Gym Enrollment Fees?

Off Topic
1

How many people here have had to pay enrollment fees at their gym? I just got back from an hour long heated exchange with the sales manager at Aspen gym here in Des Moines.

To start things off let me say that I sold exercise equipment for about a year. Not just any shitty stuff, but high end equipment like life fitness, hammer strength, hoist, true, etc. I’ve been around sales and I know that you can get a good deal if you try hard enough.

So I get into the gym and start talking to a salesmen, he was a pretty nice guy, but did the obvious sales tactic of being your best friend. He showed me around the gym and everything, then we started talking prices. Ht plan was pretty much $150 startup fee with $50 a month. I told him I’d do it today if he waived the startup fee, so after much hagling he goes and gets his manager.

This fat guy comes over and sits down, and I’ll spare everyone the full details, except for a few things he said after it becamse obvious I wasn’t budging at all.

him: “well if we gave you a deal other people who payed the fee would be mad, and that would cause problems in the gym”

me: “well thats how sales works, some people pay full price, some people get a deal”

him: “do yuo really think thats ethical?”

me: “i sure do, it helped me boost my numbers”

him: “laughs, well i dont think thats ethical at all”

and here is the best one he said:

“how much is your body worth to you”

me: “a lot i guess”

him: “would you give me your arm for a milliona dollars?”

me: “no”

Him “so you are trying to tell me that you have parts of your body that are worth more than a million dollars, but you won’t pay $99 to help out your body?”

he said a lot of other funny shit too, especially when i told him a personal trainer would be of no value to me. If anyone wants more of this guys quotes let me know, there are some doozies. has anyone else had experiences like this? I’ve never payed a startup fee in my life. what does everyone think?

2

Say, “Alright, for 150, will you suck my …?”

If he says no, walk out and say, well good luck getting a-head in this world.

3

50 bucks a month for your self is a rip off to

4

he tried to explain that the upfront fee goes to the other gyms accorss the country too, so that i can workout at those. Like I planned on taking a tour of all Aspen gyms in the Us or something. then he started bad mouthing the other gyms in town that only have one location, saying they aren’t expanding, going places. ha what a joke. maybe he could explain that to the owner of westside

5

I had no enrollment fees, No contracts 25$'s a month, and powerlifting + Olympic lifting is very welcomed at my gym…Maybe I just lucked out

6

[quote]Playboy wrote:
How many people here have had to pay enrollment fees at their gym? I just got back from an hour long heated exchange with the sales manager at Aspen gym here in Des Moines.
[/quote]

I think this is pretty standard. Most of the gyms I have worked at have had enrolement fees. I think it is lame and it is something that they should be able to wave if they feel that would close the deal.

There was one gym I used to work at and membership was full. So you paid $150 to go on the waiting list. Then, when the spot opened you paid a $200 joining fee. Everyone paid because if they didn’t, there were 400 other fuckers in line waiting who would pay it.

In that case, a joining fee is good. But when you are trying to bump numbers up in your gym, I reckon it is lame.

He sounds like a cocksucker anyway.

My gym days are gone. If you’ve got room, build your own home gym. $2k worth of shit pays for itself in a couple of years. And you’ve got it for life. The other thing is you don’t have some faggot curling in the power rack and you don’t get bugged by PT’s trying to tell you that they have the answer.

7

I pay about $35 a month with no enrollment. I would say F’ the enrollment fee. please more quotes.

8

I pay 240$ CDN / year total.

I’ve often wondered if I was willing to pay 500$+ per year to lift weights. I’d probably setup my home gym at that point.

9

I had my enrollment fee of $150 waived. I said when I walked in. “I want to join this gym, I will sign up right now, I don’t need the tour, I don’t need a trainer and I am not going to pay an enrollment fee.” The sales guy laughed and sat me down, and said “ok”.

Few minutes later I was done.

If you want to go there, try that, if not go to a dif gym.

10

I had to pay my enrollment fee’s, and it was some crazy amount like $300.00 and the monthly is $70.00. I have searched for a differrent gym but they all suck and I live in an apartment so the home gym is a no go.

11

[quote]JohnnyNinja wrote:
I had my enrollment fee of $150 waived. I said when I walked in. “I want to join this gym, I will sign up right now, I don’t need the tour, I don’t need a trainer and I am not going to pay an enrollment fee.” The sales guy laughed and sat me down, and said “ok”.

Few minutes later I was done.

If you want to go there, try that, if not go to a dif gym.[/quote]

I went into my gym and said that I wanted to sign up and started the paperwork. When they asked me how I wanted to pay the joining fee I said I wasnt paying it. When I was told that I had to pay the fee I put the pen down and started to walk out before signing the paperwork. They very quickly agreed to waive the joining fee.

12

Quit being such a cheap bastard and pay the fee.

I’ve always had access to school and military gyms for free by the way.

13

[quote]travis7 wrote:
Quit being such a cheap bastard and pay the fee.

I’ve always had access to school and military gyms for free by the way.[/quote]

He’s not being a cheap bastard.

I didn’t realize that servicemen were paid so well that $150 is chump change; to me, it’s a lot of money.

What, exactly, do they do for a ‘start-up fee’? Take a digital picture, enter a half-page worth of information into the computer, and…and…well, that’s it.

Hold your ground, OP. At my current gym, I did the exact same thing, although the saleswoman basically said, “Sure,” the second I aked her to waive the fee.

If you can go to another gym, do it. If not, don’t give them a dime more than you have to.

14

Money in, money out.

If you don’t pay, don’t bitch later when stuff is broke and not fixed or there’s not enough weight stacks. Besides, the gym is not a non-profit organization. Do you work for free? Hell no you don’t.

I reiterate, quit being a cheap bastard. It’s unbecoming.

15

It’s kind of a drive from West DM, but The Des Moines Strength Institute on the south side is only about $220/year (no start-up fee). It’s not fancy, but if you’re interested in powerlifting or olympic lifting, you should definitely check it out. If you have any questions, shoot me a PM.

16

[quote]travis7 wrote:
Money in, money out.

If you don’t pay, don’t bitch later when stuff is broke and not fixed or there’s not enough weight stacks. Besides, the gym is not a non-profit organization. Do you work for free? Hell no you don’t.

I reiterate, quit being a cheap bastard. It’s unbecoming.[/quote]

You are a dumbass. There are hundreds of people that work out at this gym. let me rephrease that actually. There are hundreds of people that pay dues at this gym, im sure only half of them actually work out. I am not going to pay some gym to become their customer. At $50 a month, thats $600 a year. I’m sure them losing my $150 fee is going to break them. At least I hope it doesn’t break them, since now they are losing my $600 too!

17

[quote]Aharma1 wrote:
I had no enrollment fees, No contracts 25$'s a month, and powerlifting + Olympic lifting is very welcomed at my gym…Maybe I just lucked out[/quote]

I lucked out also. I have the same kind of gym.

18

[quote]
You are a dumbass. [/quote]

At least I’m not cheap.

Is paying the $150 fee going to break you? If that’s the case, then I understand. I didn’t have a lot of money when I was in college and the military. But I wouldn’t go around whining because a company wanted me to pay them.

19

A gym should charge whatever will maximize their profits. Does this piss you off? Get a membership somewhere else. Getting mad because they charge a certain price is silly.

20

I have a friend who belongs to the gym that is open all day and all night and he tried to talk me into signing up.

He said they were offering a deal, $900 for 3 years and $30 a month.