Gym memberships

[Tron_fdc]

So I'm looking at renewing my gym membership, and I was wondering what price range people are paying for theirs. I'm always curious, as places like Gold's advertise one rate, but if you grind them enough you can usually get something lower.

I have a membership at Fit Plus, $36/month. I think it was $100 down though.

I have also checked out Athletic Innovations (Fit Zone) in Douglasglen, and have been quoted as low as $25/month, if me and 2 others sign up. That place is maaaaaad cheap.

I used to go to Talisman, but haven't since they started the reno's. Is that place in shambles or what?

Anyone go to Golds off 130th? I'm looking there, but they're reluctant to go any cheaper than $60/month.

[Huntingwhale]

Don't go with Gold's. A while ago l had massive issues with them regarding my contract. Now, l spread the word about how evil they are.

[Tron_fdc]

Yeah, I'll only go there if it's cheap, and they seem a little unwilling to lower their price right now.

What happened, if you don't mind me asking?

[FlamesAddiction]

$30 bucks a month at the YMCA for me, but I don't live in Calgary so it is probably useless info, however, I can use my membership at other Y's in other towns, so if you travel a lot like I do, it might be something to look into (hotel gyms can be a little skimpy).

[red sky]

Mount Royal College is pretty afforadble for what you get. The only problem is that you have to pay for parking which increases your costs.

The best part however is that you keep getting older and the girls stay the same age.

[Northendzone]

i am at goodlife in mack towne - it is between $45 - $50

[Tron_fdc]

Is MRC a set membership amount, or can you haggle them down as well?

[Temporary_User]

Something else to think about would be if going to a college or university is convenient enough for you, they normally have decent rates and no contracts.

I'm down here in Lethbridge, but I'm paying $25 a month which gives me my gym use, a locker and towel service. The gym then features, basketball and badminton courts, climbing wall, in-door running track, pool, steam room and free drop-in fitness clinics.

EDIT: noticed red sky sort of beat me to it. I don't know about MRU or anything, but I know UofL provides a free parking pass for gym users that aren't students or faculty.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Tron_fdc

Yeah, I'll only go there if it's cheap, and they seem a little unwilling to lower their price right now.

What happened, if you don't mind me asking?

I work out at 130th, but my membership is supplied by the company that I work for. For the most part its been a pretty positive experience, but I don't use a personal trainer or anything like that.

For the most part the equipment is in very good shape except for T.V. issues on the bikes.

I don't think they'll discount a lot, but the staff is very friendly.

[red sky]

Originally Posted by Tron_fdc

Is MRC a set membership amount, or can you haggle them down as well?

Not sure on haggling but I would say it is a set rate. I used to have a corporate pass but I think they got rid of those. I haven't been in a few years as I started working out at home.

[pylon]

Golds gym is pure evil. I had to get a lawyer involved to cancel billing with them after I had met every obligation in my contract. They claimed they never recieved my cancellation letter which I sent via registered mail, and I did not find out until it went to collection. I had a copy of the mail receipt, and then they said "ok we will let you cancel, just pay the back charges and the 90 day penalty." I got my parents neighbour, who is a lawyer, draft me a letter, which when put in the club managers hands, finally made it go away. It did take another 2 months to get the collection taken off my credit bureau. They also could have jeopardized my job, as my credit rating has to be at a certain level in my proffession. I also spread the word on what a dishonest bunch of D-bags they are.

I have recently signed up again at Talisman, and even with the reno's it is superior to Golds. Also they have no cancellation conditions.

I would rather burn my groin with cigars, than sing up at Golds ever again. They are snakes.

[troutman]

West Side Rec Center is about $500 annually. Fantastic facility, but getting crowded at peak times.

[red sky]

Originally Posted by troutman

West Side Rec Center is about $500 annually. Fantastic facility, but getting crowded at peak times.

Isn't it about $600 now?

[troutman]

Originally Posted by red sky

Isn't it about $600 now?

Up to $677 actually . . .

http://www.westsiderec.com/bs_home.h...13&MenuID=2097

[Azure]

I would be more concerned with the people and the equipment available than I would with price.

Generally gyms will all be competitive. But its no fun going to a gym that is filled with a bunch of machines and they don't even have any free weights standing around. Much less a powerrack.

[me_dennis]

if you are a uofc alumni, your first gym membership as an alumni there is DIRT cheap.

you pretty much get 50% off of the alumni price. For me, I didn't opt for the racquet centre so i paid $220 plus they have different options for parking passes as well. The option I chose for parking was lot 10 after 3pm weekdays, all day weekends for an additional $60.

So in total, I paid a bit over $280 for an annual membership, which is the cheapest I've seen. You get full access to gymnasiums, swimming pool, fitness centre, olympic oval (not 100% sure on this) and for I think $50 more you can have access to the racquet centre too for squash or racquetball.

After the first year there is no longer the 50% discount, but I think you still get a 20% discount. Regular price for an alumni membership is somewhere around $400-450 depending on whether you want racquetball access or not.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by pylon

Golds gym is pure evil. I had to get a lawyer involved to cancel billing with them after I had met every obligation in my contract. They claimed they never recieved my cancellation letter which I sent via registered mail, and I did not find out until it went to collection. I had a copy of the mail receipt, and then they said "ok we will let you cancel, just pay the back charges and the 90 day penalty." I got my parents neighbour, who is a lawyer, draft me a letter, which when put in the club managers hands, finally made it go away. It did take another 2 months to get the collection taken off my credit bureau. They also could have jeopardized my job, as my credit rating has to be at a certain level in my proffession. I also spread the word on what a dishonest bunch of D-bags they are.

I have recently signed up again at Talisman, and even with the reno's it is superior to Golds. Also they have no cancellation conditions.

I would rather burn my groin with cigars, than sing up at Golds ever again. They are snakes.

I had a similar experience. They misspelled "Calgary" on their billing system somehow, so when my credit card was expiring the notice they sent to me arrived a week late. I called them up, straightened it out, then a couple days later I received another notice with a penalty for late payment on it. I phoned up to complain and they said there was nothing they could do, so I told them to cancel my membership immediately. They said I had to give 90 days notice, and I told them I wanted it cancelled and didn't want any more money charged. The next month they withdrew the fee again, an I figured they were doing their 90 day thing. When 90 days passed and they were STILL withdrawing money I called back and they said the cancellation had been processed but since I didn't want to pay the extra 90 days they billing department had "disallowed" the cancellation! I ripped on the person on the phone but was told the only person who could fix it was the manager. And of course the manager was busy, but would call me back. Of course it never happened.
I called the credit card company and had the charge reversed.
I would call the billing place, the manager was busy, "On lunch, on another call, not answering his phone, etc." I would leave messages, my number, nothing would work.
Then another charge was applied to my credit card. I had this reversed again. One day i got home from work and a message on the phone said a manager had called back! Of course even after telling them on every call when I would be around and giving alternate numbers, they still called my home phone mid morning.
And of course when I returned that call it kicked to a machine.

I'm not sure exactly which message got the point accross, but eventually the billing did stop. But it took months and months.

Golds billing practices are evil.

[username]

I recently signed up at Any Time downtown and it's so much better than my old gym (World Health).

It's a brand new gym so the equip is all brand new. There's towel service, tv's everywhere (including on all the machines), ipod chargers on the machines, your own change room/shower, it's not that busy and in the winter they validate underground parking at Hotel Arts.

It's 55 per month......

[Tyler]

I pay $55/month for the Golds gym in McKenzie.

I wouldn't really recommend it. The equipment is poorly looked after and the swimming pool/saunas/hot tubs are always broken or out of order.

Not a great bang for your buck in my opinion.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Tyler

I pay $55/month for the Golds gym in McKenzie.

I wouldn't really recommend it. The equipment is poorly looked after and the swimming pool/saunas/hot tubs are always broken or out of order.

Not a great bang for your buck in my opinion.

I work out there, and I haven't seen many pieces of equipment that are down for very long. The most serious being T.V. failures on the cardio equipment.

I have noticed that the pool and sauna's are closed til further notice but I don't use those so it doesn't bother me.