Haggling at the gym

InhaleMood

Evening all,
I'm looking to join a gym near me, and the options are LA Fitness, Topnotch and puregym.
My question was whether people have had success is haggling on their membership?
I used to work at Fitness First in Sydney and there wasn't actually much flexibility in what we could do. There would be promotions on from head office but apart from that the monthly fee was pretty fixed.
However, there wasn't a huge amount of competition, so I'm wondering if others have had much luck?

sazaccount

Hi, :hello:

I think it depends on how close to the end of the month they are and how many new memberships they need for there quota.

I've always managed to get a discount/free on the joining fee

monthly payments are a lot harder to haggle on, but theres no harm in asking they maybe able to do it at a student or similar rate.

Have a look online for any discounts they sometimes do them on there own websites

Good luck

Tenyearstogo

My husband joined a gym last weekend. He arrived early and sat behind another man who was joining, my husband said that this man didn't haggle and just paid the flat rate.

My husband negotiated not to pay the joining fee, an extra months membership, a number a free guest passes, a towel and a water bottle. I thought my husband negotiated quite well because his work are paying for the membership anyway.

It never hurts to ask.

heartbreak_star

No chance haggling for me as mine's council, but a damn good deal anyway IMO.

HBS x

terra_ferma

heartbreak_star wrote: »

No chance haggling for me as mine's council, but a damn good deal anyway IMO.

HBS x

Lucky you...:)
some are as expensive as an average private gym

Keith1985

Having worked in both council run leisure centres and private health clubs for 12 years, I feel I might be able to help here!

Ordinarily, there is no movement on the standard monthly charge. Having said that, lots of gyms offer discounts for students and what they call 'corporate' memberships where you get a better rate if you work for a certain company, so worth asking if your company has a deal with them. If not, why not ask if you can set one up? Lots of these deals arranged locally and not through HQ, so again worth asking the question to save yourself a few £'s.

When are you planning on using they gym? If it's during the day and early mornings, ask if they have an 'off peak' rate which is normally cheaper.

Now for the big one - joining fees.
Many clubs will tell you this is to cover admin fees for setting up your DD, issuing you with a membership card etc but in reality is a way of getting some extra money out of you for nothing. My advice is do not pay it!!.
If they want you to join, they will do something about it. If possible, as someone has suggested above, hold on until the last couple of days in the month. They will be scrabbling for new members to hit their targets, or scrabbling for any 'newbies' to squeeze as much commission as they can out of the month and there are often good deals to be had i.e no JF and 1st month free.

Once you've negotiated yourself a good joining deal, then ask for some extras as someone has alluded to above. Guest passes for a partner/friend who is interested in joining, promotional t shirt, water bottle, gym towel etc. The likelihood is they will have boxes of this stuff piled high in a back office and will probably be happy to give it away to free up some space! Some gyms will also offer your a complimentary personal training session also. Take it and squeeze as much info and advice as you can from the trainer as possible. They will try and sell you £40+ per hour PT sessions which unless you can afford these crazy rates, is mostly unnecessary.

Good luck with your haggling, let us know how you get on!

heartbreak_star

terra_ferma wrote: »

Lucky you...:)
some are as expensive as an average private gym

I'm "oop North", if they were too expensive they'd get no takers

My old £50-a-month gym actually shut down and rebranded as a "budget" gym because so few people took them up on their luxuries! Now they've gotten rid of the spa room and a few other things they're the same price as most others.

I prefer the council membership as I can use multiple gyms/pools

HBS x

terra_ferma

heartbreak_star wrote: »

I'm "oop North", if they were too expensive they'd get no takers

My old £50-a-month gym actually shut down and rebranded as a "budget" gym because so few people took them up on their luxuries! Now they've gotten rid of the spa room and a few other things they're the same price as most others.

I prefer the council membership as I can use multiple gyms/pools

HBS x

the ones run by Fusion, like my sister's local one, are ridiculously expensive even for people on benefits, but all in SE England.

Andy1608

Don't think you can haggle pure gym, budget gym. Still at £9.99 a month I don't think haggling is needed

custardy

Pure gym often have no fee joining offers.
check your local ones Facebook page.
I know they also offer corporate deals. A friend who works at Edinburgh Uni gets £0 joining free through work at Pure Gym