Do salesmen realize the times they are overagressive and actually push away a customer who would nomrally have just bought/signed up?

I think this is pretty common practice at most gyms. I had a similar experience at Bally's and that's how I ended up signing up for L.A. Fitness instead.

Did any gyms make it to the Worst Company in America? I've been a member of at least three different ones (Bally, LA, and Gold's) thinking each time that the experience was a fluke.

I know, read the fine print before signing, but their sales tactics and customer retention tactics have turned me off of gyms for life. If the process were easier, then maybe I would have come back at some point in the future.

HEH - when I get some free time I'm going to go check this place out just to yank them.

This has been my experience with most "health clubs". I'm glad I signed up at Fitness 19. They may be somewhat minimalistic, but they don't use hard sell and intimidation tactics on you either.

@knightracer: you saved yourself a huge headache but not signing up with Bally's!!!

She lives just outside NYC proper yet this is the only pool she can find? Nazli, perhaps this might be helpful? [www.ymca.net]

The same thing happened to me and my friend! Well, almost. She had a weeklong pass for two people and they gave a whole sales pitch and then asked what credit card she'd like to put the membership on. We were VERY clear about wanting to try the pass first, but they persisted to the point of annoyance. We ended up working out that day and never coming back.

@pupu: Be careful, they have no qualms about bringing out the hot staff person to distract you while you sign stuff.

@katstermonster: Also...he's lowering the monthly fee by 10 bucks a month and can't figure out how much that will save you in a year? Um...am I missing something here? 10 x 12 = 120.

@AlteredBeast: No, they don't realize this, because if they weren't morons they'd be better salesmen. This sort of salesman is trained to clip a certain type of mark and they either get good at that or go sell something else. You pretty much go into this sort of sales experience with the same mindset you need to buy a car... be prepared for the salescritter to be a thieving schmuck, know what you want and what you're willing to pay, and be pleasantly surprised if/when you do actually come across a decent person in one of these sales roles.

When I have encountered good sales types, I make a point to take their cards and distribute them to friends/colleagues/family, by the way, so your sales people reading Consumerist can skip the "we're not all like that" response. ;)

This is why I like YMCAs. I don't know if there are any where you live, but the fees are month to month, are usually very reasonable, and almost all of them have pools.

@katstermonster: The $10 a month savings includes a $4.50 "savings fee" bi-weekly, so that's where it gets complicated.

They wouldn't do if it didn't work. And sadly it works. Most businesses would rather have the 10 chumps vs 1 or 2 educated consumers.

@GearheadGeek: I like that card idea! Take it in the begining of the conversation, then at the end mention that the agressive tactics drove you away...and when you discuss your experience online a scan of the card will appear with it.

My mother was at a car dealer for service. They tried to take her car as a trade in and put her in something both more expensive and in worse shape. Even the mechanic pulled her aside and said she should keep her car. After the salesmen kept discracting her with better and better "deals" I finally said...

"You can come out here with a Corvette for $200, an amazing deal, but we won't take it because WE DON'T HAVE THE MONEY." At that point he gave up.

My girlfriend used to work for The Mobile Solution, the bane of all pushy commission stores. She absolutely hated it. They would actually refuse her a lunch break if she hadn't sold anything by that time.

Anyway, she found that no matter how aggressive she was, there are few people out there that would be pressured into impulse-buying into a 2-year contract. Being over-aggressive would usually just make customers that knew what they wanted cranky and even sometimes take their business to a corporate T-mobile store.

The manager of that TMS sold a unaccompanied mentally-handicapped young adult a contract and 2 phones for some unreal amount of money. The next day, the person's mentor/advisor came in and had to demand that they refund him his money. The manager never thought what he did was wrong.

@mianne: The problem I find with YMCA's (at least in NYC) is that they are REALLY expensive. I am much happy to pay $59 a month for NYSC (I joined in Philly so my rate is cheaper) and be able to use all their clubs than pay hundreds of dollars for a few months and only have access to one location.

@winshape: Many moons ago, I worked as a market research pollster (Basically a telemarketer who doesn't sell anything, but does surveys over the phone) One client was a major gym. And the intro script we read stated in effect that we wanted their honest opinion about the club and its service.

That was a lie, all we were really inquiring about was how effective a sales pitch they received at their place of employment was. But believe me, we received LOTS of unsolicited opinions about the club, and none of it was flattering. Mostly the deplorable sanitation within the locker rooms (mold, etc.) From the stories, I decided Id never sign up for a gym membership. I could always workout at home, or jog around the neighborhood. or such.

I smell a business opportunity: A gym that doesn't treat you like a mark!

Find a local gym, not a chain gym. The chains profit from people not exercising. I.e., by signing up as many people through high pressure sales techniques in hopes they'll pay and never show up. Ask yourself this: Would you choose to go to a restaurant that profits from people not eating there?

Talk to people locally who are serious about working out and find out where they go.

As for a pool, most municipalities have rec centers with pools that can be used cheaply.

@Moosehawk: "The manager never thought what he did was wrong."

Apparently, greed can be very liberating.

Gym memberships are so outrageously overpriced. I'd pay no more than $10. It's not like equipment and salaries are so high they have to make you pay $50/mo plus other fees.

A good pair of running shoes or a community pool are all I need.

Maybe totally unrelated, but is the OP a minority of any type? Because that sure is the vibe I am getting. "Well, the members might not want you in the pool."

Anyone else flashing back to when Stewie tries to join the gym in Family guy? "Lucky for you, we are running a special for the next 17 minutes." "Forget the down, are you watching? Forget the $45, let's do $30 a month" "Trace, can you bring me some of those free gym bags?"

Reminds me of when I signed up for the gym and asked them to send me a copy of the signed contract to me. They said "you have a copy." I said, "but this is the blank copy of the contract; I want the one with YOUR signature on it." They looked at me like I had two heads or was asking something crazy. But, to their credit, they did it.

@AlteredBeast: A "savings fee?" Are you kidding me? So basically...you're paying 9 bucks to save 10 bucks. So you're saving 12 dollars a year. Holy mother these fees never cease to amaze me.

@citking:

Although they don't have much overhead, they do have to pay pretty high insurance (esp for a pool), and the equipment needs pretty regular maintenance...but yeah, I think people would be interested in a more basic gym that didn't have 15 million in cutting edge equipment for maybe $15 a month.

Sorry in advance for the length of this rant but its a shoot off of the origanl post. I recently (May) signed up to join LA fitness and had a somewhat parralel experience to this. And coincidentally enough, it was the Lake Success gym (15 minutes from the one mentioned in the post). I went in, expecting a free trial. Even with my coupon, I had to take a tour and sit down with a sales rep before I could do anything. The charts mentioned by Nazli must be ingrained into these guys by corprate, because I got the same exact BS approach and the same exact "TODAY ONLY!" pathetic attempts. Despite being totally pissed off, I ended up joining, but only because I was promised that I had a 3 day, no strings attached, ability to cancel my membership without losing any of my money (plus I charged it, with the foresight of a possible charge back scenario). Day one, I get hassled non stop to try personal training sessions. I say no thank you. Day two, i get phone calls at home asking me to try a training session. I tell the guy on the phone I already said no thank you the previous day. Day three, I'm at the gym and am practically ignored by every staff member there. Get home, and find a voicemail about free personal training. Call up the gym, cancel my membership, and never looked back.

@katstermonster: Yes, I know bi-weekly does not always = semi-monthly. Estimating here.

@GMFish: Ignorance is bliss!

I think gyms need to rethink their strategy. They should really begin to operate like modern casinos. In the old days casinos just wanted you to bring your money, spend it all as fast as possible, then would throw you out. Modern casinos are all about giving you PERCEIVED value and winnings all the while sucking every penny out of you. The key difference is that you do this willingly, and thus you feel that your experience is positive, when the net effect is that you have no money at the end of the day. They need your repeat business. Sure they could rig all the machines to pay out 0.01% and suck you out of all your money in 1 hour. But then you'd never go back. It's more profitable to give you a 5% chance of winning, have you spend 8 hours there to lose your money, but you perceive that you had a 'good' day and thus will return. They need to turn away from selling memberships, to selling service.

I thought Nazli was a guy at first. What language is that name in?

@citking: This is why I <3 Cardio Express here in CT. The branches near me are usually VERY crowded during peak hours (but what gym isn't?) but the upkeep is good, I've never been pressured, and I pay 10 bucks a month to have access to a single location, including unlimited classes. 20 bucks for unlimited locations and a few more perks.

@donovanr: And we shall call it Average Joe's.

@GMFish: That indeed is a problem with greedy folks. They have no moral compass that tells them this is wrong. In their minds, they are completely justified and absolutely convinced that what they are doing is perfectly okay.

The kinds I love the most are those who are constantly judging others, but then do the same things themselves, and do not see anything with them doing it, but heavens forbid if someone else does it.

Our LA Fitness is nice & new - I joined, but just didn't go enough. Yes, canceling required mailing info in which was annoying, but they did stop charging my dues - only yesterday did I realize that I paid my last month's dues when I signed up and so now I'm trying to get a refund.... just a head's up to anyone else who cancels to check and see if they paid first&last dues upon initiation.

@Adrienne Willis: YMCA's are very expensive here in Montreal (can't speak for anywhere else though) too. It's because, at least here, they are one of the few places (gyms) with (good) pools. But year $110/month for a couples membership was crazy.

Nothing regular long-distance cycling and push-ups can't fix!

@dialing_wand: Ok... too tired. What I should have said there was: but the $110/month couples membership was crazy and we certainly didn't get $330 of value out of it.

I should add, that the amount of value is proportional to the effort put in; so if we swam every day it would have been worth it but it's often that much harder when the pool is shared between various events throughout the day.

Not to mention how much I dislike sharing lanes. I'm cool if I only have a limited amount of time, but I don't want to worry about bumping into Mrs. Young-and-super-fast-and-fit, or Mr.Crawling-along-mindlessly. No offence to you both by the way.

How can Planet Fitness do it for less than $15 a month and no sleazy contracts or hard sell? Every other place is $40-$60 with the requisite hard sell sleaze and contracts. (I know PF doesn't have pools or fitness classes)

Goes to show you what the other chains gyms are after.

I got sucked into the promises by LA Fitness several years ago and joined up when they also gave me the run around on their 3 day free pass. I buckled under the high pressure sales pitch. After joining, I was hassled non-stop to sign up for their extremely overpriced and uneducated personal training program. I finally left in disgust and joined a local Gold's Gym run by the same family for two generations. It's not as pretty as LA Fitness and it doesn't have a pool, but I really like the management. They know my face and say hi to me all the time. I have an awesome personal trainer at less than half the cost of the LA Fitness wannabees. I'll never set foot in an LA Fitness again and I warn everyone I know to not even try them.

@MostlyHarmless: Sounds Middle Eastern, possibly Egyptian.

There's a gym in Burbank called Burbank Athletic Club; they were advertising 1/2 off. I was ready to sign up for the Y, but I went in to take a look. Salesman greets me, and I say I'd like a tour.

He says no problem, but you'll have to sign this waiver. He gives me an index card with some smeared ink on it. I ask for a readable copy, to which he replies "it's not like you're signing away your soul." I tell him that I'm not signing something I can't read, at which point he gets physically aggressive and practically chases me out.

@katstermonster: AT&T just added a "savings fee" to their employee discount program: [consumerist.com]

@katstermonster:
Yes. He is kidding you.

@katstermonster: Actually, I am kidding you. I'm making fun of their pricing structure that has no consistancy and is just looking to screw you in the end.

The LA Fitness referenced in this article is in New Hyde Park, not Floral Park. In fact Nazli never says the gym is in Floral Park, just that she lives there.

Please do some research Consumerist. All you needed to do was visit the LA Fitness website.

The posts have been more plentiful but the quality hasn't been the same.

@MostlyHarmless: I think most people do that with driving. e.g. friends telling friends not to text and drive, yet I'll catch them doing it "Well it's really short!" or "It's important!"

@katstermonster: Exactly. The extra payments for bi-weekly adds another $9. So you only get to save $3 per year. Just lovely.

This is why I am not a member of a gym. I have been at in the past, to 3 different ones, but they are ALL scummy ripoffs. It seems to be industry standard. You can't just walk into a gym, grab a chart with membership and prices, sign up, and start working out. It's a complex web of lies, upsells, and deals.

The whole industry is corrupt, so I will never use it again.

I don't know why they can't have an honest, straight forward system. Maybe its because all the sport jerks in high school are now working at gyms?

LA Fitness is absolutely abominable, just the worst. I worked out there for two years. The personal trainers are "independent contractors", meaning they aren't actually working for the club, they just have permission to court new business inside. This means that they will pounce on you virtually every time you go in, trying to give you a "free" session, which is really just a sales pitch. To be fair, the session was actually very good and gave me a good workout, but I come to the gym to get rid of stress, not worry about how I'm going to dodge a guy trying to sell me.

Also, LA Fitness has a "policy" where they don't let you cancel for 60 days. You want to quit? Pay 2 months more on your policy and they will be glad to. The rep who called me for payment didn't understand my logic: "I don't go there anymore. Why would I pay you?"