Dirty Secrets of Joining Gyms

It's not too much of a secret; almost everyone knows that the gym is there to try and screw you out of your money.

According to ABC News:

"A brand new Better Business Bureau analysis found that consumer complaints about gyms are up more than 90 percent in the last five year"s.

"The BBB analysis found that 73 percent of customer complaints involved contract or billing disputes, including people who were upset that they were still being billed after they thought their contract was over."


This is a good reason not to join a gym. The gym doesn't really care if you work out or not - in fact, they'd probably prefer it if you never came... that'd free up all the free weights for the inside workout regulars, and they could have their own, privately-funded gym. Then comes the power, then the women.

I've heard horror stories about gyms here, but the ABC article is pretty lightweight:


"Some gyms have been known to sell memberships before they're open and then fail to open for months. Others have gone out of business, leaving prepaid members in the lurch. Once again, the BBB numbers are enlightening. A hefty 15 percent of complaints concerned gyms that went out of business soon after opening, leaving customers in the lurch who had paid expensive initiation fees."

I once asked about a membership to a gym in China, and they tried to fleece me out of a one-year contract almost immediately. They wanted to charge 6 000 RMB, which is a lot of money in China, and I laughed and laughed as I left the building. The pool wasn't finished yet, and it didn't look like it'd be very popular.


But go ahead. Join the gym. Wrestle with their ironclad, automatic deduction contract.