Jump to content

Gym fees? Why are they NEVER made public?


KarlvN

Recommended Posts

Rant on.

 

So I go onto the website for virgin Active in order to see what their gym memberships cost, and low and behold, they do not advertise these fees. It seems they (arrogantly, I might add :angry: ) assume that since I am on their website that automatically means I have decided to join!!!!!

 

Anyway, I am not an impulsive buyer, and I do NOT just send my details over the interweb just for some poor telemarketer to call me and be exposed to my phone-wrath!!!!

 

WHY CAN THESE STUPID HEALTH CLUBS NOT JUST TELL US HOW MUCH THEY CHARGE AND LET US, THE CONSUMER, DECIDE IF WE WANT TO PAY FOR THEIR SERVICES, WITHOUT THEIR INCESSANTLY ANNOYING "REPRESENTATIVES" CALL ME EVERY TWO AND A HALF MINUTES. :cursing: :thumbdown:

 

Rant off.

 

Does anyone who is not directly vested in these institutions of higher fitness actually know how much they bill for a normal month's exercise?

 

And before the inevitable "join discovery / vitality" etc. etc. comments start flying, I want REAL benefits from my medical aid, which are directly related to doctors and hospitals, not some gimmick which ends up costing more than is necessary. Thus I belong to a REAL health insurance scheme, which has my actual medical wellbeing at heart.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 61
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

my ASSumption would be 

location

location

location

different areas have different fees due to rental prices, me thinks

 

Okay, if that be the case, fine then. So then change the website to show fees per region. I mean, how much difference could there be with regards to the fees based on location, really?

 

If it is left up to the franchise, then that only tells me about the level of greed and exploitation in this industry. Kind of like they know people will always have fitness issues, so now that somehow justifies getting ripped off?

 

If that is the case, then I will duly build myself a gym in my garage!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Rant on.

 

So I go onto the website for virgin Active in order to see what their gym memberships cost, and low and behold, they do not advertise these fees. It seems they (arrogantly, I might add :angry: ) assume that since I am on their website that automatically means I have decided to join!!!!!

 

Anyway, I am not an impulsive buyer, and I do NOT just send my details over the interweb just for some poor telemarketer to call me and be exposed to my phone-wrath!!!!

 

WHY CAN THESE STUPID HEALTH CLUBS NOT JUST TELL US HOW MUCH THEY CHARGE AND LET US, THE CONSUMER, DECIDE IF WE WANT TO PAY FOR THEIR SERVICES, WITHOUT THEIR INCESSANTLY ANNOYING "REPRESENTATIVES" CALL ME EVERY TWO AND A HALF MINUTES. :cursing: :thumbdown:

 

Rant off.

 

Does anyone who is not directly vested in these institutions of higher fitness actually know how much they bill for a normal month's exercise?

 

And before the inevitable "join discovery / vitality" etc. etc. comments start flying, I want REAL benefits from my medical aid, which are directly related to doctors and hospitals, not some gimmick which ends up costing more than is necessary. Thus I belong to a REAL health insurance scheme, which has my actual medical wellbeing at heart.

 

Personally for me, Discovery is a "bells-and-whistles" company.

 

Have a look at Liberty's new "own your life rewards programme". You need to spend R400 or more (I chose unit trust, investment) per month. And then your Gym is free if you visit 12 times or more per month. At the end of the day when you cancel your membership your unit trust investment is liquid.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The reason there are no price lists are because they want you to either leave your details so a salesman can contact you and get you into the club OR you go down to the Club of your choice and reception will send you straight to a sales person who is trained to sign you up that same day :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Personally for me, Discovery is a "bells-and-whistles" company.

 

Have a look at Liberty's new "own your life rewards programme". You need to spend R400 or more (I chose unit trust, investment) per month. And then your Gym is free if you visit 12 times or more per month. At the end of the day when you cancel your membership your unit trust investment is liquid.

I use the liberty own your life rewards and have received all my gym fees back except for December as I was not in the country. It is a nice incentive to get fit and not pay for it
Link to comment
Share on other sites

With Virgin Active, you have different membership options. You can either choose to only have access to one gym (cheaper option) or you can have access to almost all of the gyms (more expensive option). 

 

I pay a few hundred bucks with Vitality. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

If that is the case, then I will duly build myself a gym in my garage!

 

 

Do just that...................much cheaper and some nice stuff on OLX. Gim membership is also an annual thing.

 

The reason: You pay for 12 months but only train for three.................so if the monthly fee (marketing) is R250, you are actually paying R1000/month for your three months. Gim memberships are also oversubscribed with all the big commercial gimnasiums. IF ALL MEMBERS DECIDE THEY WANT TO LOOK GOOD FOR THE BEACH.............SPACE AND EQUIPMENT AVAILABILITY WILL BE A SERIOUS PROBLEM.

 

Train at home  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

And before the inevitable "join discovery / vitality" etc. etc. comments start flying, I want REAL benefits from my medical aid, which are directly related to doctors and hospitals, not some gimmick which ends up costing more than is necessary. Thus I belong to a REAL health insurance scheme, which has my actual medical wellbeing at heart.

Firstly, you must have been told that by your "real health insurance scheme" salesman, as Vitality actually WORKS, if you do it properly (and is a separate concern to the med aid itself, run as a separate company)

 

But to your initial question re the different fees

 

Individual club fees differ as different clubs have different facilities and equipment. Some clubs have pools, saunas, steam rooms, pools, A mini-WW / Kauai and so on, whereas some don't. That's where the difference comes in

 

As for the country-wide membership, that is a single fee of (I think) R 600 per month. That allows you to access any gym except the Elite ones at Melrose Arch, and a couple more clubs - I think there are 3 or 4 elite clubs in the country.

 

Vitality is FAR more than just the gym benefit, and to claim that Discovery doesn't give "proper" benefits and costs more than necessary is to not understand and utilise the benefit accordingly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Regarding the Liberty product - it's good. You get R 50 back per visit, up to a maximum of R 600 per month (which is the cost of your premier gym membership at last count) and can have an investment or life policy to attach it to. Only thing is it costs almost the same as Vitality, and their investments are HUGELY expensive ito fees, so beware...

 

 

Their Income Protection is the cheapest on the market though, and while I've yet to test it (I've tested their retrenchment protection) it is good. That's what I'd recommend going for instead of the investment route, if you are looking that way.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I pay R 100 a month with one of the better/newer gyms through vitality, it is R 650 per month as a normal member.

Use Vitality properly and you save a lot of money.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Firstly, you must have been told that by your "real health insurance scheme" salesman, as Vitality actually WORKS, if you do it properly (and is a separate concern to the med aid itself, run as a separate company)

 

But to your initial question re the different fees

 

Individual club fees differ as different clubs have different facilities and equipment. Some clubs have pools, saunas, steam rooms, pools, A mini-WW / Kauai and so on, whereas some don't. That's where the difference comes in

 

As for the country-wide membership, that is a single fee of (I think) R 600 per month. That allows you to access any gym except the Elite ones at Melrose Arch, and a couple more clubs - I think there are 3 or 4 elite clubs in the country.

 

Vitality is FAR more than just the gym benefit, and to claim that Discovery doesn't give "proper" benefits and costs more than necessary is to not understand and utilise the benefit accordingly.

 

 

I hear you, and my initial post might have been made in haste. I do not think that Discovery does NOT offer good medical benefits, or that others are "better", I just cannot justify ( read afford ) extra expense channels such as reward schemes over and above my already substantial medical aid monthly bill, JUST so that I can join a gym.

 

I stand to be corrected, but from MY perspective as an "outsider", the mainline gyms are all bought in to the loyalty schemes offered by vitality etc., and therefor do not really try hard enough to cater for joe average who just wants to gym, and does not really want all the other benefits such as cheaper plane tickets, or cheap movie tickets etc. etc. This is possibly due to the over-subsription. All I want, is to increase my fitness to ride better, something like cross training.

 

I guess I'll take up jogging...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Get on your bike and ride.  Best Gym ever. 

agreed. I find the older I get the less I can tolerate gyms full of sweaty, smelly people with questionable hygiene standards. I'd rather get out into the fresh air and do some exercise there.

 

Apologies OP for the off-topic post.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I hear you, and my initial post might have been made in haste. I do not think that Discovery does NOT offer good medical benefits, or that others are "better", I just cannot justify ( read afford ) extra expense channels such as reward schemes over and above my already substantial medical aid monthly bill, JUST so that I can join a gym.

 

I stand to be corrected, but from MY perspective as an "outsider", the mainline gyms are all bought in to the loyalty schemes offered by vitality etc., and therefor do not really try hard enough to cater for joe average who just wants to gym, and does not really want all the other benefits such as cheaper plane tickets, or cheap movie tickets etc. etc. This is possibly due to the over-subsription. All I want, is to increase my fitness to ride better, something like cross training.

 

I guess I'll take up jogging...

just the 80% savings on gym fees makes vitality worth it.  THen 25% discount on healthy food from pick n pay or woolies, 25% discount on schedule 1 and 2 medicines.  Just the savings on healthy food pays vitality fees and gym membership

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Settings My Forum Content My Followed Content Forum Settings Ad Messages My Ads My Favourites My Saved Alerts My Pay Deals Help Logout