Cheap gyms deals discussion

lauzt1987

Hi there, was just wondering if anyone has used the glasgow puregym? I'm considering joining but would be going after and possibly before work and have heard it is very busy at peak times so just wanted some opinions. Also, are the changing rooms clean enough? Thanks a lot.

jesselivermore

This is a warning to anyone considering joining LA Fitness in central London:

I have been a Platinum LA Fitness member since 2004. I use the Lower Regent St and flagship South Kensington branches mainly. I pay £133 per month and use the weights and pool several times a week. I pay a premium to average gym prices and I expect a high quality of service for the gyms’ basic facilities.

In April I contacted the company's head office regarding serious issues at both of these gyms. The response was unsatisfactory. Nothing has been done to improve this disgraceful situation. These issues have been ongoing for almost a year.

These issues are:

- Regular hot water outages. The showers and / or the pool are regularly very cold. I’ve noted at least 8 occurrences of this since last November.
- Regular towel shortages at both South Kensington and Regent St branches. Last week there were on towels at South Kensington on two separate mornings. Even though the problem first occurred at the start of the year, the firm still hasn’t managed to change suppliers – head office needs to make a decision ASAP. I’ve noted at least 9 occurrences of this since February.
- There was no soap at all in any of the dispensers in the men’s showers last week.
- Regularly cancelled classes with no replacement cover arranged, particularly at the flagship branch.

Adding insult to injury, several times staff have put signs up advising members to visit another branch. This is just unacceptable – no member has the spare time to travel across London to another branch.

Increasing LA Fitness' spending on towel hire and investing in new boilers are necessary and should be expected, especially since membership prices have gone up twice since beginning of 2011. They have also introduced a massive 300% price hike for locker hire – an effective 40% further increase in monthly gym costs. RPI and CPI are currently much less than 10% per year. This means that what I already pay now is less than Third Space and KX Gyms, both premium gyms, and much more than Fitness First or Virgin Active.

The gym market in central London is only getting more competitive. I work in Mayfair, like most Regent St gym users, and Fitness First has now started sales calls to everyone in the area. Nuffield Health has also aggressively marketed its central London offerings.

I've complained and asked the managers responsible for Central London to take immediate action to rectify this. If the situation doesn’t improve quickly then I will let MSE users know.

jenniewb

jesselivermore wrote: »

This is a warning to anyone considering joining LA Fitness in central London:

I have been a Platinum LA Fitness member since 2004. I use the Lower Regent St and flagship South Kensington branches mainly. I pay £133 per month and use the weights and pool several times a week. I pay a premium to average gym prices and I expect a high quality of service for the gyms’ basic facilities.

In April I contacted the company's head office regarding serious issues at both of these gyms. The response was unsatisfactory. Nothing has been done to improve this disgraceful situation. These issues have been ongoing for almost a year.

These issues are:

- Regular hot water outages. The showers and / or the pool are regularly very cold. I’ve noted at least 8 occurrences of this since last November.
- Regular towel shortages at both South Kensington and Regent St branches. Last week there were on towels at South Kensington on two separate mornings. Even though the problem first occurred at the start of the year, the firm still hasn’t managed to change suppliers – head office needs to make a decision ASAP. I’ve noted at least 9 occurrences of this since February.
- There was no soap at all in any of the dispensers in the men’s showers last week.
- Regularly cancelled classes with no replacement cover arranged, particularly at the flagship branch.

Adding insult to injury, several times staff have put signs up advising members to visit another branch. This is just unacceptable – no member has the spare time to travel across London to another branch.

Increasing LA Fitness' spending on towel hire and investing in new boilers are necessary and should be expected, especially since membership prices have gone up twice since beginning of 2011. They have also introduced a massive 300% price hike for locker hire – an effective 40% further increase in monthly gym costs. RPI and CPI are currently much less than 10% per year. This means that what I already pay now is less than Third Space and KX Gyms, both premium gyms, and much more than Fitness First or Virgin Active.

The gym market in central London is only getting more competitive. I work in Mayfair, like most Regent St gym users, and Fitness First has now started sales calls to everyone in the area. Nuffield Health has also aggressively marketed its central London offerings.

I've complained and asked the managers responsible for Central London to take immediate action to rectify this. If the situation doesn’t improve quickly then I will let MSE users know.

Wow- mate, move gyms! I was at LAFitnes and used to use the Picadilly branch you mention and am shocked they are still having the same issue!

I moved when I found out accidentally they were about to up my membership fee by over 50%...without having let me know first! I left and left feedback when I did, I had a month left before I was gone and on day two of the cancellation, I saw what looked like headoffice members walking around with a checkboard and talking to the manager, approaching a few members and asking things, I have no idea if it was due to my (many!) complaints but I'd say the strongest message you can give would be via your own two feet: nothing speaks louder to them it would seem.

And if my experience is anything to go by, my fee for them had been £50 a month, I now still years later regularly get sent offers of £30 a month for anything from 3 months to 18 month contracts (and every other legnth inbetween!).

Leave, go to Nuffields/Virgin (hell, even the Third Space and the Reebok have got to cost less and be worth more then that!) and if you get board and feel like you are a glutton for punishment, go back for a 3 day trial (I get sent these often too).

girl_withno_name

London_baby wrote: »

For anyone living/working in Southwark, London a new gym has just opened called fitness4less. membership is £15.99 per month including classes. Went on weds n fri and seems good if not looking for fancy facilities.

These also seem to have now opened in these locations:

Birmingham
Bristol
Cardiff (opening 2012)
Cheltenham
London Cambridge Heath
London Southwark
Newport
Nottingham
Sutton (opening 2012)
Watford

http://www.fitness4less.co.uk/

I plan to join next month, once I don't have exam revision to distract me! :rotfl:

jesselivermore

jenniewb wrote: »

Wow- mate, move gyms! I was at LAFitnes and used to use the Picadilly branch you mention and am shocked they are still having the same issue!

I moved when I found out accidentally they were about to up my membership fee by over 50%...without having let me know first! I left and left feedback when I did, I had a month left before I was gone and on day two of the cancellation, I saw what looked like headoffice members walking around with a checkboard and talking to the manager, approaching a few members and asking things, I have no idea if it was due to my (many!) complaints but I'd say the strongest message you can give would be via your own two feet: nothing speaks louder to them it would seem.

And if my experience is anything to go by, my fee for them had been £50 a month, I now still years later regularly get sent offers of £30 a month for anything from 3 months to 18 month contracts (and every other legnth inbetween!).

Leave, go to Nuffields/Virgin (hell, even the Third Space and the Reebok have got to cost less and be worth more then that!) and if you get board and feel like you are a glutton for punishment, go back for a 3 day trial (I get sent these often too).

Hi jenniewb,

I've been in contact with Head Office and the manager of the South Kensington branch. We'll see what the outcome is - I'll update the forum when this is clearer.
Thanks for your advice. Moving is definitely an option I'm exploring, since I'm not in a contract with them and haven't been for a very long time.

rodman

girl_withno_name wrote: »

These also seem to have now opened in these locations:

Birmingham
Bristol
Cardiff (opening 2012)
Cheltenham
London Cambridge Heath
London Southwark
Newport
Nottingham
Sutton (opening 2012)
Watford

http://www.fitness4less.co.uk/

I plan to join next month, once I don't have exam revision to distract me! :rotfl:

wow very cheap, going to check London Cambridge Heath soon.

purt

Does anyone have any tips/advice for joining gyms in Central London? I need to find one, but am curious as to whether there are any deals to bed had on memberships etc.

trevor8

Hi have been a member of Nuffield Health for over a year and paying 57 pounds a month does anyone no if you can knock down the price if threaten to leave? wanted to try and reduce this price.Thanks

precious777

This looks like a 2 day only offer but If you join Nuffield as a new member by Nov 30th (Wednesday) you just pay the £20 sign up fee and get all of December free (worth at least £54 - more if you take peak or premium package ). First payment will be due on 1st Jan 2012.

bazzaburns

First of all I really liked the new article on gym advice, really helpful for people looking to get back into fitness! Thanks

You mentioned the new payasugym.com website to try gyms before taking out membership and was asking for feedback if you used it. I have been using it for the last couple of weeks and been to 3 different gyms in london now.

It is really simple to use and the website looks amazing compared to the old version from last year. It is free to use the website and you do only pay for what you use, plus there are some 1 month and 3 month gym membership deals as well if you want to use a gym for longer

All of the gym prices on there that I have used have been cheaper than the gym charges at reception so you do seem to get a good deal as well. I went to my nearest gym in Richmond and they said that if you want your gym to be on their website then the gym HAS to offer a discount to even be involed. :money:

I reckon some people will complain that the prices of some gyms is a bit expensive (e.g. £8 for wimbledon leisure centre) but you need to do your own maths to see what is better. If you take a £50 a month contract then that is £600 during the year. If you then only go to the gym 3-4 times a month then you will be paying £15+ per visit so £8 works out much better then. Plus you can stop doing it if you have a month where money is tight but with membership they just keep taking your money.

The other thing I don;t like about membership is your normally just have to use the same gym which is boring and is no good if you move house or change job. with pay as u gym you can use loads of gyms wherever you are, plus if you want a luxury spa for a day you can do it rather than same old every week

If you want membership then you will probably still go direct to the gym you want, but if you don't want to get stuck in a contract all year (which is what everyone does) then this is defintly a great way to do it.

:T