Your gym - has it passed on the VAT reduction?

MarkXy

Fitness First and LA Fitness have not passed on the VAT reduction and have told their members that "there was going to be a price rise in January but this has been cancelled". Hmm, very likely. (Note that Fitness First already increased prices once in 2008 due to the cost of energy - this has now fallen dramatically, so should they not be reducing prices?)

I wonder if a forum here about gyms and health clubs might be helpful. They are dubious organisations - try to get one to give you a price for membership and you will find out! They insist that you visit before they give you a price - this is so current members cannot call and find out what the current best offers are. They also charge a joining fee, to stop people leaving for a few months while they are not using the facilities (e.g holiday, working away) then rejoining. Such practices seem anti-competitive to me.

liam8282

I looked into quite a few gyms when I joined up last year.

The best option for me was to join my local council gym. I live in leeds and the nearest gym to me is a new leisure centre that only opened about 2 years ago if that. All the machines were brand new and it is quite a nice gym.

Also when I joined they had a corporate discount scheme, where workers who work for specific companies such as the council, british gas etc, got discounts of upto 20% off there fees. As I am studying part time as I work my student card also entitled me to the full discount.

For me it works out at about £20 per month, this is for use of the gym and also swimming, any day I want. If I didn't sign up, you can just pay when you want to go, but it works out at about £4 or more every session, so as I try to go 3 times a week this was costing me quite a bit.

Another advantage is that I can also use any leeds city council gym / leisure centre I want, and also as my son is under 5 he gets to swim for free so I can take him swimming anytime he wants to go as well.

I would recommend council gyms to anybody who is looking to join a gym.

dnomyar

Just checked with my local gym, Halesowen Liesure centre run by the council and they have advised that they will not be passing on the VAT reduction. Then rang finance in dudly council, who advise that they will not be passing on VAT cut across the board on all services.

So the government reduce VAT and urge all businesses to pass it on ASAP but then do what the hell they like themselves. (I bet this is the same with all council run gyms across the country)!!!

starving_artist

Virgin Active neither. Same excuse as Fitness First. Very convenient :rolleyes:

Halloway

Gosh. If only there were other gyms one could join.

sheilanick

Esporta have released a press statement on their web site saying that they will applying new vat rate in January and urging other clubs to do the same

However their prices are going up in January, so I guess one will cancel out the other.

artyfartymack

I echo sheila, I had a letter from Esporta saying rising costs meant my membership would increase by £2 a month. I've heard nothing from them about VAT

Jo_Mc_2

dnomyar wrote: »

(I bet this is the same with all council run gyms across the country)!!!

I use the gym at a council leisure centre, in Staffordshire, and when the VAT cut was first announced there were signs up in reception saying that the council were in discussion over whether to pass on the rate cut to leisure centre users. I've paid my monthly membership since Dec 1st and it hadn't changed so obviously they decided not to pass it on.

Very annoying seeing as they've downgraded the maintainance contract for the gym equipment and rather than being able to call out engineers when something breaks down they now wait until there is a bulk of equipment to be fixed - last week 4 out of 7 treadmills and 3 out of 8 crosstrainers were out of order.

Also I've always used a pay cash monthly scheme which works nicely because in the past during school Summer holidays when I've not been able to go I've not had to pay for something I can't use. Though this last Summer, now my children are older, I upgraded my membership for the holidays and added the swimming option and whilst I had half an hour in the gym my children swam (there was free swimming for under-16s throughout the holiday) and then I joined them in the pool afterwards and it worked really well and we had a great time. However, from January they're scrapping the monthly cash option and everyone has to sign up for direct debit or if you don't want to do that you can pay as you go. So next Summer I either pay on the door as it were for swimming for the 4 weeks we'd use it or upgrade my membership from the get go and pay all year round for something I'm only going to use for 4 weeks.

jenniewb

I go to the Reebok at Canary Wharf,

they HAVE passed on the VAT cut, my old fee was £55 per month, its now just over £53 per month. Added to this, they have promised not to increase gym fees until July 2009. They have a full membership of £99 and this has been reduced too. (I have a friday-sunday inclusive pass).

I also go to my local council gym but pay per use. They have NOT passed on the VAT cut. My mum uses that gym and pays per month and can also confirm they have not cut the VAT on her membership.

I envy many of the posters here- I wish they would actually clean my local council gym, the mould is all over the changing rooms, celing, black all along every corner of every shower, hairs everywhere.....yuck yuck yuck! It also seems if I were to join per month, it would cost more then any of you, I am on a very low wage, get housing benefit as my wages are so low, and the concession fee for me is £40 a month. If I were a student, (which I cannot afford to be and already have a degree anyway) it would be £25 a month. I think comparing it to the Reebok gym, its a kick in the teeth they have not included VAT reductions- even if I do only spend £20 a month pay-per-use there!

MarkXy

Mould all over Fitness First too. The cleaners are lazy, stupid, or both, and the management make no checks on the place. There must be legal minimum standards of hygiene.

liam8282

I don't know if the council has passed on any VAT rate cuts in my local gym, I don't think they have at the moment.

The thing seems to be with council run gyms that they bring out a yearly price list and it would probably be a lot of hassle for them to change it for the VAT rate cut, and then change it again next month for the new years prices.

I don't know, but I reckon that any price increases/decreases, or the VAT rate cut, will all be done in one go next month, when the new price list is brought out.

Still, for me the 2.5% difference in VAT would still mean I am better off using my council gym. It costs me around £20 per month for gym and swim, where as any other local gym would cost at least 3 times as much as this.

Jenniewb, that is disappointing to hear about the state of the council gyms in London, especially with all the stuff you hear about on the news about the olympics and the vast amounts of money they say they are spending on sport etc in London. I wonder what they are actually spending all that money on?!

I can honestly say that every council gym I have been to in the Leeds area has been very good. Some are better than others, with the size of gym and range of equipment, but apart from that they are all clean, all the machines work (or are fixed when broken), and the staff know what they are doing.

That's the details for the Leeds gyms:

http://www.leeds.gov.uk/Leisure_and_culture/Sports_clubs_and_centres/Leisure_and_sport_passes.aspx