Not sure if Crunch offered this but paying month to month without auto pay is the way to go. Paying first and last month's dues upfront helped me out when I needed to leave 24 hour Fitness. No penalties or fees.

I've never experienced a health club / gym that wasn't corrupt.

Years ago, I found the perfect gym. They offered equipment that I wanted to use, no frills, and trainers who understood that their goal was not simply to cripple you on the first visit.

They pushed me hard to renew my membership after the first year, while at the same time they were talking with lawyers about the timing of their bankruptcy filing. The month after my membership expired, they closed.

Later I tried another club and despite promising a month-to-month contract, they tried to get me to sign a two year contract with all sorts of nice features for them.

Do gyms honestly believe that this behavior helps their cause?

Credit crunch crunches Crunch?

I have been a Bally's member for 8 years now and have never had a problem. I had originally bought the plan for my family, and as the years gone by, I have taken out some people with no problem either. At this point I am the only one left in my plan and I am month to month. I wouldn't sign another contract, but I have been happy with their service.

so i read a couple of those stories and someone tell me what the point is of having to give 30 days notice to cancel a gym membership. it's not like you are moving out of an apartment. it's just a ploy to get an extra month payment out of everyone. how hard could it be to invalidate your gym ID and set a field in your profile to Cancelled or invalid so that it cannot be used from that point onwards. i really would like to know what if anything they do that they need 30 days to process the cancellation and if they cannot produce that then it should be illegal.

If you work for a big company, see if your employer offers any sort of plan, or is willing to negotiate some sort of plan. Even if the rates don't end up being any better, a group deal like that usually gives you more protection against this type of thing.

I recommend SNAP fitness if it is in your area. I was paying $35 per month. No sign up fee or contract. Open 24 hours. I quit it though because my wife couldn't use it (no childcare) and bought a good treadmill and weight set instead.

I'm currently in a Crunch-esque nightmare with Bally's. I had been with Bally's for about three years, (the club I originally joined was Pinnacle Fitness, before they were bought by Bally's) and had been working out with a trainer for ~2.5 years. So we're talking literally thousands of dollars in training fees, not to mention the normal membership fees. But I had a great trainer and great results so I was happy... at the time.

Then came August of last year. I bought a new training package of something like 20 sessions for about 1500 bucks, with the trainer I'd been using for those 2.5 years. At the same time the manager saw that I was on a month-to-month deal and said she could save me 10 bucks a month on my monthly fees. I told her I didn't want a contract or anything and she said I wouldn't need one since I'd been a member for so long.

Well, the next week my trainer calls me and tells me that he just got offered a new job and he's quitting, but he can get the training package refunded no problem because we hadn't used any of them. After 2.5 years I knew the guy so I know he wasn't trying to screw me. But the club manager starts on about how the packages are with the gym, not the trainer. Naively I figured that having spent -thousands- would garner some good will, and yeah... no. Then I also find out the club manager signed me up for a 2 year contract when I explicitly told her that I didn't want a contract. I didn't know because it was either appended to my training package (after the fact) or just 'renewed' with no signature needed. Either way I didn't sign a contract so I was doubly pissed.

In any case, I land a job in Hong Kong because that's where my fiance is from. I know I'm moving there in Thanksgiving so in October I go to Bally's and show them my new rental agreement and a print out of my flight confirmation showing a one way ticket to HK.

Armed with said documentation I talk to both the head of personal training, some guy named John, and the club manager Sian (pronounced 'Shawn'). With the documentation they said I easily established the moving more than 20 miles from their club clause so I'd be getting a full refund. Also Sian told me my membership would be cancelled.

Well, to summarize this very long story.. I'm -still- fighting with them to even stop their billing, much less get the training package refunded. Apparently they think that since I'm in HK I can't fight back, which is somewhat correct just because of the hour offset. I've called their corporate about 5 times now and they keep freaking saying it needs to be handled at the club level.

I have spoken with John and Sian literally like 10 times, in degrees from coaxing/begging, to threatening to file a small claims lawsuit against them and every time they promise to stop the billing and refund the money.

When I call their corporate office they say there's no record of them having tried to make any changes to my account since the manager signed me up for that two year contract 'to help me out'.

I've been talking to my dad about giving him power of attorney over the matter and taking them to small claims court but he's a busy guy and I feel like crap asking him to go through all of that just because these Bally's people are literally lying, cheating thieves.

To date they owe me ~2000USD now.

This is the Danville, CA Bally's, formerly Pinnacle Fitness. Don't use Bally's, ever. I think getting a divorce is easier than quitting their gym.

@MooseOfReason: Crunch's crunches crunched by $ crunch.

why dont you just buy a pull up bar, do push ups and situps at home, then go running for free?

@humphrmi: Do gyms honestly believe that this behavior helps their cause?

Gyms are a lot like diets. Many people have an initial 'rush' to get fit and are willing to do a lot. Then their enthusism wanes and they stop going.

What's the best customer? One that pays you for a service and then never asks for the service.

They use the fees for the people who never come to ensure they have a nice facility for those that DO work out and to impress people coming in so they sign up for long contracts when the gyms know 3/4 will drop out after a few months.