Gym Lifetime Memberships and [Stupid] Sales Pitches

I managed to make a huge mess out of a deal I just recently got into last week.

To elaborate a little further, I've been thinking about advantages of getting a lifetime membership in my current gym. Which lead me to a deal that I thought was pretty reasonable, and turned out that I might've gotten screwed by the salesperson in the process.

Lets start with the idea of a lifetime membership. You're given the privileges of facility availability and usage for all the branches within the country by paying a specific lump sum, and that's that. Some would probably employ a small yearly fee, but generally, its the lump sum that matters. There would be additional perks, but generally if you think you're going to regularly go to the gym, and for a long time, usually lifetime memberships are a good deal to begin with - these companies repackage it in such a way that getting a lifetime would be cheaper than paying monthly, and right after signing the contract, would probably hope that you dont use it as often. Because, as I'm sure most of us know, commitments are hard to keep and extending it for more than 10 years... well, 10 years is a long time, and a lot of change can come up along the way to change your lifestyle in the first place.

But to the determined, it should be a swell deal.

I have one back at home for Slimmers International, but unfortunately, despite the promises of having "affiliate gyms worldwide", it turns out this promise is a sham of sorts. I've never personally had experience trying to get into a gym outside the Philippines that's "affiliated" with Slimmers, but my brother has, and he's quite pissed off to find out that upon arriving to the "affiliate" gym in Hong Kong, they've never even heard of Slimmers International. Oh well, so much for that. At least you're promised all out usage of the facilities when you're in the Philippines.

So, I've toyed around the idea for sometime, the lifetime membership, particularly in my current gym, California Fitness. I'm not bothered by being "sent" away when I head off to another country's California Fitness (these countries would be Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong, plus affiliate gyms in the States called 24-Hour-Fitness, which California Fitness is a wholly owned subsidiary of) because this gym is bigger, and more widespread. I've asked around with sales and other members, to see if there are any limits of usage in other gym branches worldwide, and I'm told not. No limit, just the initial lifetime contract, and the promise of worldwide usage. In case you move to another country, the lifetime membership is transferred to the existing country (as long as there is a California Fitness gym anyway) for free.

Sounds like a good deal.

I'd like you to suspend your incredulity for a moment, after reading this. I am sure a lot of people would object to lifetime memberships.. well, for the fact that they cost a lot and are ridiculously expensive. But there are a lot of advantages of going to the gym, and I can speak honestly to the advantages, since I've made a lot of research for a long time. Obviously, when you're young, gym is a great way to workout the body. Young people have got all the energy. And further on, despite the fact that you're 40+ or 50+ years of age, lifting weights is still an option because it improves bone density, and that's an important key to avoiding brittle, low density bones brought about by age. Plus, some of the gyms have yoga, dance and the usual step classes, and they usually keep up with the times so they tend to add on more "trendy" classes. Admittedly, the more specialized classes would be mainstream... if you're planning to seriously learn jazz, hip hop or hot yoga, you might as well enroll in a more specialized club. But for general purposes, these would be good enough. So the whole deal sounds swell, in a sense. Relocation would be no problem. So, now that I've gotten over the explanations, I hope you can suspend your disbelief for a moment and hear me out.

The screw up in question is related to a lifetime membership payment upkeep that I signed in contract for HK$588 per year. But to my surprise, right after I was lucky (or unlucky , depending on your point of view) enough to have found out from another member that she's paying only HK$88 for hers.

This obviously irked me. If the upkeep can get THAT low, how come I have to pay HK$588 for mine? The person obviously overcharged me. After much inquiry, I found out that to get a HK$88 deal, you will have to own a Visa Platinum. I don't have one, but my mom does. Unfortunately, during my "sales session" with the sales person, it seems that he "conveniently" forgot to tell me this little fact. He did inquire what credit cards I have, but right after mentioning one that seems to have a promotion, he didn't inquire any more about what other cards are accessible to me, or inform me of any other promotions. It may have been my fault that I didnt inquire further... but there's such a thing as a customer is always right, isnt it? And there's also such a thing as giving out all the options to the customer. At least that's the belief here, and particularly for known big names like California Fitness.

I havent returned to the gym yet to complain, but I do intend to make a ruckus. Its only been a week since I signed the contract, and owing to the feisty nature of Hong Kong people, when encountered with a situation like this, they're bound to complain a whole lot more than I'd be willing to do, and its about time I learned to be a local and follow up on this little oversight.

Darn stupid inconsiderate money-grubbing urban predators. Its time to show my claws.