calculate it at like 19% interest and I would be paying like 25 a month. I thought that was dumb so I decided to pay in full. After that, the fourth year renewal was $80 for the whole year, increasing it by a maximum of 10% a year. I now pay $136 for the whole year. It is also have the national plan so with that I can go to any Bally's in the whole nation.

[davidinalameda]

10. run from 24 Hour Fitness

all they're concerned with is making money off of you

they're horrible

[siliconefreak]

11. they're bad news

You can be sure that if 24 Hour Fitness has any political leanings, it's WAY to the right. If you can find a YMCA that you like, that would be my recommendation.

[pelagius]

12. Another nice thing about the "Y"...

...is they run programs for disadvantaged youth and their families. Most have some work/scholarship opportunities for those who can't afford to pay to join.

My family membership (two adults, two kids) costs $83 a month, but that includes full access to all the facilities (gym, racquetball courts, pool, climbing wall, basketball, dance studio) and activities (Pilates, yoga, aerobics, spinning, karate, gymnastics, racquetball challenge ladder). Some classes cost a bit extra, but its usually cheap ($10-20). You can get personal trainers, but I don't know what they cost.

There are other, less expensive plans. It's an especially good deal for families. And the "Y" has a very loose definition of what constitutes a family.

If you're single and want to "meet where the meat meets to meet meat", the Y probably isn't the best place (unless you're in an urban area), but it's much more low-key as a result.

Also: no sales flim-flams. The rates are posted, easy to understand, and the membership person you deal with doesn't make commission.

[chaska]

13. Yeah, I'm going to try the Y first.

Turns out there everywhere I need to be.

[tubbacheez]

14. Recurring charges, bad service, crowded workouts.

I was a customer of theirs for about a year. I bargained my way to a monthly rate competitive with other gyms in my area, so I was satisfied with the price.

But what made me quit was the dismal level of service. It was really crowded during the daytime. The place was at capacity from noon to nine, and overpacked from 4pm to 7pm.

So they got all these tons of people on these auto-recurring credit card charges, with first month and last month prepaid, but they didn't deliver anything close to a reasonable workout environment.

- They played the music *really* loud. I thought I was just getting old, until I noticed almost all of the regulars wore ear plugs. Only newbies and teens went without protection.

- They sprayed ghastly amounts of perfumed deoderant into the air-conditinoing system. Every half hour on the dot.

- At any given time, at least 25% of the equipment had a "Repairs Requested" sign taped on it.

I went during peak times, and off-peak times, and even in the middle of the night to see what it was like. Between midnight and 5am, I could get a decent workout in (e.g. 30 min on a cardio machine, 20 min of weights, 20 min stretching in the aerobics room).

But any other time of day, forget it. Only a light workout possible, and only after waiting in line for every item you want to use.

Apparently, their business model was to drive patrons away from the gym while collecting their fee every month... maybe hoping that busy office workers were too busy to quit in writing.





I found a local one-of-a-kind gym with none of these problems (though they also use recurring billing) and have stayed with it for 3 years.

Support local business whenever possible. :)